ANCIENTS VOTING RESULTS:
Voters, By Region - North America

Friendly with my Ostrogothic/Gepid supported Huns versus Knights of St. John...we did a few rules wrong, as it had been several weeks since my last game, but we called it a draw after 3 hours. Next time Attila will guard the baggage with the Gepid Wb(S)... [3 Nov 1999]

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]

DBA: EIR vs. Galacians. EIR won 4-0 with a good terrain position and poor chariot play by the Galacians. [23 Sep 1999]

I played a game of Legion & Empire against James Manto(rules designer) that involved a force of Sassanid Persians against a Late Roman army. Since I usually play the Sassanid persians, I decided to switch and try the Roman army for a change. The Romans were unlitmately victorious as the Sassanids over exteneded themselves after a successful carge against my line, they were surrounded and hacked down! Glory for Rome! [08 Sep 1999]

Aug. 20, 1999, Camillan Romans vs Early Seleucids, with 3 friends, using Might of Arms. It was a large game using units 2 stands wide. It was a classic setup with infantry in the center and cavalry on each wing. Each player took half the infantry on his side and the cavalry on one flank. The Seleucids weighted their cavalry on their right flank and swept away the opposing Roman cavalry after a few turns. The Seleucids also had two units of elephants mixed in with infantry to their right center. The Roman had terrible die rolls against them and they swept all before them--unusual for elephants. I was the Roman player on the right flank. The Roman and Seleucid cavalry on this flank neutralized each other. The infantry finally engaged in the center, but the Romans had lost too much on their left flank, so were outnumbered in the center. Most of the Romans routed, so we conceded the game. A twist for this game is that the Seluecids were stronger in Romans at the outset in points. The idea was that a Gallic flanking force would arrive and alter the balance. The Gauls appeared on the table but were too far away to get to the battle in time to help. [04 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]

Played Might of Arms - Roman civil wars. Used many game options. [03 Sep 1999]

Romans vs Carthaginians, a training/teaching game for a frienbd using Might of Arms rules. Romans won by cracking the Carthaginian main battle line. [02 Sep 1999]

A friend of mine & I played a game of Classical Hack 24 hours ago between a Hellenistic Greek force vs a Later Macedonian force of about 500 points each. The Macedonians won on the front & the left flank. No terrain to speak of but we had fun in about 2 hours. Francis Reed [20 Aug 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]

Our side had two Roman Armies against two Briton Armies. We did a frontal assault with our cavalry placed in the center. When my ally rolled low for pips at the beginning of the turn. I was left alone and and was overwelmed by the Briton warbands. Oh well. [31 Jul 1999]

We played 2000 pts. Warhammer Anients battle, Carthagian vs. Alexander. [14 May 1999]

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]

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]

last campaign using avalon hill's 'hannibal' with armati rules and 4-5 players. generated 6-8 games [2 Apr 99]

Hittites vs Egyptians, 15mm Tactica rules (home-brew Hittite list). I altered the existing Egyptian list to a more New Kingdom style: no cavalry, added one unit of Shardana Guard HI (24 figs, FV 5-6, +2 morale, swords). Hittites attacked on left and Egyptians withdrew slowly. The Pharaoh tried to counterattack too late on his own left, while the Hittite numbers overwhelmed the Egyptian right wing. [31 Mar 99]

Armati Rules Later Carthaginians vs Republican Roman.

In a rather historical manner, I(Roman) managed to destroy his center before he could destroy my flanks. Bad deployment on his part allowed my skirmishers to engage his elephants without being threatened until it was to late. His cavalry never managed to threaten my flank seriously. Once his elephants were destroyed the Legionairres followed. It was only a matter of time at that point. [31 Mar 99]

Ran solo effort to relieve Hadrian'Wall garrison of late Roman auxilia being attacked by Pictish confederation troops, using MOA. The reinforcements didn't make it to the fort and the garrison was overrrun. [31 Mar 99]

Warhammer Ancient Battles 1200 points of Late Romans vs. 1500 points of Franks. The Romans had to transport a convoy of 8 wagons from one side of the board to the next. The Franks had to capture at least 4 wagons and to win. It was a simple solitaire scenario. The idea was based on a scenario in the Courier for Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. The terrain was lightly wooded up to one point near the Roman exit point, that was heavily wooded.

At the heavily wooded area was a concentration of 800 points of Franks. The remanider could appear at any point before the woods when a d6 was rolled. The dice weren't with the Franks. Too few appeared before the heavy woods to do any damage.

Before the Romans reached the heavy woods, they deployed, all the cavalry surrounding the wagons. The Roman Auxiliary infantry and archers deployed on the flanks.

The Franks charged from the woods, bad dice again, and the Roman cavalry and wagons counter charged. The convoy punched a hole in the Franks and continued down the road. The Roman auxiliary inf and archers repulsed the Franks charge. The game was over.

I was hoping that the Franks would have attacked the convoy before the woods to weaken the Romans. This didn't happen. [30 Mar 99]

My latest battle was part of a solitaire campaign using the S & T boardgame Caesar in Gallia for the strategic level, and Piquet/Archon for the tactical battles. My latest battle saw Caesar with four legions fighting Ariovistus on the German side of the Rhine. The battle opened with a furious attack by the Germans (they won the early impetus rolls). But by exchanging lines Caesar was able to keep his front intact, until three German warbands suffered a loss of heart (lost rolls after Ariovistus drew a Courage! card) and fled, destroying the morale of the entire German army. It was a total tactical victory for the Romans, and insured that Caesar would not have to worry about another German incursion - at least for this year!

I've wargamed ancients since 1979, and have played a number of rulesets, beginning with WRG 6th. By 1993 I had finally become so dissatisfied with the existing rules that I briefly dropped out of active gaming. Piquet and Archon have put the fun and excitement back into wargaming for me! BTW, the very complex ancients version of Empire is entitled "Ancient Empires" (plural). Thanks for providing such a great web site! [30 Mar 99]