Postie was given a well deserved rest last Sunday, as BigLee ( Lee's report here) took over the reigns as the Ref and cheif organiser. Lee had been planning for some time to introduce the rest of the Rejects to Simon Miller's excellent set of Ancients rules "To the Strongest".
Myself and Richard picked out the Romans, Postie and Surj got the Carthaginians. As this was a playtest (or so we thought?) it was just a meeting engagement and it was a simple clashing of armies.
We did find out halfway through the game we were infact re-fighting Trebbia!!!!
It was actually quite funny, I stood over on the Carthaginian side of the table as me and Richard talked tactics, I noticed the river behind the Roman lines??? "Are we refighting Trebbia?" I asked. Lee's top lip quivered as he lied through his teeth......." No this is just a playtest!"
Lying shitbag!
(I do infact own some never played with 15mm armies for both sides of the Carthaginian Wars, but I've never found a set of rules that I liked because of the dreaded Maniple formation and the swap Hastati and Principis) SO I do know a little about the period, which Lee never knew......
Pinched straight from Lee's blog (Why type it out again?)
Order of Battle
Romans C/O Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus (267 Points)
1st Command - Sempronius Mounted, Detached, Senior
2x Equites Romani Cavalry, Javelin
Equites Extraordinarii Cavalry, Javelin, Veteran
Italian Allied Infantry Javelinmen
Gallic allied infantry Warriors, deep, hero
2nd Command - General Mounted, Detached
3x Velites Light Infantry, Javelin
4x Hastati/Principes Legionaries, Special
3x Triarii Hoplites, Veteran, Small
3rd Command - General Mounted, Detached
3x Velites Light Infantry, Javelin
4x Hastati/Principes Legionaries, Special
3x Triarii Hoplites, Veteran, Small
4th Command - General Mounted, Detached
2x Equites Latini Cavalry, Javelin
2x Allied Light Cavalry Light Cavalry, Javelin
Italian Allied Infantry Javelinmen
Carthaginians C/O Hannibal Barca (234 Points)
1st Command - Hannibal Great Leader, senior, mounted, heroic, detached and brilliant
2x Punic Cavalry Cavalry, Javelin
2x Numidian Light Cavalry Light Cavalry, Javelin
African Elephants African Elephants, Deep
African Skirmishers Light Infantry, Javelin, Raw
Balaeric Slingers Light infantry sling, Veteran
2nd Command - General Mounted, Detached
2x African Spearmen Spearmen, Veteran
2x Italian Allies Javelinmen
2x Iberian Scutarii Javelinmen, Shock Weapon, Veteran
3x Gauls Warriors, hero, deep, (two of the three are Veteran)
3rd Command - General Mounted, Detached
Punic Cavalry Cavalry, Javelin
2x Numidian Light Cavalry Light Cavalry, Javelin
African Elephants African Elephants, Deep
African Skirmishers Light Infantry, Javelin, Raw
Balaeric Slingers Light infantry sling, Veteran
4th Command - Mago Mounted, Detached, Senior, Brilliant
Punic Cavalry Cavalry, Javelin, Veteran
2x African Spearmen Spearmen, Veteran
The Carthagian Centre - left
With some rather nice looking Elephants
The Roman right, my Command, we found out that this really should have been Richard's command as he was CnC.
The Carthaginian right, facing Richard.
The Romans moved first. We decided to move the whole army full move forward and get int conatct as soon as we possibly could.
The Carthaginian's kept their centre in place and moved their flanks forward.
They were trying to get their Elephants out of the way of the other troops. Which was probably a good idea?
We moved up again, pushing some Velites out in front to try and take a shot at the enemy.
Looks like Postie has freed up his Elephants.
Surg moves his light troops out, to counter ours.
Posties Elephants and Cavalry charge!!!
The yellow markers are casualty markers, most units (bases) can take 2 hits and are then destroyed.
Skirmishers can only take 1!
Postie takes the first casualty of the game when he destroys my Roman Equites!
I decided not to charge Posties Elephants, I threw my Javalins instead causing a casualty,
which Postie failed to save. So that was the end of the Elephants!
And to make things even worse for Postie, the Elephants rampaged back, straight into his
Numidian Horse, causing a casualty on them, once again as they're skirmishers they too were removed from the table!!
Over on the Roman left, Richard moved up to shoot with his Allied Cavalry.
He threw very well and destroyed Surj's Elephants!
We were both very pleased with how it was going!!!
I held my Allied Infantry and Gauls back on our right, trying to tempt Postie forward.
The loss of the Carthaginians Elephants left a gap in their lines. We hoped Richard could take advantage of the flank next turn.
Hastati, Principis and Triarii
Looking good!
Hang on a minute!!!!
WTF!!!
It was at this point Lee admitted we were actually playing a re-fight of Trebbia!!
Which meant that Hannibal's brother Mago, appeared on Richard's flank!
AND what made it even worse was that Lee, let them charge into Richard's flank straight away!!!
Richard couldn't even fight back, as he was hit in the flank and destroyed!!
I could only manage to move up and face the Gauls in the centre of the Carthaginian lines.
Our plan on our left is in tatters, thanks to the attack from the flank.
Ricahrd, Lee, Surj and Postie
Postie gets the charge in, but I save everything. Postie also loses a Gaul unit, leaving a rather nice hole, in their lines.
With some good throwing, Postie manages to fill that hole with a unit of African Spearman.
On our left Richard tries to halt the flan attack by turning units
There were many casualties caused in this turn.
Postie loses 2 units from the left of his line
What a mess, I can't even tell who's who????
All the Roman front line are in now!
My Hastati and Principes swap positions and get to throw their Pili
Richard's just managing to hang in on the flank
On the other flank Postie isn't having any luck.
Its a bloody affair in the centre. I need 2 casualties to be destroyed, while Postie Gauls need three.
We all lose units in the centre. This is gonna be close.
We both thought Surj would smash the flank, but his dice let him down.
Disaster for the Romans, in the centre, I lose a unit, then another units fails a test and also runs.
Have I just given the game to the Carthaginians?
No...........I managed to take the last casualty we needed to force the Carthaginians over their break point......phew!
The table at the end of play.
Conclusion
A hard fought victory goes to Richard and myself. We could so easily of lost the game. I have to admit our dice rolling was quite a bit better than Surj and Posties. This helped no end!
I enjoyed the game, as I think the other did. They're kind of a cross between a normal wargame and a board game? Although they look simple the rules are quite intricate and are gonna take us ol boys some getting used too, we all made mistakes, which I suppose we were going to as it was our first game. The question is.... we will remember the things to do and not to do in our next game???? Probably not!
Well done goes to Lee, for putting on a great and beautiful looking game and trying to control us 4 ruffians!!!
We did test him and argue a few points. Fancy letting Skirmish infantry charge skirmish horse front on???? And letting them charge on the same turn as they entered the table!!!! Oh dear oh dear!!! Bad boy Mr H!
I shall look forward to our next game!!!