Reading about Romans and Prepping for Recruits

I recently read three new-ish books on Ancient Rome (mostly) I really enjoyed. First up is Early Roman Warfare: From the Regal Period to the First Punic War.

 From Amazon:

Here Dr Jeremy Armstrong traces the development of Rome's military might from its earliest discernible origins down to the First Punic War. He shows how her armies evolved from ad-hoc forces of warriors organized along clan lines and assembled for the city's survival, to the sophisticated organization of the legions that went on to dominate all of Italy and then (after the period covered) the entire Mediterranean world.

Makes a good case for a little "warband-type" skirmishing a la Warlord's new SPQR game.

Next up is Swords and Cinema: Hollywood vs the Reality of Ancient Warfare. 

Again from Amazon:

The battles and sieges of the Classical world have been a rich source of inspiration to film makers since the beginning of cinema and the 60s and 70s saw the golden age of the ‘swords and sandals’ epic, with films such as Spartacus. Ridley Scott’s Gladiator led a modern revival that has continued with the release of films like 300, The Eagle and Centurion and HBO’s mini-series Rome.

While Hollywood interpretations of Classical battle continue to spark interest in ancient warfare, to casual viewers and serious enthusiasts alike they also spark a host of questions about authenticity. What does Hollywood get right and wrong about weapons, organization, tactics and the experience of combat? Did the Spartans really fight clad only in their underpants and did the Persians have mysterious, silver-masked assassins in their armies? This original book discusses the merits of battle scenes in selected movies and along the way gives the reader an interesting overview of ancient battle. It should appeal to the serious student of ancient warfare, movie buffs and everyone in between.

Was fun to hear someone else echo all the same complaints of "wrong helmets!" and embellished history that I've made while watching historical movies (just ask my daughters!)

Last up is a book I thoroughly enjoyed: Legion versus Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World.

From Amazon:

From the time of Ancient Sumeria, the heavy infantry phalanx dominated the battlefield. Armed with spears or pikes, standing shoulder to shoulder, and with overlapping shields, they presented an impenetrable wall of wood and metal to the enemy. It was the phalanx that allowed Greece to become the dominant power in the Western world. That is, until the Romans developed the legion and cracked the phalanx.

In Legion versus Phalanx Cole weighs the two fighting forces against each other. Covering the period in which the legion and phalanx clashed (280--168 BC), he looks at each formation in detail--delving into their tactics, arms, and equipment, organization and the deployment. It then examines six key battles in which legion battled phalanx: Heraclea (280 BC), Asculum (279 BC), Beneventum (275 BC), Cynoscephalae (197 BC), Magnesia (190 BC), and Pydna (168 BC)--battles that determined the fate of the ancient world. Drawing on original primary sources, Myke Cole presents a highly detailed but lively history of this defining clash of military formations.

Mr. Cole does an outstanding job of bringing these epic clashes to life, describing the sights and sounds and smells - all of the experiences of the soldiers on the ground. Recommended!

Recruits is coming up the end of this month! Since I missed last year due to knee surgeries, I felt compelled to bring some new terrain this year. . . here's a look at an early stage.

 

If you want to see the completed models in action, you can either come play with us at Recruits or wait for the AAR here. We'll be playing a scenario called Revenge. . . 1759-style! using Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket from Wiley Games. Hope to see you there!

What was I thinking?

Last post I showed you some new markers I picked up for Black Powder. A couple days later I pulled out my copy of Fistful of Lead to do a little research in preparation for a game to be run at Recruits next month. . . and I rediscovered these great markers the Baron made for his last Kickstarter. Gotta git me some more!

And now for something completely different. Here's a shot of the newly-opened Game Space at Casa FusterCluck. Perhaps the future home of the Basement Generals North : )

You can see the portable ping pong tables against the wall on the far right. 5' x 9' of gaming table goodness. And when there's no game in progress I've got a great exercise area!

Warlord Open Games Day: F&IW Game Three

We were surprised to have no "takers" for our third game of Black Powder on Saturday afternoon, so rather than tear down the table early, The Boy (aka Marshal) threw down the gauntlet. He said he'd seen the scenario played enough to have figured out how to win decisively as the French and would happily "show me." Game on!
 
Here are two previous posts for a refresher on the scenario, etc:   
http://cluckamok.blogspot.com/2016/06/ready-to-roll.html  
http://cluckamok.blogspot.com/2016/05/next-up-warlord-us-open-games-day.html

Deployments remained the same. The French immediately shifted the two Coureur units, which were largely ineffective in the previous two games, to the flanks, headed for the woods. The French Marines and Regulars advanced up the road toward the British works and the main body of arriving British and Colonial Regulars.

The British rushed their Indian allies on their left flank through the woods 
to meet the advancing French-allied Indians and supporting Coureurs, then sent the Grenadiers into the woods on their right flank to counter the new French threat. 

The firefight began in earnest between the lines of Regulars. Both sides received casualties but several "disorders" slowed down the French advance. Though the British Indians on the left flank slowed the French Skirmishers' progress, the addition of the Coureurs to this action forced the Indians back and eventually broke the "brigade."

Recognizing the threat now on the left flank, the British shifted the Colonial Militia unit to the left behind the works, both to support the weakening defenses there and to be in position to defend on the flank when needed. This move had the added benefit of clearing the field of fire for the only large unit in the game, the main body of the British 44th Regulars. The fire from the 44th soon broke the French Regulars facing it, and though the French had moved a unit of Marines into the woods on the British right, when their brigade broke their advance subsequently halted.

 

 

Now both sides had a broken brigade, on opposite flanks. The British right flank seemed more secure but the left flank was in trouble, so the British sent the Colonials into the woods on the left. Though the Colonials had performed well in both previous games, as a "Freshly Raised" unit their abilities were in question right up to their first combat action. 

Luckily for the British, their firepower in the center caused another French brigade to break in the nick of time, so the Colonials weren't tested. 

Win for the British - the only one in the 3 games played - in a very tense and fast-moving game.

So how did Black Powder handle the French and Indian War? Here are some observations. Please note these are personal observations and not a review, per se.

I did not expect to "like" Black Powder. I'd read the rules previously, along with their ancients cousin, Hail Caesar, and had dismissed them. I really did not like the idea of "announcing" the intent of orders prior to testing for them and the support rules seemed overly complicated. In play, announcing intent did not unduly "tip your hand" as intent was obvious in almost all cases whether the unit followed orders or not, and the support rules worked just fine.

I set the units up mostly as small units and with attributes as suggested in the Last Arguments of Kings supplement that covers the F&IW period. This meant most units had a "Stamina" of 2, meaning they took two hits before becoming "Shaken," so leaders have to manage these hits aggressively to keep the units in the game. The command and control rules are simple and really fun.

Formations are limited; in this period basically Line, Column, Attack Column and Skirmish. It's pretty obvious when you should be in any particular formation.

In most skirmish rules for the black powder period, reloading after shooting is a key component of the game system. Other games I play treat reloading as an action, and the action either limits or precludes your ability to take other actions in a turn. Black Powder "simulates" the action of reloading with two period-specific rules:

1) First Fire is an attribute that permits trained units to fire with one extra die on their first fire of the game, recognizing the care that can be given to the first load, perhaps in camp, prior to the engagement; and

2) a unit can't fire in a turn if it moved more than one move segment, which recognizes if a unit takes time to load their muskets, it is either going to take time away from movement, or slow down that movement if they are capable of loading "on the run."

I thought I would miss an actual "reloading" rule, but as I like to play "small battles" as opposed to "squad-level" skirmishes, this abstraction worked really well in play, and the decision points related to movement vs. fire are still present.

There are additional "chrome" rules regarding commander profiles that could add even more flavor to the game if used, and some work needs to be done on your own to introduce scenario and deployment rules, but the actual framework "for fightin'" is solid and complete. And fun!

This Warlord Open Games Day experience has finally driven home the fact that reading isn't enough - you have to play a game a few times to really "get" it. I had a great time playing Black Powder. I'm pretty sure I will play it some more.

 

 

Warlord Open Games Day: F&IW Game Two

Game two of Black Powder on Saturday morning started much the same as the previous Friday night game. We had 6 players again; I had command of the the three Light Infantry units manning the breastworks and The Boy (The Baron's son, Marshal) graciously accepted command of the same units he led in the Friday night game, the French left flank. 

Here are two previous posts for a refresher on the scenario, etc:  http://cluckamok.blogspot.com/2016/06/ready-to-roll.html  http://cluckamok.blogspot.com/2016/05/next-up-warlord-us-open-games-day.html

The French forces advanced all along the line, shifting their Regulars to the right and moving through the Coureur skirmishers to put pressure on the British breastworks. The ensuing fight for the breastworks became the focal point of this contest, while the British-allied Indians held off their French counterparts on the British left flank.

The British defenses staved off two waves of assaults, losing the Colonial skirmishers and rushing the Grenadiers to the vacated left side of the breastworks.

 
The game was so closely-run that both sides reached their break point at nearly the same time. . . the British lost only because the "broken" rule kicks in at the beginning of the next turn after break point is reached and it was the British turn!

Next up. . . Game Three.

Back from Warlord Open Games Day!

I agreed to put on a game of Black Powder - several games, actually - at the Warlord Open Games Day in Oklahoma City last weekend. The Baron agreed to help run the games since he has more Black Powder experience than I do. He had only one request. . . stop on the way to Oklahoma City for the Fried Pies that Lead Addict recommended. Of course we stopped. And ate fried pies. Several, in fact. The weekend was off to a rockin' 100-degree start.

With help from The Baron and The Boy, we got set up in time to run the first game at 8pm, Friday night, even with the quick shuffle forced on us after we discovered, despite my packing lists and double checking, I'd left 3 critical terrain tiles behind at home in Minnesota. Luckily I packed a few extra so we were able to rearrange a few tiles and create a workable layout, but astute viewers may notice the terrain doesn't quite match the map from a couple posts ago!

Here are the previous two posts for a refresher on the scenario, etc: 
http://cluckamok.blogspot.com/2016/06/ready-to-roll.html 
http://cluckamok.blogspot.com/2016/05/next-up-warlord-us-open-games-day.html


Here are the French forces as they arrive from the South:

Here is the British position as viewed from the North:

We had 3 players on each side, with The Boy taking one of the French commands while I played the British-allied Indians on the British left flank. It was a close game, but the British Indians never really got into the fight and eventually the larger French units were able to force the British defenders from the breastworks. So we made two changes for the remaining games: we deployed the British Indians farther into the woods so they could get into the action more quickly, and we raised the defense factor of the units in the breastworks from 1 to 2. Both changes proved to be good ones in the following games.

Here are the photos from Game One. Games Two and Three will follow in later posts. Enjoy!

A note on markers used. . . We used a white D4 per unit to track "hits," and switched to a red D4 when the unit became "shaken." The white cotton "smoke" denotes "disorder."