Time to start some Imagi-Nations

Home made gaming Miniatures for years to come 8-)

                                                       "Man up and go to the Craft store"

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.  

  

                   

Battle of Leuctra

Battle of Leuctra  , July 6 371 BC.

                                                               Spartans take the field

                                                      Theban cavalry prepares to advance

Outside Leuctra, a crucial defeat of the Theban cavalry by the Spartan cavalry well supported by Hordes and Spears

     With the death of their general Epaminondas ,the Thebans, outflanked and outfought prepare to flee to the safety of Thebes

Unlike the historical battle, Sparta continues as the top City State of Greece awaiting the next opponent to challenge it.  

Final testing new mounting system

http://rixxk.blogspot.com/2012/05/clothes-pin-air-force.html.

Needlepoint Armies

The blog is back.  Working on a set of basic rules that covers several periods of warfare. Wednesday night, we began with play testing a hoplite subset of the Ancient rules. Our combatants:

The Spartans

The Athenians

These 4 mm "miniatures" were made with Needlepoint mesh, punched card stock and craft wire. The battle was the Battle of Mantinea in 418 B.C. 

 The forces engage when the Spartans (top) exit the woods.

Initial play test resulted in a historically accurate re-creation of the battle. The Athenian general Laches was slain early in the fight and the battle turned into a major route of the Athenians. However, the rules while accurate were not fun to play. After a rules review, some changes in the rules were made. And the battle re-fought.  

This time it was an extremely close battle in which the Athenians won a narrow victory and we agreed the hour long rematch was fun and played much better. A few more tweaks and we may have a set of hoplite and ancient rules for the future.