WARG 1.1 Playtest

Time to playtest our WARG (Wednesday Afternoon Retired Gamers) 1.1 rules with Ancient armies from Eldoria (Frank, top of photo) and Sciatica (myself, bottom of photo).

              Sciatica's flanks advance, though some hesitation from their general.

                      Eldoria's Heavy foot dispatch the light horse of Sciatica

                                  Sciatica's Bows rake the Heavy Infantry of Eldoria

The Bows and Heavy foot of Sciatica force the Eldorian general and heavy foot into a series of retreats. As night fell, the Elite spear joined in the Eldorian retreat.

OOB: 

          Eldorian: 5 heavy foot (general), 1 Elite spear  (23)

          Sciatica: 4 heavy foot (general), 2 Bows, 1 light cavalry  (20)

Sciatica Heavy Foot

                                                   Eldorian Heavy Foot

                                                     Sciatica Bow

On to WARG 1.2    

 

Battle of Issus DBA 3.0 on 8 1/2" X 11" board

Wednesday nights game was the Battle of Issus using modified (movement distances halved due to scale) DBA 3.0 rules  and played on a piece of paper ( 8 1/2" X 11" board) using Plastic Mesh armies.

Initial deployment. Top of the screen are the Persians. Cavalry and Light Horse on their right wing, the Scythed Chariots, Spears flanking the Persian leader Darius III with his chariots, and Psiloi on the Persian left flank.  The Macedonians on the bottom of the picture have Parmenion's cavalry on it's left flank. The sarissa Pikes (phalanx) are deployed in the center. Alexander and the Companions are on their normal right flank with Auxilia to their left.

                                       A look at the Plastic mesh Macedonian sarissa troops

                                                                 The Macedonians advance.

                                Alexander attacks the Persian Psiloi across the Penarus River.

Having destroyed the first Psiloi element Alexander turns to battle the last Persian Psiloi. The Persian spears and Macedonian Pike prepare to engage. Darius III does not rush into the Macedonian trap in the center but waits to face Alexander.

            The Cavalries engage on the left side of the photo. Darius prepares to face Alexander.

Mixed results with the cavalry battle, but the Persians turn the tide when their Spears defeat some of the Macedonian Pikes in bloody fighting in the center. 

Darius and Alexander face off and the Macedonians finally get themselves better organized with rear support against the Persian Spears.

Darius recoils, his supporting Psiloi are finally eliminated and the Macedonian Sarissa prove their power when properly organized.

As with history, in a very close battle, Alexander defeats Darius III and prepares to chase him across the Middle East.

Frank has been my gaming opponent for over 45 years. I have asked him to play some strange games and playtest many of my crazy gaming ideas. Playing DBA on a "piece of paper" board has to rank right up there. However, it did work and was a great deal of fun. I'm not sure I'm ready to try a miniatures battle on a 4X6 index card, but who knows.

I spent some time looking at the pricing of both 6mm & 15mm DBA armies, this week. Continuing to use Plastic Mesh at under a $1.00/army is a very attractive way to go. Please look back through this blog for details on making your own Plastic Mesh armies for DBA play.  How to ... Needlepoint Mesh Armies

The revised Battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC

Our version of the The Battle of Chaeronea . Due to the victory by Sparta in our last game (a reversal of history), the Spartans under the command of the venerable General Phragkiskos faced the Macedonians led by the legendary father and son duo of Philip II and Alexander.

                     Early dawn, the Spartans (top) and the Macedonians (bottom) assemble.

                          Alexander advances on the left, while Philip II advances on the right wing.

After inflicting early casualties to the Spartans, Alexander is wounded and his troops captured. Philip continues his assault on the right wing.

        Philip II deploys his sarissa against the Spartan spears and threatens the Spartan flank.

The Macedonian sarissa proves superior to the Spartan spears and Philip's horse turn the Spartan flank, capturing the Spartan force and freeing Alexander.

As it was in history, Greece as a political and military power was finished to be supplanted by the Macedonians who now looked to the east and the ancient superpower that was Persia. Sparta proved, in our battles, to be the superior City State of Greece, but it was no match to the superior technology the Macedonian possessed with its 20 foot pike/spear. 

Our rules held up, but still need some tweaking. We may revisit these battles using DBA rules and the new Triumph! ruleset for comparison.  

  

                   

Merry Christmas to All, and it was a good night

By tradition, the December game night closest to Christmas is dedicated to a variation of the fictional "Battle of Reading town". This year's premise is that in retaliation for the American's victory at the "Battle of Trenton" (December 26, 1776). A force of Hessians, under British command, embark on an assault on Reading (PA) town in an effort to free Hessian prisoners being held captive in an area of the town known as "Hessian Camp". We experimented with an Order of Battle using "Horde of the Things" as the rules set, instead of the usual DBA rules.

British and Hessian troops (top) advance on the Continental defenders in Reading (PA) town (bottom).

British/Hessian forces (top) deploy for battle.

The dreaded Von Rall Grenadiers (bottom, right) prepare their attack on Continental Militia (Reading Militia). While British loyalists take casulties from the American artillery in the center.

Mirbach's Musketeers join Von Rall in their assault on the Hessian Left. Cannon exchange fire in the center.

British Lights, Line and Dragoons battle back and forth with Continental Line and Dragoons on the British/Hessian Right Flank. While Mirbach's Musketeers and Von Ralls Grenadiers battle on the German Left Flank.

The Grenadiers and Musketeers clear their Left Flank in hand to hand combat. Their right flank continues to engage in a back and forth battle with the "plucky" Colonials. However, the British cannon begin to take their toll in the center, supported by Prince Frederick's troops.

After a series of engagements, with their Right Flank turned and with their Commanding Officers forced off the board as the British artillery continued to out dice the Continentals. The final tally was made. The British/Hessians lost one stand of British line troops (on their Right Flank) but the Loyalist who were chased by the early cannon fire had reorganized and returned to fight. The Americans had lost a line troop, a stand of lights, and 2 militia and their General was off board.  The Hessians had the advantage in Movement rolls all evening which allowed them to bring Grenadiers to a militia fight (or "bring a gun to a fist fight"). I wonder what the Reading militia would have thought when they first saw those pretty conical caps and waxed moustaches approaching ?

All that's left to say is "Frohe Weihnachten" (Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year) to all my gaming friends, old and new, and their families.

November DBA-HX-ACW

Cannons on hills, crossroads, split rail fence, blue and gray ....