More on Allan Massie

I’ve now finished the Robert Harris trilogy on Cicero. It was very good, but it pales in comparison to Allan Massie’s books. I read his Augustus next, and loved it. Augustus is the narrator, and it is in two halves. The first he narrates to his grandsons Gaius and Lucius. It is optimistic; the second is narrated towards the end of his life and is much more gloomy. Massie paints a picture of somebody who is keen to present his legacy as a service to Rome; he has Augustus’ Res Gestae for this. He presents somebody who is perhaps not so self-aware as he thinks, as comes out when his dynastic plans go awry. Comments from Maecenas and Livia are particularly revealing.

I’d have to read Robert Graves’ I Claudius again (I read it as a teenager), but I think Massie’s portrayal of Livia is probably more believable. She’s a proud Claudian, not shy of reminding Augustus that she deigned to marry down to him!

One of the strengths of Massie’s books is that you very much get the perspective of the narrator, and it is biased. The scene he describes of the forging of the second triumvirate is similar in Augustus to in Mark Antony, which I’m reading now, but the differences are revealing. Augustus justifies himself, while Antony won’t talk of it, and it’s described by his secretary, Critias. I’ve not put the two scenes alongside each other, but the description of discussion of the proscription is modified.

Massie describes Mark Antony very favourably. His biggest failing is his sense of honour (something Ronald Syme suggests too). He would have been best to have crushed Octavian while he had the upper hand, but is described as having given his word, and therefore was not willing to do this. Massie’s description of Antony’s relationship with Marcus Brutus is fascinating; he gives a context for why Antony described Brutus as the noblest Roman at his funeral.

The varied takes on Brutus in the three books I’ve read by Massie so far are a nice illustration of how well he gets into the persona of his narrators. Mark Antony’s sympathy for Brutus contrasts with the antipathy, for different reasons, of Augustus and Decimus Brutus in the two earlier books.

Meanwhile, I have all the figures for the Thapsus BBDBA army. They are all primed and waiting to be painted. The Numidians are close to being done, and the Xyston Gauls and Spanish will mix nicely with the CB ones. It helps that I’m using CB shields. Plans to go to Conquest are also advancing. I had a couple of games of DBA with Nick a couple of weeks ago. We had a Marian Roman civil war, where his Romans with an elephant were undone by my use of Armenian cataphracts (and some good dice). My Seleucids against his Ptolemaics was the reverse, where my PIP dice were cripplingly low; the elephant and the scythed chariot are not forgiving of such dice. It was only that Nick had average combat dice that allowed me to hang around for as long as I did.

Recent Gaming

I’ve not kept up with reporting games I’ve played. Part of the reason for this is because I’ve only got a camera that is not all that satisfactory. I’ve taken better photos with my phone than with the small camera I’ve tried to use. The tripod is broken and can’t support the large camera I’d used for my gallery shots.
The other reason I’ve not been active on the blog is that I’ve been too busy painting (more in the next post). Anyway, I’ve played quite a lot recently, and had some very good luck. Here are some photos that aren’t too blurry.

• Battlecry, 16 Feb 2014

Last month I got along to Battlecry for a day of demo DBA games. We got a bit of interest and should be running a competition next year as a result of this. We played DBA 2.2, as noted earlier on MEDBAG.
My first game was against Joel, a historical matchup of my Early Seleucids against his Classical Indians.

Early Seleucids face Classical Indians.

The Indians up close (some are hidden behind the trees.

The Seleucids.

I should have been in serious trouble as the Indians came around my left flank in large numbers. However, they were obviously unfamiliar with scythed chariots, as mine proceeded to tear them to pieces. I came away with a lucky victory.

Chaos on the left flank.

Next I faced John, who’d just finished his Celtiberians. I used my Gauls.

Gauls v. Celtiberians.

View from the Celtiberian camp.

I managed to meet his warband with my cavalry and used this to my advantage in a battle on a narrow frontage.

Gallic cavalry triumphant.

I then faced Mike, who used my Carthaginians. I took my Syracusans. As we are both littoral, this involved a waterway, which ended up to my back. Mike went for a littoral landing.

Syracusan v. Carthaginians.

I hurried to advance to reduce the potential for the littoral landing party to make trouble. I was able to sack his camp (the crucified Syracusan was a provocation!) and used my longer line to outflank his elephants. Another victory.

The Tarantines return from sacking the camp.

I think we played some more games that I didn’t take pictures of. The last on my camera was my Syracusans against John’s Celtiberians. I don’t remember for sure if I won, but I think my luck was pretty strong, and I used my advantage in cavalry to compensate for the vulnerability of my spear to his warband.

Syracusans v. Celtiberians.

Unrecorded is our final BBDBA game of Carthaginians and Celtiberians against Romans and Spanish. This was officially a draw, but I’m sure the Romans had the edge when we stopped.

• Auckland City Guard

Since then, I’ve mostly played DBA 3.0. Joel’s visited after work a few times, and I’ve got to the City Guard again. We’ve had a lot of fun trying out his Aztec hordes of doom, and we tried out a number of permutations of knights against spear.
From memory the time before last we played: Normans v. Anglo-Danish, Early Crusaders v. Comnenan Byzantines, Aztecs v. Prefeudal Scots and Vikings v. Anglo-Danish. I think there was an Aztec v. Early Crusaders too.
Last weekend I took some photos:
Our first game was his Aztecs against my North Welsh.

The Aztecs meet the Welsh.

The Welsh with their South Welsh ally.

The South Welsh cavalry got in the way of his archers and the spearmen got flanked; however, the Welsh had been making progress against the important Aztec elements.
Next we played Ptolemy against Lysymachus. The Ptolemaic army was quite different from what I expected. I tried a littoral landing of three auxilia in a line with side edge contact with the waterway. It seemed legal and threw Lysimachus’ plans to meet this treat. I got a narrow victory in this battle.
We then tried Carthaginians against Gauls.

Carthaginians drawn up against Gauls.

Carthaginians with a random stack of skulls next to their camp.

The Carthaginians won in a battle stacked in their favour (though elephants don’t quick kill warband any more). Our final battle was the Carthaginians against Aztecs. I didn’t take any pictures of this. The Carthaginians took only one elephant, I think. They were lucky in a battle between their two 2LH and the Aztecs two 2Ps. I killed both of them, but had I not, my back was to a wood, and I’d have been very much at a disadvantage.

More Imitation Legionaries

Late Hellenistic imitation legionaries. Two have red shields and could be Ptolemaic; the one with green shields would be Seleucid.

• Imitation legionaries

With a brief flurry of painting I go my Mithridatics ready for CANCON 2013. All my paints are in storage, so it took a bit of effort to get them out to do three 4Bd elements. I’d already prepped them, so they didn’t take long once I started. These elements allow me to field the late Ptolemaic and Seleucid armies. which have two and one element respectively. I’ll also use them to fill out my Mithridatic army.

From behind.

The figures are Freikorp Thureophoroi and Thorakitai; I’ve given them pila from old-style Freikorp Romans. They may not have used them, but it helps make them clearly imitation legionaries.

From the other side.

The Mithridatic army has five elements of imitation legionaries. I’ve decided to use one element of Romans, as Mithridates had some Marian exiles fighting for him; then there are two elements of Marian figures mixed with Thorakitai, but with Marian shields. And finally two of the new legionaries. It is a nicely hodge-podge collection of legionaries, in keeping with the rest of the army.

Mithridates’ legionaries: the two blue-shielded elements have a mixture of Marian Roman figures and modified Thorakitai. The middle one are straight Romans, exiled supporters of the Marian faction. The last two have more obviously Hellenistic equipment.

• CANCON

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m attending CANCON next year. I’m looking forward to it. I didn’t play that much DBA last year, though I started to get a few games in November. I’ll be taking a few armies to Oz when I return; I reckon I can get all my Classical armies (though I’m leaving behind the Ancient British chariots, LH and extra Ps to make room. As it is, I’ll have a stack of armies for the period of around 300 BC to the start of the principate. One army that doesn’t fit is the Komnenan Byzantines, who I need for the second day of CANCON. I’ve used it before and like it, not that I’m terribly successful with it. My other armies from Books 3 and 4 are either not finished, needing to have their bases upgraded, and/or not very competitive. I was tempted to try the Pre-feudal Scots; they’re not terrible, but are a bit of a challenge. If I wanted to keep with a similar army for the first day, I could have gone with the Syracusans. However, I’m keen to use the SCh before it is emasculated, so Mithridatics it is; I can make a fairly spurious link with the Komnenans by pointing out they’re from the same region!

Another shot of the Mithridatic legionaries.

• Mithridatics completed

The Mithridatics are a somewhat cheesy army for competitions in Australasia, as down here you are generally allowed to choose what elements you’ll use before each battle. The option to substitute five 4Bd for a SCh and four 4Pk allows you to transform the army’s capabilities. Against most foot the blade are very powerful, but against armies with a lot of knights the combination of pikes and a scythed chariot should be pretty potent. That said, I’m unsure what to field against armies with pikes and knights, though I suspect the blades are a better bet.

The Mithridatics arrayed with the legionary option.

The army has a strong selection of BGo troops; it’s able to vary the combination of Auxilia and Psiloi to give more rear support for the blade, or to create a block of three Auxilia with one Psiloi for support. The army also has a choice between a 3Kn, a 3Cv and a 2LH. The 3Kn is probably the most useful, but I really like the figures for the 3Cv and I don’t get to use them enough.

The same army from another angle.

I’ve updated the Mithridatics army page too.

Legionaries, imitation or otherwise.

Pontic Imitation Legionaries and the first of the Marians.

The Mithridatics are a bit closer now with the first of their imitation legionaries done. The blue shields are imitation legionaries, the red shields are Marians. These are Freikorp figures; For the imitation legionaries two on each element are Marians, one of an older vintage, and one each of the newer ones. The other two are Hellenistic thorakitai with scuta instead of thurioi and pila from the old vintage Marians. As mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve used VVV transfers, which I think look pretty effective.

The Marians have a centurion, two of the new vintage figures, and one of the old ones. I plan to have a centurion on each element, for colour, but also as they were so significant to the functioning of the legions. I’ll probably do pairs of shield designs for them, so that there will be some four ‘legions’ in the DBA army.

I think the figures look pretty neat, though I missed some major flash on some of the new figures; it’s very prominent on one of their faces!

From the side.

Now I’ve got these figures done, I just need to do the three elements of Ptolemaic and Seleucid imitation legionaries, who have thurioi. Then I can field later versions of these armies, as well as the Mithridatic option of five 4Bd.

The other side.

The Marians should be pretty quick to do now that I’ve established that these transfers work, though whether they’re next on the to do is another question.

From the rear.

After the Ptolemaic and Seleucid imitation legionaries, I could do some more pike; they’re all prepped; it’s just I’ve scuttled off onto other projects. And I could still be tempted to do Bruttians, again prepped, or Numidians instead of these pike. There are also some camps to be done when the mood takes me!

Elephants galore and variety aplenty!

All the elephants arrayed. Not quite enough yet for a whole army, but getting there!

Well, I’ve got some Gauls and some pikemen on my painting desk and the Gauls are all but done now (I think I started them this time last year!), but three elements of elephants jumped the queue. They are quicker to do and allow me to field a number of successor armies straight away. This made them more inviting as I got back into painting after a couple of months’ break. In the process of doing them I got the Gauls nearly done too.

The Seleucid elephant, now with skirmisher support, faces off against the Ptolemaic one.

Along with the three elephants (two early successor and one Ptolemaic), I did four archers as skirmisher support. I added one onto the base of the Seleucid elephant I’d done earlier, as particularly in the later period they deployed the elephants with a lot of surrounding skirmishers.

The Ptolemaic elephant; it is an African one and smaller than the Asian ones. Note the goad that I made for the mahout.

The figures are all Freikorp and I think their elephants are excellent. They are easy to assemble, well animated and their seems to be (to my inexpert eye) a distinction between the African and Asian ones. The Ptolemaic elephant is smaller and has different ears. As these figures don’t come with goads for the mahouts I made them using the ends of lead spears that I’d cut down for javelins. I flatten the end, cut a split in it and bent one side into a hook and gently filed the two end to points. The hooks are perhaps bigger than they should be, but they look the part and were quick and easy to make.

From the other side with its skirmisher support.

The Ptolemaic elephant will also be used as a Pyrrhic one, meaning that with the xystophoroi that I did a while back I can now field the early Ptolemaic and the Pyrrhic armies.

Early Successor elephants ready to go against each other (when I get more pike painted!

The pair of early successor elephants, without towers, allow me to field a number of the armies starting with Alexander, though I need to get some unshielded cavalry to be fully accurate. They allow fights between successor armies (when I get more pikemen painted) and me to field the earliest Seleucid army with two elephants.

The two elephants ready to serve in the early Seleucid army.

From another angle.

And yet another.

Getting these guys to sit on the elephants provided a bit of drama. When my first attempt failed I tried araldite, which is too slow to set, then pinning, which was a travesty. Finally I tried again with super glue and it was quite straight forward, but if you look at the mahout on the blue elephant you’ll see his slightly grey beard and a mark on his chest reveal the scars of this exercise!

Next up, when I get time, will be the Gauls, who allow me to field the Gauls, the Carthaginians and the Syracusans all at the same time. Then I’ll either buckle down to doing seven stands of pike, or I’ll do some smaller projects, such as a 4Bd for the later Seleucids, and some of the cavalry for that ‘d’ list (who can be used for the Mithridatic one too).

Xystophoroi

Ptolemaic Xystophoroi.

I’ve completed two elements of Xystophoroi. They are Freikorp figures with spears from Xyston. They are for a Ptolemaic army; however, they can be used for quite a number of other armies. I’m close to being able to field a whole swathe of successor and Hellenistic armies, though not in opposition to each other. The biggest hold-up is two more elements of elephant. One is an Early Successor one with a pikeman sitting on its back. The other is an unarmoured one with a tower. The first of these would allow me to do a whole range of early successor armies, the other would be for the Ptolemaic army and for a Pyrrhic one. Otherwise, there’s a lack of pikes. My next project may be about seven elements of pikes to allow opposing pike blocks (one of these would be a command element for Antigonus Monophthalmus).

From another angle.

I have two elements of 3Cv ready to go too, but they are waiting for decals on their shields (which are in the post). These are for the Syracusans, but can be used by a number of other armies, though I’m not sure when shields started to be used, making them less useful for some of the earlier armies.

I’ve updated my armies page with a list of all the new armies I should soon be able to field!

From the rear.

Otherwise, I darkened my Seleucid elephant a while ago; it was much lighter than the two Carthaginian ones, so I gave it a drybrush with a darker grey, which I think improves it.

A more tanned Seleucid elephant.

IWC Day 1: Ancients Competition (a plethora of Polybian Romans)

For the first day of the IWC I used my Later Carthaginians, generally with both elephants and all the warbands.

• Luke’s Ptolemaic

The opening game saw me with a waterway to my rear and Luke attempting a littoral landing with a Kn and a Ax. I destroyed this with an elephant and some Wb, but I eventually lost 4-3 as I advanced my spear too far in the centre while this was happening. Before my victorious flank could do anything, the centre was defeated in detail by pike.

The tendency to be in too much of a hurry was a feature in this game and in most of my games; not surprisingly, they usually came to a result well within time!

• Greg’s Polybians

Next up I faced my own Polybians, loaned to Greg, as his armies were trapped in a Christchurch hotel. I deployed my spear in a column on a road. These were able to road march up to his Triarii on his left flank. However, in the centre my elephant was not able to make things happen and I lost my general for a 3G-1 defeat.

• Keiran’s Polybians

Then there were more Polybians. Keiran was new to the game and up from Christchurch for a break. I gave him a fair bit of advice. I had some early success when I destroyed his Triarii in the centre with double-ranked spear (who doubled the one opposite, setting up 4-3 odds with double-ranked Wb next to them. However, I was unable to exploit this success. My elephants on the right flank did little, and I moved my LH too far in a flanking move (I didn’t calculate where he’d be after his advance!). Meanwhile on my other flank his cavalry savaged my psiloi-supported auxilia, who could really only hope to buy time. This was a 4-2 defeat.

The Triarii in the centre may have been a distraction; they stretched my line further than I want it to. As I see it, against Polybians Carthaginians have to try to win on one flank and attempt to delay or avoid contact on the other.

• Stephen’s Early Imperial Romans

After lunch I faced Stephen Malone’s Early Imperial Romans. Last year these armies had met and I had to confess at the time I had no plan. This time I was more confident. However, Stephen proved as wily as before, and I showed I’d not learned too much. He advanced his cavalry, encouraging me to go after them with my elephants, only to retire the cavalry to allow his artillery to have a shot at the exposed pachyderms. One was soon a casualty. Against the other he had a lot of fun attacking it with his cavalry general and seeking to get it to back over some warband that had advanced in its support. He soon had the two warband destroyed, one bouncing into the elephant, the other being trod on. However, my general,supported by the Numidians, advanced across the field and attacked some psiloi-supported auxilia, which they destroyed. The elephant attacked a cavalry and it was now 3-3. Unfortunately that brought it into range of the artillery, if I remember correctly, and it was all over with a well-deserved victory to Stephen.

I picked up the tip that retreating was often a valid tactic, and promised not to be suckered by it again!

• Stephen’s Lydians

Next up was a battle with Stephen’s Lydians, described here. Just as Stephen was frustrated by my warband’s refusal to die when it pursued into double overlap, and my Numidians scorn of his light horse, I was delighted by their display. It allowed my spear to shine. I thought they’d got his general, only to remember they’d only fled him; despite this, the combination of cavalry and spear proved too much for his auxilia and I got my first win.

• Connor’s Polybians

My last game of the day was Polybians again; this time I got their measure. I got Connor’s general and three others for a 4G-0 victory. I think Connor, the youngest competitor, was getting a little tired, and he missed a few opportunities to get back at me, but after losing to Polybians twice already that day, I wasn’t feeling inclined to point these out to him.

All in all, despite the poor results, I had an enjoyable day, and felt I was in with a chance in each battle, particularly if I hadn’t been in such a hurry!

Retrofitting hopla

I’ve been looking for good hoplite figures for a while. I guess I could go with Xyston, which are doubtless very good, but likely to be too big and are a hassle with their undrilled hands. I got some Gladiator hoplites, but am not really satisfied with them (though I’m yet to paint any). I actually like the Essex hoplite, but its shield is a travesty, being too small and having no rim. What’s a hoplite with a crap hoplon?

The old Essex hoplites.

I found a way around this when I got some of the hopla from Freikorp (for their HG17). I found it was actually quite easy to remove the Essex shields, although the spear had to come off as well (and it’s a whole lot easier if the figures aren’t based!). I used a craft knife and as the metal is very soft they came off without much effort, better still the arm stayed on! I painted the Freikorp shields up quite a while ago, but did nothing until last weekend about actually attaching the shields to the hoplites. I only have 8 of the Freikorp shields, so I painted up another element of hoplites and attached the shields using green stuff (as the concave backs made for poor contact with what remained of the figures’ arms.

The retrofitted hoplites.

One thing I’ve found with the Freikorp shields is that they seem to be quite porous, and washes are very dark on them, even after adding a transfer. By contrast, the Essex figures have very shallow detail, which means washes don’t pick up as much detail as on some figures. For all that, I like the pose of the Essex figure and the variations of armour and helmets that stop them being too uniform.

From another angle.

The hoplites are going to be used for a Syracusan army, though I’m sure they can morph into quite few other hoplite armies. Before I order any more shields, however, I have to paint some of the other Freikorp figures I’ve ordered, to check they’re a range I want to get more of. I’m working on a Seleucid elephant (HG10a), which I think has great animation, and compared to the CB one is a breeze to put together. I’m also working on a scythed chariot (HG27), which is very attractive, though a little big for the base. I’m also painting a command for the Later Macedonians from HG20 and HG21 and some Tarantine cavalry for these and the Syracusans (HG25).

Finally, I’m doing an element of Macedonian pike (HG03). These are nice figures, with a good pose and variations on the head position and helmet. The shield is also appropriately smaller than a hoplon. Once these are painted I’ll order some more of those hopla and the figures I need to complete the Hellenistics as Syracusans, Seleucids, Ptolemaics and even Pyrrhic (I only bought samples of the cavalry first up, but based on these I’m very happy with their range).

And another angle.

Carthaginians and pseudo-pikes II (Ptolemaic, II/20b)

The next day John and I varied the pike army a little, going with a Ptolemaic one: 2x3Kn (1=cmd), 1x2LH, 1xEl, 6x4Pk, 1x4Ax, 1x2Ps. This list is also a possible variant of the Imperial Alexandrian army. The same figures were used as the day before, and one can only imagine that poor old Hasdrubal was stranded on the same island in time for a rematch.

Hasdrubal went with two elephants, as they seemed the best counter to the Ptolemaic knights and elephant. He also went with two psiloi and two warbands. He was again the attacker and the littoral Egyptians laid two steep hills and a wood. Of these the wood was the only terrain that played a part, as the hills were on the respective baselines.

Initial Deployment: Carthaginians on the left, 'Ptolemaics' on the right.

I deployed with my bad-going troops on the right flank, where they could make use of the woods, the spear in the centre and the elephants on the left flank. This forced John to redeploy some of his knights away from the elephants, but more particularly, to redeploy the auxilia and psiloi away from the woods towards the elephants.

John sent his light horse wide and I responded by chasing it with my light horse, my general, and even my elephants; somewhat extreme, perhaps! The initial combat between the two light horse saw one of us recoil. John then very kindly showed me how I could flank the light horse by sliding my general into the space between the two of them, thus taking the Numidians out of ZOC where they could then flank the light horse. This gave the first kill to me.

The Ptolemaic LH is destroyed. Note the Balearic slingers at the edge of the woods, ZOCing the Ptolemaic flank; they got their in the first turn. Note also the Ptolemaic light foot facing the elephants.

With the light horse gone, John decided that the light foot were best to contact the elephants on their own terms, rather than wait. It was a tactic that bore fruit, when one elephant was destroyed.

Bonnachts against elephants and the Irish come up laughing.

At this point my PIPs really died away; I think I consistently had only one or two PIPs for the remainder of the game. I was really beginning to despair of the Carthaginians, as they had had such a long run of bad luck. However, John was a very helpful opponent and encouraged me to weigh up my options carefully to get the full value out of every PIP. The threat of the Irish to the elephants was neutralized by the Numidians attacking the kerns and an element of spear ZOCing the bonnachts.

To the rescue of the elephant!

The spear that peeled off to ZOC the Irish proved a real thorn, holding up a pair of ‘pike’. In fact, it stuck out repeated combats at uneven odds, refusing to budge.

The Libyan skirmishers recoil from the giant, while the blueshield spear drive back the bonnachts, despite their overlap from the 'pike'.

John continued to get more of the PIPs, but his left flank was severely compromised by the lack of any troops that could go into the woods. He had to peel off pike elements to prevent his main body from being flanked. In the centre, the giant put the Libyan skirmishers to flight, but those pugnacious blueshields drove back double-ranked pikes!

The blueshields frustrate pseudo-Ptolemy.

With only two PIPs the Carthaginians are unable to repair any of the tenuous position in the centre, and go for even odds on a kill on their right flank: Gauls provide a friction kill, but not flanking support for the Scutarii against an element of pikes. Both roll 6, and looking back I think this should have been a stick. Perhaps the pike were put down one for the Gauls in error—oops (unless we put the dice back in the picture in error, which seems doubtful)!

In a fierce encounter pike are destroyed by auxilia with some warband support.

Ptolemy then drives forward in the centre. One element of spear folds before the giant, the other recoils from the pike.

The giant makes it 2-2.

Again with only two PIPs the Carthaginians focus on the right flank. The warband go in on the side. One would provide a friction kill if the pike advanced against the spear and the other peels off the rear element of pike. The warband are at even odds, but QK the pike and in this combat triumph, making it 3-2.

Another 6 for the Carthaginians, and the Ptolemaic left flank is looking very fragile.

Good PIPs allow the Ptolemaic knights to advance on the Spanish Scutarii in the open, and to attack the spear with the giant and with the pike. However, the dice desert them in combat as they roll two 1s.

No luck for Ptolemy as the Carthaginian spear hold fast.

Now was the time to roll a 6 for PIPs and attack on all fronts, but the PIP dice was yet another 1. The auxilia had to remain in the open, the elephant remained unmoved from where it was very early in the game, as indeed did that entire wing. Instead Ambiorix (that’s the headhunter with clothes), attacked the pike from the rear. When they turned to face, the other warband (led by Lucterius of the Battle of Vienne fame) now flanked them. The combat dice continued to smile and it was game over! The Carthaginians had their first win!

In a emphatic 6-1 contest the Gauls chew up another element of pike to give the battle to the Carthaginians. Over in the centre the blueshields remain locked in combat with the opposing pike

• Review

I could, and shamelessly did, whine about PIP dice, but the combat rolls went my way. Being able to ZOC the bonnachts with my general was crucial to preventing them from supporting the pike against the blueshields. In turn, the blueshields stalwart resistance was crucial in stopping their centre from folding.

The control of the BGo on the right flank proved the undoing of the pike on that flank; unsupported pike against warband is not pretty.

The elephants did little except die, but their importance was in pulling the opponents’ BGo troops away from the woods, and in putting their knights where they failed to get into combat, so perhaps they weren’t totally without use.

It was a nailbiting game because of the lack of PIPs, and my defeatist attitude after so many losses. However, the lack of PIPs did have the effect of making me focus, rather than try to  win everywhere.

This was a crucial victory before going down to the CWC competition. If I hadn’t won, I’m not sure what I’d have done with the Carthaginians. I’m sure I’d start to think they were cursed! I have John to thank for coaching me through my options when I was feeling like giving up in disgust over the chronic PIP-starvation. His advice to try to win somewhere faster than you lose elsewhere was very good, though in this game it was a matter of hoping not to lose too fast in the places I had no PIPs to spare! And my spear showed some real grit in making that happen.

The Battle of Alexandria (Marian Romans v. Ptolemaic Egyptians)

Today I caught up with the only other DBA gamer in Auckland I know, Joel, who’s been up here from Christchurch for a year now, but before the holidays was too snowed under with work to catch up for a game. We’re hoping we can have some regular games this year, which will be lots of fun. Joel was keen to use his Marians, which he’d painted over the break, and I was interested to try out a pike army, as I’d previously only fought against them. Therefore, Joel brought along figures to make a late Ptolemaic army, one that might have fought the Romans in Egypt after Actium. It consisted of a good pike block (6x4Pk), a 3Kn general, a 2LH, a El, a 4Wb, a 3Ax and a 2Ps. It faced Marians with a 8x4Bd (1 was the commander), 2x3Cv, 1x3Ax and 1x2Ps.

In this ‘what-if’ battle of Ptolemaic Egyptians against Octavian’s battle-hardened civil war veterans, I was the defender, and being littoral, I set up the waterway, a steep hill and a small marsh. Joel got the edge he wanted and any chance of me getting myself into trouble by being tempted to try a littoral landing was removed. I deployed with the mounted on the left of my phalanx and the light troops and warband on the right. I figured the mounted would have clear terrain in front of them and the other would do well on the hill.

Joel deployed his legions in a line with slinger support for the general and the auxilia on the hill. He kept his cavalry to the rear. Rather foolishly I didn’t see any need to swap any elements (only later did I realize that the elephant would be better on the other flank where the cavalry would advance).

Initial Deployment: Ptolemaics on the left, Marians on the right.

On the first turn both sides advanced, and the Roman cavalry set out to come around the hill to attack my right flank. I decided to counter this by getting the elephant to move across to meet them; however, this left my general on the left flank somewhat exposed.

Turn 1: The Egyptian elephant starts to move behind the phalanx to counter the Roman cavalry (out of view).

The advance continued with the Egyptians getting good PIPs (6).

Turn 2: Nellie continues to make his way behind the phalanx.

Things slowed down as the Roman cavalry passed out of command control behind the hill and the Egyptians entered a PIP drought (2 PIPs for each of the next turns, apart from one ‘3’).

Turn 3: The Roman cavalry come into view and the elephant hogs all the PIPs in an attempt to meet them.

The Egyptian light troops advance onto the hill, ZOCing the Roman cavalry, whose advance uses all of the Romans’ 2 PIPs.

Turn 4: The Egyptian archers advance to slow the Roman cavalry.

Facing this new threat, the Roman cavalry retire a little and deploy into line, hogging all the Roman PIPs. The Egyptian elephant also hogs all the PIPs as it continues to advance.

Turn 5: The battlelines are frozen as all the attention is on the Egyptian right flank.

The Roman cavalry think better of continuing to advance, and retire a little further. The Roman battleline expands as the auxilia retires to line up with them. The elephant continues to approach them.

Turn 6: The elephant forms a line with the light troops on the hill.

Still starved of PIPs the Egyptians respond to the approaching legions, by withdrawing their Galatians to line up with the phalanx, which wheeled and advanced.

Turn 7: The lines get closer.

For the next two turns the lines inched a little closer.

Turn 8: The lines are nearly in contact.

The Romans are uncharacteristically low on PIPs (1 PIP), while the Egyptians continue their drought, so neither side charge.

Turn 9: The Egyptians try to get their thureophoroi to help on the hill.

With 6 PIPs the Romans charge, they put the Egyptian LH to flight (and it takes no further part in the battle), leaving the general overlapped against the Roman general. My general rolls a 1 and is destroyed. On the hill, however, the dice are reversed, and my light archers roll a 6 and force the Roman auxilia to recoil. This gives the Galatians all the help they need as they cut up the legionaries in bad going in front of them. Elsewhere, the phalanx acquits itself well, with one ‘stick’ and two recoils.

Turn 10 (Romans): Oh dear! The general didn't put up much of a fight. Lucky those Galatians and archers were more serious!

The now leaderless Egyptians seemed galvanized, getting 6 PIPs (though everything cost 1 PIP more now). The Galatians flanked the legionaries to their left and the phalanx advanced on their enemies. The auxilia moved up to support those brave archers. Again the phalanx acquited itself well, destroying the flanked element and recoilling the other two. It was now 2-1 to the Egyptians, who were putting up a desperate fight.

Turn 10 (Egyptians): The Galatians contribute to more dead Romans.

With only 2 PIPs the Roman leader decides to flank the right of the phalanx, but is refuffed in a fierce fight (actually he’d rolled a succesion of 1’s!). The Egyptians got to keep fighting!

Turn 11 (Romans): The Roman flank attack on the phalanx fails.

The Egyptians have 4 PIPs (so the same as the 2 PIPs they’d had for most of the game!). They decide to drive forward with the phalanx. This time the Romans regains some composure and both combats were ‘sticks’.

Turn 11 (Egyptians): Stalemate against the phalanx.

This time the Roman commander attacks the rear rank of the phalanx, removing the support for element in front. This is unable to recoil and is destryed (actually, I think it was doubled). Elsewhere, the stalemate continues.

Turn 12 (Romans): The Romans even the score. In the foreground their auxilia has retired, as has their reserve element of legionaries.

The Egyptians are able to flank another element of legionaries, but cannot do much else. They win this combat, and are recoiled against the general.

Turn 12 (Egyptians): The Egyptians make it 3-2.

The Romans now fall upon the disorganized phalanx, flanking the surviving rear element on the left and attacking the rear element of the one that had flanked on the right. It was all over; unsupported pike against blade is ugly, and the Galatians prevented the element on the right from recoiling.

Turn 13 (Romans): Legionary tactics finally triumph over the phalanx in a bloody fight.

• Review:

This was my first time using pikes and I now see the problem of supporting their flanks. If I had not tried to redeploy the elephant and just piled in on the Romans, I might have done better, but would I have been able to cause enough damage before the cavalry arrived? That said, if I had piled in, Joel might never have had the luxury of getting them anywhere (worth remembering!).

Though I didn’t know I’d get such consistently bad PIPs, it probably isn’t a great idea to move an elephant on its own! Once I had no general, however, I couldn’t complain about my PIP rolls, which kept me in the game.

I learnt a bit about how to attack pikes. If possible attack the rear rank! That’s what destroyed two of my elements.

Overall, it was lots of fun, I look forward to another game next week. Joel said he’ll look at getting together a Mithridatic army to face those Marians, while I will get busy with my Celts (Dwarves may have to wait after all!).