AAR ECW 10mm 8th September 2024

Previous battle

The scenery and  armies were a repeat of the previous battle, new models on the Parliament side were Tony's freshly painted but not yet blooded.

So my turn to field the Royalists, whilst Tony fought for Cromwell & Parliament. 
Essentially Christoph and I wanted to see how differently Tony would play and I hoped I'd learnt from  yesterday experience.

Tony's Parliament Pike, using speed paints

Tony also wanted to force a Pike battle in the game so we imagined there'd been a heavy mist and that as it cleared they armies saw they were positioned just out of musket range.

Setup - the armies' positions.

Royalists (me) on the right Parliament (Tony) on the left.
What was interesting was that we had both split our pike into two commands. My cavalry was set up with 4 units at the top and one with the dragoons at the bottom, so the same as before, Excepting the command shotte was behind the pikes.

Parliament had two commands of pike at the centre with two cavalry the dragoons and 3 supporting shotte at the bottom and two cavalry with the Cuirassiers and one supporting shotte at the top. 

Set up Parliamentarians on the left, Royalists on the right

Turn one

Winning the roll I commanded the top cavalry to charge the opposing cavalry they rode well but not far enough. I advanced one Pike command to the centre of the table the commanded shotte moving to fill an obvious gap between the Pike and the town. Whilst the other Pike command was instructed to go around the town. Maybe their shotte could help in the cavalry fight, I also ensured they were beyond 6" of the Cannons. At the bottom the cavalry advance but the dragoons rode to and entered the woods with the intent of shooting anything. the supporting shotte joining them.

After Royalists' 1st move

Turn one cont.

Honest, I don't hex the table but my opponent's seem to have very bad command rolls. Tony's centre and right flank refused to move. In the shooting phase they disordered a number of the opposing infantry units. 

However his Cavalry at the top charged into mine. 
One unit charged my supported Cuirassiers who shot at them causing a wound and disordering them, whilst the other charged and were counter charged by my cavalry. He then commanded his Cuirassiers to flank the same cavalry unit but got caught out with traversing fire that didn't cause a wound but did disorder them. He also called his Shotte up to support the coming melee.

My Cuirassiers beat of his cavalry that retired shaken and disordered, in fact they were one wound away from shattered.

My flanked cavalry got beaten back, shaken and disordered, the winner's chose a sweeping advance into my supports beat them back again shaken and disordered, The Parliamentary cavalry hadn't even take a wound! However I was just as lucky that mine were still there.

End turn one

Turn two

After the melee.

Under initiative my Cuirassiers charged the shaken and disordered cavalry, whilst their supports wheeled into the flank of the victorious unscathed Parliamentary cavalry, who turned to face. The rest of my command was disordered so did nothing but I did pull the shotte up to help fire as the flank of his Cuirassiers.

The central Pike division  advanced one move leaving disordered elements behind, the commanded shotte blundered and moved one space back, light punishment duties later.

The other Pikes split  one was ordered to continue around the town with shotte in a position to fire into the rear of the Cuirassiers. the other half to the other side of the town filling the gap the commanded shotte should have been in and moving alongside 

The various units in the wood moved to the edges.

In the shooting phase a few of Parliamentary units were disordered but the only items of note was their Cuirassiers, that were disordered as were the right wing cavalry and a medium cannon. Firing small arms at cannon is effective.

The cavalry melee. My Cuirassiers destroyed their opponents but were left shaken so turned to face toward the enemy shotte. Whilst the cavalry destroyed the unit it had charged and swept into the Cuirassiers, who lost the combat and had to fall back; with enemy Pike behind them they were destroyed and my cavalry repositioned near the other cavalry units also shaken, one unit of the brigade remained unshaken. Tony's cavalry had all gone the single attached shotte started to withdraw.

After Royalist's 2nd move

Turn two continued

With the cavalry element disordered Tony chose not to move the division. The bottom of the table was now frozen. The Pike seeing that most of my cavalry was shaken decided to advance challenging mine his right unit charged my disordered unit the next advanced towards the nearest Pike, his third was disordered but the commanded Shotte moved towards my third pike. His last Pike moved behind the Commanded shotte to a position in front of the town to block my Pike and cavalry. 

A lot of shooting disordered one of my Pike blocks.

At last we had a Pike melee, except Tony enjoyed it more than I as i lost the combat and was pushed back, Tony followed up.

End of Turn Two

Turn Three

"Forsooth I am a fool or a poltroon."  - In initiative, I forgot to charge his Pike and then merely straightened the line in the command phase😖 

This partly is because I was being devious and was thinking to far ahead. I commanded my bottom cavalry unit to gallop around the trees and hit the rear of the Pike melee, that should win it! 

At the top I tried to rally a cavalry unit, I rolled a blunder, a 6, followed by a 4, I had to charge this shaken unit towards the nearest enemy, which turned out to be the Pike behind the town. They successfully hedgehog and I stopped 6" away, my relief was palpable. The adjacent Pike lined up with the cavalry unit to fire at the Pike Hedgehog, my commanded shotte managed to reach the town.

In the melee the extra cavalry counted for nothing Tony's dice were turning out 6s as if his life depended on it and I wasn't. I was pushed back again, my cavalry running away from the Pike towards his cannons, not their finest moment.

After Royalist turn three

Turn Three Continued

Emboldened by his successful melee and a plethora of 1s mine and of 6s his Tony decided to run his cavalry around the woods to charge my front they failed to reach me so he positioned his galloper guns to cause pain.

He charged my middle Pike and tried to reach the top Pike but stopped short whilst his commanded shotte went to support the Pike Hedgehog.

Tony's shooting was ineffective however I lost all combats and was pushed back.

End of turn three

Time was against us so it was the last turn.

For me to win I had to recover the cavalry and start harassing the rear but would need a couple of turns to do that. The Pike battles were interesting and I wasn't getting the best of them. So I feel this was a Parliamentary win, rather than a draw and conceded defeat.

Close up of Tony's other units.

Tony's Parliament Shotte, using speed paints

Tony's Parliament Cavalry, using speed paints

AAR ECW 10mm 7th September 2024

Previous battle

Lucky to get another game in. For the moment we are still using the same units, as we learn and I have realised that units and their strengths vary over the ECW period. The main thing is that mistakes aren't repeated.

This was a 2nd game against Christoph and we decided to add a road and town. Christoph fielded the Royalists again and we both placed our armies without knowing the disposition of the enemy. When I looked up I saw these units arrayed in front of my centre. Again I am on the right, Christoph and the Royalists on the left.

So we had two hills with a road running through it and a small town on the bend of the road and areas of woodland to the bottom. 

I'd put most of the cavalry to my right, leaving a single cavalry unit and dragoons, with associated muskets to protect that flank, on looking at Christoph's disposition I see all his cavalry opposite mine whilst the dragoons, some Shotte and a pike company are protecting his right flank.

Turn one

I started moving my centre forward one pace, my left wing advanced to the woods to threaten his right wing. My main cavalry  advanced a pace and my commanded Shotte reached the town.

After Parliament's first move

Christoph advanced his right Pike to block my small cavalry whilst his dragoons and Shotte entered the woods, ready to traversing shot any cavalry daft enough to pass. 

His centre blundered rolling a 1 and left the table. But some shotte moved down from the hill to take the town.

Whilst his right flank of 4 cavalry and one cuirassiers charged forwards, his luck didn't improve he charged my unsupported unit with a support in tow. I beat him off and swept into his support, losing the combat and pulling back, wounds all around but nobody shaken. 

His next cavalry unit with cuirassier supporting charged my supported unit I counter charged, destroyed his cavalry and pushed into his cuirassiers and died. My support looking on in disbelief. (Note I swapped the base around putting my models back and removing the grey board. alongside my Cuirassiers.)

His third unit hit my Cuirassiers who fired, rolled a 6 which disordered him and it wasn't saved, in the combat his unit was destroyed. 

End of turn one

Turn Two

My cuirassiers charged his with the cavalry supporting. He destroyed my Cuirassiers and then advanced into their support winning, my unit fell back and he repositioned his cuirassiers. 

[NOTE: I now know they couldn't sweeping advance as they'd not charged or counter charged.]

My flank is now close to breaking but at least I've removed the disordered markers.

My Pike advance towards the centre of the table, although I moved one unit between the hill and town to protect my flanks from the enemy cavalry. whilst the commanded Shotte entered the town.

Whilst on the left flank the dragoons rode toward the woods dismounted and charged Christoph's dragoons, being shot at, a 6, so disordered and failing the moral roll. In the resultant melee, though they lost they held their ground.

End of Parliament's 2nd movement before the royalist cavalry blunt and repulse  the Parliamentary charge

Christoph's second turn and his Centre returned. However his cavalry wing refused to move

At the bottom of the table the Pike moved forwards with their shotte to shoot at the cavalry and disordered them, the dragoon melee continued I lost becoming shaken but held on.

End of turn two

Turn Three

I've rallied one cavalry unit in my cavalry wing and now await a charge.

The commanded shotte has come out of the town to increase it's fire power. The Pikes in the centre advances slowly and the other unit rounds the town with one of it's shotte lining up for a potential traversing shot. Should Christoph's cavalry charge mine.

The stand off at the bottom continues as does the melee, I see I forgot to remove the disordered marker at the end of my turn, no worries it came back.

End Parliament's third turn

In Christoph's turn he moved his infantry forward but couldn't make contact.

He charges his cavalry at me and I do get a traversing shot at the Cuirassiers causing a lucky wound. In the charge both units are shattered. The other charge was a win for my Parliament forces who swept into the supports. Both our divisions were now broken.

However his dragoons did finally win the melee and he disordered my cavalry again.

End of third turn and the game

Time was now against us, so we called it. With all the cavalry off the table I'm not sure how it would have gone, we called it a draw.

Next game

AAR ECW 10mm 4th September 2024

The  last game I played was with combined bases of P&S. 

Whilst this kept things simple as it kept the Shotte with their pike it created issues resulting in less flexibility you couldn’t turn a Shotte unit at the cavalry to protect the pike. So Tony and I decided to rethink it and I went ahead rebasing all my pike units. 

To differentiate between Shotte associated with their Pike we had based them as small units and with less depth than we based others small units of Shotte. 

New Pike & Shotte rather than combined on one base.

I had a chance to test the difference as I played a game last night with the same units on each side as previously used excepting for the new Combined Shotte layout, playing them as sub units rather than combined. 

I've given each side the same amount of units:
4 x  Pike regiments comprising Standard Pike each with two small units of Shotte
2 x Galloping Guns
1 x Commanded Shotte
4 x Cavalry
1 x Cuirassiers
1 x Dragoons
4 x Shotte to be fielded with the Cavalry
2 x Medium Cannons
All HQs have a command of 8 and CiC has a command of 9.

Set up

Christopher played the Royalists as they had more painted units whilst I played with the temporary wooden Parliament boards; followers will see the increase in actual models to both sides.

Set up Royalist to the left Parliament to the right

Turn one

Whilst Christoph won first turn, as it had been a while since he played P&S he decided to fire some cannon at me, just moving some Shotte forward so he could fire over them and as usual cannon did their thing big bang with no result. 

I wanted to move my centre forward ambitiously indicated a point just under 9” from the enemy and rolled a three so got to move them right up there gallopers couldn’t fire but Shotte could. 

Right flank cavalry top of table only moved once and that was only after the CiC commanded them and then the Shotte. Left flank cavalry moved forwards to be able to charge or counter charge. Dragoons and infantry both moved forwards and in my firing turn a lot of good rolls left a trail of wound markers and disorder tokens. 

Positions at end of turn one

Turn two

Christoph had the worst die rolls. His left flank (top) cavalry only managed to advance one pace towards my cavalry. His right flank (bottom) declined even the CiC couldn’t move them and as a result he just fired all he could at me. 

In my phase. 

Bottom of table, I charged my left cavalry into the flank of his which turned to face. This left his infantry at the foot of the hill unprotected so I charged it in the flank with the other unit.

Dragoons moved to the wood dismounted and went to the far edge to harass the infantry. With such great luck I decided to move the associated Shotte to plug a gap. BLUNDER and they withdrew two full moves to the table edge.  

I instructed the commanded Shotte to do it and they advanced a pace. I chose not to move the central pikes and commanded the cavalry on the right forward rather to charge they moved one pace forward. 

After the shooting the melee was resolved. The Royalist cavalry was defeated retired two paces away, shaken and disordered. A my horse was shaken rather than push forwards I pulled back to avoid losing the unit.. The other cavalry wiped out the first infantry unit then the next as it surged forward I then pulled it back to protect the shaken unit.

After turn two, my Shotte at the bottom is out of shot.😒 You can see the new position of my cavalry as the bottom and the disarray of Christoph's

Turn three

Christoph used initiative to charge the left wing cavalry into mine who counter charged.
He command his right wing cavalry to fall back, the command failed, he command his far right Pike that had been near the destroyed infantry to Hedgehog with the adjacent Shotte, this command also failed. 

He wasn't happy, fortunately his CiC succeeded, commanding first the horse to retire, then the unit to Hedgehog. Then he command the last infantry at the left end of his line to face end of my line, fortunately, but he did shoot it to bits in the shooting phase, it was to be the only unit I lost.

In the cavalry melee both sides were shaken and pulled back behind their supporting horse.

End of Christoph's turn half way through turn three

For my part I charged Christoph's Dragoons the commander failed to move any units in support. On the other wing I decided to use Rally on the shaken unit as I know how quickly a unit and then a division can be lost. 

The Commanded Shotte moved one again to get closer to filling the gap and the CiC commanded the almost off table Shotte units (early blunder) back into play, they moved 12".

In the shooting phase, shattered Chris' Commanded Shotte and a small unit of Shotte near his Pike Hedgehog, if  they'd not been disordered they'd have joined the Hedgehog.

In the cavalry melee at the top the dragoons were almost shattered and fell back behind Chris' already shaken Cavalry. Which I ran into shattering them, I then puled back to the woods. That division was lost with one shattered, one shaken and only one remaining.

That was the end of the game as the other cavalry wing has lost two small Shotte, we counted that as one loss, had a shaken unit and only two sound one, 50/50 loss of another unit would see that division retire from the battle.

Chris felt his commander would retire from the battle to regroup and fight another day.

Final picture before the Royalists started leaving the field.

Conclusions

Separating the Shotte from the Pike rather than having them as a combined base, doubled the shooting and felt far more accurate a game than before.

Next ECW AAR 7th September 2024

AAR ECW 10mm 11th August 2024

We played the second of our ECW battles, Tony B was playing for Parliament on the left whilst I fighting for the King was on the right and here is the First AAR

As we are still learning the ropes I set up the table so each side was the same left to right. In the AAR I'll probably refer to the top, or bottom of the table/picture rather than my/his left/right wing. 

I've given each side the same amount of units:
4 x Combined Pike regiments
2 x Galloping Guns
1 x Commanded Shotte
4 x Cavalry
1 x Cuirassiers
1 x Dragoons
4 x Shotte to be fielded with the Cavalry
2 x Medium Cannons
All HQs have a command of 8 and CiC has a command of 9.

Setup
Tony set up quickly and I managed to do the same after him and without looking, not to many differences other than use of the terrain. This photo is of  the game after I've moved just one unit. We'd both put our Cuirassiers on our left flanks and dragoons on the right.

Surprisingly different set ups, considering we have the same terrain and troops.

Turn One
Royalist the top wing advanced one move towards the trees, whilst the Commanded Shotte had to move to the other side of the Cannon, (poor setup) and rolled an 8. The pike line advanced one move and the bottom Cavalry said neigh.

Parliament moved the top wing to discourage my horse, the commanded shotte failed, the Pike advanced but with only one move so some were left behind and the bottom Cavalry rode forth to challenge, neither side managed any shooting.

End of turn one

Turn Two

Royalist 

The top Wing advanced the horse around the wood, the Dragoons rode up to the woods and dismounted then moved to the edge of the woods to shoot the opposing cavalry, whilst the shotte decided to sit this move out. 

The Commanded shot therefore went to the edge of the woods to block off the Cuirassiers. However as the Pike also failed to advance they had no exposed flank to protect, but hurrah the cavalry at the bottom (both Gallopers)  charged forwards into the opposing horse who counter charged whilst their Cuirassiers unable to charge the dragoons advanced to discourage them.
There was a lot of ineffective fire but the Dragoons managed one wound on a cavalry unit.
In the cavalry Melee both Parliamentary Cavalry units broke and the dragoons pushed back. 

The dragoons somehow survived a sweeping advance. 

End Royalist turn two

Parliament 
Prioritised getting the remaining bottom wing out of trouble, with two moves the Shotte went into to the woods and the dragoons dropped back effectively blocking passage. The pike in the centre got two moves and tided up their line. Commanded Shotte were unmoved whilst the cavalry charged the Royals and each side lost a unit.

End parliament turn two

Turn Three

Royalist 

Top Cavalry came around the trees to charge the disordered Parliamentary Cuirassiers in the flank, unfortunately that meant they also hit the unit behind. It ended up as a draw, however as the R. Cavalry was shaken they rolled a break test and failed. 

The pike advanced one move and the 'R' Cuirassiers fell back from the Pike. The other cavalry unit was disordered so stayed where it was, not close enough to withdraw under initiative.

The Royalist shooting was very effective and most Parliament infantry was disordered.

End Royalist turn three

Parliament 

The top wing of cavalry was commanded to go around the woods and roll up the pike and guns. They didn't, however successful shooting from the dragoons and supporting Shotte sent another Royalist cavalry unit at the bottom packing.

Turn Four

Royalist 

Nobody passed a command roll! Fortunately the Commanded shotte has moved under initiative as had the Dragoons and shotte in the woods.

End of Royalist turn four

Parliament 

The Top Cavalry now obeyed and charged around the woods, unfortunately they only got two moves and also were caught by traversing fire and became disordered. 

The Commanded Shotte FINALLY moved! Many Shots were exchanged.

End of Parliament's fourth turn

Fifth Turn - End Game

The Royalist Shotte and Dragoons walked back to the other side of the woods and along with the Commanded Shotte and pivoted cannon blew away the Cuirassiers.

Final Shotte

Conclusion

Another Draw, the game had swung each way, each of us sharing poor dice rolls, but a great game we both enjoyed. - And that's what it is all about.

Next game ECW AAR September 2024

ECW Pike and Shotte 10mm AAR 20th July 2024

Tony B.and I played a game of ECW today, using the Pike & Shotte Rules. We were using a mix of wooden bases and Pendraken models. One day all the models will be painted; in the meantime, this allows us to play a game.

Tony elected to fight for Parliament (grey boards) and we both set up. Tony based all his models on a hill, whilst I lined mine up opposite. The game - Tony chose to redeploy to the foot of the hill and use his stronger fire power to whittle away the Royalists, while I had to get in contact as that is where the royalist strengths lie.

As usual my left flank blundered leaving the table but I managed to get them back in play however my CIC was bouncing from right to left wing trying to get things moving as both wings stumbled forwards. In the end both wings got close enough for Tony to charge them and get to a position to enfilade my left Pike block, with help from his pike and cannon in front of my unit he fired in 16 shots, causing 12 hits sadly his glee was short lived as I saved the majority.

On my left I chased off his cavalry and then revenged myself on the small units of Shotte. In the end his wing was broken as two of five units were broken and the rest were shaken. With nothing to protect the flanks of his pike from my cavalry and Shotte his central position was perilous. On the other flank honours were about even but in the centre my Pike was almost all shaken and suffering.

We should have taken photos, but I wasn’t expecting a game, more of a tutorial, however we managed 5 turns and at the end both side were sufficiently weakened that they’d probably have discretely left the field of battle. So we called a draw. First image is immediately after Tony’s charge on my wings had been repulsed turn 4. The second at the end of the game after turn 5 his broken wing retreating and my centre one 'wound' away from breaking.

The painted combatants

Brigaded Musket Shotte - Standard Unit

Brigaded Musket Shotte - Small unit to support the cavalry

Three units of Royalist combined Pike and Musket

The reason we used boards for unassembled units  ECW Pike & Shotte

Lizard Army confront a Tomb Kings Horde, HC!Fantasy - 1st Play Test

 Lizard Army confront a Tomb Kings Horde

First play test of the two armies with a new rules system.

Essential I've created HC! army lists for Warmaster armies and magic. My victim played the Tomb Kings whilst I played the Lizardmen.

Simple game no scenery just line up and charge to test the points allocations, unit creation and magic rather than an indvidual's skills

Result was a resounding win for the Tomb Kings who lost nothing whilst the Lizards lost half the army. Christoph (aka the victim) was delighted with the result and felt the game played like Warmaster without some of the detail that sometimes bogged it down.

I forgot the photos through the game but over three turns not a lot happened as my command rolls ensured half my Lizard army never moved.

Turn 1
I advanced the right wing and fired some shots at the Tomb Kings. The Tomb Kings waited for my arrival with some positional changes as the commander had realised he'd set up incorrectly and fired at the Lizards. Casting Doom and Despair on the Kroxigor who could now only stand and stare

Turn 2
The Skinks in the right wing of the Lizards charged the Skeleton Infantry and were pushed back becoming disordered and were pushed back to their death in turn three. The Terradons flews behind the Skull chucker and fired shots at it whilst the Stegadon advance slowly forwards.
The left wing of the Lizards failed their command again, whilst the Tomb kings facing them advanced a little & cast spells and fired. The middle division joined in attacking the right wing of the Lizards.

Turn 3
The Lizardmen on the left were in combat or failed commands and the division on the left flank also failed. This was just very poor rolling 10+ and blunders, whist break tests were rolling under 7s with excess casualties taking them lower. 
The Tomb kings facing the unmoving left wing of the lizard fired and finally the Lizards moved, backwards as they failed their break tests.
On the Lizard's right wing the Skeleton Infantry polished of the skinks and swept into the Salamander unit destroying it. The centre and cavalry from the right wing of the Tomb Kings charged into the Stegadon which was destroyed in combat. 

The game ended at the end of turn three as half the Lizard army left the table.

Note:
The Tomb King archers had depleted the stamina of the Lizard units so they were almost shaken when the were attacked.
Magic throughout had been as haphazard as it ever was in Warmaster.

I believe I got the stats for both armies about right but I'll need to ensure the General is played as a CIC rather than being in charge of a division, so a little rule tweaking will be required and both the below lists would have an extra Hero HQ.

The Lizard men army was about 1K Warmaster points.

The Tomb Kings also about 1K points

Why did the Lizard lose when the Tomb Kings didn't even lose a unit?

It was one of those unbalanced dice rolling games that happen every now and then and a lack of HQs on the Lizard's side only made it worse.

The Lizard army failed 80% of its command rolls and 80 of it's break tests, whenever a 6 was required, a 1 was rolled and when a 1 was required a 6 was rolled. I could not believe the luck, rolls to hit were failed morale saves failed. The Lizard player (me) usually enjoys great luck with the dice, not today.

Meanwhile the Tomb Kings did what they do shrug off everything, but in addition made far more morale saves and shrugged off brake tests. 

Hail Caesar 400 pts AAR - May 29th 2018

Have been busy painting up my Romans, Dacians and Samations. Have also been busy losing way too many battles, the former is why I haven't posted, rather than the later.

Last night I played another game and lost yet again, now a run of 8 I believe.
Still win or lose, it's all 'Blood for the Blood God!'

My army list

I have avoided archers as these have been the soft underbelly that has allowed my opponent easy melee victories that then allow him to flank superior units.
Skirmishers are more meat shields and if they survive long enough then they add support to the melee. My horse archers are to make up the points.

My opponent's

Over time he has dropped his archers and bolt throwers concentrating on warriors. The medium cavalry is a tactical choice and the skirmishers are to make up the points.

We play to the rules except for two house rules:

1. Infantry are allowed to counter attack if charged and turn to face if charged to the flank, in effect they follow the cavalry rules, but only against infantry.
2. To represent the inflexibility of  command the Dacians are limited to two commands, in effect minimum command of 6 units rather than 4.

Rome set up three core of 4 units each comprising 2 Legion and 2 Auxila, core 'A' also had a unit of medium cavalry, core 'C' the skirmishers, they were positioned as per the image below at the quarter and half way points of the board.

Dacian command was one large block of two halves, each consisting of 2 Falxmen, 4 warband and 4 skirmishers, the CiC core 'D' had a units of light horse archers.

The Roman General's plan was to move out to both flanks sending his horse sweeping around the bottom woods on to the hill to threaten the Dacian flank.
The Dacian General, me hoped to move forward in bulk accept some flank damage wipe out the Romans in front and then take out which ever of the flanking units was then closest.

Starting postions indicated with letters, final positon where seen or absent at the end of the drawn line.


Roman CiC is 'A'
Dacian CiC is 'D'

Rome began and in two turns quickly moved his Cavalry in core 'A' to the hill and his infantry to the bend in the red line.
Despite a blunder core 'B' took the hill and core 'C' were to get to the flank, again at the bend in the line.

Dacia had moved the troops forwards but on their turn two those in core 'E1'  had to turn to face the threatening cavalry the rest of the army plodded forwards.

In turn three Rome took advantage of the elements facing off the cavalry and charged them, one legion and two supports destroying the single falxmen and supporting skirmishers. The Dacian in 'E2' joined the fray but for the rest of the game the Roman line held. Core 'D' attempted to assault cores 'B' and 'C'  but failed.

Turn four and they succeeded, the CiC joined in the fray fighting with the 2 warbands against core 'C' who lost only one unit whilst detroying all of the 2 units in 'D1' and wounding the genera
The other 4 Dacian units in 'D' cored charged the Romans on the central hill and after two rounds of fighting they had also gone.

With one wing destroyed the battlefield belonged to Rome and the surviving Dacians legged it to fight again.

NB, my opponent complained about the overwhelming advantage 4 units of falxmen gave me and stated quite forecfully that there was  no point in playing such an unfair unbalanced game. Hmmmmm apology received at end of game

Orc v High Elves AAR 2014-10-24

More from the store

Due to a string of confusing events Ben and I played Warmaster at mine on Friday 24th.

For a change we decided to have a blind set up, simply put the 8' table was broken into 6 x 30cm sections and we wrote down the units which would arrive in that sector, with some adjustment to allow for the opposing army, within that sector.

I opened entirely on the right flank covering 4 sectors with cavalry at each flank, whilst Ben put the troops in the centre again with cavalry on each flank covering 4 of the 8 sectors.

This was a big plus to the game, as Ben said he deployed his army with thought rather than reaction it also meant you could end up facing an empty table half initiating some redeployment.

I won the roll for first move and took it deploying my flanks successfully and as usual my Crown of command moving my trolls, and my next command failing.

Magic was used to push Ben's bolt throwers off the table disorganising his harpies en route

Ben moved his flanks but his centre declined. In my second turn all units advanced and being unable to attack his cavalry on the right my boys charged into the archers they could see leaving us in this position.

After four hours of play we came to a conclusion, as seen below. The game had swung both ways but final victory was Ben's and well deserved too.








We played a number of rules correctly that we hadn't previously, always learning one of the joys of gaming, keep the brain alive.














In the first picture you will note that 3 of the 4 Orc brigades are not in a straight line but are angled against each other to mitigate against offering a tasty flank.

This was a result of reading the rules book, which states brigades MUST finish in contact with each other, but contact as shown in the rear of the book can be as little as a corner.

We also employed the 'reform' at the end of the combat phase, rolling off to see who reformed first. In the past this has been incorrectly done at the conclusion of each combat and only by the turn player.

Contribution comment from Ben and his army lst.



Thanks for uploading this - no one was as surprised with my win as myself!

I think it was only 6`, but yes, that quick doodle at the beginning really was interesting and helped me move away from the Warhammer style "I go you go" formation placement where the temptation is to just put everything in a long, thin line.

180 - 3 Spearmen
300 - 4 Archers
220 - 2 Silver Helms
300 - 3 Reavers
70 - 1 Giant Eagles
65 - 1 Elven Bolt Thrower
180 - 1 General
80 - 1 Hero
90 - 1 Wizard
----------------------------------------------------------------
1485 - 14/7

My army list

Yup it was 6 feet, corrected post

180 - 3 Orc Warriors
120 - 1 Black Orcs
90 - 3 Goblins
110 - 1 Trolls
450 - 4 Boar Riders
120 - 2 Wold Riders
95 - 1 General with
100 - Crown of command
160 - 2 Orc Hero
45 - Orc Shaman
30 - Goblin Shaman
10 - Sword of destruction
10 - Sword of Cleaving
--------------------------------------
1500 14/7