Chaos after Alexander

Greetings all!
This is the last post of Mikes gaming season for this year. So Mike set out two gorgeous Successor armies for us to game with. As the pictures will show there is no lack of figures and talent that went into the creation of these forces. Also Mike had promised everyone a surprise.
Our cast of characters on this fine Fall day were:
Ken
Wendel
Mike
Bill
and myself

Ken and Wendel paired up together while Mike Bill and I were on the other side.
A fairly balanced affair it seemed to be.
Ken and Wendel had:
10 heavy pike units of 32 figures each
3 elephants
1 cataphract heavy cavalry unit of 24 figures
1 heavy cavalry unit of 24 figures
2 light cavalry units of 12 figures each
1 heavy chariot unit of 3 4 horse chariots
1 light infantry unit of 12 figures with javelin
1 light infantry unit of 12 figured with slings
1 light infantry unit of 12 figures with bows
A total of 422 figures. Very impressive!

Mike Bill and I had:
10 heavy pike units of 32 figures each
6 elephants in 2 units of 3 figures each

2 heavy cavalry unit of 24 figures each
2 light cavalry units of 12 figures each
2 light infantry unit of 12 figures with bows
1 light infantry unit of 12 figures with javelin
A total of 434 figures. Even better!

So after much banter and bonding we had an initial set up as seen below.
 Mike Bill and myself. Bill had our left flank at the top of the picture. Mike had the center and I had the right flank.

 

Ken and Wendel. Ken had their right flank and Wendel had their left flank opposite me.

 

A full view of the table as we started.

Turn one. Both sides advanced towards each other. The picture below is looking from my right to left with Wendel and Ken on the right side of this picture.

 

The picture below is from the opposite side of the table. Mike Bill and myself are on the right of this picture.

As you can see Wendel and Ken advanced evenly across their front while Mike Bill and myself had held back our center.
Turn two. Here you can see we had advanced much slower this turn allowing our missile weapons to take effect.

Turn three. Sorry no picture but more of the same missile fire and bit of positioning for the mounted units.
Turn four. The real action begins.

Both armies are fully engaged and are busy slugging it out. Casualties start building and the fight is on!!!
There is a great deal of action on both flanks.
Below is our right flank where Wendel and I are messing about with my heavy cavalry, light cavalry (since departed) and elephants fighting his cataphract cavalry, heavy chariots and light cavalry (off picture to the right). Eventually I am able to beat off Wendel loosing my light cavalry and a unit of 3 elephants in the process.

 Below we have the other flank where Ken and Bill have been fighting away for a couple of turns. Both side were almost evenly matched with a unit of heavy and light cavalry each with light infantry in support (forced out of the game prior to this picture).

In the center each side was slowly adding casualties to each other and as we assessed our position it looked like we were in excellent shape.

 Oh no! Look, We forced a unit out of the game! First blood to our team.

 Ken adds the weight of his elephants to the main fight but Bill negates them with a flank maneuver thus negating their attack.

 OH NO!!! Wendel in a flurry of die rolls has managed to turn our right flank! My cavalry and elephants are out of position to do anything to help. In the picture below we have lost 2 of our 10 main units with a third being attacked in the flank. Wendel and Ken have lost 3 units at this point and whoever looses 5 main heavy infantry units first will loose the game.

 Well it was us. We took a hard loss and it was a close game. Congratulations to Ken and Wendel for a well fought game and the laurels of victory.

So the final count was we had 5 heavy infantry left while Ken and Wendel had 6.
A great deal of fun and a special thanks to Mike who outdid himself with armies we used for this game.

Oh yes, Mikes surprise. Well it turns out that Mike is having a special birthday soon. Mike will be turning 65 this year and he and his wife Mary provided birthday cake for all of us to enjoy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!!

And many, many more! Can you believe this guy is that old? Not I.

As always we have some pictures of Mikes toys.

Special figures from a special person. Mike thanks again and we will miss these games until next spring when the new campaign season begins.
Thanks to all who stop in and hey send Mike your birthday wishes!
Good gaming,
Greg

What a revolting game

Hello to all my followers and guests. I would like to take this moment to let everyone know how much I appreciate each and every person who takes the time to browse though my somewhat scattered prose about playing with little toy models and the great fun we have doing this,

Yesterday Mike hosted another game in this year's ongoing series of lesser know fights and battles. We played the revolt of the Carthaginian mercenaries and their attack on the citizens of Carthage to try to get paid. From what we understand these poor guys who fought very well had not been paid for a very very long time and were a bit upset. No unions back then and arbitration meant getting out there and slugging it out.

Our cast of characters were Jamie, Ken, Bill, Mike and myself. Jamie and Ken took the roll of the Carthaginian Citizens while Bill and I were the unpaid Rebels. Mike sat out at first and then jumped in for Ken do to an early departure for other commitments.

The Carthaginians had the following units:
10 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
1 heavy cavalry split into 2 units of 12 figures each
1 light infantry with slings - 12 figures
1 light infantry with bows - 12 figures
Total of 288 figures

The revolting Mercenaries had the following units:
9 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
2 medium infantry - 24 figures each
1 heavy cavalry - 24 figures
1 Light infantry with slings - 12 figures
1 Light infantry with bows - 12 figures
Total of 312 figures

This was a rather conservative game for Mike and we had a bit more room to spread out the game on his table.

Here you can see Ken assessing his assets and planning his deployment. The second picture show set up almost complete for Carthage and the Rebels ready to go. Please note the wrist support for Jamie who was fighting this battle injured. Too much painting says he!

So as you can see the Rebels line extends far to the left of their their center and overlaps the Carthaginian main battle line. This will be a blessing and a curse as we will soon see.

Below the advance begins. This is how the game looked at the end of movement for turn one. The Carthaginians advanced fully toward the Rebels looking to smash their right flank and center. A small detachment of cavalry stiffened up with a unit of light bowmen on the Carthaginian right was tasked with holding off the Rebels heavy cavalry long enough to effect a victory at the other end of the line. Due to the length of the Rebels battle line, they turned to the right, struggling to get into the fight. There are a lot of dice that are not going to get rolled if they cannot contact the Carthaginian troops.

Here is a shot from the other end of the battle.

Turn two sees the outnumbered but valiant cavalry and light infantry being crushed by the Rebel heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. Further down the line two other heavy infantry crash into the citizens of Carthage. But there is a strange sight on the Rebels far right flank, inactivity! Have these Rebels been bought off? Are they terrified of the might of Carthage and their fearsome reputation? Are they awake? Bill are you there?
At this point we had to stop for a moment to wipe the glee of the faces of Ken and Jamie as it looked like their plan was working out fine.

Why are these Rebels (at the bottom of the picture) not moving?

 

As the fight continues on the Rebel left flank.

Below can be seen the cavalry sweeping in behind the Carthaginians.

Finally the Rebel right attacks! Bill pushed forward and destroyed the Carthaginian cavalry facing his medium infantry. It is to be noted at this time that Jamie, while a fantastic gamer and painter extraordinaire, usually cannot roll dice to save his soul. But this time his gallant cavalry was almost the doom of Bill's plan. But alas they did eventually fail and ran away after their gallant fight.

Well it seems that the waiting was a major part of Bill's plan. Draw the enemy in deep while I battle away on the other flank. Putting off the combat and losses while buying precious time. Actually he uses this tactic in about 9 out of 10 games. Even though Mike had jumped into the game by this time he could not prevent the eventual outcome and this worked again. The Rebels win!!!

End tally was:
Losses for Carthage:
5 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
2 heavy cavalry - 12 figures each
1 light infantry with bows - 12 figures
1 light infantry with slings - 12 figures

Losses for the Rebels:
2 heavy infantry - 24 figures each
1 light infantry with slings - 12 figures

Even though the tally looks like a massive loss for Carthage it is a bit deceiving as many of the Rebel units were on the verge of checking moral and if the game lasted one more turn it could have gone the other way around.
So another great game at Mikes. One more for this campaign season and I am sure that it will be epic. Maybe we can talk Mike into using more of his gaming area and fight on about 16' of battlefield. Again epic.
So not so much eye candy today but here it is:

 

Mike's stuff is so nice!

Take care and good gaming!

Greg

Cavalry and wild Indians

Howdy partners!
Here are some pictures of Cavalry and Indians that I did many years ago. So long that I have forgotten who the manufacturer is. But let me know what you think. Wish I could paint like this again.

Now here is where I think I will boast a bit. The Cavalry flags are hand painted by myself. As I look at them and compare them to what I can do today I am saddened that this ability has been lost. Oh well, we must carry on and do the best we can.

Thanks for visiting! Good gaming to all.
Greg