Early Macedonian Successor versus Justinian Byzantine

Another game at the club that did not end well.

It got off to a good start when Olivier rolled a double one

 and had his Genius CinC downgraded.

I shouldn't have laughed.  

My first roll saw one of my commanders downgraded.

Bird's eye view and my peltasts are giving his cavalry some woe.

My plan was to advance on my right 

and it started well when my peltasts routed a unit of enemy cavalry.

This caused the enemy to pullback.

Arrgh!  

Another downgrade.

I pull back my cavalry on my left while slowly angling my infantry.

It is looking very promising on the right.  

The enemy's withdrawal has put them in disorder.

The black cloak peltasts went in for the kill, suffered a scratch and threw a six on the Cohesion Test.

A call to the Gods did not fix it.  The whites cloaks shuffled over to fill the gap.

Not much is happening on the left.

However I do find out the bulk of the cavalry is Grade A

and that it was Andrew's winning army from the Cancon tournament...

(on loan to Olivier)

But I get a chance and send in my cavalry when the Byzantine is disordered by over extending.

My Thracians have closed in on the Byzantine left and it's looking good.

Eh, maybe not so good.  A carefully synchronised attack fails to achieve a breakthrough when my Thracians both roll high on their cohesion tests.  Again, a call to the Gods achieved nothing.

I thought I best hurry to close in the centre.

All I got was disordered.

My Thessalian cavalry have routed (another six on the Cohesion Test).

Even my pike seem unable to hurt the enemy cavalry although they give Olivier a shock.

That Byzantine cavalry unit, with the CinC, has just ridden down the hoplites protecting the pike block's flank (again I threw a six for the Cohesion Test, not that it was necessary given the spearmen were hit in the flank).

Time to call it quits.

We had a wonderful time getting ourselves into a muddle over the Discipline Test for the A.
My take is as follows:
One move - no test as per normal
Second move - Discipline Test required, must throw 3 or higher for A plus one for the General so they will pass on a 2 or more.
Third move - Discipline Test required and the score to pass is increased by 1.  So a 3 is required for A class with General.

Our confusion came from the application of the +1 to the result that is needed.  It only comes in after the second move.  The second move does not count as a +1.  A fourth move would attract a +2.

In our game the the Byzantine cavalry rolled a 2 after their second move and then a 3 after their third move.

My first serious wargame figures

These two Stadden 30mm metal figures are the first serious wargame figures that I painted.  Mum and dad got them for me from the Barbican Museum, Burradoo near Bowral in NSW, January 1972 along with the Funcken book L'Uniforme et les Armes des Soldats du Premier Empire, Volume 2 (and it really was in French). I used this book as a guide to paint these figures (and still use it today).

FC 07 Officer charging Mounted

WF 11 Drummer advancing Foot

The officer's sword has been broken and repaired.

He was very unstable and so I've provided a bigger base so he can safely go in my display cabinet.

I used used clear plastic as I didn't want to detract from the original figure.  

I'm amazed to see I actually applied some flock to the base.  It would have been a first, experimental test of such an advanced modelling technique.

I liked the reflection.

The horse is done in oils, but the rest would be a mixture of Humbrol or Airfix enamels.

Never actually used in a game, but never say never.

Early Macedonian Successor versus Gauls

Almost an historical game if my history serves me well (Gauls are some type of Galatians I think).  Whatever, it ended up badly, for the Greeks :-(

My Greeks face the onslaught of the Graham's impetuous Gauls. 

I decided to hold back and hope for a counter charge by starting (and staying) on opportunity.

Things look promising...

I advanced my peltasts and Thracians to contest the steep hill on my left.  

I had high expectations which unfortunately were not met.

My right held back.  I sent some Greek light cavalry out to skirmish, 

but unfortunately they seemed to have forgotten to take a supply of javelins.

Even though outnumbered I thought it best to throw in the Thessalian cavalry.

Things were going badly on my left.

The right wing cavalry continue to fight as the centre goes into the attack. 

While on the left the C-in-C goes in with his elite cavalry.

My right wing cavalry collapse, but the infantry are fighting hard

My left wing collapses as well along with the C-in-C 

who suffered a run of single casualties due to being disordered

At this stage only the infantry remain. 

 They might prevail, but it would have been left very exposed if they did.

Time to concede.

Flats

When going through my 54mm figures I found this chap.  David Williams had a whole army of them and gave me one to try out.  This was in the mid 1980s.  Suffice to say I've only painted one.

25mm scale, no idea of manufacturer and yes it is for the Seven Years War.

This post was inspired by James of the ANF sending me links of 6mm flats.  Will the madness never end?

Rescue the Governor

At the NWS Games Day I was fortunate to take command of the cavalry that was part of the relief force to sent to rescue the Governor.

My lads, 10th Hussars flanked by the 9th Bengal Lancers.

Cavalry moving up with the 28th Bengal Infantry to the right and 

the Royal Marine Light Infantry to the fore

Intrepid reporter

It's a long way to go to the Governor's residence

The going gets rough 

The Bengal lancers get stuck into the Fuzzy Wuzzys who threaten the column;

spear and ask questions later seems to be the call of the day

28th Bengal Infantry and the 10th Hussars moving up 

while the Bengal lancers do their bit for Queen and Country

What?

Exactly - Where the bloody hell did they get that from...

The cavalry push on, bravely ignoring the cannon.

The flanking fire was...

Ineffectual

The Imperial cavalry are now bogged down in rough terrain

The whole relief force looks strung out

The 3rd Battalion Egyptian Foot look in dire straits

Bengal lancers engage the Mahdist cavalry

The enemy are repelled

The enemy come back

And are driven off again

The relief column, now more of a line, continue their advance to rescue the Governor

The Governor and his wife watches as Mahdist cavalry swarm around

The cavalry, under my command, push back the enemy

The Colonel of the 10th Hussars  pleads with the Governor to leave, 

but he refuses to budge to such lowly authority.

Luckily the Major-General is on his way.

The 9th Bengal Lancers charge the enemy

The 10th Hussars smash into the Madhist infantry

The Colonel gets a whiff of ???

It smells like victory

The Governor agrees to be escorted from the field by the brave beau sabres of the 10th Hussars.

He says it's just like hunting with the hounds

Brilliant game!  Thanks for organising it, Carlo!