Tales from a Wargame Shed
  • Blog
  • Home
  • About me
  • Periods played
    • Napoleonics
    • 17th Century Eastern Europe
    • ACW
    • Ancients
  • Scenarios and house rules
    • American Civil War scenarios
    • 17th Century scenarios
    • Napoleonic scenarios

Blog

Infamy! They've all got it in for me!

20/6/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Keith's Republican Romans, all set to whip Pyrrhus.
Last night I had my arse handed to me on a plate. In the first game of Sword & Spear for a year, my Epeirot army was comprehensively pounded by Keith's Republican Romans. I did everything wrong, deploying my phalanx right on the front of the deployment zone, putting cavalry in a guaranteed traffic jam on the left and leaving my light troops, who seriously outnumbered the enemy's, milling about uselessly in the rear. Keith managed to absorb the threat of my elephants with a velite unit that lasted long enough for his Centre to close the gap with mine. When my phalanx 'crashed' home, three of the four units were disrupted by Roman thrown weapons, losing fresh status and hence the crucial extra two impetus dice. It was not a glorious evening. To add insult to injury, my dice rolled so consistently poorly that Keith, who was rolling sixes with the self same cubes, offered to get a fresh set of dice to break the jinx. Sometimes it's better to stay in camp. Actually, it isn't: the game was still exciting, I learned masses of lessons for the next time (just you wait!) and we polished off a jar of very good Somerset cider by the end of the evening that softened the blow. And in case of misunderstanding, I was losing big time before the dice turned against me, so I have nobody to blame but myself. And Keith played a nigh-on flawless game. This was the first outing for my new Romans so I'm pleased for them. No, I really am...
Picture
My Phalanx before it all went wrong. Roman velites are holding up my elephants
The day had started well, with a trip to Valhalla in Farnborough with Keith, Ian and Will. There were fewer stall holders and games than previously but my favourite traders were there: Warlord, Colonel Bill's, Newline and Charlie Foxtrot. This last team, Colin and Kevin, came up from Devon with a great range of mdf buildings and counters. I picked up some Bolt Action Brits to take me over 500 points; a German MMG and a Charlie Foxtrot farmhouse kit. I also picked up a 60mm Sword and Spear measuring stick and counters from Charlie Foxtrot. Fat lot of good it did me! But the stick is a great player aid, with ranges and movement distances marked on it.

On balance, it was a great Father's Day. To top it all, my older son gave me a DIY bacon kit. Just add pig.
Picture
I do love the old school look of Minifigs 25s... Win or lose!
1 Comment
Keith Blackmore
23/6/2016 09:30:37 pm

Really weird dice at crucial times exacerbated the problem Pyrrhus faced and I was well lucky too. An outcome I think it would be most unlikely to repeat if we played this one again a few times.
A rule set that deserves a wider audience I think.
As ever a great game with Tim, carefully prepared and played in the true spirit of the master gamer. Huzzah!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

      Enter your email address to subscribe to blog updates

    Subscribe to blog alerts

    Archives

    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    6mm Figures
    Absolute Emperor
    ACW
    ADLG
    Ancients
    Battlegroup
    Battle Report
    Blucher
    Bolt Action
    Chain Of Command
    Eastern Renaissance
    Epic 40K
    For King And Parliament
    Games Workshop
    General
    Honour Games
    Infamy! Infamy!
    Lasalle
    Longstreet
    Modelling
    Napoleonics
    Napoleonic Scenarios
    Pickett’s Charge
    Polish Armies
    Rules Review
    Scenarios
    Scenery
    Sharp Practice
    Shenandoah
    Soldiers Of Napoleon
    Space Hulk
    Sword And Spear
    Tercios
    Too Fat Lardies
    To The Strongest
    Wargame
    Wargame Campaign
    Warhammer
    Warhammer 40K
    Wars Of The Repubic
    What A Tanker
    World War Two

    RSS Feed

  • Blog
  • Home
  • About me
  • Periods played
    • Napoleonics
    • 17th Century Eastern Europe
    • ACW
    • Ancients
  • Scenarios and house rules
    • American Civil War scenarios
    • 17th Century scenarios
    • Napoleonic scenarios