ANCIENTS VOTING RESULTS:
Rules Regularly Played - De Bellis Antiquitatis

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

Camapaign game from the Antiquity Campaign I run at the Humberside Wargames Society. I take the part of independent provinces when invaded by players. Yesterday I was Rhoxolani Sarmatians against the player controlled Sarmatians. I lost.... [19 Sep 1999]

DBM Ch'in vs Indians at 400pts, Ch'in spear centre rolled over the Indian centre of Bows and Elephants into the Indian camp whilst Chariots and cavalry of both sides skirmished indecisively. [17 Sep 1999]

Played DBM Late Roman Eastern (me) against Horse Barbarians - I got slaughtered! He used heavy cavalry to punch a hole in my battle line splitting my right flank off from the rest of my army. My knights were on my left flank and they could not really catch his light cav - largely useless. My right flank consisted of cav - he killed these first! and aux supported by psiloi (later died fast); my general was the last to die of cav, whereupon the whole command became demoralized. He sent 5 elements into my rear and they killed by baggages, by which time I had lost one third of my command. I felt quite despondent!

I could use some advice on how to play with a Roman army! [7 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]

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]

Small battle: Marian Rome vs. Early Spartans. The Romans were beaten, maunly due to being enveloped, and losing the general (his unit was hit in flank). Nasty game all in all. I failed to keep my focus :( [7 Jun 1999]

Roman Civil war with 3 legions per side (25mm) legions being about 150 figures strong in a fairly rough terrain with key objectives set for each side to obtain by set moves. A very hard fought battle over about 6 hours one Saturday. Result I acheived my objectives but suffered very heavy casualties so really a pyrric victory in that sense. My opponents failed to hit their objectives and also suffered heavy casualties (we only had about 2% difference). Using Athena ancient rules [19 May 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]

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]

Most recently was a game of DBA. A close game, played nicely and was quick enough not to take up the whole day. [6 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]

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]

I played in a DBM tournament. Did not play very well at all and lost all three games. A perfect day! [1 Apr 99]

My last ancients game was Early Imperial Romans vs. Early Imperial Romans in a civil war scenario using DBA. Both armies were evenly matched, but a bad deployment and bad tactics of dividing his army (caused in part by the terrain) allowed me to defeat my opponent piecemeal. [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]

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]

Not terribly interesting to recount, since both I and my opponent made a number of mistakes when it came to applying the rules correctly.

I was using Polybian Romans against Gauls. The battlefield was mostly clear, with a gentle hill in the center. My goal was to advance in a "box" formation, with one edged anchored against the board edge and my other flank guarded by cavalry. I wanted to get on top of the hill for a height advantage, but as it turned out, the Gauls got there at the same time so neither of us had a height advantage. I tried to send my skirmishers ahead of my legionaries to disrupt the Gallic advance, but that didn't work too well. It slowed them down, but they still managed to break through my line. I wheeled more legionaries to outflank the Gallic wargband, but they couldn't quite catch the Gauls. This game would have been a disaster for the Romans, but the Gallic cavalry suffered an ingnominious (sp) defeat at the hands of my Triarii (spearmen) on the flank. I really like DBA's handling of the legion-warband interaction. It's very suspenseful and dramatic. [30 Mar 99]

DBM tourney in Hattisburg, MS. Played as a alternate with Marian Romans. Two 9-1 victorys vs Teutionic and Latter Assyrians. The dice were on my side in both games as my Auxila (S) killed 5 stands of Knights (S)for the day. Unbelievable! [30 Mar 99]