So after Game 1 introducing the basics, for Game 2 I added light infantry, skirmishers, Elephants and Scorpios.

So Alan commanded the Carthaginian right and Russ the left with Robert on the Roman right and Steve on the left. Below is part of Roberts force…legionnaires…Auxilia cavalry, scorpio’s with Russ’s hordes in the distance.

Below is Russ’s troops with some of his nasty warbands.

Elephants, what is an Ancients game without, ELEPHANTS.

And they look so good, Alan fielded 2! I put some ruins in middle of his deployment zone just to upset his deployment!

Russ sent his skirmishing Numidian light cavalry round the flank… as one would and should.

Legionnaires bracing for impact of Gallic Cavalry.

Roman right flank secured by a pond, however the stream gets to be troublesome. The 2 archer units are formed light infantry supporting flank of the heavies…with cavalry in further support.

In go the Numidians…supported by javelin men…while cavalry and heavy infantry hit the legionnaires.

Its not looking good for Robert a few turns on. A light infantry unit lost combat but couldn’t retire over the stream so popped(or that’s how I read rules!). Else where his legionnaires have been decimated.

On the other flank…Alan is till trying to move. Steve advanced…sloooowwlllllyyyy.

Russ sent his Warbands in against Roman auxilia infantry…..archers then spears…it was not pretty….really should have pull a trail of dead bodies behind them.

Robert had ordered his second command to advance…he rolled a 12…they blundered and retired….we can see them now advancing back on in top right below. Thankfully Russ’s troops on hill also were not that keen on fighting either. But his left side command was certainly having a good time.

Alan is still sitting on his hill looking at Steve……still sllloowwwwlllyyy advancing(well…to be honest it probably did not qualify as an advance).

And that was it. I give the game to Russ and his Carthginians. I gave each player too many units for only their 2nd game of Hail Caesar and coupled with some terrible rolling for orders meant not as much combat as anticipated. Lesson learned. My Bad. Next time will be smaller commands. Good run through of rules so some more rules not understood.

Now whisky of the week is the Dalwhinnie 15.

To be honest, have not been that overly impressed, bought it based on reviews( and real hot price!) and so probably expected more. It is pleasant enough… just not that interesting. Oh well…they can’t all be great can they.

Tasting notes are:

Nose: Aromatic, toffee, fruit salad, lush nectarine, custard. Floral, apple blossom, honeysuckle. Apple peels, pear, touch of smoke.

Palate: Malty. Walnuts steeped in manuka honey with vanilla sponge. Gentle smoke weaves its way through the cereal with a touch of spice.

Finish: Long, malty, walnut, almond.

I think after reading the tasting notes again it makes sense, have been into Sherry bombs of late and they tend to explode with flavour. Yum Yum.

Now the next few games coming are a Napoleonic Game, then we venture into new Oceans with games of 2 of Warlord Games naval releases in ‘Black Seas’ then ‘Victory at Sea’.

Should be fun!

Games of Ancients has been on a bit of a back burner for years as lots of Napoleonics/ACW has been played. So I decided to slowly introduce the group to some Ancients play using Warlord Games ‘Hail Caesar’ rules. Now as these were mostly written by the same chaps as ‘Black Powder’ they have a certain familiarity to them that hopefully will make the rule set transition easier.

So for Practice #1 we had 3 players a side with one side using my Early Imperial Romans and the other Alans Carthaginians and PauW’s Iberians. So Russ/Rob/Steve were Romans and Robert/Alan/Terry(me) were the enemy. So I dispensed with artillery, ranged fire and skirmishers for this game to just keep the game mechanics as easy as possible for all of us.

So below we have the Romans on the left and the Africans/Spanish on the right.

Each player had 2 Divisions of troops….each Division was 4 units. Below we can see 4 Warbands…nasty shock units…9 attacks in first round of combat.

On the flank I was on it was a cavalry fight between Romans and Iberians…..units were all medium cavalry with spears…so it came down to good dice rolling and help from supporting units….I failed at this!

Russ used his legionnaires very well and the use of supports really helped him control his sector.

At the left top you can see a warband really pushing the Romans back while a solid Roamn line is holding to the right.

Carthaginian Heavies supported by mediums.

Cavalry preparing to run down the flank.

And a close up of cavalry charging into Legionnaires.

And that was Game 1 where we practiced game play and learning the rules. Plan is next game to add some light troops etc and introduce some more rules, and better understand ones from tonite.

Now, rather than the Whisky of the Week , I have been enjoying a beer with games of late and in the spirit of all things Latin….it is a Peroni.

Til next time, Terry out.

So managed a trial game of Hail Caeser, its been a few years so we took it slow, made incorrect rulings which the post game analysis picked up, but thats the idea of the game!

Here are some pictures.

Pete and I used early Imperial Romans and we played against Craig using scratch force of Macedonians with Galatians and Alan and his Carthaginian force.

My Romans got severly smacked……serious inability to hit or make saving throws. Pete blundered his legionaires off table but returned to do some decent damage on Alan, but my Romans in the end were goneburger.

Lesson learned……warbands have 5+ saves and not 4+!

Lesson learned…..Elephants are unpleasant.

 

 

There were more pictures but..can’t seem to load them……if succeed will add in.

Will play some more games in October(time for Fiji holiday in the sun!)