Juba I vs. The Legions of Rome

My honored followers we had a very special game day at Mike's house yesterday. Mike and his wife Mary served us cake to celebrate Mike's birthday and the announcement of his well deserved retirement from the railroad. Mike has had a life long involvement with trains starting with building them and lately, repairing them. On top of all of this it was the last game our this years campaign season.

Our cast of characters was, Mike, Wendel, Ken, Bill, Phil and myself. Unfortunately Phil was called away and could not participate. So we had Wendel, Bill and Ken as the Generals of Rome and Mike and I commanded Juba's warriors of North Africa.

So here are some pictures of our initial set up.
Below we have the army of Juba I.

 And below we have the army of Rome.

The Africans gained the initiative and decided to move first.

 Where they promptly received some casualties from a Roman balista and a unit of archers.

The second turn saw the initiative move to Rome but they allowed Juba's army to move first. So we advanced again taking still more annoying missile hits.

Finally we get to close for some good old hack and slash! and a mighty blood bath it was.

Juba's troops moved steadily towards the Roman main line while the Romans were using a wait and see tactic. This allowed the Romans to inflict as many casualties as possible with their formidable missile units before closing into melee. In addition, this also cuts down the amount of room on the table preventing any troops that would be able to flank their line from having much space to work in while also buying more time to inflict casualties.
Way up at the top of the above picture you can see Mike and Ken having at it with Mike trying to thrash Ken's cavalry so as to obtain a clear shot at the Roman left flank. Meanwhile Wendel and I are having at it on the Roman right flank as  Iattempt do gain an advantage also.
The picture below shows Mikes success at crushing Ken's cavalry wetting up the chance to move on the Roman flank. Go Mike!!

 Below on my flank I was having less success against Wendel and he was able to get some light cavalry and infantry past me. All this time Bill was directing traffic and annoying us with those damned missiles.

 Another shot of Mike's advantage on this flank.

 Finally the battle line collide and the butchering begins.

 For four turns we traded blows but the Romans had the upper hand having bloodied us with the missile attacks while we were advancing.

 And eventually Bill's tactic won the day for Rome.

I have to say that Bill has used this ploy on many occasions and has won a number of games with it. Very clever Bill.

So Rome has won another battle and has added North Africa to the Empire. 

Congratulations to Bill, Ken and Wendel!

Even though we took it on the chin Mike and I had a great time also.

Here again are some pictures of Mike's toys. I apologize for the quality of the pictures as my camera fu was off.

The figure below was painted by the very talented Paul Innes. Unfortunately my picture does this no justice. This figure is stunning in the flesh so to say.

 So thanks s always for stopping by and I hope to have more in the near future. Good gaming,
Greg