ANCIENTS VOTING RESULTS:
Voters, By Scale - 25mm

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Roman vs Egyptian/Roman in a semi desert battle with low hills and asingle oasis. The Egyptians were flanked and crushed by two chorts before their Roman alllies coud interven. [03 Jun 1999]

A DBM match between my Middle Imperial Romans and an Ottoman Turkish army. Although the legionaries annhilated most of the Ottoman's Serbian Knight allies, the Serbian ally general managed to break through the ROman line to cause considerable damage, leading to a loss for my Romans... [29 May 1999]

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

My last ancients game was a solo playtest of my newly acquired Archon rules set-Romans versus Carthaginians. The game went smoothly and produced very historical results. The Roman cavalry on one flank got tangled up with Numidian light horse and never got into action, while the Spanish and Liby-Phoenician horse on the other flank made short work of the Italian horse opposite them and went on to strike the flank of the Roman infantry. The Roman infantry was winning in the center until the cavalry hit them, Although the Libyan heavy infantry had managed to fight them pretty much to a draw, the Spanish and Gallic infantry weren't doing so hot. [28 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]

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]

Fought against Gary Comardo's superbly painted Gauls, I used Caesarian Romans with supporting ranks to wear the Gauls down before dealing with them. As predicted, the Gauls swarmed all over the Roman vanguard, but were unable to break any of the Roman units. The Gallic cavalry did have some success against the Roman horse, but the hardy Roman infantry in reserve had by then closed upon the Gauls and beat them soundly.

In AW, you must tire (disorder) the legionnnaires before simply charging in. A good game and an historical outcome. [4 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]

Using Warhammer Ancient Battles at club. Imperial Romans vs Byzantine. [3 Apr 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]

We use set-up points and not historical armies, usually. 80 set-up points this time. It's larger than the 12-stand DBA variant but just about as quick. Terrain played a factor since a river of unknowable depth passed through three quadrants. Using an 8-sided die to see how many units could move/turn was appropriate for 80 set-up points, but don't think that it necessarily allows anything like an Ancients "blitzkrieg." In fact, the side that lost had difficulty in the mid-game moving more than two of his five units in any given turn. The "good guys" (i.e. me) won, killing off some heavy chariots (classified as knights) and taking the camp. Light horse on both sides did an impressive job. [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]

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]