ANCIENTS VOTING RESULTS:
Voters, By Experience - Up To Twenty Years

My most recent wargame was a solitaire replay of the Battle of the Sabis (Sambre) River in 57 B.C., played with Piquet with its Archon supplement. In this replay, the Nervii successfully ambushed Caesar's legions, who were apparently too tired after their long march to organize an effective resistance. It didn't help that Caesar's allied Gallic cavalry routed right through the 7th legion! Caesar was forced to retreat into camp with the battered remnants of his five remaining legions (the 13th and 14th never showed up), his safety (and more importantly, his honor) in serious jeopardy! A real nail-biter of an Archon battle! [12 Oct 1999]

The last round of the BHGS competition in Leeds. Due to a lot of bad luck and some poor play I was in last place going into the last round. I was using a Hindu Indian army designed to beat the kinght armies that I expected to be there. Up till this point I had not me a knight army, this tine I did and the Feudal Spanish had no chance and what little they had was not helped by a late arriving flank march. The Hindu Indiand won 10-0 with the loss of 2 and a half elements [25 Sep 1999]

Last ancients game was a 25mm meeting between Carthago and Rome, and it was glorious. There were stampeding elephants, skirmishers doing "rude" things in the scrub, and legionaires who (led by their commander) stood in the line until the last man died of blood loss!! By the way, the rules used were Might of Arms, which I highly recommend as a very fun rule set.

Exploits of this and other battles can be seen at http://www.netcolony.com/members/odms under "After Action Reports". [03 Sep 1999]

Fought my son James (12) to a standstill with my Byzantines against his Vikings using Warhammer Ancient Battles. A small encounter battle with no terrain, 1000 points, using the fantastic Gripping Beast figures. This was a major ploy by me to wean him off ridicuosly expensive 40K gaming (because I pay for it). He loves ancients now and we plan early Imperial Rome versus Ancient Brits armies next; now for his little friends.... [19 May 1999]

Two or three times a year before an upcoming convention the club usually gathers so that all those going will get a little 'Armati' practice for the tournament. Last time for practice, I managed to draw 'Calculating George' and his Alexandrian army. My army of choice was a successor, Pyrrhic. So far riding on a string of victories. This time, however, I fell victim to the Alexander's brilliance, i.e. the initiative bonus, and a dismal showing on the part of my "elite 5 cav." But, never fear, I thought to myself - we'll just call up Doug and thrash those Romans again! Aye, that's the spirit! [17 Jun 1999]

I fought an ahistorical contest between an Early Imperial Roman force and Porus Indians. The battle was fought using the Archon rules and actually turned out to be rather exciting. The Indian cavalry nearly enveloped the Roman infantry, but failed to pass their courage tests at a most inopportune time. The Roman infantry then crushed the Indian infantry in the center resulting in the Indian army routing. [12 May 99]

My last game was a small one using the Archon rules - a battle between the Romans and Carthaginians. [3 May 99]

Got my Celts stuffed by Early Imp Romans, used a rosta system (archon) and felt that up until the last moment that my Celts were in with a chance, then it all went pear shaped, [2 May 99]

The last game I played was Sung Chinese against Burmese. I lost right from the set up. I focused to much on my opponents elephants and went for the large units of 48 figures. I did not have a long enough line to protect my flanks appropriatly and was quickly obliterated. [30 Apr 99]

Greek vs Greek, around 18 units and 2 players per side using Archon (Piquet) rules. The Spartans and their allies were fighting the Athenians and their Allies. The Spartans tried desperately to engage the left wing of the army before their allies were destroyed. The Athenian side jabbed with their cav & Lt troops on the left, keeping the Spartans away from their battleline for as long as possible. Meanwhile the Athenian right swept forward at a rapid pace as their cavalry overwhelmed their counterparts on the Spartan left. Then as their flank was threatened, the Spartan Allies were hit to the front by the Athenian Hoplites. As the Hoplites clashed the Athenian Cavalry swept into the flank. Meanwhile the Spartans were just coming to grips with the Athenian allies. They closed to engage, but before they could shatter the allied Hoplites, their allies on their left crumbled and fled. The army's morale was gone with their flank. The Athenians and their allies were victorious as they managed to delay engaging the powerful Spartiates while taking advantage of their superior mounted arm to aid their hoplites against the Spartan allied Hoplites. The cavalry turned what could have been a slugfest into a one sided affair.

I have played many ancient rules for many years. Archon is on a different level altogether, in excitement, playability and it absolutely gives the best feel when related to historical accounts. [28 Apr 99]

Might of Arms - a great game between carthagians and seleucids. The battle appeared to be a rout at one time. The game then swung back to the other side before eventually returning to the seleucids. As always, lots of fun. [17 Apr 99]

We played an eastern Roman Legion against a western Legion using DBA rules. The more numerous cavalry in the eastern army was a definite advantage enabling an easy win, though not before the other side had wiped out one of the cohorts by some really hoy die rolls. [3 Apr 99]

Currently, my Late Imperial Army is fighting a pitched battle against a horde of Alammani in 15mm to play-test my own rules "Legion & Empire."

My left wing, containing the bulk of my cavalry is sweeping in on the Alammanic skirmishers. In the center the first line of Auxilia and allied feoderati are advancing on a hill.

My right wing which is rather weak (only 4 vexilationes of cav and some Lanciari) are facing all of the barbarian cav and are very worried. They'll probably get squished next weekend (sigh).

Last weekend I played a terrific "Classical Hack" game with Phil Viverito at a convention. I ran a few cohorts of Auxilia in a border outpost getting overrun by the Dacians while waiting for the Legions to come to my rescue. Ended up as some pagan sacrifice in a Dacian sacred grove, but it was fun....! [3 Apr 99]

the dread Visigoths had the termidity to attack the feudal French forces. The french had them right where they wanted them, when, the visigoth Horse overran the weak French Foot, demorlaizing the entire army. somuch for the power of the pike to ward off mounted attacks. [2 Apr 99]

Two days ago. I took my 6mm travelling DBA set (everything in a small toolbox) to visit a sick wargaming friend in the hospital. I'm sure the docs must have thought we were insane. Anyway, we laid it out on two hospital patient tables side by side and had a couple of rounds of Romans (Middle Imperials, but masquerading as Eastern Later Imperials) against the Sassanids, since I haven't had much of a chance to use the little elephants. I'm afraid that I couldn't manage to lose, though, even for a sick friend. [1 Apr 99]

My last game used Piquet/Archon and was a scenario in which a rebel Egyptian army with Athenian hoplite allies were attempting to break out of a besieged island in the Nile. Their opposition was a Spartan-led Persian army which started out in a scattered position. The Athenians easily over-ran the Persian infantry opposing them but harrassment by Persian horse archers and command indecision on the part of the Egyptians allowed the Persian heavy cavalry to hit the rebel flanks and a small unit of Spartan hoplites broke the Athenians. [31 Mar 99]

Polybian Roman (with celtiberian allies) against Later Selucid. DBM A perfect ambush broke my opponents mobile command. His scythed chariots got nowhere against the celtiberian caetrati. A fight for the wood in the centre was bloody and inconclusive (but almost cost me a command).

When we ran out of time, his C-in-C was attempting to take on an entire command almost single handed. A few more turns would probably have resulted in a 9-1 victory. [31 Mar 99]

British Celts v's Roman. Romans set up on a hill facing Britons across a clear vally. Britons had left their chariots behind but pushed on regardless. kept advancing then charged up hill. On the left flank the British cav outnumbered the Roman cav 2-1 but still went down in a screaming heap ruining the expected envelopment. In the center the impetuous charge of the warbands broke one cohort but couldn't catch in persuit the other cohort held firm. On the British right flank skirmishers kept each other busy. Next turn the Broken Cohort rallied only to be charged again, this time they held Roman cav returned to main battle charging a warband in the flank causing the warband to rout never to return. The skirmishers kept doing their duty however the second warband was surrounded and broken causing a general withdrawl. In the end more Romans than Britons died however the Romans were left holding the field. But we shall return thistime with ye olde British panzer brigade. [31 Mar 99]

My ancient British took on a friend's Later Hoplite Greeks using WRG 7th edition rules. It was a nasty fight. I crushed his peltasts, but his hoplite ranks held off my charging warbands. [30 Mar 99]

Armati with 6mm figures. Gauls vs. Republican Romans. The Gauls hung back, trying to develop a left flank hooking manuever, but I was unused to how fast the Roman Triarii could redeploy themselves, and the flanking move failed miserably. Nevertheless, the brave Gallic charge nearly carried the day anyway. Better luck next time!

I'm more interested in results than processes, so for me games like Armati & DBM are superior to WRG 7th. Your mileage may vary. [30 Mar 99]