Couple More Games

Played a couple of A&M games this week as I've been wanting to play two of my
favourite periods for some time.

First was a Macedonian v Celt (Gallic) encounter using the Classical Rules and
modelled on the Battle of the Celtic Hills in the Airfix Guide to Ancient
Wargaming. The Macedonians fielded a strong force arrayed against a Celtic
opponent using the terrain to great advantage. This proved to be integral to his
battle strategy.

To the Macedonian general's discomfort he had to split his battle line due to a
large wood which occupied the centre of his deployment zone. This meant some
pretty fancy wheeling prior to engaging with the Celtic warbands. The Celtic
commander did exploit this and with a fast rush moved out of cover to try to
disrupt the Macedonians before they could fully muster and commence the steam
roller tactics.

This was rather successful, however, the Macedonians were subsequently able to
stabilise the situation and wear the warbands down.

The end result was a narrow Macedonian victory.

On reflection I liked the way the warbands operated with the ability to rush
from cover and do all that first round impetus stuff they are feared for. The
Macedonian phalanx rule was pretty potent aswell and the Celtic general made
several calls to the higher powers to grant him a first base removal!

Second game and move forward a few centuries to a late 13th Century contest
between Scots and English using the Medieval Rules. I modified the English HYW
list a little to get a better representation of an early English army and had
less archers and more billmen. Knights were mounted and I didn't include stakes
for the longbow units. I was going to reduce armour but left it a heavy.

The encounter was a fast and bloody affair with the Scottish schiltrons
performing excellently, particularly against the bill units who were at a
distinct disadavantage in a frontal engagement. The English archers were a
potent force and if they had been in larger numbers could have "shot up" the
Scots quite nicely prior to an infantry assault in the centre and cavalry round
the flanks. As it transpired the missile casualties didn't disrupt the waiting
schiltrons too much and the English had to go in against a solid battle line.
With some favourable outcomes this quickly became disrupted and towards the left
flank it collapsed entirely. This gave the English the opportunity to use their
mobility to roll up the rest of the Scottish force. It might sound a clear
English victory, however, in the final tally the English were actually down to
four units: one of Knights, a full unit of archers and two depleted bill units.

This game was great fun and I actually got my daughter to watch a bit of this as
she wandered into my room claiming she was bored. She particularly liked the
vast quantities of dice I was rolling to simulate the combat!