And...there is life here!

After a lengthy interruption of Real Life Stuff (TM), I'm picking up my wargaming activities again.

I have to say the idea of doing a blog has been validated, as I did very much enjoy looking back over the battle accounts, triggering thoughts of what I might do next. If only I had done that years ago!

So what's new?

I'll need to get up to speed again with how to operate the blogger software. So nothing too ambitious right off the bat. Hopefully this post will turn out okay! And then more meaningful posts to follow...

There is a draft post, for a solo scenario I played in late 2020, looking at me reproachfully. I didn't get as far as writing the actual battle account, and it was a long game, so I'm not sure if I'll do that now. I do have the pictures and notes still, so maybe. But it seems more likely I will replay that scenario at some point.

My in-progress Chinese Northern Dynasties army is a little more in-progress now. A few more bases will give me a viable Mortem et Gloriam "Pacto" scale army, which is a place to be at, but there is a lot more painting ahead on this particular lead pile. And no I am not a quick painter.

And I have just started dipping my toe back into WW2, after many many many years of indifference to the period, with the new Divisions of Steel ruleset. These are at the right scale for me (fighting with a few companies per side, and 1:1 vehicle scale), with the right sort of level of complexity (I do like armour thicknesses and penetrations to be modelled in a not-totally-abstract fashion), and some for of alternate/interleaved activation for units.

This does unfortunately mean a whole new lead (or maybe plastic this time?) pile needs to be formed, as no matter how hard I search I am unable to locate my old WW2 toys, both 1/72 and 1/300 scale. What a shame 😉

 

More rebasing - Huns!

So I need some Huns for the campaign I have in mind to run, and I do have quite a few Huns (albeit old figures, not nearly up to modern standards). In fact more Huns than I ever seemed to manage to get onto the table at once. Which made it an attractive idea to rebase some of them to fit in with the Mortem et Gloriam ruleset's concept of "flexible" formations.

i.e. the 3-to-a-bases ones have been rebased, the 2-to-a-base ones have not.

 

There is of course an obvious problem; I have changed my idea over the years of of what bases for Steppe inhabitants should look like, and I now feel some pressure to rebase the 2-to-a-base elements as well to be consistent. I will try to resist this urge!

It is also interesting what you discover when you look closely at these toys that have been with you a long time. The rear-most unit was originally on 25mm deep bases. When the WRG rules of the time changed to 30mm for cavalry, being more lazy back in those days I simply put the existing bases on top of new 30mm ones. I managed to camouflage the step discontinuity reasonably well so that I had forgotten about it.

This dates the painting of those figures back to sometime in the early '80s? I remember at the time being rather pleased with them as being an improvement on stuff I had painted previously. Looking at them now...lets' be polite about this... I can't honestly say I find the flat, dull style particularly appealing.

But this now reminds me that I will find the same thing if I look closely at some of my Roman cavalry too :(

I also have the question of what to do about the masses of Gothic infantry I will also need for the campaign. I'm not sure I can face rebasing all of them to represent "flexible" formations! But having started down this route, perhaps I need to see it through to its full conclusion?

Commanders and re-basing

(Not really "painting", but I didn't want to create a new label just for this post!)

Many new rules systems take as a core philosophy that they allow players to use existing established basing conventions. For obvious and beneficial reasons! However, there does always seem to be something that doesn't quite fit...

In my most recent previous wargaming life, my Ancients rulesets were DBMM and FoG. I more or less got away with ignoring the differences between the two systems. I did create a few more bases of some troop types, since in FoG they needed to be grouped in 4s, 6s, or 8s to form viable units, but expanding available is something that doesn't really need much encouragement! I compromised by using my DBMM-style 2-to-a-base Roman legionary archers in mixed legionary/archer units rather than create additional 4-to-a-base archers, opponents didn't seem to have a problem with this. And I used my DBMM commander bases in FoG, attaching them to 40mm x 40mm sabot bases.

Now for some reason - probably not unrelated to the increased difficulty of picking out the commander bases in a crowded photo! - I have decided that I need to have some appropriately MeG-style commanders. And yet I want to retain the DBMM-style commanders - although it is a good few years since I last played and I have almost completely forgotten the rules, it is quite possible that I will play them again at some point.

Some of my late Roman commanders I can live with - they have extremely large banners so are quite visible. But for the others...

I spent a bit of time going through my figures and identified some that are probably surplus to potential DBMM (or similar) requirements and could be cannibalised for MeG. Work in progress still - the single figures look a bit lonely, but I didn't find anything to go with them yet so some additional buying and painting may be required, to be decided...and I do have some more spare Hellenistic officer and banner figures but have run out of the 40mm circular bases. But Romans, Germanics, and Huns were my immediate requirement, as that is what I will need for the campaign I have in mind for the near future. I think (hope!) I now have enough for that purpose!

 

Further re-configuration work is called for because of the MeG "flexible" formation type, but that is another story! I am wrestling with the question of whether to rebase some of my existing "flexible" troops (making them unsuitable for DBMM use), acquire and paint new figures from the same manufacturer, or just live with putting formation markers on the table. Choices, choices, choices.

#5 Battle: Goths etc. vs. Palmyrans

This battle takes place somewhere in South-eastern Asia Minor in around 269AD, in the latter stages of the Crisis of the Third Century.

Gothic and Germanic raiding groups have caused much trouble within the Roman Empire, roaming over large areas of Greece, Western Asia Minor, and assorted Aegean islands. They have managed to sack a number of large cities, and in the process have enriched themselves with large stacks of booty. For the purposes of this battle, let us assume that one large coalition of raiders decides to try their luck further Eastwards, looting their way along the southern coast of Asia Minor.

Imperial forces in this region are almost non-existent at this point due to previous events, and only the rising power of Palmyra, filling the vacuum which has arisen but at this point still nominally loyal to Rome, are capable and willing to intervene and prove they have become a regional power.. The raiders do not want a large set-piece battle, only to be allowed to escape Northwards with their accumulated booty.

The raiders do not come from any one list, and I have taken a few liberties with troop types and their individual lists.

 

Palmyra: 3500 points

Right (Sub-Commander: Competent Instinctive)

Cataphracts x2 Cavalry,FormedClose,Average,FullyArmd+Horse,LngSpear,DevastatingChg+Shove

Best archers x2 Infantry,DrilledLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Best archers x2 Infantry,DrilledLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow

Centre-R (Commander-in-Chief: Talented Instinctive)

Cataphracts x2 Cavalry,FormedClose,Average,FullyArmd+Horse,LngSpear,DevastatingChg+Shove
Cataphracts x2 Cavalry,FormedClose,Average,FullyArmd+Horse,LngSpear,DevastatingChg+Shove
Cataphracts x2 Cavalry,FormedClose,Average,FullyArmd+Horse,LngSpear,DevastatingChg+Shove

Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow

Centre-L (Sub-Commander: Competent Instinctive)

Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow

Left (Sub-Commander: Competent Instinctive)

Horse archers x2 Cavalry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow,CombatShy
Horse archers x2 Cavalry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow,CombatShy
Horse archers x2 Cavalry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow,CombatShy

Gothic Raiders: 3500 points

Left (Sub-Commander: Competent Instinctive)

Gepid Cav x2 Cavalry,FormedLoose,Superior,Protected,DevastatingChg
Gepid Cav x2 Cavalry,FormedLoose,Superior,Protected,DevastatingChg

Gepid Warriors x2 Infantry,TribalFlexible,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,DevastatingChg
Gepid Warriors x2 Infantry,TribalFlexible,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,DevastatingChg

Centre (Commander-in-Chief: Competent Instinctive)

Heruli Warriors x2 Infantry,TribalClose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Heruli Warriors x2 Infantry,TribalClose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Heruli Warriors x2 Infantry,TribalClose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg

Heruli Javelinmen x2 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav,CombatShy
Heruli Javelinmen x2 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav,CombatShy
Heruli Javelinmen x2 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav,CombatShy 

Centre-L/Reserve (Sub-Commander: Competent Instinctive)

Tervingi Warriors x2 Infantry,TribalClose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Tervingi Warriors x2 Infantry,TribalClose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg

Tervingi Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Tervingi Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow 

Right (Commander-in-Chief: Competent Instinctive)   

Greuthingi Cav x2 Cavalry,FormedLoose,Superior,Protected,DevastatingChg
Greuthingi Cav x2 Cavalry,FormedLoose,Superior,Protected,DevastatingChg

Greuthingi Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Greuthingi Archers x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow

The Goths etc. are slightly handicapped due to consisting of commands representing distinct tribal groupings, reducing their flexibility of deployment (although there is no possibility that any of them will turn out to be unreliable in battle). To offset this, they are assumed to be taking a defensive posture, in quite suitable defensive terrain – mountain, normal density of terrain; but I mandated that the Palmyrans must also place their two optional terrain pieces, and these may not be good going.

Terrain:
The hill on the left flank is steep and craggy (difficult going).
The two central hills are gently sloping but rough going.
The two marshy areas are difficult going.
On the right flank, the rocky ground is rough going.

Overall view of terrain and deployments

Left wing: Gepid command

Centre left and reserve: Tervingi command (top left and bottom right only)

Centre: Heruli command (front line only)

Right wing: Greuthingi command

Palymran right wing command

Palmyran right centre command

Palmyran left centre command

Palymran left wing command

 

Goths etc. plan:

Defend the central gap with the close order foot, in depth, try to hold long enough against (what is expected to be) the cataphracts in order to be able to find and exploit opportunities on the flanks.

Try to push the right wing forward through the rocky ground, since the Palmyrans do not appear to be committing forces that can do more than delay there.

On the left, push forward initially if possible to get the attention of enemy forces and constrain their freedom of movement, take advantage of opportunities should these be presented, but be careful not to over-commit – the cavalry should be able to fall back if opposed by stronger forces and pass over the rough hill into central reserve.

Palmyran plan:

Push archers forwards to contest the central marsh, clearing the way for and protecting the flank of the main group of cataphracts to attempt to blast their way through the centre,

Everybody else react to any offensive movements by the enemy, rather than undertaking aggressive movements of their own. Ensure the Catapharacts are not impeded or threatened until they have achieved their aim.

Note: 

In what follows: units will be denoted (P) for Palmyrans; whereas for the raiders: (Gr) for Greuthingi, (T) Tervingi, (H) Heruli , (Gp) Gepidae.

 

Turn 1

(P) archers advance to the edge of the central marsh, clearing the way (somewhat) for the cataphracts behind them. They would have liked to double move, but: lack of cards!

(H) javelinmen double move into the marsh, they feel they have a slight edge against the archers if they are careful over shooting distances, and wish to try to cramp the enemy’s movements and delay the cataphracts.

(P) horse archers double move into the rocky ground, staking out some room to skirmish in later.

(Gr) archers are tasked with clearing the way for the cavalry behind them, and advance close to the (P) horse archers.

(P) cataphracts wheel and advance towards the gap between marsh and hill, They double move but are brought up short by running into the back of their archer friends.

(Gp) cavalry double move forward, to put the question to the enemy in this half of the battlefield. They have remembered they cannot skirmish, and are relying on the facts that a) they are faster than any of their opponents; b) their commander will carry over a red card into the next turn, which should ensure that if enemy get close they will be able to turn around and move away as a group.

(P) archers from the centre wheel, ready to advance and provide protection for the right flank of the main body of cataphracts. They may also have to assist against the apparently aggressively minded (Gp) cavalry.

One unit of (Gr) cavalry starts to move (slowly) to the right through the rocky ground, preparing to support the archers ahead of them.

The (P) right flank command does not move at all – their cards were not good enough to advance and wheel all 3 units (a downside of mixing infantry and cavalry!), and if they advance straight ahead the cataphract unit may find itself flanked. This is not intended to be an attacking command, so caution trumps recklessness.

Position at end of turn 1

Gepids start their feint aggressively; Palmyran right still asleep

Goth centre: all looks calm at present

Lots of shooting about to kick off here

Palmyran catphracts struggle to get through traffic

Turn 2

Mass shooting breaks out on the right hand side. The Palmyrans achieve a big fat zero; but in return one of their units of horse archers receives two wounds and breaks. Not an auspicious start! I was about to check for effects on the Commander currently with that unit, but a quick check of the rules reminds me this only happens when a unit is broken in hand-to-hand combat, and never to skirmishers. For once I catch a mistake in advance, rather than write about it later when it is too late :)

(Gr) cavalry continue to move up slowly in the rocky ground, coming up in support of the advanced archers.

(P) archers in the middle advance diagonally across the field towards the (Gp) forces. In particular the (Gp) cavalry cannot be allowed too much freedom of action. The right-hand archer unit has now wheeled, and all four units are once again in a coherent body.

Bad command cards once again hinder the intended movement of the supposedly talented Palmyran C-in-C. One archer unit advances into the marsh, making room for the cataphracts to pass. But the second archer unit does not move up in support; this will allow concentrated javelin fire against the advancing archers next turn.

The (P) horse archers cannot fall back as a group (you guessed it – bad command cards!) but moves back so that they are beyond the range at which the enemy archers can exploit their lack of armour.

The Gothic commander has been discarding cards, including several very good ones (two yellows AND a red...this may be a cause for regret later!) in order to attempt to wait and see what the Palmyran right wing will do, so that the (Gp) cavalry can react accordingly without over-committing themselves.

The (P) right wing archers, being drilled, are significantly more manoeuvrable than their comrades. They double move with a slight wheel, bringing them into shooting range of the (Gp) cavalry. Their cataphract pals also wheel, and remain aligned with the archers. This leaves them too far away to be able to charge next turn; but more importantly, they remain too far back for the enemy to be able to get into a position to flank them.

Seeing this, the (Gp) cavalry decide to fall directly back, remaining facing the enemy. They are far enough away that the enemy archers cannot get within 3 base widths next turn – the distance at which, being an impetuous troop type, the cavalry may find they fail to avoiding charging recklessly forward the turn after. The cataphracts might just be able to get into that range, it’s a fine measurement; but would then be exposing themselves to being ganged up upon, a risk they are perhaps unlikely to take. In the judgement of the Gepid commander at this moment, anyway!

Position at end of turn 2

Gepid cavalry pulls back a bit, in the face of converging enemies

The Palmyran cataphracts emerge from the traffic jam

First blood to the Greuthingi - one dead horse archer unit

Turn 3

The (P) archers who have advanced into the marsh on their own do indeed suffer for their temerity from concentrated javelins – two wounds remove a base. To balance this, in the rocky ground, the (Gr) archers also suffer two wounds, from horse archery, also losing a base.

Both blocks of (P) archers have managed to move just far enough for the cataphracts to advance unimpeded with a double move, and this turn the cards are good enough to allow them to do so. Which is just as well, as the hopes of the Palmyrans largely rest in getting these guys into contact pronto! They don’t quite get to within charge reach of the opposing (H) warriors though, who are not expected to obligingly advance into range., so it will be a couple of turns yet…) Meanwhile they are ignoring the fact that enemy light are now behind their flank, assuming them to be of little practical threat.

(Gr) cavalry in the rocky ground continue to move up onto the flank of their friendly archers, ready to start chasing the enemy horse archers away.

(P) drilled archers and supporting cataphract unit move forward on the Palmyran right, still taking care to present a unified front lest they allow the opposing (Gp) cavalry to attack them individually. They do just get into shooting range again.

The (P) archers in the centre continue to advance – 3 of them wheel to face the central hill and try to provide direct support for the flank of the main body of cataphracts who must rapidly engage in the centre; whilst one goes over to provide additional assistance against the (Gp) cavalry.

The (Gp) cavalry have been waiting until all enemy in their half of the battlefield have committed themselves this turn. They now don’t fancy going forward again, but they don’t want to retreat until they absolutely have to – keeping as much of the enemy focusing on their threat for as long as possible.

With a red and a yellow card in hand they know they will be able to turn and retreat next turn as fast as the cataphracts could potentially advance (as long as they can avoid the situation where turn round first and the cataphracts are then able to make a double move in pursuit), so decide to hold their ground this turn. This does expose them to being shot at next turn, a risk they will take.

The more advanced of the (P) horse archer units falls back into line with their colleagues. They are now still in range to shoot at the enemy archers but out of range of the enemy cavalry; this in turn means though that the cavalry cannot charge them next turn, which is considered A Good Thing.

At the end of this turn there are 3 red and 2 yellow cards being carried over, so there should be no excuse next turn for commands to complain about not having good enough cards to achieve whatever it is they want to achieve!

Position at end of turn 3

Pressure on the Gepid cavalry increases

The heavy metal gets closer

Some attrition on both sides from shooting

Turn 4 

Still no charges!

Shooting is a messy affair, but this time to Palmyran advantage.

(P) the full-strength archer unit in the marsh lose a base; (P) light horse in the rocky ground take a wound.

(Gr) single-base archers in the rocky ground are destroyed, (H) light javelinmen in the marsh take a wound, (Gp) cavalry on the left wing take a wound.

The adverse morale effects of the destroyed (Gr) archers are: a base loss on the other (Gr) archers, and a wound on the rear-most (Gr) cavalry).

(Gp) cavalry both move (one of them a double move) to get right in the face of the (P) horse archers in the rocky ground. The latter respond by falling back, remaining within bow range but reducing the chance they will be caught by a charge.

(P) archer group in the centre move up to discourage enemy on the hill from coming down and operate against the flank of the (P) cataphracts, who move almost right up to the (H) warriors facing them. Next turn will be crunch time!

(Gp) warriors on the central hill move forward to cover the retreat of the (Gp) cavalry a little better (including their effect in limiting the opportunity for double moves by their opponents). This is prompted by the Herul commander, who fortunately has a stonkingly good set of cards this turn, and expends them all in this one action. This leaves the Gepid commander free to get on with...

The (Gp) cavalry finally turn around and seriously withdraw, past the position of the warriors. Some careful thinking going on here...it turns out the cataphracts will not be able to get into charge reach so this move is safe – but only just!

(P) right wing archers and cataphracts move up in pursuit as expected.

Wound removal: (P) horse archers, (H) javelinmen.

The (Gp) cavalry on the left do not remove a wound – the commander has a red card but considers it needs to be retained to give maximum chance of being able to move flexibly and keep out of trouble.

Position at end of turn 4

 

Gepid cavalry bravely turn and "advance in a different direction"

Heavy metal teasers

And from a slightly prettier angle...!

More attrition on both sides; Greuthingi cavalry find the way clear

 
Turn 5

Charges at last! All are impetuous cases so no commander prompting necessary.

On the right, (Gr) cavalry chase away the horse archers, who take a small risk by electing to skirmish rather than run away. One unit is almost caught as a result, but in the process effective shooting inflicts a second wound which removes a cavalry base. The risk definitely paid off!

In the centre, the (P) cataphracts crash home. They are completely immune to the warriors javelins (because they are unskilled and start off a factor down already before the horse armour is also taken into account), and the nearby archer unit fails to do any damage to them either.

In the impact resolution, both commanders join the fighting. This seems a bit of a no-brainer for the Palmyran commander (who has moved over to the central unit, in order to increase the chances of generating a “shatter” effect to the benefit of both of the other cataphract units); for the Herul it is a tricky decision whether to it is worth trying to delay almost certain failure. No shatter effects arise, but nevertheless the 3 (H) warrior units suffer 2 wounds and a base loss.

In other shooting, the weakened (P) archers in the marsh are both destroyed, but too late perhaps to make a significant difference.

The (P) horse archers re-align themselves neatly, just inside shooting range, ready to skirmish again next turn.

The (Gr) archers are turned, with the help of the commander moving over to join them, ready to cross the marsh. Probably far too late to hope to intervene in the centre effectively.

The (T) archers move forward on the hill and wheel slightly, looking like they might think about intervening on the flank of the cataphracts.

The (P) archers facing them move forward to put a stop to that.

The (Gp) cavalry on the left wing decide the time has come to commit to relocating, they are achieving nothing where they are and they might be needed in the centre shortly. They wheel ready to start climbing the hill. They also look likely to be too late to make a difference.

The (P) right wing cataphracts wheel slightly to align themselves neatly with their supporting archers. No real reason, possibly just a bit of a tidiness fetish on their commander’s part!

In the melee, the (P) cataphracts fail to generate any “shove” benefits, but the (H) warriors again suffer a base loss and 2 wounds anyway. One unit breaks and their commander is stunned. The resulting morale tests break both of the other warriors and the commander is now wounded in the rout, plus a wound is caused to the nearest archers on the hill. (There was a possibility that, if they rolled a 6, the broken units would rout into the supporting (T) warriors behind them – fortunately this did not happen, nevertheless it was a possibility I should have considered when deploying them oh-so-carefully just beyond 3 base widths to the rear).

The cataphracts all pursue into the gap.

The (Gp) cavalry on the left have their wound removed.

Position at end of turn 5

Gepid cavalry frantically trying to get back to help in the centre

Where did the line of infantry in front of us go?

 

The marsh has been claimed, big fat hairy deal

Turn 6

(Gr) cavalry in the rocky ground charge impetuously again, and the (P) horse archers skirmish away, causing no damage this time.

2 units of (P) cataphracts in the centre charge impetuously into the (T) warriors., and the commander again chooses to fight in the front ranks. Continuing a theme, both warrior units take a wound; but this time, a wound is inflicted back on one of the cataphract units.

One of the (T) archer units takes a wound from shooting, the other is broken, their commander is himself wounded, and the morale effects break the first unit as well. The (P) archers take one wound in return.

The (H) javelinmen turn left and exit the marsh in column, whilst the (Gr) archers double move through the marsh also trying to get into a position of being able to exert some influence.

The non-engaged (P) cataphract in the centre moves up and wheels, in position to charge a flank next turn if further intervention is needed.

The (Gp) cavalry double move up onto the hill. They are a move too late to have a shot at charging the flank of the (P) cataphracts. 

(P) horse archers get back into shooting range of the the (Gr) cavalry, also giving themselves a little bit more room to continue skirmishing in.

(P) central archers and (P) right archers get into position to concentrate fire at the (Gp) warriors on the hill.

In the melee, one of the (H) warrior units loses a base and breaks, the other takes a wound, but is then itself broken by the morale test. The already-wounded (P) cataphracts take another wound so lose a base. Too little too late! 

Position at end of turn 6

Palmyran right wing: not done much, but job done

Cataphracts have blown everything away

We claimed the marsh, now what do we do with it?

Finis

And with that, the Goths Etc. army breaks, and the Palmyrans have a throughly pleasant time claiming the looted booty for themselves.

Conclusion

I set this battle up with the deliberate intention of being able to try out cataphracts under these rules, and a battle against a largely mediocre-quality foot army was the chosen test case.

The Palmyran deployment and plan of action was always going to be the easier to formulate – get the cataphracts into contact with enemy infantry ASAP and hopefully BANG! Whilst all of the other troops simply try to keep enemy occupied for a little while. The only slighly-more-subtle piece was the deployment of one unit of cataphracts to the right flank – which was partly influenced by the lack of space to employ all of the cataphracts side-by-side in the central region, and partly by having outscouted their opponents and being able to some extent react to deployments made first by the Gothic side.

The Goths etc. would like to be able to travel back in time and have a rethink! The attempt to attack wide through the rocky ground turned out to be too slow – some better command cards might have speeded this up a bit but it is still hard to see it achieving anything in time to matter.

The defence-in-depth attempt in the centre did not work at all! Some better (luckier) combat results enabling some of the units to hold on a bit longer might perhaps have given a chance of getting onto the flanks of the cataphracts, but getting forces into position to do so was also botched.

The attempt to “skirmish” with the (Gp) cavalry on the left didn’t really work. They did manage to avoid getting themselves committed on that flank, and managed to carry out their feint and get back into reserve for the central battle...almost in time! They occupied the attention of some of the Palmyran forces, but not enough to make a difference. With hindsight they needed more force themselves. Perhaps risking bringing the (Gp) warriors off the hill and just going all-out aggressive on that flank might have been a better bet, but again it is hard to see them being able to achieve enough in time to avoid calamity in the centre.

(And note: doing this require a lot of good command cards to manage this feint and withdraw manoeuvre, including at one point 3 command cards spent by the Tervingi commander to prompt Gepid troops - something which I realised afterwards was not allowed because he is not a Professional commander!)

Putting the javelinmen in the marsh seemed an obvious ploy, but even though they dominated it they did not exert influence outside of its confines. Some archers, or perhaps the (Gp) warriors, albeit suffering slightly from the difficult terrain, would have perhaps caused the Palmyran cataphracts to have to actually worry about their flank.

The requirement for the Goths etc. to deploy in their rigidly-defined commands turned out to be even more of a disadvantage than I was expecting. An all-out cavalry deployment on the left might have been able to achieve something, with an infantry flank/rear guard to worry about horse archers coming through the rocky ground. But once the (Gr) archers had been deployed in the rocky ground early on, the opportunity to concentrate cavalry on the other wing had been lost.

A final plus point: It has become something of a running joke that my cataphracts never achieve anything useful, under previous rulesets...not so this time :)

 

 

Painting: first Chinese Northern Dynasties

 I shouldn't think I'll be posting pictures of my painting efforts that often - I don't lay claim to any particular technical artistry, nor can I even say I am a quick painter. But as the first unit (or 2 or 3 units if used in MeG:Pacto) of the Chinese army I have meant to get around to starting for oooh only about 25 years or so now, these seem quite a significant milestone.

The combination of much-reduced social activity, plus the born-again enthusiasm of coming back to the the hobby after a number of years away, seem to have given me unexpected powers of actually getting started on new large projects :D

The style may not be to everybody's taste. But it works for me: not difficult to paint; and as long as my tired old eyes are happy with the effect when I don't squint at them too closely, I call it a success!

Anyway, hopefully there are many more units to come, and hopefully some will be a step up from the "hastily conscripted peasants with some sort of pointy stick" aesthetic. A pause on painting has been called for the moment though, as it is time to switch the table back to gaming use...

#4 Battle: Romans vs. Thraco-Macedonians

Again, I didn't go through the full, proper pre-battle setup. Terrain was arbitrarily decided upon, and a dice decided the Romans would have the village side. Initial plans were decided upon, helped by dice (but see later).

The river is uncrossable.
The large hill by the river is gentle.
The small hill opposite the village is rough.

The Romans gained the scouting advantage so were able to partially respond to their opponent's deployments.

All the figures are legitimate representations this time. As long as you are prepared to overlook 500 years or more of Roman history ;)

(And ignoring arguments about later period Roman infantry armour...this army began in the early 1980s!)

(And ignoring the liberties I took with the Republican Roman list(s)!)

Thraco-Macedonian: 3500 points

Left (Commander-in-Chief: Competent Professional)

Xystophoroi  x2  Cavalry,DrilledLoose,Superior,Protected,ChargingLancer

Greek cavalry  x2  Cavalry,DrilledLoose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav

Greek mercs  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,LngSpear,Shove+ShldCover
Greek mercs  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,LngSpear,Shove+ShldCover

Centre (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional)

Pikemen  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove
Pikemen  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove
Pikemen  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove
Pikemen  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove 

Right (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional) 

Thracians  x2  Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg+MeleeExpt
Thracians  x2  Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg+MeleeExpt
Thracians  x2  Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg+MeleeExpt

Archers  x1  Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Archers  x1  Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow

Mid/Late/Sort-Of Republican Roman: 3500 points

Left (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional)

Italian foot  x2  Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Italian foot  x2  Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Italian foot  x2  Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Italian foot  x2  Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Velites  x1  Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav

Centre (Commander-in-Chief: Talented Professional)

Legionaries  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover
Legionaries  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover
Legionaries  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover
Legionaries  x2  Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover 

Velites  x1  Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav
Velites  x1  Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav 

Right (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional)

Gallic foot  x2  Infantry,FormedFlex,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg
Gallic foot  x2  Infantry,FormedFlex,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg

Equites  x2  Cavalry,FormedLoose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav
Equites  x2  Cavalry,FormedLoose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav

 

 

Turn 1

Well the initially allocated plans did not last long! And what results instead is a general lack of subtlety...

The Roman commander thinks he’s a clever sod, and was intending (hoping) to use the first move and his 4 command cards to a) push the velites forward to try to delay the pikes; b) turn the legionaries and relocate towards the river, ready to overwhelm the enemy on the hill. In this scheme the equites would be held back, ready to switch into the centre if necessary; and the Italian foot would remain in the village, but ready to venture out if the pikes should expose their flanks.

However, the 4 command cards were not quite up to the job (2 blacks!), and although it was possible to wait and see what the pikes would do and hope the plan could be reinstated next turn, impulsiveness won. New plan: the Roman centre simply ploughs straight forward.

The Roman Gallic foot take advantage of the inertia of the opposing Thraco-Macedonian (let’s just refer to them as Macedonian from now on for convenience!) left wing to try to get up on the hill. A single unit of Greek cavalry attempts to impede them.

The Macedonian Thracians advance off the small hill, recognising they will not achieve anything useful if they hang back, preparing to perhaps threaten the flank of the Roman centre.

This draws the Roman left wing out of the village – with very good command cards they can double move everybody, changing into close order, then just getting themselves clear of the built up area.

One unit of Roman equites and the Macedonian xystophoroi move up, not yet committed to what they might want to actually do with themselves. But the Romans will definitely be concerned about the flank of their legionaries, if the Macedonians decide not to fully respond to the Roman overload by the river.

 

Turn 2

Some gifting of command cards here as it is recognised that the jockeying for position on and around the large hill is potentially very important.

The Macedonian Greek cavalry gets in the face of the Roman Gallic foot, before they can advance further.

The lagging Roman equites double moves to try to get themselves into a position where they may have some usefulness.

The Macedonian Greek mercenary foot double moves (almost) to a central position on the hill, while they can. But their flank is hanging, a calculated risk...maybe not so wise.

The forward Roman equites gets into a position to charge that flank next turn.

The Macedonian xystophoroi cannot actually prevent this, but move up so that they in turn will be able to charge the equites if they commit themselves. This does mean they have given up, for the moment, the idea of threatening the flank of the legions.

In the centre, the pike phalanx (mostly) grinds forward.

The Romans respond by sending the velites forward to be a nuisance.

(I noticed later I had made a mistake here – the Macedonians gifted a command card form the centre sub-commander to the left wing commander-in-chief. Oops!)

On the far wing, the Macedonians bring up the other archer unit to extend their line, and the Romans advance everybody – they hope that being close order in the open will make it worth their while risking a melee here (plus the extra unit of non-skirmishers). The Thracians do have a scary aura though!

 

Turn 3

“Charge!!!” Action on both flanks.

On the Macedonian side, the xystophoroi are prompted to charge to the rescue of the Greek mercenary foot (the Roman equites turn and run away); and the Thracians are allowed to go in search of glory against the Italian foot.

On the Roman side, the Gallic foot charge straight ahead up onto the flank of the large hill. The Greek cavalry do some pondering...they cautiously decide that the uphill advantage does not offset the danger of being overwhelmed by numbers, and don’t want to get in the way of the Green mercenaries coming up behind them, so turn and run away. They roll a 1, and only just stay out of reach!

The Roman left-wing commander is prepared to put his life on the line and goes into the front ranks to fight. This makes a difference in his file, but the result is still a bloody draw, a base lost each. This does give the Romans a shove result though, which helps their colleagues fighting in the files to either side. Another base lost on each side, and the Macedonians received a further wound, so exceptionally gory for what turned out to be an almost even combat. But the lost bases remove the advantage of the Romans being in close formation in further fighting, so at this point the Macedonians are happier.

The Roman velites chuck their javelins and cause a wound on one of the pike units, a useful bonus.

Macedonian archers shooting on the far right wing achieves nothing.

The second unit of Roman equites puts itself behind the flank of the xystophoroi, and their evading colleagues turn and prepare to fight next turn. The xystophoroi may have cause to regret helping out the Greek mercenary foot!

The Macedonian phalanx (well, most of it!) advances and persuades the velites they would be safer behind their legionaries.

The right hand Roman legion is then able to get itself behind the flank of the phalanx. The Macedonian centre commander does not have cards to advance the remaining pike unit to protect the flank, so the C-in-C, commanding the left wing, must spend two cards to do so instead. This means the Greek mercenary foot sit in the centre of the hill doing nothing useful.

The end unit of Roman Italian foot turns onto the flank of the Thracians. This is going to get even messier!

But even so. Much messier than expected. The Roman flank attack breaks a unit of Thracians, but then the next unit of Thracians break their opponents, and kill the Roman commander...and so on (mostly due to morale tests...I never knew there were so many skulls on the yellow dice ;)).

The end result is six more dead Roman bases from the wing and a wound on the nearby legionaries; and five more dead Macedonian bases from the wing plus a dead pike base from the central mass. There is not much left alive in front of the village now!

The Romans, with a base of fighting foot remaining vs. a base of skirmishers may feel that is an acceptable result, although they would have hoped for more after a good start to the melee phase.

The Roman C-in-C can clear his legionary wound, and does so.

Turn 4

And lots more “Charge!!!”.

Macedonian pikes charge the advanced legion, to prevent it getting on the flank of the main pike mass.

The Romans would have been quite happy to delay the central clash, as they appear to be gaining the advantage elsewhere. However they do not want to leave the advanced legion out to dry, so the other three legions charge. After conforming, we end up with an almost neatly aligned four vs. four unit legion/pike clash.

The Macedonian commander goes into the fight to try and gain a bit more leverage in the impact phase, in which they are generally at a slight disadvantage against their superior quality opponents. To no avail – there is no shove result. Nevertheless the pikes come out slightly on top along the line, inflicting two wounds and receiving one.

The Roman Gallic foot charge the Greek cavalry and mercenary foot, wheeling slightly to ensure that after the cavalry continue to evade, both bases of the Greek foot will be contacted. They choose not to conform, to make it harder for the cavalry to get onto their flank in the near future.

Impact is a slight win for the Gallic foot, removing one base and receiving a wound.

In between the above two fights we have a cavalry clash, the two Roman equites ganging up on the xystophoroi, with one charging into the flank. Both commanders decide to join the fight. The xystophoroi punish the equites to their front, as expected, removing a base; but themselves lose a base to the flank attack. The Macedonian C-in-C is stunned in the fighting, and loses his command cards.

So tat this moment the count is one dead commander, three involved in front-rank fighting (one of whom is stunned),, one with only a single skirmisher base to command...and the talented Roman C-in-C wondering if he should have got stuck in himself, with all of his troops now engaged. Command and control may be a bit limited in the immediate future!

The dead Roman commander is replaced by a junior, who takes control of the single base of auxilia, double moving them towards the flank of the central melee. They almost-but-not-quite manage to get out of range of the light archers, who cannot impede their movement (save by a sacrificial charge) but get themselves into position for a long-range shot next turn.

The Roman C-in-C thinks about joining the central fight, but instead decides it is much more important to bravely help move one of the velites out to the side. Maybe they will find a use in a turn or two!

The Roman Gallic foot did not make full use of their advantage in impact, and now they are slightly losing the melee..they do no damage, and a second wound means they now also have lost a base.

The cavalry melee however is gong decisively the way of the Romans – the xystophoroi are broken without inflicting any further damage themselves. The Macedonian C-in-C is stunned again, for all the difference that makes!

The pike vs. legion clash grinds on, tolerably for the Romans (although it is obvious they are regretting not having taken the Melee Expert characteristic as well as being superior quality!). Two more bases of pike are removed, whilst the legions lose one base and suffer a couple of wounds to other units. The Macedonian commander is wounded.

 

Turn 5

The Macedonian Greek cavalry decide not to charge the Gallic foot on the hill. They would be struggling to win that fight, especially since it would be uphill, and they fell that the Greek mercenary foot are not likely to last very long anyway.

The Romans charge the full-strength equites into the flank of the Greek mercenary foot on the hill (the Macedonian C-in-C has just bravely left them, immediately before the charge, joining the Greek cavalry a bit further back!). This removes a base, which will also have the benefit of evening up their frontal fight in the melee phase. The equites do receive a wound in return though, a bit unlucky.

On the other wing, the Macedonian velites shoot at the single-base and hence very vulnerable auxilia to no effect.

The Roman Italian foot continue to move up on the flank of the central pikes. They are now in range to charge, depending on who or what may die in the current round of melee. The Macedonian archers move up behind them, but remain too far away to be able to shoot in a charge phase, so may not get another opportunity.

The Macedonian Greek cavalry turn and move behind their lines, hoping they can get back into a position to cover the flank of the central pikes.

But the single-base Roman equites are able to move behind the other equites, and despite the need for a slight shift to the left, still find themselves behind the flank of the pikes, and in charge range, with the Macedonian Greek cavalry still too far away to intervene.

The Roman C-in-C goes to join the right-hand legion, ready to join the fighting and try to minimise the chance they might break before the equites can charge home.

The other Roman velites moves out to the left of their legionaries, possibly they might be able to do something about the nuisance that is the Macedonian archers.

The Romans getting into what looks like a winning position, but that is contingent on how this round of melee goes!

And the central fight goes not well, but well enough for the Romans – they receive two wounds on already wounded units, removing two bases, but nobody breaks. In return they inflict a single wound.

On the large hill, both units of Macedonian Greek mercenary foot are broken. They inflict one wound in return, but unfortunately on the two-base unit, so it will almost certainly turn out to be irrelevant. The Gallic foot pursue and are not very far away from hitting the Greek cavalry in the flank. Perhaps they should have chosen to charge up the hill after all!

The Romans remove two wounds, from equites and a legion. The Macedonians remove one wound, for the pike unit with which the commander is fighting.

 

Finis

But I have just realised that all of the careful preparation for turn 6, including drawing the command cards and thinking about whether any are going to be gifted, is a waste of effort; because of course the Macedonians have now lost six units and their army breaks!

I think to myself that it is a shame that that single-base auxilia, survivor of the Great Double Command Evaporation (TM) did not quite get to administer the final blow.

And then I realise that the right-hand pike unit, having started with three bases, should have broken previously when it went had lost two! Not sure how I missed that, and for an extended period as well! Fortunately, not a mistake that changed the result of the game. And given that one of my aims for this battle was to get a fell for pikes under these rules, a possible major collapse of the Macedonian centre earlier might not have been regarded as a good thing!

Conclusion

This was not a game of subtlety and clever plans. The very similar army compositions, and terrain protection on both flanks, encouraged similar deployments (to be fair, I wasn’t thinking too hard about being clever at that point!), and then there were a limited number of viable plans available to both sides.

It would have been interesting to see how the battle would have evolved if the Romans had gone ahead with the idea of relocating the legions out towards the river flank. The pikes would no doubt have responded, and the velites and reserve Roman equites might or might not have been able to impede them for long enough to achieve the aim. But as mentioned earlier, I was quite keen to explore how pikes work under these rules, and the pikemen/legionary matchup is one of the classics of the Ancient world, so as it turned out the Roman C-in-C didn’t need too much encouragement to go back to simply engaging whatever is immediately ahead!

The Italian/Thracian mutually assured destruction, all within a single turn, was presumably an unusual occurrence. The Pacto gamemode, with its smaller units, is no doubt much more susceptible to dramatic domino effects removing large numbers of units at once. For it to happen to both sides simultaneously is obviously going to be rarer. But if we go back to the start of that turn – 6 green dice rolled in impact phase; resulting in 4 skulls and a wound – the scene was already set for a low-probability bloodbath. The yellow dice rolled later for the morale effects of broken units and the dead commander were perhaps not quite so outrageous, but even so they seemed to deliver an unusual amount of skulls, and on the occasions where they did not deliver a skull they always delivered a wound instead.

My personal narrative is that the Italians clearly won the fight, but the loss of their commander combined with relative inexperience (the 3-per-base ones had been freshly painted just the day before!) caused them to disperse on an orgy of looting. When the new commander took over he did not have the authority and respect of his predecessor, and he was only able in the time available gather a small force in a coherent body, but too late ultimately to affect the rest of the battle. Make of that what you will :)

The pikemen/legionary match up was, as expected, a slower affair. I’m not sure how usual that is though. Obviously I missed the break of one of the pikes units. The Romans were perhaps lucky to not lose any units before that point, they had several reduced to a single base. And going back further, a bit more damage done by the Romans in the impact phase when their combat factors were more favourable could have weakened the fighting power of the pikes (who depend on being in multiple ranks for full effect) earlier. I shall have to play more to get a better feeling, but I feel like pikes do have the edge in frontal combat against even superior legionaries. Which fits in with my prejudices nicely. Giving the legionaries the Melee Expert characteristic as well would change that, but my feeling is that that should not be a common combination.

The xystophoroi, it turned out, were much too aggressive, with insufficient support, and that was the single moment which contributed the most to deciding the result of this battle. I am not familiar enough with the game rules to immediately spot what patterns are likely to develop a turn or two in advance, hopefully something I will learn!

We can perhaps trace this right back to deployment time though. The Macedonians did not deploy their Greek mercenary foot as wide as they could have, not wanting to leave too large a space in the centre for the pikes to fill when they deployed later. The Romans deployed their Gallic foot right up against the river, announcing their intent to aggressively fight for the hill rather than simply bypass it. The Macedonians responded by placing the Greek cavalry in position to try to delay the Gallic foot. The xystophoroi were deployed nearer the centre with the idea of exploiting the gap. But it then turned out that the separation of their cavalry forces meant that neither of the units were able to operate effectively.