Hail Caesar Age of Bronze, biggest battle yet.

 In preparation for this weeks 6mm game I finished off a few more troops for my Hittites and a desert farm to add to the terrain collection. I now have about 580 points of Hittites plus 5 command chariots, so, nearly finished? The 'Irregular' 6mm miniatures look fairly basic initially but paint up really well. 

Today's games was ...The Battle of Karkemish.

A 4 player clash with 350 points per player.

There will be 4 deployment zones, one in each corner of the table, assigned, D1, D2, D3 and D4.

This can either be a complete free-for all game (players may forge alliances as they wish) or, after deployment, players throw a D6 each, the two highest throws and the two lowest throws will be allies.

Players then draw one of the random event cards. These vary from giving you objectives to fulfil in the game to improving your dice throws or increasing your general's leadership.  

Terrain is placed randomly across the board with the Oasis, Sphynx, Village and the Farm being the main objectives and count as 1 objective point gained.

However, the village and the farm are occupied and if a unit comes within 6” the dwellers within will respond (on a d6) as follows...

1,2: small unit of skirmishers with jav.

3,4:small unit of camel riders, bow

5,6: locals fled before you came.

Throw a d6 again...

1,2,3: friends and allies, add to your forces.

4,5,6: hostile, will fight against you with one of your enemy forces.

Egyptians are led by Pharaoh Philenkhamen

Elamites led by King Nigelemsaf

Hittites led by King Stutekh

Arab Raiders led by King Ianferka

So fate (the dice) decided that King Ianferka and his Arab Raiders would ally with my Hittites against the combined might of Pharaoh Philenkhamen and King Nigelemsaf  with the allied forces being placed diagonally across from each other.  What followed was an almighty clash as the armies maneuvered towards their chosen objectives. Ian opted to go for the farm and I moved quickly towards the Oasis which led to us ganging up on Nigel and his Elamites leaving Phil's Egyptians with the smaller half of Ian's force to deal with. What didn't help our cunning plan was that my division of Syrian Chariots decided not to move at all for the first 3 turns. 

Here you can see the blue objective token Ian has claimed at the farm (the farm workers had all fled) and he also claimed the Sphynx early on until Phil pushed him back and claimed that objective. 

A quick shot of Pharaoh Phil's Egyptians as they approach the battle. 

Late in the game the Egyptian's also claimed the village despite the villagers opposing him. 

Here my Hittites are advancing quickly, 

leaving their Syrian allies who refused to move far behind. 

Nigel's chariots approach the farm and were able to break Ian's forces over a number of turns.

My Hittites at the bottom approach Nigel's main force, he had a lot of archers who softened my troops up before the main melee. I managed to break one of his smaller division but we were still battling it our when the game ended after 6 action packed turns.  

My Hittite chariots trying to break through the Elamite centre. 

Pharaoh Phil grabs the Sphynx, pushing Ian back and breaking two of his divisions which led to Ian's Arab raiders being made to all withdraw. 

At 700 points per side this was our largest battle of Hail Caesar yet. There was a lot of shooting and fighting over the six turns with the Egyptian/Elamite allies claiming more objective points and therefore the overall victory. Another very enjoyable game. 

I have also finished my first command base of the Wiglaf  miniatures Early Saxons. Many more of these and other Dark Age (or Early Medieval) figures to do. For my banners I am sourcing line drawings of animals inspired by artwork of that era and then reducing them down. A quick paint job and you soon have a decent looking banner.  

  

Battle of the River Plate

 For this weeks game we went round to Nigel's house where he hosted a game of General Quarters, replaying the battle of the River Plate. It should be noted here that Nigel has hundreds of 1/3000th scale battleships from WW1 up to modern times; all labelled and on nicely textured bases. It was a little ironic to then only use 5 of them in our first game but they proved to be enough. . 

With Nigel acting as the rules master for this game he took on the role of the Admiral Graf Spee with Phil commanding our force aboard the HMS Cumberland. I was in control of HMS Achilles and Ian was commanding HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax. We were also using Nigel's new sea cloth, a terrific bit of kit. 

Phil's HMS Cumberland took damage from the Graf Spee in turn one... 

...as did one of Ian's ships. 

Meanwhile our shots landed all around the Graf Spee but without any direct hits... 

...and we missed again on turn 2. 

The Exeter, Ajax and Achilles start to land broadsides on the Graf Spee, 

finally causing some damage. 

Ian plotting some torpedo fire-he missed!

After a few more rounds of distance firing the British Fleet although badly damaged them selves; managed to cause enough damage on the Graf Spee to prevent it from escaping and so Nigel gracefully conceded defeat. The Graf Spee had better weapons and armour but the British had superior numbers which finally took their toll on the Graf Spee. 

The rules give a good game although they took a few turns to get used too. We also only scraped the surface of what the rules can cover as we missed out things such as mines, aircraft and therefore anti aircraft fire etc... .  I foresee some great games ahead.  

Finally, a few photo's of recently painted figures. First up I am now over 500 points of 10mm Riders of Rohan using the Copplestone figures. 

I have also been painting up some of the new Wiglaf miniatures for the Early Dark Ages (or Early Medieval period). Designed by Dan Mersey and sculpted by Mark Copplestone these are their Early Saxons which I am painting up as King Oswald's Northumbrians. These are super figures, authentically detailed and the open hands take the wire spears very well. 

 

First Shieldwall unit...

...add a few skirmishers...

...and compare for size against some of the Forged In Battle Vikings I have painted recently. 

They seem a decent size match to me (and yes I know the Vikings came a couple of hundred years later than when these Saxons were designed for). 

  

6mm Egyptians v Hittites and Elamites

 We had another cracking game of 6mm Hail Caesar today with Phil commanding his large Egyptian army against the combined might of the Hittites and the Elamites led by myself and Ian, 600 points per side. The scenario was could the Egyptians get their baggage (Pharaoh's treasure?) safely across the table. We also selected one objective card each to help direct some of the action. 

 This is how the table was after deployment, Egyptian's across the top. 

Ian and I opted for a cautious advance trying to use the hills and rough ground to screen our troops from all the Egyptian missile troops. Phil also decided on a cautious approach but as the two sides got closer the Hittites in particular were grateful for Phil's bad luck with the dice early on.  

Ian's chariots which spent most of the game stationary but held our left flank. 

The right flank showing my Hittite Chariots starting to advance. 

Here the game is warming up nicely with all sorts of multiple combats happening. 

My main general achieved his objective here by capturing two Egyptian generals. 

Later in the game he himself was killed thus losing his two captives. 

An after battle shot of one of the complex melee's, the yellow counter denote Shaken units. 

Phil's Egyptians line one of the main hills.

 This helped him achieve one of his objectives to seize the high ground.

Ian's Shusan Archers did very well against the advancing Egyptian Chariots forcing them back as they  tried to charge home. 

Egyptian and Hittite chariots getting all mixed up after another epic melee. 

Look at all those damage and Shaken counters. 

The Egyptian chariots were pushed back in the melee, but with only two units surviving and both Shaken that division was Broken. 

The Elamites stood back and shot at the Egyptians on the hill. 

The Egyptian chariots (top right) were eventually broken by the Elamite archery. 

A defining moment of the game when Phil broke through with a triple move allowing him to get the baggage (on the left) onto the previously Hittite controlled hill. It looked certain Pharaoh was going to get his treasure across the table. An unlucky Blunder from Phil next turn sent the baggage and accompanying infantry fleeing back the way they had come. Elsewhere, with his army crumbling (now with over half of his 6 divisions broken) Pharaoh decided to admit defeat and the closely fought game went to the Hittite/Elamite alliance.  

 

6mm Hail Caesar, 600 points a-side.

 Another enjoyable game today with my Hittites getting revenge for their defeat by Phil's Egyptian's a few weeks ago. It was a 4 player game, each player with 300 points, 2 players per side. Phil (or Pharaoh Phil as he is now known) and Nigel had 300 points of Egyptians each, I had 300 points of Hittites and Ian led 300 points of Elamites allies.

Despite the game being a straight forward encounter battle to give us all objectives I had written some objective cards which we selected at random. Phil and Nigel had to get one unit all the way across the table and also try to raid the enemy baggage. I had to try and capture an enemy leader and Ian had to try and kill an enemy leader.  

Initial deployments, Egyptians to the left, Hittites and Elamites to the right. 

For this game I had made a couple of areas of rough terrain that we classed as impassable to chariots. The first conflict of the game saw Ian's Elamite's push the Egyptians back. 

On the right flank my Hittite Chariots had an epic battle with the Egyptian chariots which we won after 3 epic turns. It seemed like the dice gods were on my side this week. 

On the other flank Ian and Nigel had a close fight for possession of the high ground.

 (Ian had done a great job of matching his basing colours really close to those I had used). 

I had sent my Syrian Chariots (supported by Chariot runners) forward in the centre having spotted a small and hopefully weak Egyptian division. Thankfully my troops were victorious and I even managed to capture the enemy commander as per my objective card. 

Pharaoh Phil's Egyptians were broken/defeated after just 3 turns.

 The Pharaoh vacated his chair in disgust!

On the other flank Ian needed to make four saves of 5+ and this was his dice throw. 

In response Nigel had to make three saves of 5+ and the red dice are his throw. 

Proof that the dice gods were against the Egyptians. 

Nigel eventually managed to break Ian's Elamites and had to turn to face my Hittites which were racing across to meet his troops. Sadly, here we ran out of time but awarded the victory to the Hittite/Elamite alliance as we had lost far less units and actually achieved one of our objectives.

This game was great fun and we are going to play another chariot battle next week.