A fresh despatch from our man on the Italian front…..

The forces of Phil Barca (nice pun on that behemoth of ancient warfare WRG’s “Phil Barker”), met Scipio Buchanicus on the field of battle “somewhere in Northern Italy”. 

The Romans began well with an aggressive advance by their Quincunx-heavy centre. The cavalry/light infantry flanks, probed but it was clear that the centre was the true Schwerpunkt...as the Alammani will say in 2000 years time! The Carthaginian centre advanced to meet them, wary of the Quincunx prodigious fighting strength.

Their left moved boldly forward but Masinissa Banks stayed resolutely on his start line. Was something amiss? Hadn’t they received the back-pay?

In the centre the Roman Velites peppered the Carthaginian spear with javelins causing more than the usual number of disorders. The Maniples charged through and units began to die. However the fight on the flanks was taking a turn for the worse for the Romans. Malcolm’s cavalry, elephants and scutarii proved more than a match for the Roman cavalry who were soon destroyed or being driven back. 

The Banks/Aldridge contest was more even as Rob’s veteran Italian cavalry seemed capable of holding...or scaring...multiple Punic units. Definitely something not right with the Carthaginian right wing.

Phil Barca was grimly holding on. 

Units were pulled back to dress the line but rallies proved elusive, and soon Tonius Maius had broken through and was turning towards the camp. The nadir was reached when a velite unit charged a Punic spear unit in the flank to administer the “Coup de grace”...as the Franks will say sometime in the future.  Phil’s General died and he forgot to use his “stratagem” to save him! However  Malcolms’ attack had broken the Roman right. Buchanicus fled the field and his Quincunx was destroyed by a cavalry flank charge after the Scutarii’s frontal attack. Malcolm’s Numidian’s made a dash for the camp and Nike awarded the victory to Phil Barca and his allies.

A very close game. If a few chits had fallen the other way Scipio Buchanicus may well have been awarded the victory wreath.

Simon

What a Tanker Golan Heights

After last week’s titanic clash between the armoured night of Palmyra and Rome, attention turned last night to events in October 1973 .  A game of WAT saw the armoured spearhead of the Syrian Army trying to break through the Israeli defences on the Golan Heights.  6 T55s took on a trio of Centurions supported by a lone M51 “Supersherman”.
 
The Syrians rolled onto the table at speed.  The Israelis were slow off their start-line but recovered to take up defensive positions.  However the “Supersherman” soon realised that “Super” referred to its gun, not its WW2 era armour plate. Cue one dead M51. Now with a  2:1 numerical advantage the Syrians continued to advance, and even managed another kill.  At that point Israeli reinforcements arrived in the guise of two M48 Magachs. One joined Phil, the other Rob. The much-vaunted Israeli gunnery  proved disappointingly ineffective. Lots of hits but little damage caused.
 
The Syrians continued to advance but against a now much more cautious Israeli foe, who was proving adept at “shoot and scoot” from the crestlines back into cover.  

The Syrians found their poor optics a problem, exacerbated by a few hits which removed activation dice. Eventually the Israeli gunnery told and two T55s were left smoking hulks.

 
Tony charged forward against Rob and Phil rashly charged round to try to outflank Chris or even get a rear shot. Poor dice left Phil’s Centurion in flames but Chris’ smart 180 degree turn to despatch him left his T55 open to a rear shot from the Magach lurking below the crestline.  

The battle north of the  village saw tank carnage.

 
With time running  out darkness intervened and it was declared a draw……albeit only thanks to the Israeli reinforcements.        
 
So, what did everyone think? Everyone seemed to enjoy the game, and I think the simple  rule modifications worked well.  The points of the various adversaries did feel wrong but this was suspected from before the game.
 
Most pleasingly for me the battlefield actually did look at bit like photos from the Golan heights during Yom Kippur. Some individual tanks smoking in the distance but evidence of brutal close-quarter engagements .
 
Next up the Egyptian Front….
 
Simon

Game 3 for the Palmyrans

 And so, after a well-deserved week’s R&R our dedicated war reporter ventured Eastwards to the Nile delta to witness a real TTS “ grudge match”, with the so far unbeaten Palmyrans taking one the fancied challenger, being the mid 3rd century Aurelianic Romans. 

 
The Romans had adopted an either inspired or tactically inept deployment, with effectively no left flank. They presumably planned to smash the Palmyran left with two forces hoping their own centre would hold.  Tony played his Strategem and advanced three units two boxes forwards. His intentions were clear….”Charge…!!!”.

 
Dave leading the Palmyran right advanced swiftly forwards against scant opposition. Rob’s Palmyran centre advanced more cautiously but did make the first “kill” of the game destroying a unit of Auxilia….or “auxila” as Tony insists on calling them.
 
Tony’s plan to overwhelm the Palmyran left got into gear slowly, but eventually did start to make progress.  All seemed to some to fruition when a disordered Cataphract unit was charged in the flank by a Legionary unit. Destruction seemed inevitable……but it wasn’t.

 
Back with Dave. He swiftly annihilated the Roman units protecting the main camp, but couldn’t muster to attack the camp defended by Legionaries in ORBIS. 

Rob joined in the attack and soon the Roman centre had effectively disintegrated, leaving Tony almost alone to press the attack on the Palmyran camp. All seemed to be going according to Tony’s plan except for the destruction of the rest of the Roman army. Chris master stroke was to bring on his flank-march of light cavalry and capture the 2nd Roman camp and take all the victory medals .

 
Victory number 3 for the mighty Palmyrans.
 
Next week sees out reporter remaining in the Middle East to report on an Arab-Israeli WAT game.

Simon

What A Tanker, Germany 1945

From our own correspondent….
 
Last night witnessed a WAT game set in  Germany 1945. Elements of an American armoured “Combat Command Buchanan” had orders to clear a German village, defended by a hastily formed armoured formation known as “Kampfgruppe Threlfall”.  Prior to the battle Herr Threlfall had written that he predicted disaster for his small command, but had gallantly refused reinforcements. O ye of little faith!.
 
The Americans advanced swiftly onto the table. And were soon half-way across and into the build-up area.. The Germans were slower off the blocks. Malcolm’s Stug seemed to have mechanical problems and wasn’t moving at all .Or had he lost his nerve and needed a noose and a street light? No such problem with Chris’ MkIV which rolled onto the table straight into the firing arc of Rob’s M10 .One dead Panzer.

Down to three tanks and with the Americans now across the open ground, things looked grim for the Germans, especially with two of their vehicles being turretless tank-destroyers. 

 
Tony however helped out rashly charging a Sherman out of cover and into a hail of cannon fire. It didn’t end well. Ditto the charge of the Stuart. Yes it managed a flank shot into the Stug, but no effect. A swift 90 degree turn and the Stug blasted the M5 into oblivion from point blank range.

 
The battle to the north became a game of cat-and-mouse as Phil’s Hetzer tried to survive, at one point being almost surrounded by three US vehicles. He did despatch Dave’s M4 which had been “running point” , and then with some deft manouevering escaped the clutches of the Yank armour. Even Chris got his MkIV eventually action putting paid to Rob’s lightly armoured M10 with a shot from the rear. That was  never going  to end well.

With the Yanks down to two M4s things were looking grim .  They turned disastrous when the Hetzer planted another rear shot into Rob’s Sherman.
 
The crew of the final Sherman decided that discretion was the better part of valour and decided to bail out and surrender. A big mistake as Chris’ bow gunner cut them down in a hail of machine gun fire . See you at Nuremburg Herr Banks!

Nest week some light relief as the British Celts try to resist the remorseless advance of Rome in a game of TtS.   

Simon

Behind Closed Doors. Oathmark

And so, on a gloomy Saturday afternoon two consenting male adults met behind closed doors in the confines of a house in Stevenage Old Town. Their aim, to test out the Oathmark Fantasy game system, written by Joseph McCullough, the author of the popular Frostgrave skirmish game.

“Male A” had brought a Goblin horde to the table, “Male B” a re-purposed Viking army which was serving as a “Human” army. A Christian priest doubled as a “Spellcaster”.

The Humans were fielding large, deep close-combat units, the Goblins a larger number of smaller units of spear, bow, wolf-riders and an artillery piece.

“Male A” decided to advance on a short front with a refused left wing. The goblins were more strung out. The artillery/ballista hit the human archer unit. Carnage. With a range of 42” and positioned in a hill it could dominate the whole battlefield. This was going to be tricky. (Note 1) The Humans ploughed on towards the Goblin line as the Goblin left started to sweep round the flank. The archers took more damage and eventually fled the field. Then the human line hit the Goblins. One Goblin unit fled but more were there to take their place. Eventually the Goblins turned the human flank and the Humans departed the field in defeat.

So, what did we make of the much-vaunted Oathmark. It is a very simple set of rules. We took two hours simply because we didn’t know them. The rules are a bit frustrating in their layout, but nothing too problematic. Probably a decent set of rules for those who want to play Fantasy in the style of Warhammer or Kings of War.

That said if Osprey released “Oathmark Historical” (as with Kings of War Historical) would I play them in preference to To the Strongest. Definitely not (Note2) .

Simon

Note (1) The artillery debate was akin to the Palmyran Cataphract discussion albeit not conducted in Australian. It seemed a very powerful weapon for the points cost. That said its “power” could have been down to the limited terrain which did allow if to dominate the batttlefield .
Note (2) People may recall that Simon Miller did plan a “Fantasy” version of TtS, which indeed was intended to be released after the Ancient set. I wonder what ever happened to them. I must ask him!

Sassanids vs Palmyrans; the Grudge Re-Match

And so, on a dusty table in deepest, darkest Stevenage, the armies of Sassanid Persia and the mighty city state of Palmyra once again clashed to fight for pre-eminence of Eastern Syria.

After extensive, and sometimes acrimonious debate, the Sassanids had been given a 1 point per Cataphract unit benefit compared to last week. This had been spent upgrading some Sassanid units to veteran.

The Sassanid plan appeared to concentrate on overwhelming the wings, and hope that the infantry-based centre could hold on long enough for the wings to win the day. As befits an army lead by Chris and Tony, the Palmyran plan was less subtle…..

The early exchanges seemed to favour the servants of Ahura Mazda. Palmyran light cavalry died and gaps appeared on the extremes of the Palmyran wings. But the Sassanids held back. We now know that they hadn’t realised that one unit from the Palmyran ORBAT was missing presumed….well just missing.

The massed archers on the Palmyran left fired volley after volley into the Sassanid cavalry, who lost a unit meaning the general had to move. Not the best start to his day.

The fight on the other wing appeared more even. Units traded blows, took disorders but eventually rallied. The Sassanid plan seemed to be stalling, especially as poor chit drawing on their right flank meant they couldn’t turn the exposed Palmyran right.
 
The then Palmyran centre got into action and it started to grind across the centre. Even the mighty Pachyderm seemed helpless to intervene.  First one Sassanid javelin unit, then another and finally an archer unit died smashing open the Sassanid line.

To add insult to injury the “lost” Palmyran unit finally managed to appear on the Sassanid baseline, only three boxes from one of their undefended camps.

Game over.

A hard fought fight, but even “honest Simon” aka “the Supreme Being” will admit that it felt like, to use  boxing terms, a “Heavyweight vs a Cruiser of Middle Weight”. The Palmyrans are a mighty army indeed!

That said I guessed that when I first checked the list. They can also add Roman Legionaries, Auxila and Cavalry from the time when the Palmyran King Odenathus was given military command of the Roman Near East to fight the Sassanid threat.

Simon

What a Tanker in Western Ukraine

After a week-off for well deserved R&R our war reporter ventured East last night to witness an armoured clash in Western Ukraine.

The scene; a sleepy hamlet in the Ukraine May 1944.  As the mists cleared the silence was shattered by the sound of tank engines.  Chris’ T34/76 charged across the table to find cover in a wood. His SU85 was more circumspect and advanced cautiously, shielded by a farmhouse.  To their North Tony was also uncharacteristically cautious . His mighty T34/85 took up position in a wood covering the village crossroads, leaving his T34/76 to advance slowly along the Northern edge of the table.

For the Germans, Malcolm’s Stug advanced to face Chris’ T34.

The Panther and a MkIV advanced cautiously along the Northern edge of the table, with another MkIV shielding their flank.   The Stug fired three times at the T34. All misses. Less than impressive gunnery. However, feeling very exposed the T34 retired , only to find itself in the gunsight of the Panther. Result, one dead T34.

To the North Tony decided to put his “fast” attribute to good use and try to outflank the Germans .  It worked in part but the Germans turned the tables and the Panther and MKIV hunted him down. A flank shot from the MK IV put paid to another T34/76.

The Su85 took damage and was soon reduced to two dice and reduced speed. Ouch! He was also being stalked by the Stug and a MKIV. Things were looking decidedly “sticky” for the Red Army.

However Tony’s T34/85 finally scored a Russian “kill” when it planed a shell into the rear of a MKIV.  “Boom”. One very dead tank.

Chris fared less well. His SU tried to escape but fell to another rear shot, this time from Malcolm’s Stug.

Tony valiantly fought on.  He damaged the other MKIV which wisely retired from the fray, but was unable to stop Rob’s Panther again going “fast” to close to short range. Result, one dead T35/85.

A fairly fast and furious game . Lesson learnt. Flank shots are good, rear shots are excellent!      

Next week a return to the deserts of Mesopotamia for a TTS game featuring Sassanids and Palmyrans.

Simon