Carthaginians versus Romans

This time Dave and I went for a more historical match up as we tried to get back into Impetus Second Edition.  Just 300 points.

Deployment.

Turn one advance.

Turn Two advance

Roman CnC is downgraded.

Turn Three contact.

I threw plenty of sixes, Dave threw plenty of ones.

My sub-general is killed.

The Roman sub-general is downgraded.

Turn Four and Roman morale breaks.

I am not sure that Second Edition, for the effort involved, provides a more enjoyable game than Basic.  If there was only Second Edition I would be happy playing it, but given Basic...

Carthaginian versus Indians 300pts

After playing a lot of Basic Impetus, Dave and I decided to go back or forward to Impetus Second Edition.  We thought starting off with just 300 points would be a good way to ease ourselves back into this more advanced rule set.  

You don't get a lot for 300 points, 

close to the same size army as you get with Basic.

First turn and the Indian longbow start to score hits

and the Carthaginians start to fail Cohesion Tests.

My C-in-C is downgraded.

Later he threw a double six, but that was just the dice Gods being cruel.

By the end of Turn 2 the Carthaginians had been able to launch full on cavalry attacks,

on both wings of the Indian army.

Unfortunately they were not very successful.

Turn three and the Carthaginian Second Command breaks.

Their First Command is locked in combat.

Turn four and it is all over.

The Carthaginian cavalry did get round the Indian's right flank,

but just couldn't score a hit on the elephants.

If they had it would have been a different story, maybe.

Carthaginian versus Classical Indian

This time with Impetus Second Edition, 400 Points.

My Carthaginians fielded two commands.

One being cavalry and light troops.

The other the infantry.

 We advanced.

 My skirmishers are buying time till the infantry can get into position.

 The skirmishers proved ephemeral,

but the infantry is now engaged and that is what it is all about with this army.

End of the fourth turn.  

One Indian wing had routed,  

Both Carthaginian Commands were close to 33% . 

As it was getting late I felt it appropriate to call it a draw.

One of the issues with Second Edition is the VD numbers for units calculated using the Army Builder spreadsheet are sometimes different from the original lists.  Dave and I hadn't coordinated this so I am not sure we were consistent.  We also hadn't settled on the optional rule that has commands fight on till 50%.

Nikephorian Byzantine versus Late Eastern Imperial Romans Again

For my last miniatures game of 2019 my usually triumphant Byzantines ran out of arrows.

 Dave won the roll to be attacker,

but I won the role to decide who deployed first.

My two terrain choices had both been null,

so looking good.

 Game got off to a great start when Dave's CinC was downgraded.

Whoop!

 Turn One archery was dismal.

 Turn Two archery was no better.

 Roman cataphracts ride down some Byzantine light cavalry that had failed to evade.

 Turn Three saw my Byzantine foot disordered while my cavalry just couldn't get a shot in.

 Crow's eye view of this critical stage.

 Turn Four.  

My Byzantine foot is struggling, 

and my cavalry is thinning out.

Nothing like rolling sixes for cohesion tests.

 The Gods must be crazy.

My CinC is upgraded to Genius!

Ha Ha

Turn Five and it's all over.

Despite the ignominious loss, this was yet another great game of Impetus.  400 points seems just right for a club night.

Alexander 400 versus Classical Indian

Going back to 400 points, my Alexandrian Imperials had a tough fight  against Dave's Classical Indians.

 The "Heavy" command with CinC is on the right,

the "Light" command is on the left.

I got to deploy second and so lined up my pikes against the elephants.

The Dice Gods didn't think much of my deployment

and straight away my CinC was downgraded.

Bummer!

 Not wanting to waste time under the shadow of the longbow,

my army makes a double move.

On the left I have some success.

But things get better when the enemy CinC is downgraded.

 Turn Two and contact.

My pikes were less than successful.

They could do better :-)

On the left the Indian heavy foot ran over two of my Thracian light foot.

The left wing command is left wondering where his troops went.

And whether his command is now really broken OOPS!

The pikes grind on.

The Dice Gods change their minds about my CinC,

but it is too late,

the reputational damage has been done.

 Turn Three and my left wing is about to collapse.

Maybe it already should have...

But the enemy elephants are in a sorry state.

 Turn Four and my left has shattered.

I just need to take out one more enemy unit on the right to break that command.

Victory!

My elite cavalry took four goes to inflict a single killing casualty on the unit they had been facing.  The number of dice rolled were 9, 6, 6 and 6.  Only on the final roll did a six come up.  Thankfully my other troops had fought better.

Dave had five tactical cards, I had four.  All were used to good effect.

Great game, but it might have been a victory for the Indians depending on how we use the 33% versus 50% break levels.

Nikephorian Byzantine versus Late Eastern Imperial Roman

500 points on a 6x4, quite different to recent games using Impetus Second Edition.  My Byzantines against Dave's Romans.  To account for the table size we added an extra terrain piece each, however we both threw "nothing"on the terrain table.

This game is best summarized as "on target".

 Despite my preponderance of cavalry.

I was out scouted and had to set up first.

But as can be seen, this didn't matter.

 End of Turn 1

I actually advanced.

In switching between rules we forgot that ranges changed and that opportunity was a thing.

 Oh dear!

My sub-general is downgraded.

 End of Turn 2.

We are in missile range.

 End of Turn 3.

My guys have been fantastic shots!

Half of the enemy skirmishers have been eliminated.

 End of Turn 4.

Did I say fantastic shots?

They were double good fantastic shots!!

 End of Turn 5.

Oh no, they are firing (pitifully) back.

(Note disorder marker on my far left legion - it actually hurt as we shall see...)

 End of Turn 6.

My army viewed from the disordered Roman side.

 What???

My CinC gets downgraded.

 While the enemy subcommander gets upgraded!

 That same enemy general who has lost most of his command 

and is about three casualties from breaking.

 End of Turn 7.

Contact and my troops recoil.

(the disordered legion on my far left was badly mauled)

 End of Turn 8.

And end of game.

The Roman left wing collapses (who's the upgraded general now huh?)

and with the losses sustained by the main body that is enough to tip them over to break.

Victory!