Sertorius and Pompey: The Reckoning.

Colin sent loads of photos of the game, so here we go:

His photos seem to be of a different resolution to me, but I hope you can make them out okay. The good thing about someone else taking pictures is that they have a different perspective to mine, and since he was my opposite number on the field, many of these are taken from the Roman side. First up is a nice shot of some of his Numidian command, above.

This one shows his guys being threatened by my Spanish Heavy Cavalry. This is where the narrative left off in my previous post of the battle.

A nice one of my Spanish commander. Colin took quit a few close-ups, which is nice because it means we get to see more of the figures in detail.

His Roman cavalry hold in reserve.

How my large blocks of Spanish foot look from the Pompeian perspective. The Italian auxiliaries are waiting for them at the right of the photo as you look at it.

Roman versus Roman - so everyone else wins! I used my earlier Republican figures to proxy for Sertorius' lads, because I don't yet have enough of the later guys painted. It does make for a nice visual differentiation between the sides, though.

Another one of Roman on Roman action, as seen from behind Pompey's lines.

A close-up shows more detail.

A bit of a conversation provides some relief from all the mincing going on in the middle of the field. Colin was part of the crew that recently put on an enormous Waterloo game in 20mm, including large numbers of plastic casualty figs. He quite liked the 'clock' markers I have, so he took some time out to have a look. Above is a dead Numidian infantryman.

The reverse side of the figure base can be seen at the bottom of the photo above: a bit of self-adhesive magnetic flexi-stuff. At the top of the photo is one side of the 'clock', showing its self-adhesive steel paper. There's a bit of this on both sides, making the marker reversible, and giving casualty numbers from 1-12 and then 13-24. I also have 25-36 for those times when low numbers just aren't enough.

Billy on the left, Colin on the right as you look at it; aka Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Maharbal or something. Billy insisted that I take one of himself with Colin because that's one he doesn't have!

Moving back to the battle. Here we see my Spanish munching their way through Colin's Numidians a bite at a time, with his Roman heavy horse remaining in reserve - no point in committing everything at once. Pompey is basically sacrificing the Numidians on this wing to keep the Spanish heavy cavalry away from the flanks of the infantry off to the right of the photo.

I like this one: the massed struggle in the centre. Sertorius' volley of pila is more effective than that of the Pompeians, and the gladius work begins.

Off to the right of the main legionary battle lines, the Gallic auxiliaries fighting for Pompey have lined up against the Celtiberians. Terrain is rather broken in this part of the field. The guys at the bottom of the photo are my Roman-armed Gauls.

A nice close-up of Pompey's legionaries mixing it with wild Celtiberians coming from a wood - the cloud of dust denotes a mad charge.

More nastiness in the centre of the field. Legion against legion is a real grudge match.

Back on our flank, the Spanish cavalry charges home against the thin brownish line of Numidian foot.

The Roman heavy cavalry faces off against my advancing Spanish foot. Don't worry, though, these Romans have a cunning plan. At the top right of the photo you can see Pompey's North Italian clients hacking their way merrily into another unit of Spaniards.

The carnage continues in the centre of the field, hence all the casualty markers. Pompey's third line patiently awaits its turn.

There's good news for Pompey from the right of the field, though - the Gallic auxiliaries have handily seen off the Celtiberians. It all happened rather suddenly with a bit of a morale collapse. The puffs of dust now denote routing tribesmen.

Phew! There's plenty more to come, but I think this is enough for now...

Quick edit: it turns out that these photos aren't clickable, but if you zoom in using your browser you should be okay. Thanks to Colin for providing the pictures!