Barbaric Invaders!

Hello and welcome to all who have taken a moment to read this report of our groups ongoing ancient battles at Mike's house. For those who may be new to these posts, Mike runs a series of Ancients games late Spring to early Fall at his home in Chicago. Mike tries to have a theme each year and this year it is unusual and minor battles that may have or may not have been influential to the lands they occurred in or to the people who fought them.
We played this game on June 13th and we had eight gamers which is a perfect number for our games. The game was the early Celt invasion of the infant Roman Empire. Rome had gathered it's allies and marched north into the Po valley to stop the Celtic tide heading for the capital of Rome.
As always we used our Tactica rules (will we ever see Tactica II over 20 years late). This day we had guests and travelers from a far away land called Michigan, John and Eric. These are two well seasoned gamers and were a welcome addition to our group. Also in attendance were our host Mike, Ken, Bill, Wendel, Phil and myself. We were split unevenly though as Mike, Bill and myself were the invading Celts and Wendel, Ken, Phil, John and Eric were Rome and her allies.
The armies were as follows:

Rome:
11 heavy infantry units of 24 figures each.
2 heavy cavalry units of 24 figures each.
During set up the Romans decided to divide one of the cavalry units into two units of 12 figures each.

Celts:
8 medium infantry units of 48 figures each.
2 heavy cavalry units of 12 figures each

Here is the beginning setup. Look Ma, ,new experiment with moving pictures! We may try more of this in the future.
Celts

 Rome and the Allies

 Overall still of the center of the battlefield.

 Another shot a bit further down.

As you can see Mike provided an ample number of figures to play with and all painted to a very high if not superior quality.

The Celts had decided to behave badly and just charge across the open ground to hack and slash their way to victory. Rome and her allies were evidently in tune with their adversaries and obliged them by charging at least as far as their opponents. So soon the scrum was on and much blood watered the field of battle that day. But I must digress to address the fight on each flank. As we should all know, the flanks are the most important and weakest parts of the ancient armies. Today though the flanks played a much lesser role that is usually the case in our games. Bill had the Celtic left flank and opposed Ken. Ken had split his cavalry into the 2 12 figure units. Bill had used one of his warbands to occupy the attention of the cavalry while trying to slip his much smaller cavalry unit past the Romans right flank. This was a good plan but took much longer than expected.
On the Celtic right flank, I was opposed by Wendel who is well known in our group as the cavalry master. On this day Wendel was not lacking. I used my much smaller cavalry unit (12 figures vs 24 figures) to try to soften up his cavalry. But Wendel brushed them away as so many flies. This would mean that one of my warbands would have to fight it out with the heavy cavalry on almost equal terms. Not part of my plan.

So here is what we had in the early going of the game. The Celtic left flank at the top.

After the defeat of the Celtic Cavalry on their right flank.

A view from the Celtic right flank with the cavalry slipping past the Roman right flank.

 

Then the main forces collide and the fight is on!

If you look through the pictures you may note that the Celtic units are falling away to nothing! The beating that we received from Wendel's cavalry sealed the fate of the units that opposed them as seen in the last picture of the bottom unit with all the casualties marked by the yellow dice. In the center, commanded by Phil, Eric and John, their dice rolling abilities were outstanding and they were inflicting casualties on the Celts at a rate of just over two to one. Wonderful performance for their first outing in Tactica. At this point need I even say that it was a resounding Roman victory! Laurels to the victors as the defeated slink off to plan their revenge. Even though Mike and I were able to make a couple of surprising moral checks, and Bill was past their right flank with his cavalry, these were not nearly enough to stem the losses inflicted by Eric Phil and John in the center.
So another great game! Thanks to Mike for letting us enjoy a part of his wonderful collection and as always some obligatory eye candy.

All of the above shield patterns are hand painted!

These too!

Well thanks for stopping by and I hope to see everyone soon.
Greg

 

TF North History Club game

Hi to all. Here I believe is a first for me. Two posts so close together.
This is about a game we put on for Thornton Fractional North High School's History Club. This club is led by history teacher Bill Weber who is also the coach of the schools chess team.

We have in the past run miniatures games for the students to provide a hands on experiences that give a visual connection to their text books, let's them have fun playing with toys that they are not normally exposed to and to think independently and develop leadership skills. The school graciously provide the venue for our game on Saturday and the students provide their enthusiasm.

This game was a first for me in that I was finally able to use my Northwest Frontier figures for the Second Afghan War that I have been working on for over 5 years. Also I got to use some terrain that I have recently built specifically for this period. We used the fun and fast Sword and the Flame rules that I find are easy for new players to grasp and are convenient for those teaching new players a game.

The scenario was a British / East Indian patrol had set up a heliograph post on a hill at one end of a nameless Afghan valley and a patrol of mixed troops were to come down the valley to pick them up and escort them back out. Their Afghan adversaries though had other plans for the escort and the post on the hill.

We had a large number of students show up for the game which is great and always exciting but it put a little strain on the number of figures each student was able to control. Never the less we managed to get this all sorted out and everyone seemed to be pleased with their command. Besides it always seems that one or two students come and go during the game due to outside commitments.

Below are pictures of the two sets of players and their forces.

The British team - Command - 4 mounted officers, heliograph team
                            1 company of Highlanders with bagpiper and drummer (total of 22 soldiers)
                            2 companies of East Indian troops (20 soldiers each)
                            2 Field guns and crews (4 each)
                            2 squadrons of Lancers (12 troopers each)
                            1 heliograph patrol (10 Guides soldiers 3 officers and 1 heliograph team)

 The Afghan team - 10 Afghan hill clans (20 clansmen each)
                                1 Leader (3 mounted figures)

Here is the game set up.

The Afghan players were allowed to have hidden deployment and I let them leave their troops on the table to distract the British players while the red markers were possible points of entry for the Afghan units. This worked out pretty good in that it minimized the movement of pricey figures by novice players on and off the table. It also saved a considerable amount of time. I must say that the Afghan team was adept at deploying their forces and took the British completely by surprise by ambushing them at the very start of the game.

Above you can see the British forces reacting to the ambush. There are no less than 5 units of Afghans attacking the flanks and rear of the British column. The British in response have deployed their cavalry and artillery to address this threat. Unfortunately both sides payed heavily in loss of men. Eventually the British were able to drive off the attacks but not until they lost a field piece to the enemy and had suffered harsh losses. The Afghans were a tenacious bunch and gave the British what for. Eventually though they had to relinquish control of the captured gun back to it's original owners.

Meanwhile at the head of the column the British were deploying to address multiple threats from the surrounding hills and to their immediate front.

In this picture below you can see, in the lower right corner, the heliograph post coming under attack by forces double theirs! Their officers were exceptionally effective blazing away with pistols at close range and inflicting no less than 6 casualties during the course of two fire phases.

 

We decided to call the game after turn five. At this point it was still a close game but it definitely was turning to the Afghan players favor. The British were suffering far too many casualties to continue much longer but the Afghans were only slightly better off. It could have been a different outcome but the Afghan players were extremely fortunate in making a number of crucial moral rolls during all parts of the game. 

So it was decided that the Afghans had given the British a good bloody nose! They also were able to capture a few good rifles, almost took home a modern field piece and might have gotten some horses if the game had gone on much longer. This in no way detracts from the British players handling of their troops. They were able to recover from a devastating ambush and inflict a high number of casualties on the Afghans.

So here are the students at the end of the game.

Afghans

                                                                             British

I as the creator of the scenario was somewhat disappointed that no one used or even hardly considered using the marvelous and crafty hill fort I had spent days on making. Oh well another ego burst. One can never predict what the players will do.

Good gaming to all and as always comments good and bad are welcome. Thanks for reading.

Greg

Carthage invades Spain!

Hello to all gamers and guests. This post is about three weeks late but here we go.
Mike started his campaign season with a spectacular game of Carthage vs Spain. As always the figures were outstanding and plentiful and the rules were Tactica. Our version of course since I seriously doubt that we will see Tactica II in our lifetime.

We had a great turnout with the following players:
As the defenders of Spain - Ken the greater as their leader and general, Jamie, Tyler  and two new players Brent and his son Logan.
As the invaders from Carthage - Bill our fearless leader, Mike, Wendel and myself.

Since we love to play around with the rules and tinker, we decided to try something the has been floating around in our heads for a while. We wanted to see if cavalry and light infantry could break through a battle line in the center and roll up to either flank. This tactic was agreed upon by all of the Carthaginian players and is reflected in our initial set up.

 Here are some pictures of our valiant heavy cavalry just before their historic charge.

 Below you can see our set up with the heavy cavalry leading the attack supported by copious light infantry to either side and the heavy infantry following close behind.

 Unfortunately this plan didn't work as well as the concept sounded. I bungled the use of the light infantry as I was too eager to get into combat. Oh yes this was my plan and I executed it clumsily. Well don;t cry over spilt wine. The cavalry and light infantry did make some minor dents in the Spanish line but all 4 units vaporized in two turns. 48 heavy cavalry and 48 light infantry devastated by 72 medium infantry.

None the less this cleared the way for the Carthaginian heavy infantry to advance. The Spanish though were not just sitting idly by. They had placed the major portion of their cavalry on their left flank with the plan of crushing our right. Facing this massive horde of Spanish horse flesh was one light cavalry unit and two heavy infantry units. The Carthaginians (Wendel and Bill) deftly handled these units to stop the Spanish long enough to allow our heavy infantry to close with the Spanish medium infantry.

 On the Spanish right, Brent and Logan intended to use a unit of light cavalry and some medium infantry to try and force the Carthaginian left. This eventually worked but again Wendel managed to hold them off long enough to get most of our heavy infantry past the flanking forces.

The flanking actions eventually worked but only briefly. Had they lasted longer this game would have been a cake walk.

Meanwhile in the center the battle was raging! The Carthaginian heavy infantry collided with the Spanish medium infantry and it was a battle of numbers vs quality. While exchanging casualties in fairly even amounts, the Spanish were slowly wearing down the Carthaginians and turning both flanks! Carthage (Mike and Bill) was between a rock and a hard place. Spain (Ken Jamie and Tyler) were relentlessly pounding away at the heavy infantry in front of them.

 After consulting with his generals and a heartfelt promise to the Gods, Mike came back to the fight with a vengeance and rolled a series of attacks that were historic! Trouncing his adversaries left and right, Mike saved the day for Carthage smashing the Spanish line.

All in all another great game with much bantering and camaraderie enjoyed by all. Thanks to Mike for hosting this great game and again allowing us to play with his wonderful toys.

Some of our gang.

Mike

 Logan, Brent, Tyler and Ken

 More or parts of the same but there is Jamie with his arms folded

 Wendel Bill and myself

 Thanks to all who help to make this such a fascinating hobby and stop by to partake of our adventures. And thanks again to our group of gamers for all being great sports and great gamers.

Take care and roll well!
Greg

Flames of War at Adepticon 2015

Well it has been some time since the last post but I have been busy with Bill putting together a Flames of War game and running it at Adepticon 2015.

I want to thank the wonderful people at Battlefront - Flames of War for all the support we received from them. Battlefront gave us Brumbars and motorcycle platoons for each player in addition to two issues of Miniature Wargames for each player. A very generous set of gifts for the gamers. In real terms each participant took home over $40.00 worth of prizes. On top of this Adepticon provided us with awards for the top two players from each team.

We decided to do Mid-War East Front but with a little twist. We wanted to have as many nationalities as we could cram into one place in history at one time! So there were Russians (of course), Germans (of course), Italians and Hungarians. Mid-War was chosen because in our minds everyone was a bit more equal in terms of experience, power and moral. It turned out to be a good mix and the players seemed to enjoy the variety.

The down side to all this is that we put together two huge armies which meant that there were a lot of figures to transport and move about. We had listed our event as a Flames of War alternative to tournament play and as a platform for learning the game itself. What we did not expect was that the most experienced player in the game had only 3 hours of play time under his belt. This meant that we could not depend on any of the players helping each other with the game mechanics. We had 12 players sign up but ended up with only 11 for the game.

Our terrain was based on two Cigar Box fleece material mats (which by the way are of fantastic quality and well worth the money) with other fields and roads made from teddy bear fur material. Topping this off were add on pieces like villages, trees and hedges.
Here are some pictures of the game.

As you can see there were plenty of figures and tanks to go around. Bill supplied all of the trees, hedges and the two villages. One was a bombed out village and the other was habitable. Bill outdid himself with the habitable village as seen below.

This is 15mm guys! Very nicely done!!!!

The players seemed to have had a fairly good time with the exception of one of the Italian players who had the very bad luck of being in the wrong place with the wrong equipment as he was severely underpowered and it probably would have taken a very experienced player to make his command enjoyable.
 Here are the players

All in all it was a very enjoyable time. Set up and take down went quickly. Adepticon provided us with more than enough space and our event was sold out. We will be back next year with a new game and surprises but we have learned some valuable information for the next go around. We will run a smaller game. Maybe not on the number of players but in the number of figures per player. We will also bring the opponents closer together sooner either through the set up or some mechanic to allow for faster movement until close to the enemy.
So as always, comments are always welcome and please please please help to support Adepticon 2016!!
A great convention. Free to get in if you are not playing and not too much more than any other convention if you are. My wish is that Little Wars would combine with them in the near future.
Good gaming!
Greg