In the constant quest for a gratifying ancient miniatures battle I came across Table Battles game from Hollandspiele. As ever I was inspired by Here's no great matter blog post, I was intrigued by the clever use of miniatures to give Table Battles more pleasing visuals.
In brief Table Battles has opposing armies made up of some cards, each with how many hits it can take and what dice is required to undertake an action as well as what conditions trigger a reaction. There is no maneuvering instead each card has a target it inflicts damage on. Each turn is played by taking an action then a dice roll. In the first turn no action can be taken so the full six d6's are rolled then one formation per wing can be allocated dice if the right pips are present. Furthermore if a formation has to react to an enemy action that counts as their action phase and in their own turn will have to go straight onto the roll phase. There is a print and play version available too so I'll get that once it's been updated to 2nd edition.... and a few of the expansions, Alexander and Wars of the Roses perhaps! It has simple rules but it's the interaction between the cards in the various scenarios that provides the meat of Table Battles.
I thought it would provide a quick game and a good excuse to get the miniatures out so I hastily experimented with 6 formations each side. 2 cavalry, 3 heavy infantry and 1 light infantry formation, in its own wing to allow the skirmish screen to operate as well as being able to get the cavalry engaged or prepare the Heavy infantry in reserve. In practice the composition of formations in Table battles doesn't really matter it just adds a bit of flavour in this battle.
I did write a quick roster, but some home made cards would be better! I'll probably end up doing this once I've had a bit more play testing since I made a few mistakes. It would also be better to play the original game and expansions to get a better feel for the game itself, but I' had to seize the moment and take what I can get for now gaming wise.
I made the Roman infantry better than the Carthaginians, they were able to attack without taking losses themselves, unless the Carthaginians were able to react and counter attack, the Carthaginian foot also had an extra strength point. I gave the cavalry edge to Carthage, it was much easier for the Carthaginian horse to launch attacks to the point where it was inevitable that they would break and pursue the Roman horse, at least on one flank. I also wanted to introduce an element of maneuver so gave the cavalry an ability to change their target formation representing their regrouping to fall on the Roman rear however it would cost a lot of dice in a particular roll to work.
I intended to have the other cavalry wing be a bit of a stalemate between Numidians who could screen and Italian cavalry who was also a bit slow to attack but I messed that bit up by getting mixed up. I gave them counter attack instead when I was being distracted. Never-mind, that's why some cards with info would be useful. Despite this I was able to have an enjoyable battle and all in about an hour including setting up and packing away:
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| The two armies deploy no need for measuring the formations target their opposing enemy formations. |
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Eagle's view; each light formation had 3 hits, each cavalry 4 hits, Roman foot 5, Carthaginian 6.
Heavy foot was in reserve, they could be allocated dice but unable to perform actions until the light formations fled or retired. |
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| As expected the Punic heavy cavalry quickly routed the Roman horse and began to peruse only to return if they were given 3 dice rolled showing 1,2,3. |
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| Whilst the cavalry dueled, the light formations being in their own "wing" were able to load up dice as well as one other formation in the army. After a mutually wearing each other down the Roman lights withdrew to make way for the Legionaries. |
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| The Carthaginian light troops stayed in place in the hope to slow down the approaching legions, sacrificing morale to keep the Carthaginian heavy foot fresh. |
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| The Numidians and Roman cavalry eventually ended when the Numidians launched a last ditch attack which broke the Romans but forcing their own to break. This was the best of a bad situation that prevented the Roman cavalry winning outright which would have given Rome the edge in morale. |
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| The Carthaginian Right after some hard pushes managed to break the Roman Left |
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| The rest of the Carthaginian line gave the Romans a good run for their money despite each attack causing a hit on themselves, but the Roman infantry without that problem finished off the Carthaginians. The Cavalry never arrived and with Rome gaining +2 morale won the field battered but victorious. |
It was an enjoyable and fairly quick game the simple game mechanics provided tension with punch and counter punch. It was tricky for the Carthaginians, they had to allocate dice to the heavy infantry it was difficult to get the dice for the command roll, there were some close ones but it made more sense to prepare the infantry line to attack or counter attack, especially since the Romans were rolling well and getting ready for a devastating attack on the Carthaginian infantry. Because of this pressure it was difficult for Carthage to get enough dice on a formation to make the attack worthwhile since the attack automatically takes a hit to the attacker and if the Romans were ready to counter attack another hit to the Carthaginian attackers. I'm not sure if that is how the counter attack rules work in Table Battles but its what I did for this battle which created dilemma and friction.
Overall it produced a fairly historical result and being a close and tense battle was entertaining. It would be an ideal set to resolve campaign battles lots of food for thought. Although a very hastily put together and experimental battle I reckon it was a successful one.