Somewhere in Sicily (ancients' wargame)

[Ochoin]

This game was to be the first outing for my Pyrrhic Greek army against my veteran Carthaginians. Two of my pals took arms against me for the game.

The Table:


The game was organised to have the two sides trying to control 2 out of 4 marked objectives. My opponents didn't know mine & vice versa:


Deployment followed the Field of Glory rules:

There were 16 units a side.

Both sides had supply camps:



Capturing these added Victory Points.

The Commanders Carthaginian & Greek:




The battle was a dramatic clash between various troop types:








The mighty Greek phalanx was formidable:




A highlight was the battle between skirmish units:


Anti-elephant artillery (was fairly disappointing):


In the end, after 11 game turns, the Carthaginians took their objectives & broke the phalanx:


....next time,,,,,
donald

[Peter]

A great game with excellent painted figures! Thanks for sharing!

[Bluefalchion]

Why didn't your pals paint up their own forces to face yours?



And what rules did you use?

[Ochoin]

:mrgreen: Why didn't your pals paint up their own forces to face yours?



And what rules did you use?

TBH I have more figures than them. And it's easier to set up in my house, using my stuff : planning a scenario, organising army lists etc.

In our annual Show game (two days of gaming) in August, we'll all bring stuff.

Field of Glory: Ancients.

cheers donald

[C M Dodson]

Very nice indee.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Bill Slavin]

Looks great! Nice to see those war elephants in action, too.

[Minuteman]

Excellent armies and photographs !! The phalanx, massed cavalry and - of course - the elephants look very fine indeed. Well done donald, many more fine wargames figures here.

From a gaming viewpoint, it would be interesting to know a little more about quite how the 'mighty phalanx' came to be so obviously broken (well, a large sign declares this on the table-top).??

All very inspiring.

[Ochoin]

From a gaming viewpoint, it would be interesting to know a little more about quite how the 'mighty phalanx' came to be so obviously broken
.

MM, non-wargamers should not read the following- it'll be excruciatingly boring for them.

I made sure to bring up supports (in this case Greek spearmen) to cover the flanks, the phalanxes' weak spot. My opponents brought up an opposing battle line of their best heavy infantry, preceded by a skirmish unit.

In Field of Glory, missile troops are fairly ineffective but in this case, they managed to "kill" a single base of phalangites. The "lights" retired & the combat commenced & was fought over 6 game turns with the phalanx slowly losing bases & cohesion until, as the token shows, it broke at the end of the game.

Note: there were casualties on the Carthaginian side also but that fatal loss of a fourth rank in one file gave them the wedge they needed.

Bad luck but in itself *not* a disaster. What made it catastrophic was that the heavy cavalry unit (my elite Agema) I had stationed on the right flank, were repulsed instead of breaking through & destroying their Punic foes by rolling up their battle line. Without this setback, the phalanxes' ability to hold for 6 game turns would have been a winner.

In essence, the game fought very much in an historical manner. Our tactics were sound but luck* swayed the outcome.

donald

.* on "luck" - see Napoleon.

[MABO]

Interesting report and nice to see your painted figs in action. All looks great and like a perfect day.

[PaulRPetri]

Great looking game Donald. Everything looks superb!!!

[Bluefalchion]

I really like look at your different units assembled together, but the forts are my especial favorite.

[despertaferro]

Great looking armies...
One of this days (years...?) I should go back to this period...
congratulations...!
Joan

[Ochoin]

One of this days (years...?) I should go back to this period...

Joan

Thanks.

If you've been looking at Linear A's projected releases, you should be even more motivated.

donald

[Susofrick]

Not into playing (yet), but I do love pictures like this with a lot of figures, buildings and scenery!

[Minuteman]

Thank you, donald, for the description of how the 'mighty phalanx' came to grief. Yes, a combination of flank attacks and gradual erosion creating disorder and then defeat is all very convincing and historically realistic.

Still, once you have another two Linear A phalanxes (and some better light troops to protect their flanks) they should prove unstoppable