Thursday 18 April 2019

"Gallic Hopes dashed once again upon Roman Rocks" - the very latest battle of "To the Strongest"


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.

Thursday 4 April 2019

TtS - Classical Indians battle Alexander

Some particularly keen pachyderms in front of my newly crated Indian camps


Another fantastic nights gaming at the NWS saw 1430points a side of Classical Indians versus the might of Macedonia.  Its amazing how restricted and selective you need to be when putting together an army of only 130 points, especially when you are fielding forces with so many points invested in either Elephants or Veteran Pike!

The left wing of the Macedonian army comprising some Companions, light cavalry and Cretan archers

The Indians in the centre

Three units of Raw Longbow - they would fight well.

Maharajah Carlo looking resplendent in a yellow hair scarf!

Steves wonderful pike blocks

More of the same...bloody wonderful Foundry models

Veteran Pike the lot of them!


Steve advanced rapidly in order to reduce the space between our two forces and attempt to weaken my missile power.


On the Indian right companions make their way across rough ground


Later in teh battle - a bit out of sequence-more Companions do their worst!

Stay in that rough ground gentlemen
The fire was fierce but not all that effective unfortunately

After quite a few rounds of combat the phalanxs withdraw...the lucky bastards!  The elephants continue their pursuit on the twice hit blocks of Macedonians.

Lonely out here.
Aaahhh- the dreaded "Double 1" chits when the enemy is absolutely at your mercy!
It was another sensational game which Steve was willing to concede to me rather generously at around 9.15 pm.  For my part, I would much rather had been the Macedonian commander as I thought he was most certainly in teh best shape.

Another great fun night playing some sensational rules.