Romans vs Carthage or "Ode to a fallen General"

Pics from Thursdays ancients battle. Could have saved us two hours if the two generals had just met in the middle of the battlefield and Mark then just rolled a six.

The Roman juggernaut rolls toward the stationary Carthaginian lines

Meanwhile out on the right the Carthaginian cavalry goes prospecting. in the hills watched by the slightly bemused Roman legion

Roman reserves

Roman C-in-C pushes his legion forward. See those skirmishers Ian

Carthaginians still messing about in the hills 

Roman reserves still playing cards. All is looking good....

but wait, where is the General". Oh yes He's dead. 

ACW

Thanks chaps, last few weeks going over the rules and playing some excellent scenarios has been very useful and has also given me a second wind with regard to painting figures and developing my increasing amount of scenery.

Below are just a few pics from the last battle you fought

Confederate infantry on the road

Federal infantry on a picnic

choke point at the White Church Junction

The Confederate start to develop an attack..

whilst the Union hunker down for the onslaught

Birds eye view as the Rebels surge toward the Yankee lines

Union cavalry in an obvious attempt to emulate the exploits of J.E.B Stuart start a 3 hour ride around the entire confederate Corps 

The Rebel commanders discus tactics....

whilst the Union commanders attempt the 'Cruciatus' spell on Marks dispersed skirmishers

Next thursday

Gent's

this Thursday we will try out the spearhead WW2 points system

British 45 inf division V German 45 inf Division

 

 

Points 350

7.2.1 Battalions:

On table battalions are defined as armoured, mechanised infantry, infantry, reconnaissance or support. In

Attack Defence Situations they must be defined by type when placing HQs, refer sections 5.1.4 and 5.2.3.

A battalion may be under strength. However, no more than one third of the original fighting stands of the

battalion may be removed from the battalion. Reconnaissance stands, except from divisional reconnaissance

battalions, as well as any stand capable of conducting support fire, may always be removed when forming

under strength battalions in addition to the one third of the fighting stands.

The doctrine of some nationalities supports the use of cross-attachment. Cross-attachment of one company

requires the removal of another company from the battalion’s original strength. For the purposes of the scenario

system these nations may also purchase battalions that have companies already cross-attached the other

battalion being assumed to operate elsewhere. Other nationalities achieve combined arms by pre-allocation of

certain fighting companies, which may also be completed. Refer SH 14.0 and MSH 2.3.7 and MSH 20.1

Battalions are defined by their size at the start of the game following allocation of attachments. The size of a

battalion impacts counting for the number of battalions that can be held in reserve, that can flank march, as well

as impacting victory conditions.

Battalion Number of Stands

Small Battalion 9 or less stands.

Normal Battalion 10 stands or more.

A battalion may be no lower than 7 stands.

 

 

A player may elect to reinforce his battalions with additional assets drawn from divisional support battalions.

Assets from corps or army level formations should be limited to six stands(corps assets are platoons not available from the core division)

Off table  Artillery, FAOs, and AGCs must always be Regular

 

 

Individual support stands found at battalion or regimental level, as long as no more than one stand of the same

calibre weapon per battalion or regiment respectively is available, or battalion and regimental mortars up to

100mm, are not limited in the number of indirect fire missions available. All other artillery and heavy mortar

battalions, either on or off table, are limited in the number of indirect fire missions per battalion as follows:

FIRE MISSION TABLE Number of Fire Missions

 guns 90mm or less 7

90mm up to 125mm calibre 6

 larger calibre artillery 4

 rocket launchers 3

The above represents several factors. Firstly, it encourages the use of lighter and more common artillery.

Secondly, it also presumes that heavier divisional or corps artillery is also supporting other formations of the

division.

Only dedicated forward observer stands may request fire from artillery drawn from a division's divisional assets.

6.0 VICTORY CONDITIONS:

6.1 Game Victory Conditions:

Victory points are accumulated as follows:

+2 For each objective held at the end of play.(each hill is an objective)

-1 If an otherwise held objective is contested.(3No enemy platoons within 25cm of object)

+1 For each enemy Small Battalion that has suffered 50% casualties.

+2 For each enemy Normal Battalion that has suffered 50% casualties.

 

The points cost and multiplier is on an earlier blog

All battalions start off table

Germans enter on the south table edge, British on the north, No flank march

 

Gents please email me the lists for checking, and bring with you on Thursday a battle plan

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



This one is for Phil

I know Phil has been looking at creating a WW2 winter war army and terrain suitable for the Eastern front.  I thought there were some very good ideas on the website below:

                                          http://www.fat-wally.com/IABSMWinterWarfare.html

Basically, you paint and terrain your figures as normal then dry brush white!  You can almost see their cold breath.

Gaming Weekend

I spoke with Len last night and he advises me that the next gaming weekend will be March 14th.  As that is quite soon I would propose putting on Battle Axe.

I would need the previous Thursday to set out the rules with everyone and get the initial orders written out.

Saturday would have two games played in the morning and two in the afternoon.  Sunday would have two played in the morning and a decision made at lunchtime as to whether we can call it or if a further afternoon game would get us a decision.  I would propose a strict time limit on each battle within the campaign.

The maps and OOBs are already done, the campaign system is simple and Spearhead in the desert is fast and ruthless.

However, I will need four of us to make this a goer.  Please let me know asap if this is something you want to do.

Last Night

Reduced crew for last night although Phil did show up later.

Sword and spear were on the cards and Russ played an historical battle

not many pics as I was far to busy sticking it to the Carthaginians

setup

 Carthaginians defending the river

 Carthaginians crossing the river

 Carthaginians dead in the river

Carthaginian dead

 

Enjoyed the game, learning how to use the armies more each time we play

Roman legion are awesome, like a meat grinder.

 

 

 

Just a little something for Phil, it required two hands to eat and the sugar rush afterwards!!!!!

 

 

 



Battle of Baecula 208BC - Spain

Thursday night sees the return to the second punic war between Rome & Carthage.

The battle of Baecula took place in Iberia and was an open battle field in between two valleys.

Scipio Africanus led the Roman army of 35,000 men against Hasdrubal Barca representing over 25,000 men plus allies.


The Carthaginian army will deploy in a heavily defensive position with  high and deep plateau south of Baecula, protected by ravines on the flanks and the river to the front and rear. On the game table I will only be representing one river which will stand between the Romans and the Carthaginian s.

Both sides of the table will be steep hills so the Roman army must cross the river

The river will only slow the Roman's down and I will make the Roman's roll per section when crossing. A  6 will mean that that section is particularly difficult and will take 2 phases to cross,

Whilst in the river all troops will be penalised as difficult ground, no combat can take place in the river but the Carthaginian's could use missile weapons should they be in a position to..... 

Despite the terrain advantage, in the actual battle Scipio managed to rout the Carthaginian's and Hasdrubal fled into the Pyrenees.


The Roman's need but sack the Carthaginian Baggage to claim a victory.

It should be an interesting match up........

Gaming weekend

There has just been a gaming weekend at Broughton and it got me thinking as to whether we should be making the most of this opportunity.  Is this a resource we are not making the most of?

The benefits are two days with a greater amount of space than I am able to offer.

So, I have two games that would fit this bill, both of them WW2 spearhead.

Operation Battleaxe

Jon, Mark and myself have played this before.  An early war British v Axis mini campaign in the desert.  Simple campaign mechanics along the lines of the Malayan campaign.  The battlefields are played on 8' x 6' tables and the benefit of the club is that we can play two scenarios back to back with the aim of getting four games played in the weekend.  Rules and figures ready to go.

The Road to Berlin

This is a large single battle played on a 10' x 8' table featuring autobahns and entrenchments.  A Soviet shock army v a weakened German Korp comprising Volksturm and elite Panzer instructor units.  The last gasp of the Third Reich featuring aircraft, tanks and huge Soviet artillery strikes.  I suspect between us we have a lot of the troops and terrain but we may have to make up a few specials and get hold of an Autobahn including bridges that can be demolished.

Have a think and let me know what you think.  It may be that we are missing out on adding another dimension to our gaming.

Trees,Trees and more Trees

Links for the trees and the sellers I have recently been purchasing from:


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http://stores.ebay.co.uk/everestmodel/Model-Trees-/_i.html?_fsub=791174014&_sid=228614374&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322




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