Greeks versus Persians in the Age of Hannibal

Since doing the Pyrrhus Campaign there was some pressure to try the Age of Hannibal rules.  I am more than happy with Basic Impetus (and must get back to Impetus 2.0) but have finally given them a go.

1,000 points per side on a six by four table.

We used terrain and deployment set up from Basic Impetus.

(Because we hadn't assembled the cards for AoH).

Mark B's Persians had out scouted my Greeks.

It struck me as very much like DBA, but with more figures.

In most cases we used two classic WRG bases to represent one unit.

This gave a standard 40mm x 40mm base mostly.

It was great to get my Hoplites on the table again.  

I had started that army back in the mid 1980s.

Unlike DBA, at least at the start, the number of movement PIPs was not a problem.

The rules are very simple and perhaps I over think things when moving a unit.

The big difference to DBA was the use of an eight-sided dice.

I was not very impressed that my die rolls were regularly 1s

and unlike Impetus rolling low is always bad.

The one disorder, two disorder and third disorder dead mechanism worked okay.

The Morale Clock, an interesting idea, seemed irrelevant.  

Maybe dropping one level for every five losses might be better.

The Persians destroyed the Greek left wing.

But the Greeks did have some success on their right.

Getting photos on the big table meant a lot of the figure detail is lost,

so here is a close up.

The club's terrain cloth meant hills can be placed underneath,

resulting in figures falling over,

which you might have spotted in an earlier photo.

Based on just one game it is a bit premature to pass judgment, especially with just the use of one army and not using stratagems or the rule's terrain system.  However, I did find it a bit simple.

I could do to see some detailed examples of play, particularly movement, conforming to the enemy when units are in the way, missile fire at or by units in melee, and handling multiple units in melee.  In the latter case we paired things off if we could.  We also allowed units to fire into a melee but did not allow fire by a unit in melee.

Back to Tobago

Much more fun that Ponzi Scheme, particularly as I amassed the most treasure!

The clues to the treasure, reducing the possible locations of the treasure 

and then dealing it out once it is found is a great little mechanic.

My treasure!

Next time Richard says we can try it with the Volcano and Lava to spice things up a little.

Ponzi Scheme

Nerve wracking game played with Richard, Russell and Stefan.

My debt clock, securities and hidden cash.

The number in black is the amount borrowed.

The number in white is the interest that has to be paid.

The game ended when Richard went bankrupt.  Russell survived that fate by one dollar and won with an impressive portfolio of shares.  Stefan was also looking at bankruptcy but was doing okay and came second as I had foolishly tried to buy a share from him at too low a price and ended up giving one of my shares to him.  My spread of shares did not provide for significant VPs so I came a happy third.  I had a warm inner glow as my debt was nowhere near what the other players had accrued.

A very interesting and challenging game.  But nerve wracking!

Comment from Richard:

I must say I found Ponzi a quite difficult game to come to grips with.

It's similar to container in that you need to keep an eye on how much

money is circulating in the system to see what the "value" of card

trades might be, but wholly unique in that you can't be certain how much

money someone actually has. I can't say I really had any strategy other

than cash flow management. I didn't get to grips with the clandestine

trading and it just ended up a churning exercise which got me nowhere.

So the game went for 9 rounds with me going bust. I'm not sure why I

decided to purchase that card off Russell which ended up giving him just

enough money with a dollar to spare to pay his loans for that turn. (I

blame tiredness with all the overtime I've been doing this week for a

very silly move).

This cost Mark the game as Russell would have gone bust, and Stefan and

I were quite a way behind in victory points. I give the moral victory (

assuming that's possible in a game about running a Ponzi scheme) to Mark

who played a very judicious game and deserved to win. An interesting

game with more plays required to better understand.

My Carthaginian Army

Ninety nine percent of these figures were magnificently converted and painted by Mark Woods.  All I did was rebase then for Impetus and add one or two more units from spare figures.  Not sure I ever made a post about them (but I might have).  Here is a photo of the collection I took recently in considering them for an Age of Hannibal game.

In checking it seems I did post about them:

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2020/03/my-little-carthaginian-army.html

Later Visigoths versus Old Saxons

They actually overlap in time (around the 8th Century) and this battle demonstrates why the Saxons failed to settle in Spain (until modern times).

Mostly very new troops on my part making their debut versus some very old figures making up Dave's Saxons.

Not surprising the Visigoths out scouted the Saxons

who deployed between two lakes.

The Saxons advanced while the Visigoths waited,

content to send their skirmishers forward.

The Saxons held back their wings which were now threatened by the Visigoth scouts.

The main body of Visigoth cavalry shuffled to their right.

A skirmish starts to develop on the Saxon's flanks,

as the bulk of their infantry head towards the enemy. 

The Visigoths have success on their left but are mired on their right.

There has been a clash between some of the Saxon foot and Visigoth horse,

with the later coming off the worse.

There has been a very mixed outcome with the infantry.

Meanwhile the Visigoth horse is now in position.

Will the Saxon foot catch the Visigoth mounted?

Will that skirmish on the right ever get resolved?

And is that victory of the Saxon infantry on the left somewhat Pyrrhic

given their commander has perished?

The Visigoth mounted make a lucky escape.

The Visigoth scouts are still battling away,

but the charge up the rear of the Saxons has failed.

The infantry fight on.

Finally victory to the Visigoths!

The large Saxon warbands are tough,

but the Visigoths were able to use their better mobility

to get around them (just).

Even More Dark Age Reinforcements

Too many is not enough, more are required!

This is a real mix of figures some of whom have been painted for a while

and were just waiting for some similar types to join them.

Tin Soldier mostly DVA6 Bondi

Tin Soldier DSA2 Fyrd

Heading to the tabletop now.

Union Stockyards

This game came highly recommended, but it is not a subject I care for being a vegetarian.

I was the Swift meat packing company and muddled through with poor brand reputation, but a healthy slice of Packingtown.

Here is some commentary from Richard:

Union Stockyards

Well, we certainly learned what to do in the last turn if you're in a positive margin on your products. Russell selling three times in the last round pocketed a whole bunch of cash. Everything else kind of evened out, but Russell's cash holdings tipped things in his favour. Russell is 3 wins from 3 games. (I'll make sure the board is upside down when facing him next time).

Mark's product prices suffered from poor brand development, but he streaked ahead with buildings. Perhaps choosing different ones which also boosted brand might have helped.

My buildings suffered from poor synergies only getting a few late game points for those and I didn't get the most out of my railroad connections only getting one double location which I chose to develop instead of slaughtering like Russell.

It would be interesting to see how this game played with 4 or 5 players as that would cut down opportunities to acquire so many buildings each and you also get far more limited numbers of trade houses (although we didn't lean heavily into that in this game).

This game is really great I think and it plays so fast once you understand how it works.

Francis Drake Sails Again

Happy to get my second go at this game.  Much better when you have a feel for what to do, however it's a tricky game, especially when trying to outfit one's voyage.

Final scores top left corner.  Richard in yellow. I'm blue and Russell was red.

Back to Stalingrad

Andrew and Stefan successfully take a block of the ruins of Stalingrad from Karl and Stephen.

Clearing one building and getting ready to dash to another.

While the other Germans hold on in the factory.

More Dark Age reinforcements

These are very much intended to be generic Dark Age figures, but also, I just painted what felt right.

DNA6 Heavy archer form the Tin Soldier Norman Range.

DSA4 Select Fryd from their Saxon range.

Pretty sure these are Old Glory.

I was inspired by a mannequin I saw in the Army Museum in Toledo of a Visigoth knight.

One Sided Miniature Wargaming Discourse: Museum of the Army Toledo Spain

Tobago and Francis Drake

Two new and to me unknown games played in a few hours with Richard and Stefan (who had put in the effort to guess the game based on clues provided).

First there was treasure hunting on Tobago.  Fun and easy to pick up (the rules that is, not so much the treasure).  Both Stefan and I suffered from cursed treasure which impacted Stefan particularly badly.  

Then there was Francis Drake.  A more challenging game and it took me a while to figure out what to do.  As there are only three voyages this made it hard to catch up especially with some bastard moves that blocked me from getting indigo.  As it was Stefan (blue) and myself (green) finished very close together in terms of VPs.  Richard had romped home to win this game as well the previous one.

This game had some nice player aids, like the little treasure chests in which to store any gems that had been looted from the Spanish colonies.  Although a few things were rather dull in comparison (gun and crew markers for example).  But with this game it certainly helped to know the rules. 

Charming games.  Played quickly although not without lots of thought.