Chaeronea 2013 - Battle.

Sorry, there is no excuse for not updating my blog earlier.
It's not that I've not done anything wargames- related, just, well maybe blog-tired. (did I just invent a new word???)

Anyway, here is a short report on what happened that friday evening, at the end of 2013. Or at least, what I remember of it...

Both armies started a bit cautious. the Greeks tried to get through the hills/mountains on their left with some skirmishers, where no formed units could pass. When the Macedonians tried to stop them with the Thracian peltasts, the Greeks charged them with their cavalry!

Bad luck for the Greeks, though. The dice were against them, and they only inflicted one casualty! The Thracians got better luck, and got the cavalry running away from them, killing several mounted Greeks.

In the mean time, skirmishers were exchanging missiles all over the table Not a lot of victims, but most skirmish units are very brittle, and don't need a lot of casualties to run strait of table. Not this time.

(This picture is actualy taken before the one above, hence the cavalry is yet to make contact)

it is now time for the Macedonians to advance . They try to attack on their left, Greeks right, where the heroic Theban Sacred Band is positioned. They don't wait for the Macedonians, and urge forward themselves, while the other Hoplites keep the line unbroken and also advance.

One of the Macedonians phalanx doesn't make the test after combat, and breaks!

Alas, no luck for the Greeks. In another combat, that same bound, the Greek generals gets killed, and the whole army must test. Most of the unit make the test, but in combat most of them have to test again, due to receiving more casualties then the Macedonians. In this second test many units take the battle for lost and start running away. With no general to boost moral, this is a disaster for the Greeks. The Macedonian Companions then surge forward, and, after only 5 turns battle is over.

Many thanks to Peter and Johan - the Greek generals, and Chris and Bert the Macedonian generals. They all told me the battle was great fun to play. 

As said before, we used Clash of Empires, and armies were around 4000 point a side, with +/- 700 miniatures on the table. Playing time was just over 3 hours.

Tomorrow I make a little trip, together with Peter and Johan to London. We booked a hotel there. The day after, it's Salute time!

For those who never heard of this (no, impossible!) that is the biggest one day wargames event in Europe.

I hope to meet some fellow-bloggers there. I will go search if I can find Simon (Bigredbat) who's figures will be used by the WSS team for their show game.

See you there! 

Or not...

Chaeronea 2013 - Set up.

Exactly one month after my last message, finaly a new update on my blog.
We played the Chaeronea scenario the weekend in between Christmas and new year with lots of tiny metal toys. four players took the role of the generals, while I was umpireing the game, for as far as nessesary.
We used the largest table in our clubhouse, but unfortunately, lighting was not that good. I took lots of pictures, but some were so bad, I erased them.
The rest, you can see here!

As told before, we used the Clash of Empires rules set, which we regularly use and are fairly happy with.
The terrain was set up historicaly, or at least, how I think it was. A river on one side, and mountains on the other side, with a large plain in between.
Total terrain was 6 foot wide and 5 foot deep. It was measured that there was not a lot of space left for maneouvering or flanking, if any.
Troops could be set up as the generals desired.
The Alied Greeks placed their troops more or less historical, while the Macedonians put their Companion cavalry, including Alexander in reserve.
Let's see what that gives.
Macedonians on your right, Greeks on your left.

In case anyone wonders, that little D10 in the river is the turn counter. The game lasts max 8 turns.
Next time: The battle.

Off to War! (part I)

Due to personal reasons, and a few minor relays, it has been a while since a new update was posted.
I hope to be more regular in the future, but you never knows what will happen...

Anyway, I have been painting ancient Greeks and Macedonians for several years now, and think it is time to play a big game. The battle I would like to play is Chaeronea, taking place somewere in the middle of Greece, between a greek Alliance and the Macedonian army of Philip, aided by his 18 year old son Alexander,  in 338BC.
The battle took place between the Kephissos River (nort-east) and Mount Petrachos (south-west), so it would be difficult to catch a flank.

The rules we will use are Clash of Empires, with around 5000 points a side. That is a couple of hunderd figures a side.
The set-up of troops will be at the players decision, but the battle field will be more or less historical.

The Greek Alliance was made of mostly Athenian and Theban hoplites. I'm not going to give away too much details now, as some of my gaming friends are probably reading this. But a few pictures won't hurt.

Here you see the allied Greek army marching by a hero's shrine, set up to honour Perseus, who took off Medusa's head.  A priests is offering a lamb for good fortune of the army while it marches along.
The officers are checking and discussing the troops and the way they wil try to overcome the Macedonians.

 



Apart from hoplites, there were of course also a few mounted troops, peltasts and skirmishers.

The most famous of Greek hoplites, the Theban Sacred band is leading the rather large column of hoplites.
There were only 300 of them, so a much smaller unit than the other phalanx units!

The Greek forces as seen trhough the eyes of an eagle passing over.

Two more units of skirmishers are to be added to the forces, making the total over 300 miniatures.

The Macedonian army will be shown here soon. (I hope)

A belated review of my 2012.

January is already over halfway and I still have to let you know what I've done in november and december!
So, belated, here it is.

First of, I did some wargaming, really!
We played a few ancient games using the excellent Clas of Empires rules. We used to play a lot of Warhammer Ancient Battles 1.0, but when 2.0 came around, we simply gave up. Armati (mostly intro scale) came next, a game we liked and played a lot. We will play this again in the future.
And now we have Clash of Empires. This looks a lot like WAB, but without the super characters. A general is just that, and not a superhero/killermachine.
If you would like to know more about COE,
check out http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/clash-of-empires

I also played a few games of the popular Saga, though I don't own the rules.
You only need a handfull of figures to play, but it is a fun skirmish game. I wouldn't call it a real historical wargame, It's more a game with model soldiers than a wargame.

On to painting. After Crisis '12, I had a real surge to get some miniatures painted before the end of 2012.
I painted all the miniatures that were already primed. Some were lying in the drawere since, well lets say a very long time.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with uploading pictures from my pc for the moment. So no pictures yet.
I hope to upload the pictures soon.

I also painted my first miniatures for 2013. Byzantines from Crusader Mins for a Saga warband. The warband is not finished yet, but I hope they will be in the near future.
I also painted two yurts from the fantastic Grand Manner range of scenery models. Not cheap, but probably the best you can get!
See for yourself: http://www.grandmanner.co.uk/home/Home.html
The yurts are great models for anyone having steppe nomads from Scythians over Huns to Mongols.

That's it for now.
Thanks for reading, and please comment if you like it, or not.