Well, I'm working more hours than I do normally, so I have no great stories about all the hobby projects I'm finally getting completed. . . Not playing any games, so the basing goes on. Above is a photo of the British Grenadiers from the 47th Regiment. Working on the "hatmen" still. No photo, but I also finished up 3 French and 3 British artillery crews.
Been tinkering a bit with solo rules for both DBA 3.0 and Commands and Colors: Ancients, but really most free time I have right now is going toward completing bases.
I did pick up 2 new rule sets in the last month or so. I supported the Kickstarter for Clash of Spears, a skirmish game set in Ancient times, in particular, the Punic Wars.
They had me at "Punic Wars." Scale is small-unit; around 6-12 soldiers per unit. I really like the deployment system; it reminds me a little of Sharp Practice 2. It's different but also uses a concept of "deployment points" that is a fun alternative to the "line up and go" of some Ancients games. The rest may seem familiar. . . roll to hit, roll to save, lots of traits and customization possible. Haven't played it yet. Lots of pretty eye candy.
The other set is Muskets & Tomahawks 2.
Another very pretty hardback book. Same basic game as the original version, but with some streamlining and clean-up. The command system has been re-vamped; the optional hand management system from the original version is now standard, and an interesting additional system of command points has been overlaid to provide more tactical flexibility. Like Sharp Practice 2, Muskets & Tomahawks 2 is a broader volume covering all theaters of "black powder" warfare, not just the colonial wars in North America. To get the army lists and specific rules for said North American conflicts, a second softcover book is required: Redcoats & Tomahawks.
Not sure that this will ever replace my "go to" Muskets and Mohawks, but I am sure I will at least give it a test-run.
And while we're talking about small-unit skirmish rules (I just realized we have a theme going now), check out Wiley Games' new Fistful of Lead offering:
Stay Safe!
In the grand scheme of things, this can't even be considered a hardship, but it is one more example of the change in daily life that response to the virus requires. My regular DBA 3.0 opponent (and friend) is 70+ years of age and took himself out of group/face-to-face gaming a couple weeks before the country started to embrace "social distancing." I was totally supportive; you may remember that I lost my mother to the "regular flu" a couple years ago. Just not worth taking any chances. . .
So what to do until we get "back to normal?" I might play around with De Bellis Solitarius, but I'm more likely to use the home time to catch up on completing the bases on some of the 54mm French and Indian War units I based over the last 2 years. . . like the French La Sarre troops I just finished.
One great aspect of the Muskets and Mohawks rules I play with is that they are designed to be played solitaire. It is not just an afterthought, but an integral part of the rules!
Last month's DBA 3.0 game was a Big Battle pike-fest, pitting two triple-sized II/16 Asiatic Early Successor armies against each other: II/16a Antigonus (me) and II/16d Eumenes (Bruce). Historical enemies, to boot. Both pike-heavy forces, the main difference was that Bruce/Eumenes had more elephants, and I/Antigonus had some light horse and 3 Pike Generals (Eumenes' Generals were Knights). Terrain ended up on the flanks with little impact on the game.
Eumenes:
Antigonos:
As the Pike blocks advanced, I sent my right-flank Light Horse out to skirmish, and fed Elephants and Pike toward my left flank to defend against Eumenes mounted push.
When the Pikes embraced the Antigonid Pike Generals provided a slight edge in the initial combats. Turned out Bruce had also PIP-starved the Elephants on Eumenes left flank by assigning them the low PIP dice, depriving it of a potent weapon.
These two factors kept the Antigonids ahead of the attrition race and eventually led to the Antigonid victory.
Eumenes "himself" fought off the Antigonid PIkes for a couple of bounds before being finally overwhelmed.
Be safe!
My team finally won the Super Bowl. Still doesn't seem real. . . and I am honestly still basking in it. I was in 6th grade when my family moved to the Kansas City, MO (NOT Kansas) area, the year after the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings were "our" team then, since we had lived in Minneapolis for a couple years previously - Kindergarten and 1st Grade for me - so we were pulling for the Vikes in IV. I stayed in KC until my mid-thirties, long enough to become a fully-vested member of the Chiefs Nation, before heading back to Minnesota for work. Fifty years is a long time to wait just to have your team in the Super Bowl, let alone win it, in the midst of family and friends, in the burbs of Kansas City, whooping and crying. Congrats, Chiefs! What a fun win!
A couple weeks before, Bruce and I met for our monthly game of DBA 3.0. Bruce provided 2 28mm Classical "Greek" armies: II/22 Alexandrian Macedonian and II/5c Later Hoplite Greek Theban. We played Big Battle format; each army x 3 for 36 elements per army. After dicing I got the Thebans, defending. Not much terrain; a Woods, some gentle hills and ploughed fields, mostly on the flanks. Pretty Classical.
The Macs were Pikes supported by Knights, Cavalry, Auxilia and Psiloi. . .
The Thebans were basically the same, with Spears instead of Pikes, and no Knights. . .
So, it would be a contest of double-depth Pikes against 2 lines of Spears. The Theban army is interesting in that it has a Spear General and an element of double-depth Spears (8Sp), both of which get a +1 in combat in Good Going against Pikes. Number of elements times 3, remember, we're playing Big Battle. Moving into close combat and thereby getting to choose the order of combats could be critical when engaging the Pikes.
The Macedonian mounted threatened my left flank, so I refused and expanded it with my own mounted. Our Auxilia skirmished in the hills on my right flank.
Then I spotted a potential "Gaugamela Moment" on my left flank. . .
. . . and due to very favorable dice roll the Mac General went down fighting!
The loss of the General slowed down the threat on this flank while the Spears in the center pushed into the Pikes and we both fed Cavalry into the skirmish on the opposite flank.
First contact in the center went slightly in the Spears favor, and the subsequent elimination of a couple of Pikes elements, despite the loss of a couple of Spears, led to increased Theban momentum as a couple of holes in the line were exploited. The second line of Spears moved up where needed to plug their own holes. Combats on both flanks also favored the Thebans.
And suddenly, due to their small sizes, both Macedonian flanks were demoralized, and despite the fact that the center large command had taken losses but was still intact, per the rules the demoralization of two commands breaks the army.
Thanks for another fun game, Bruce!
See ya!
2020 is here! I rang in the new year rather quietly, due to a massive head cold, and rather than make any bold pronouncements about the coming year, thought I would play a little catch-up with this post.
Bruce and I have been playing DBA 3.0 once a month for the past several, and he's been supplying the 28MM armies and choosing some interesting match-ups - more or less historical - so here are the recaps.
October: Army II/5e Aitolian vs 2/5f Phokian. A 2/5 Later Hoplite Greek rumble except the Aitolians get very few Hoplites! We played a double-size game - 24 elements with 2 Generals. . . and the Aitolians have 14 Psiloi with only 8 Hoplites and a pair of Light Horse. The Phokians have more Spears, a few Psiloi, Some Auxilia and a pair each of Cavalry and Artillery (bolt shooters). A very interesting match-up between 2 Aggression 1 armies, though the Phokians look highly favored.
We rolled for army choice and I lost; so I got the Aitolians and all those Psiloi. Bright spot was that I was defending, so with DBA's terrain generation system I had a chance to get some terrain to help even things up. And I got some - a woods and some rough going in the center of the table! The plan would be to get the Psiloi into the woods and rough terrain early, use the Light Horse to harass and look for good match-ups to occur. A long shot but not impossible.
I got to the woods first and sent the Light Horse out on a wide flanking maneuver.
The woods became a fulcrum that leveraged the two Phokian commands apart, though they sent their Auxilia, and even some Cavalry to try to clear out the Psiloi. I refused both flanks while the Light Horse raced around the back of the Phokian army, drawing off the Phokian mounted in pursuit.
The Light Horse picked off a couple elements on the left flank before being chased away by the Phokian Cavalry while both armies traded casualties in the center in the Woods.
After the Phokians lost both their generals on the flanks (the Phokinan general fighting on my left flank survived a couple of surrounded combats before succumbing) I pushed hard on the right flank - including bringing the Light Cavalry all the way back to the flank they started on - against the Phokian command with the Artillery and just squeaked out a win!
November: Army II/30b Galatian vs 2/6 Bithynian. A historical match-up in that the Bithynians were originally responsible for bringing the Gauls to Asia to help in a civil war! The Galatians were mostly Warband with some Psiloi, Cavalry (including chariots) and a Scythed Chariot. The Bithynians were mostly Auxilia and Psiloi with a couple of Light Horse.
I rolled up the Bithynians and defended again; terrain would have no effect in this game. I liked the match-ups; the Auxilia and Psiloi should be able to handle the Galatian warbands.
The Pip Gods were generally good to me. I sent the Light Horse out to draw off the Galatian mounted and pushed forward to the general engagement. The Psiloi screening the Auxilia broke up the Warband charges as planned, and some early Bithynian casualties and good Pip rolls allowed the Auxilia and Psiloi to create some hard flanks when the Warbands pursued into overlaps.
The Bithynian second line filled in for losses in the center and supported the left flank against the Galatian mounted and Scythed Chariot attack, while the Auxilia and Psiloi won the battle in the center against the Warbands.
December: Army II/32a Later Carthaginian vs 2/56 Early Imperial Roman. Bruce brought 15mm Romans - a bit too late in period to be historical - to face off against my Carthaginians. We played a full Big Battle game of 3 commands each. Roman blades are always scary, but the new side support rules for Spears in 3.0 helps even the odds.
The Romans were Blades supported by Auxilia, Psiloi and a few Cavalry, arrayed in three lines. My Carthaginians had a command of 8 Spear and 2 Elephants with Psiloi and Cavalry, a second command of 8 Gallic Warbands and 2 Cavalry, and a third command of 8 Light Horse and couple Psiloi. The Carthaginians were attacking so were able to place the Light Horse command last. The Romans placed a BUA during the terrain phase, but it and the rest of the terrain proved inconsequential.
My initial Pip roll was awful but I eventually managed to get the Light Horse command into action and advance the main battle line.
The Romans countered the Numidian Light Horse with their mounted, but were not able to get their third line into the fight.
The Romans then fed two of their Generals into the fight with the Light Horse, which could not be extricated as the fight grew larger. As the Gauls closed in support, the Spears and Blade battle lines embraced. A couple of early Blade casualties led to the Spears gaining overlap advantages in subsequent combats.
The Punic Spears held firm in the center, handing the Romans more Blade losses, and with the elimination of two Roman generals to the Numidians, 2 commands became demoralized, for a Carthaginian win.
The difference was that third Roman line that never got into the fight. The Carthaginians were able to get more of their elements into combats than the Romans.
Lots of fun. See ya!
