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This is just a quick holding action while I sort out a myriad of photos. We played Zama on the sandtable at Willy's Kriegshut (as he calls it) on Sunday. It turned out that my Romans are based almost identically to Simon's figures, so we were able to put on a very large game by adding to the Hastati and increasing the Carthaginians' front infantry line. There were four players per side.
It was a Roman victory, albeit not in the way it worked historically. The elephants were easily wiped out by the Velites. The Carthaginians stalled very effectively on their left with Tychaeus' cavalry, and exterminated the Roman cavalry on their right with contemptuous ease (helped as usual by my typical morale rolls for the Roman cavalry). However, their pursuit on this wing got into a bit of mess with some compulsory follow-ups, and the Romans were able to stabilise by sending out the Triarii of the leftmost legion of Socii. This left the rest of that legion vulnerable to a grinding infantry match, but Carthage was unable to take advantage of it quickly enough. The rest of the Romans relentlessly crunched their way through the centre of the Carthaginian army. In effect, a 4-1 victory for Rome.
Using the points system in Tactica II, I worked out that the Carthaginian army was a couple of hundred points more expensive than the Romans, but those Heavy Infantry sure are tough, especially in combination with pila. For the next match, at Carronade on May 8th, we may well allow Carthage to deploy their skirmishers up front ahead of the elephants, and give Rome some more Velites. It sounds strange to give the Romans more troops since they won, but the combination should mean that the first line of Velites takes out the Carthaginian skirmishers, but the second line should not be so successful against the elephants because they won't have enough space to do so at their leisure, unlike now.
I think it's a case of incremental tweaks to try to get the scenario to the point of balance, so as to get the feel of a really close game.
6 hours ago
I've found this playing FOG - velites vs elephants (if you can get them isolated) always seems to be the answer. Last time we played my velites hit Russ' elephants from two directions then some triarii moved in to administer the coup de grace.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with elephants in FOG is their high points value vs survivability. 50 points for a 2 elephant BG is a lot (considering velites come in at 5 points a base, meaning you can have 10 bases of skirmishers for the same cost).
10 bases of skirmishers means 5 shooting dice against a 2 base target (so a couple of hits means a cohesion test - and its hard to miss elephants!).
And if one base 'dies' the elephant BG automatically routs!
You have the right idea in screening elephants so they have a chance to impact without being hit. Once in melee they are gruesome against heavy infantry - you just have to get them there unscathed.
but as soon as one is killed the BG automatically routs.
Hi Phil, I think I see what you mean. Our rules have some peculiarites that allow variations in the number of hits a unit can take, something that is also tied to morale tests. The trick with Zama is to get the combination of factors right so as not to upset what should be a very delicately balanced scenario. If the elephants do get through, they should be so badly damaged that the Hastati can finish them off, but take hits themselves as it happens. The idea is for the mutiple lines in the centre of each army to degrade incrementally to try to replicate what seems to have happened.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Paul
Any pics of the game in the offing? I was at Simon`s game at the weekend and though a total beginner when it comes to Ancients, I had a great time. I was so impressed that I am now researching the subject (which at my time of life is no easy task since it seems so vast) and acquiring figures to paint etc. Any tips for an old `un?
ReplyDeleteJohn.
Hi John. I saw your blog on Blogs of War (I think), and looked at your profile - I had no idea you were in Airdrie. Fancy coming along to our lot on a Tuesday evening? We are in Glasgow city centre. We have an ongoing ancients campaign, and more players are always welcome.
ReplyDeleteAside from that, your timing is impeccable - I'm hoping to post deployment photos later today. After that, I'll sift through the others and try to weave them into a coherent series of reports. There's a whole load of them, so I'll probably do one entry each on the start, middle and end. Otherwise I'll lose track!
Cheers
Paul
Thanks for the invite Paul, I`d love to come along to one of your game nights, bearing in mind that I am a complete novice. Let me know the where and when.
ReplyDeleteJohn.
Hi John, we meet on Tuesday evenings from 7.00-10.00 at the Polish Club in Glenfarg Street, St George's Cross. I have a link on the left to our club's splash webpage; we call ourselves the Phoenix Club because for a while everywhere we went ended up burning down! I hasten to add that was before I became a member.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, we're taking our Zama game to Carronade on May 8th in Falkirk - maybe see you there?
Thanks again Paul. I`ll see what I can do. Didn`t know about Carronade which may be worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteHi John, here are the website details for Carronade:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk/index.html
I think this will be its third year. I haven't made it along on previous occasions because my job is usually particularly heavy at this time of year, but it turns out that I can go this time. Apparently it's almost as large as Claymore.
Cheers again!