Wednesday 17 July 2019

The sweet taste of victory at last as Gallic heroes rock Rome!

Despite heavy casualties from those pointy, heavy and non-recyclable pila things the Romans hurl at us incessantly the  Gauls continue on to defend their beloved homeland...which they acquired last year after killing and burning the       previous occupants!
What a tremendous game!

Last night Guido, Jeff, Cookie and myself took to the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wargaming Society in North Perth to play another tremendous game of Simon Millers epic "To the Strongest" Ancients.  It was a cracker.

With 130 points aside and the Romans the aggressors (as per usual), we took to deploying our troops as Jeff and Guido commanded the Republican Roman legions against Cookie and my unwashed hordes.

Jeff's command on teh Roman left with elements of Guido's central command visible as well

Cavalry on the far Roman right along with lights and Triari

The freedom forces of Gaul massing to save all boar eating illiterates across Europe

How good do these look?  Great work from Big Chris and Guido on this beautiful figures

Mighty warbands

Quite a few of them actually

Cookies command with all the mounted, lights and a warband for good measure

Preparing to meet the Romans in the field can be a tough business, especially when its cramped at deployment.

The Gauls prepare to advance as quickly as possible to counter the Roman maneuverability

In their rush they have left their clothe behind...but remembered to bring their hero chit.  Well done lads.

A look across the lines one last time

Guido sent his Roman flank cavalry as quickly as he could in an effort to pin Cookie against the woods and rough and         then sweep into the Gallic rear ranks.  Despite some early success this was to prove a difficult hurdle for the Roman    cavalry to overcome.  Phil defended well and the Roman General was soon lying dead in the autumn leaves

The aftermath of a Roman legio being destroyed.

Forgive the blurriness but at this stage I was quite excited

The beginning of the end for our Roman visitors


Jeff's command fights on bravely against the masses

The legio pulls back in an effort to rally and save itself and the army however the odds are mounting rapidly

Peters General, Jonah as every unit he joined was destroyed, attaches himself to the last men alive...fine young Velites
The game was won.  The last Roman victory medal was secured and Gaul was saved once again...until the next time at least.

What a tremendous game and what fun we had.  We all stated at the games conclusion that with these rules we really don't care if we win or lose as it is always so enjoyable.  I think the game is so conducive to multi-players games, is subtlety simple yet extremely tactical at the same time.  One of our players, an esteemed and well published Ancients Historian five times over, rates these as the finest ancient wargames rules he has ever played...and Jeff is bloody ancient himself!

Peter aka Guido and I are planning a TtS campaign day sometime in the near future with a "Rome must be destroyed" theme which I loved when the great Jeff Jonas put it on for his ancient companions in the US many years ago.  Ours will be somewhat different but based its bones upon his excellent campaign system.

Hopefully it will be worthy of a blog posting here sometime in the future.

18 comments:

  1. Great report and a great game Carlo. Fantastic Gauls to battle against. What I love about these rules, (besides that which you have already mentioned), is the fact that results are achieved rather quickly which suits weekday gaming nights. (Actually, a little to quickly for the Romans this time!!).
    Looking forward to planning the campaign and some larger weekend battles.

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    1. It was great fun wasn't it Guido? Sensational set of rules and i think a mini-campaign over a Saturday would be ideal.

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  2. Great looking figures and game. I'll have to convince my group to give TtS a proper go as every report I read always says how much fun it is.

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    1. It will be very much worth the effort Lawrence. No more tape measures and cocked dice to worry about!

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  3. Great looking armies & fun game! What more can one ask for?
    Best wishes,
    Jeremy

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  4. Great looking game, super looking Gauls and Romans and nice rough terrain with removable trees! I might have to pinch that Idea! I'm enjoying Tts although we are still a bit slow I think, looking forward to your campaign!
    Best Iain

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    1. That's an old, old GW style woods base that sat in a draw for a decade I think Iain. Really useful terrain piece.

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  5. These Gauls are awesome, love the warbands...great looking game with impressive armies!

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    1. Thanks so much Phil - greatly appreciated.

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  6. I was rooting for you the whole time. Down with the Romans. Nice pics and report. Glad you’re enjoying yourself. 😀

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    1. I know you were Stew. Thats what helped me deal with the Gallic failures of the past. Unwavering support for the great unwashed is always appreciated.

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  7. Carlo old chap,
    I always envy your gaming ratio. I've converted from WAB (largely) to Hail Ceasar. How do they compare to TTS? In WAB the Celts needed 3 to 1 to match and beat the Roman cohort - how does this compare. Gret write up by the way. Keep at it.

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    1. Its funny Greg as I was in a bit of a wargaming rut a month or so ago and feeling quite sorry for myself if truth be told. Lacking energy to get to teh club after long days at work etc. however my mojo is back (thank goodness). I haven't played a great deal of Hail Caesar so my idea on ratios would be just a guess however in TtS the tactics, like in all well designed wargames, are paramount. I have played the Romans three time snow and this is my first win. The pothers were games where early success was then restricted by the sturdiness of the Roman Manipular swaps and the quality of their troops. In this one we were lucky early and the luck held.

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  8. Great looking game Carlo. I will have to give the rules a go one day.

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    1. Nathan you will very much love them. I know you enjoy Basic Impetus and your games are the poster shots for Impetus aficionados globally but these TtS rules are something very special mate.

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  9. Fine looking game, and congratulations on the victory. I look forward to the campaign ideas!

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  10. Great looking game and the Gauls are superb!

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