Ruspina 46 BCE

"Caesar once again returned to the town of Ruspina, drew up his camp there, and then set out himself with thirty cohorts in light order to forage."

Yesterday I ran an extended version of the Ruspina 46 BCE battle that is one of my favourite ancient engagements. NB all photos are clickable! 

Below are the massed Numidian cavalry, thaaaasands of them (well, 120).

The miniatures are almost all Foundry Numidians or Caesarians, with a degree of admixture of Crusader and conversions from other ranges. 

Above, lines of grim-faced legionaries. Below Caesar surveys the situation. In To the Strongest! terms he is a brilliant general, and very handy, too!

  

More Numidians, above and below.

Above, I based some palms with the minis, just for fun. Below, you can see how well the BatBases blend in with the Sagebrush Steppe design mat. Look- no straight lines!

We played the first part of the battle, twice, with novice players; everyone seemed to have fun, especially the kids, one of whom played for the third year in a row. SELWG is always a fun show! Huge thanks to chum Ian for the beautiful photography and to Mike Brian and his son Alex, and Robert, for helping with setup, and to the SELWGers. Thanks also to Foundry for the nellie and hippo and 1st Corps for all the sheep!  :-)

PS We have one place left on Saturday for a rerun of the battle at the Wargames Holiday Centre, near Basingstoke,; I'm also running the battle of Gaza with Demetrius Poliocretes, elephants and a forest of pikes.  If you are free drop me a line, i believe the day's gaming costs £75.

Mea culpa...

...mea maxima culpa- it has been six weeks since my last blog post in the BigRedBatCave! 

I have been posting on my new ECW blog, For King nd Parliament, but writing and modelling time has temporarily cut across my ancients posting. I shall see if I can remedy that.... in the meanwhile, here are some lovely Caesarian Romans that Andrés Amián Fernández very generously gifted to me earlier this year. There are some fine painters out there but none who are better at hand-painted shields. The minis are Warlord Caesarian plastics and metals- the photo is clickable. They make my other Romans look shabby!

In other news... in the BigRedBatShop  have some gaming cloths on sale this week- mostly gridded, some ungridded. If you need a cheap cloth, you can find them here!

Caesar at SELWG- pukka photos!

Mate Ian Notter has sent me some decent photos of Caesar's expedition into Kent.  All are "clickable" for higher definition.

Here's the view down the table, at the start of the game.  SELWG gave me a slightly larger table than anticipated, and I couldn't resist sticking in a spare board and making it 16' long.  This would cause his nibs problems, later on... The game started with a Roman legion (the VII) deployed in a square around two baggage units, their carts groaning with stolen British grain, and several herds of fat (looted) cattle.  Many Britons, have turned up to contest ownership, and surround the VII on three sides.

The other legion (X) and Caesar was in the camp at the far end of the table (below).

Above is another view of the beleaguered VII, several of whose cohorts started the battle surprised and disordered.  Below you can make out the Roman baggage wagons, in the centre of the square. I had intended that the cohorts at the front of the square would help them to break out, but this proved to be no easy task. 

I am finally starting to get enough Britons, although a couple hundred more wouldn't go amiss.

Below is a shot of Caesar's relief force, marching to the rescue, but somewhat delayed by skirmishing chariots.  In my rules the presence of the well-handled chariots prevented the legion from using march moves, and that (and the extra long table) prevented Xth from relieving its comrades.

Finally, below is my favourite shot of the game, which conveys something of the carnage and excitement of the fighting around the Roman square; a unit of Britons has just broken through. Legio VII was, eventually, over-run in both games. Card play turns out to be quite exciting!

The various teenagers and parents who played both games really seemed to enjoy themselves.  It was also great to see Nick Speller (who has painted so many of the Celts) again, and mate Mark.  Thanks to Ian and George for helping to set up and knock down the game, and to Ian for his great photos!

Brittunculi triumphant

Here are some shots of last night's game; a baptism of fire for my the new chariots. Here's a view along the table; soon after landing in Britain, a small force of legionaries (near end of table) have been cut off by Britons (centre); Caesar and the veteran Xth legion  are marching to their assistance (rear).

Caesar's advance was uncharacteristically slow (due to several failed activation cards).

The Britons, however (below), were able to push quickly forward.

A warband burst through the thin Roman line, swept into the camp, and then turned onto the rear of the Roman line; the chariots on the hill then captured the Roman baggage, and the battle was won (and lost).

Below, I'm slowly migrating from using the 4L Really Useful Boxes, to the low 7L size.  These are 30cm wide and take 5 elements across, rather than three.  A more efficient use of storage space!  Here are most of the new chariots, packed for Salute.

Chaeronea 86BC at the Wargames Holiday Centre

Yesterday the Mark at the Wargames Holiday Centre very kindly hosted a re-fight the battle of Chaeronea 86BC (i.e. not the better known earlier battle with Alexander and Phillip). This later battle fought between the forces of Mithridates' Pontic army, and Sulla's veteran Roman legions, in Greece in 86 BC.

I won't go into too many details, as the piece will hopefully shortly feature in a wargames magazine, along with some other photos I took, but I can't resist posting a few (clickable) snaps...

View from behind the Pontic left.  Chaeronea is on the skyline, and the smaller temple is on Mount Thurium

The Roman army was much smaller than the Pontic, but largely composed of bloodthirsty veterans.  The Pontic army included scythed chariots and a phalanx of freed Roman slaves; more than likely the last phalanx ever deployed on an ancient battlefield.

Scythed chariots charge...

Harry, eldest scion of the Miller family, and I led the Pontics against Mark and Paul's Romans.  The flow of the game was all-too historical, as the Roman veterans first routed our flank detachment, and then smashed our phalanx with a combination of frontal and flank attacks.  It was very entertaining though.  We used my "To the Strongest!" card-driven rules; the card play was very entertaining, especially when units got to make multiple attacks (as with Sulla below).

Sulla and his cavalry bodyguard got on my flank, turned, and rode down one phalanx after another

The last-surviving Pontic slave phalanx, completely surrounded by the Romans...

Eventually the final phalanx succumbed (above), and our army routed.  As a small compensation, though, it had bought time for my Scythian light cavalry to loot the Roman camp!

Mark was a very kind host and I hope to visit the Wargames Holiday Centre again, next year...

Legio X Equestris

Legio X Equestris were one of Caesar's small group of elite legions. They picked up their nickname when their legionaries provided Caesar with an impromptu mounted bodyguard for a parlay with the German King Ariovistus.

I've just extended this (extremely clickable) elite cohort, from 2 stands to 3, with the help of painter mate Andres. It is built around a dozen figures that I picked up in a swap with Andres (mostly on the left), with my less well painted dozen miniatures (mostly on the right). Andres recently painted another 10 stunning shields for me so that I could finish the unit. The shields are little gems, and I love the small variations between the designs, just like a real unit must have had.

They will be in the thick of the fighting in my Thapsus game at SELWG on Sunday.  If you are comingalong, why not sign up for a couple of hours military service?

Hail, Caesar!

No not the rules but the man.  Caesar was painted for me by Andres at Einar Olafson, who has done a stunning job!  Please have a click.

Caesar himself is an interesting piece.  His horse is Foundry, his body Aventine, and his head Warlord.  

I painted the standard bearer.  In the heat of the action, he is carrying his shield the wrong way up...  The Aventine vexilla is really useful, I must have used 2 dozen of them, so far..  

So... Caesar will be leading the action on Sunday at SELWG.  If you are coming along and want to play in the very large Thapsus battle I'll be running twice (once each AM and PM), please drop me a line at the email address on the front page of my blog, and I'll book you in!  

More crewmen and a captain

Nick also painted these archers for me, which I've just finished basing. Please do have a click, they came out very well! They will form the crew of my ships, along with their rather intense captain (below), who was painted some years ago by Andres at Einar Olafson.

Colours day 1

Had a very enjoyable day- met lots of people and lots of friends.  Unfortunately I was insanely busy and took barely any photos at all, only a couple on the phone.  However I will try to remedy this tomorrow. Below is my Thapsus game.

The second shot of the end of the first game, with Mark, Jean and Nigel.  Caesar lost this battle, but won the second of the day.  Both games lasted 2 hours +/- 5 mins.

Off to sleep; early start tomorrow!

Thapsus goes to Partizan!

On Sunday I had a pre-dawn start up to Newark for Partizan.  I had a nice clear drive up the A1 in my new-ish war wagon. As my games get bigger, I find that the task of loading and unloading everything is getting more taxing... and this year it was quite a job!  

I eventually got the boards set up, ate a bacon butty, and John arrived and helped me to set up the troops. The above view (all photos are clickable) is from the salt-lake side, across the isthmus, towards the sea at the rear. The more numerous Pompeians and their Numidian allies are on the left, and Caesar's legions on the right. There is a light scattering of scrub and olive trees, but no terrain that will impact the battle.

Here's the view from the sea wing. I eventually decided to name the ship "Venus", after Caesar's patron goddess (and the scurrilous song!).  Hilariously, Dug kept forgetting to move it, but brought its ballista into use by the end of the game.

Above is Caesar, beautifully painted by Andres of Einar Olafson, and received just before the game. He's a conversion using Foundry, Aventine and Warlord parts, and I'm going to paint a standard bearer to accompany him.

Later Dug, Dr Phil and his son Tim arrived, and we were quorate to kick the game off. A brief run through the rules (the Lite version of my own "To the Strongest!" set), and we were off! The players looked a little slack-jawed when the first unit was destroyed, within 30 seconds of play commencing. Shortly after this, I demonstrated why it is important to remember to move one's elephants... in a blue-on-blue incident, mine rampaged back through two of my units and trampled my general to death.  The 3 Aces are my failed saving cards.

On the other wing, however, Tim's elephants performed prodigies and smashed deep into the enemy lines (below).

This enabled us to turn the flank of Caesar's legions, but unfortunately they had done much the same to us on my other wing.  Below, playing cards are used to activate units and resolve combat.  The first time I've not needed to take dice along to a game!

Below is a shot of the clash of legionaries in the centre. Several cohorts eventually managed to turn onto the flanks of other cohorts.

I estimate that  we managed to only get 2-3 hours or so of play in during the whole day, as we started late, chatted to lots of people, did some shopping, took pictures of other games and so forth, so we didn't quite finish the game.  Caesar was ahead at the end, though, but not by as much as on the day in 46 BC, so, in that sense, it was a moral victory for Scipio.   Below is a shot of the late-game carnage; I was running out of places to put my casualties!

We had a great day, so thanks to Dug, John, Dr. Phil, Tim and Craig, who played, and a big hello to everyone who called by to have a look!  Especial thanks to Dug for his photos, and John for helping me pack up at the end.  Dr Phil and John had some useful suggestions for rules tweaks.  Oh, and huge thanks to the Partizan crowd for being such great hosts!  

Before the battle...

"Marcus, THIS is why I joined the Roman army!"

A third legion for Caesar...

Here are the first 6 cohorts of my latest, third, Caesarian legion.  All photos are clickable...

Around a third were painted by Nick Speller, a third by myself and the remaining third are eBay repaints.  It doesn't show in the photos, but the shields, tunics and plumes are in a variety of different shades of red.  

The miniatures are mostly Foundry and Companion, a mix of armoured and unarmoured, but I've also included a few Warlord Games casualty figures (on recommendation from Andres), which blend in very well.  May need some more Warlords...  I think the legate may be a Classical miniature, which were (for about 24 hours) available via Aventine.

I've gone for a slightly different approach on basing.  All the legionaries are in 8's on 60 x 50 bases, to save time deploying and moving them.  The deeper bases also help to protect the relatively fragile spears.

If you want to see them in action, they will be in action at Partizan, Colours and SELWG...

Look, no dice!

Shots of Tuesday night's game.  New cohorts received a baptism of fire.

With help from friends I'm play-testing a "lite" version of my "To the Strongest!" rules, with this version driven by cards rather than dice.  They rattle along very nicely.... at 5- 10 minutes a turn. 

Too much painting...

...not enough blogging.  Unfortunately, there are times one just has to get the bit between one's teeth and plough on to complete a project; this is one of those times!

These are the remainder of the painted Caesarians I had, plus two dozen I painted myself.  Together with the ones I completed earlier, they give me six cohorts and command; the core of a third legion.  Later, I'll add another four.  

Tonight we'll be trying the "lite" version of my rules in a Roman on Roman bash, based on the Thapsus battle that I'll be taking around the shows in the autumn.

One door closes...

4 cohorts down, bar flocking.  So now, unfortunately, I have to start the next lot (below).  :-(  I don't mind painting the legionaries, but the signifers and cornicens are a pain.

On the plus side, when these are all finished, I'll have 28 cohorts and will be a gnat's whisker away from 3 legions-worth at 1:20.