With my newly painted Macedonian army not doing so well (they lost at 'On Bloody Ground' against a Successor army then lost at Warhammer Ancient Battles against a Late Greek army) how would they fare today when using Hail Caesar rules against the Late Greeks again. With me commanding my Macedonians Ian and Charlie were joint commanders of the Late Greeks.
The table was set up with quite basic scenery and the dice decided that I would deploy a division first then the Greeks etc... We only have enough figures painted for 2 divisions a side but on my 6'x4' foot table this is plenty with a little bit of room left for manoeuvre. My Macedonians were also awarded first turn.
The Greeks assemble.
A view along the Macedonian line.
View from above the Macedonian line. Note the quite open terrain.
My light cavalry advanced quickly to harrass the Greek skirmishers sheltering in the wood.
Ian and Charlie got caught re-arranging their hoplite units so I went crashing into a lone unit of hoplites and then threw really bad dice so that combat was a draw, I had hoped to break them and smash through the enemy centre.
With the Greeks having more missile troops than me I had decided not to hang around but to get stuck in quickly, my dice throws for orders often had a different idea!
Ian's new unit of Theban Sacred Band come crashing into my Greek Mercenary Phalanx's. This combat bolstered by the phalanx rule of they can only be defeated and forced to take a break test if they lose a melee by more than 2 meant that this lot were still locked in melee at the end of the game, although both were 'Shaken' by then.
My central attack went slowly but eventually we forced one lot of shaken hoplites off the table then destroyed the other.
My cavalry charge on the right flank failed by a few inches allowing Charlie to smash a unit of hoplites into my Companion Cavalry. With my cavalry supported b a Pike Phalanx to their left I was confident of the win...but lost!
It took a few turns but Charlie eventually broke the Companions, elsewhere Ian had broken my left division. On the last turn I still had a chance if my units would obey their orders...they didn't, my order throws were appalling. This allowed Ian and Charlie to mp up a few more of my units and claim a hard fought victory. This was a very exciting game where it seemed first one side then the other had gained the upper hand but sadly for me my Macedonians lost again. Three losses in a row and I can't see my Macedonians forging a huge empire that history will remember forever! We play again next week, I shall have my revenge.
Looks like a great fun game. Lovely painted minis.
ReplyDeleteNow, you played WHB last time, it would be fun to read your thoughts comparing the two systems.
I had meant to do exactly that but forgot. However, we all agreed that HC gives a slicker game.
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