As we are planning a Hail Caesar campaign next year based on the ‘Pyrrhic Wars’ period we had a wee taster game to have a play with the rules as ‘Ancients’ has not been a major play period for us(am ignoring those who play DBMM).

So I had 6 players around yesterday for a practice.

Armies in use were:

• Carthaginian(Alan)
• Macedonian Successor(Keith)
• Ptolemaic(Russ)
• Alexandrian Macedonian(Rob)
• Republican Rome(Goldie)
• Early Imperial Rome(Robert)

The 2 sides were Alan/Keith/Russ v Robert/Goldie/Rob.

Below is Alans Carthaginians.

Keith’s Macedonians….they blundered their first order and decided to retire…..

Russ’s Ptolemaic’s with pet crocodile awaiting Rob.

Robs force was a cobbled together from differing collections….Macedonians/Hoplites and Spanish.

Goldies Republicans.

Republican cavalry.

Rob’s Phalanx awaiting Russ advance.

Russ had his escape planned early.

Lovely painted Victrix figures…the crocodile is positioning for a flank attack.

Keith sends cavalry in against skirmishers who took the charge….they popped….

then the cavalry continued into the Hastati’s….our first encounter with them…..their special rules on swapping units in battle is….annoying.

Cavalry on flanks doing what cavalry on flanks do…..sorting out who is the best.

Goldie formed a Roman blob…oh for a mortar.

Combined Carthaginians and Macedonian cavalry take on Republican Roman cavalry.

Moorish light cavalry v Imperial Romans on flank..exactly as it should be!

The cavalry fights were … interesting…..

Yet more cavalry combats with a Roman Division also moving up.

The infantry battles were fights of attrition……the differing troops types made it interesting as players try and maximize supports.

We played the Hoplites as Pikes….they were grinding down the Ptolemaic’s by the end.

Fun… Russ left early to go watch a Rugby Game at the Stadium…..so I played a couple of turns at end….positioned the Elephants to charge flank of Romans….but before had chance to launch them..Rob finally got the Spanish cavalry to move…and they smashed a light infantry unit and carried on into the flank of the Elephants…who are allowed to turn and face them…cavalry don’t like fighting Elephants…they lost and we both retired!

And they was the end…..the Cathaginians were going okay… Keith’s Hoplites discovered Republican Roman infantry are tricky…his cavalry had a lot of fun though….and the Ptolemaic’s were in deep…deep trouble….on the other side….Rob was punching through the Ptolemaic’s now that his Spanish infantry has decided to move up…..and Robert was going okay against the Cathaginians…lots of shooting…combats…..

So lessons were learned…..was good as a rule refresher and now we can start having more regular games to get the hang of the game. I used the Army Builder from Lone Wolf to generate Army Lists.

That’s all for now…Terry out.

Now Reg and I had another bash at Hail Caesar with my Romans taking on a Gaul force of Reg’s. We played 250 points which is about limit Reg can field of his Gauls at the moment.

Set up below.

My Romans were in 2 basically equal Divisons…each with 2 legionnaire’s, 1 Auxilia and 1 medium cavalry with the right command having an additional light infantry unit of archers.

Reg had 2 commands…. the left with 2 Warbands and 2 skirimshing slinger units while the other command had 2 units of light chariots, a medium cavalry unit and a unit of light infantry archers.

My brave boys facing the crazy Gauls!

Regs warbands.(not in correct formation..next time!)

The Warband has to charge if enemy within 3 moves…so in they went.

Very nice paint job on these guys.

And this is what a Warband does to Auxilia infantry..they no longer exist. My legionnaires managed to hang in there. A warband is truly scary in the first charge of the game…gets 9 attacks….rerolls 3 misses…..saves on a 4….and has the supporting slingers adding 2 attacks. NASTY.

I had positioned my cavalry to charge when the Auxilia had died……they did so….here they are….sadly they lost and retired.

The cavalry from the other command is moving around the rear to attack the warband. The Gaul cavalry will next turn charge legionnaires and pop.

The ongoing battle between warband and legionnaires. When they charged I had locked shields to reduce casualties….in a ongoing combat I have the advantage. A waste to have a full legionnaire unit in rear…will change that for next game!

Success! The fresh cavalry unit had charged the battle weary warband who popped. The other warband is losing and retiring…with the legionnaires following up each time.

On the other flank Reg had charged his light chariots into my auxilia. The chariots have the advantage and the Auxila and supporting archers are giving ground(this is 3rd or 4th round of combat)

Surviving warband is giving ground.

End game…..Reg has lost a warband and a cavalry unit..2nd warband is doomed…next turn I would have moved cavalry up in support and turned fresh legionnaire unit to take on chariots.

So we called that the game and had lunch. I was lucky with some poor dice roles by Reg with his warbands….they are brutal in opening round of combat!! Next month we will try again while rules fresh in heads. Will boost armies to 350 points.

Til next time…Terry out.