The battle rages at the NWS last night |
Wednesday night was a great opportunity to set out my latest re-basing effort against the might of Steve's Polybian Romans in a battle of everyone's favorite ancients rules "To the Strongest" by Simon Miller.
I had been inspired by Simon's enormous efforts to get his massive Gallic army ready for Salute so I thought that a measly 130points should be obtainable within a three week period for myself.
I had acquired a reasonably sized Gallic force over the years and had played the odd game with Warhammer Ancients Battles. However they had sat in a box for a longtime, occasionally seeing the light of day purely for motivational purposes.
However no more!
They are now re-based on Simon's irregular shaped bases from his store and I think they have come up pretty well. A few spears and shield to replace and a few more accoutrements on some bases but they are pretty much 99% complete.
So to the game.
The extreme left wing of the Gallic hordes |
From the bottom of the photo three deep warbands in one central command |
The great Carlo the Terrible, terribles command of four warbands including one of Gaisati |
Mad and naked fanatics with edged weapons are never a great combination for civil order |
Look at all those Victory Medals in the camp in the background. You wouldn't possibly believe how quickly they can disappear! |
Steve's central command and what a stunning collection of figures they are. |
Spanish flanked by Velites and Hastati - beautifully painted by Big Chris |
So the battle was set with 130 points a side. Far easier for the Gauls than the Riomans I would suggest in terms of allocating units.
Steve has put together these very effective bases for TtS so he does not need to re-base his old figures. |
How good are these! |
I do like how these lads turned out. |
Ready to rumble with those Latin types over yonder plain. |
These bases are slightly wider than my normal 12cm and I do like the way it fills the grid square |
Lines of Hastati and Principes |
Gorgeous command figure on the Roman right flank |
An eagle eye view of the Gallic cavalry commander |
Following excellent early chit drawing the Gauls rushed forward to try and prevent the Romans anchoring on rough terrain |
Early Cretan bow fire made their mark |
The Gaisati, armed to the teeth, take the rough ground and inflict early damage on the Scutarii |
Typical Steve manages to withdrawal without a problem...bastard! |
Despite mighty fighting across the line the exchange of ranks proves most effective as one of the central warbands is easily disposed of. |
On the Gallic left very early success in causing damage has not translated to destroyed Roman units |
A very sticky situation for the great Carlo the Terrible,terrible. |
By some miracle the Gaisati mange to turn but its all too late... |
So the battle raged on...and then it was over.
The Romans were steadfast and effective in their maneuver, line exchanges and ability to pass the critical saves whilst the Gauls were...well...Gauls!
Once again a fantastic and fun game with a great collection of figures and even better like-minded friend and gamer. Great fun indeed.