Macedonians v Greeks in 28mm

 Back to Hail Caesar today which is one of our favourite rulesets to play. Ian and Charlie deployed an alliance of mainly Thebans with a few Spartans whilst I deployed my Macedonians facing them. However, Charlie was due to arrive a little late so Spartan deployment was delayed for the first turn or two. 

Ian's Theban hoplites. 

My Greek Mercenaries helping the Macedonians. 

My Macedonians are ready for battle. 

A closer view of the Greek Companion Cavalry. 

So with Charlie and his Spartans delayed my Macedonians decided to advance. 

My Greek mercenaries also advanced, but not quite as quickly. 

Turn 2 and I decided to declare a charge. I would need 3 moves for my Macedonians to contact the Thebans and that is exactly what I got so my companions and pike phalanx supported by the Hypaspists hit the Theban line.

The Greek mercenaries also advanced towards Charlies Spartans who were just appearing. 

A couple of rounds of melee saw the hoplites in front of my companion cavalry break and my pike units were steadily pushing the other hoplites off the board. 

All of Charlie's troops had arrvived by now and he wasted no time in attacking. Charlie was in control of the Theban Sacred Band (unit with clubs on their shields) and also his Spartans.  They attacked my Hypaspists and broke them after a couple or rounds of melee.

Charlie then advanced his hoplite units beyond my pike block in the hope that I could not attack him. 

In the top of this photo my Greek mercenary hoplites finally get into the action fighting the Spartans. My Pike block has turned around to get back into the battle, aiming for the Theban Sacred Band. My Greeks defeated the Spartans and with the Sacred Band already on 5 casualties a Macedonian win was declared. 

Another fun game played with 2 divisions per side which just fits nicely on my 6x4 foot table with a bit of room for manoeuvre. I was very surprised just how well my dice behaved themselves today with some great dice throwing at just the right times. Ian was trying to hold until the Spartans arrived but my quick moving Macedonians outwitted him and then fought really well and took full advantage of the opportunity given the them by the delayed Sparans. 

Next week we switch to Normans v Vikings and Anglo Danes, can't wait!

Bridge to Victory, 10mm Rebels and Patriots.

 Ian and I met again today for our second game of Rebels and Patriots using our 10mm figures. We opted to try scenario C 'Bridge to Victory' where one side has to try and build a bridge within a set time and the other side has to try and stop them. It was decided that Ian and his Union forces would be the bridge builders and my Confederates would have to try and stop him. We had also read up on the rules, determined to correct the error we made when allocating disorder. 

Looking at Ian's scratchbuilt rail station and across to the Union troops advancing towards the river. Top right my Confederates can be seen starting their advance. 

Overhead photo of the game, the Union were allowed to deploy a bit nearer to the river to try and get their engineers into position.

My artillery is heading for the hill. I also rolled a double '6' for activation and a further dice throw allowed me to bring on an extra 4 points of troops. I decided to use my zouves to depict a regular line infantry unit. 

The union wagon by the river shows where the engineers opted to build their bridge. Ian had to throw activation dice for each unit of engineer's each turn. A successful activation roll allowed Ian to add that dice score to his bridge construction points. He needed 60 to complete the bridge.  

Overhead view of the Union engineer's in place by the river. They failed so many activation rolls that bridge building progressed very slowly.  

Confederate artillery enjoying firing at the Union line infantry. Ian used 'close order' for many of his troops in an attempt to increase his fire power. 

The Union troops started to advance across the river to my left. I sent my cavalry across to scare them off. 

Ian managed to do enough damage to my artillery to scare them off (a poor throw on my Morale test did not help). Time was now running out for Ian's bridge building attempt.

Last turn of the game and my cavalry destroyed Ian's union marine troops. Ian's engineer's got the bridge building total up to 51 points falling 9 short of his required 60 giving my Confederates a narrow win. Adding up the Honour points Ian achieved 3 whilst I took 4. Another great game, helped by the result being so close. 

10mm Rebels and Patriots (a first game).

 So Ian and I decided to try the 'Rebels and Patriots' rules using our 10mm ACW forces and we were very much looking forward to trying out this Lion Rampant variant. Ian used his Union troops and I was using my Confederates. As a first game it also seemed to make sense to play the first scenario: 'First Clash at Lament Ridge'. Note that our infantry figures are not based quite correctly for these rules but we just ruled that each infantry base counted as 6 models. Just to add to the fun our electricity was cut off for the day (without warning) so to start with the game was played in torchlight as my spare room only has a small window. 

My Rebs advance on the church, the objective that both sides needed to control. 

A slightly different view of my forces. 

Here come Ian's Union forces. 

My unit of Shock Cavalry went off on a flanker (which took all game and to zero effect). 

As the two sides close on each other my cannon opened fire and proved to be very effective (with the help of some great dice throwing).

Ian seemed to have deployed his troops better and was more able to get his units into a central position better than I could. I felt quite out numbered around the church. 

Some Union troops suffering disorder (red counter). 

I managed to get to the church first and was able to claim 1 point of honour before Ian's infantry moved up to challenge me. At this point we started to fire upon each other and shooting seemed quite lethal. We later found out that we were applying 'disorder' counters incorrectly but we both suffered from this mistake. 

As the action got fiercer I forgot to take any photo's for a while. Bit by bit my forces wore down Ian's and my Officer was able to grab quite a few points of honour by three of Ian's infantry units routing plus his cannon whilst amazingly I lost no units. 

Now for the fun part. In these rules if you play a series of games (a campaign) you develop your officers through experience gained by defeating the enemy. I gained 6 points of honour (not enough to gain another trait yet) compared to Ian's zero. He also had to throw on the Officer casualty table but got away with that as his own troops rescued him so he is fit for the next game.  

Oh look, 10 turns later and my cavalry are still trying to get round the woods...I think that they are still there! 

We really enjoyed these rules and will play again next week, perhaps a bigger multi player game if some of our other gaming friends are around? We will also do better with the rules. 

PS: did anyone spot my new games mat, under a tenner from Temu!

A bit bright but well worth the money.