May 12th 2009

For last night's game, Simon brought in his recently painted very ancient ancients - Sumerian types, no less. He was able to make two armies of half size to try them them out. Army composition for both sides was light infantry, warbands, massed infantry, skirmishers of various kinds, and battle carts. One army had many more skirmishers than the other. We managed to squeeze in two games, mainly because the first game was very short. Two players on each side; Gordon and I lost the first game spectacularly quickly, being massively outshot by the side with all those skirmishers and then crushed in the central melee. We did, however, kill the opposing king/chieftain/whatever he was called way back then. Then we swapped sides, and this time we won, albeit only just. Gordon set up our warband right in the centre, followed by all of our chariots in a massive assault on the enemy centre. This just did the trick and no more, and I managed to get lucky by killing the enemy general and finishing off the large block of massed infantry he was leading. William on the other side of the table was incredibly unlucky in response to Impetus tests and morale. I really enjoyed both games. It was nice not to have to supply anything, and to watch someone else set up the games. My orders in both battles were to hold on the right flank, which I did. Playing Tactica II multiplayer leaves plenty of time to chat and socialise a bit, which is definitely not the case if running a large army on your own. I must admit, though (and Simon probably wouldn't want to hear this), I still wouldn't go for the early period in any big way. I could see myself eventually getting very late chariot era armies, the kind with a few really heavy ones and cavalry that fought the early Persians, even if only to give them someone to fight other than hoplites. That's all a long way off, though...