Barry and I played out this game using my Legio Quaternarius rules in my basement a week before Ellis Con, as I was a bit rusty on my own rules. Both armies were happy to get out of their boxes and stretch their legs on the Field of Honor! I'll do separate posts on each of these two armies in the not too distant future as well.
It featured me, playing with my Sassanid Persian Army (vintage Minifigs)
against Barry with my Later Byzantime army (25mm Garrison figures) I happen to love their castings for this army, the only army I have that uses these miniatures. I see they just halted all production as of last month.
I had the first move and advanced smartly. Note my LI archers and slingers taking cover in the woods!
Target Practice!
Barry's Byzantines advanced i turn, concentrating on my left but
This soon lead to a massive clash of armored Horsemen on the Byzantine Left.
and more cavalry charges on the Byzantine Right as well.
Overview shows the weak Sassanid Levy infantry holding back in the center, supported by their War Engines.One unit can be seen practicing their favorite maneuver - "Run Away!"
The Byzantines front line, consisting of light troops, was eliminated on their Left.
and they also didn't fare well on their Right either.
In the center, the much more heavily armed and better trained Byzantine infantry was threatening to sweep aside the motley Levy infantry of the Sassanids.
On their Move, Barry's Byzantines make a furious counterattack on their Left.
$
Ain't pay back a B*$@#? The Sassanid right flank is devastated! The Varangian Guard with their "Two Handed Choppers" prove to be especially tough!
The Sassanids pull back on their Right to regroup, and try to get their recalcitrant Levy to form something approaching a battle line...
whilst they finish mop up operations on their left flank.
Close up of the withdrawn Sassanid Left. The Sassanids then won the toss for the first move of the next turn.
That resulted in an all out attack on the Byzantine center, with all the Levy that could be coaxed into action, the Sassanid Elephant corps, and a devastating flank/rear attack by the victorious Sassanid Cavalry of the Left flank. The results are shown above. Although his Right flank was still in excellent shape, and with the prospect of his own possible double move in the offing, Byzantine Emperor Barryleus II, opted to withdraw to fight another day, rather than risk total defeat.
Barry and I fought this battle to a conclusion in about 2.5 hours. It was fun revisiting these rules that I had so many good times with in the past, and they still work well. After this game and the EllisCon game, I think the one thing they need is a system to mitigate the potentially devastating effect of the double move. Using a simple sequence deck and impetus, such as we is used for Pikette, would be one way to adapt Legio Quaternarius further. I shall have to consider some additional experimentation!
Fun looking game, it's nice to see you using your own rules again
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dean, and it was very enjoyable to dust off the rules!
DeleteAwesome sight of figures/units and games report, thanks Pete for sharing!
ReplyDeletecheers,
Glad that you enjoyed it, Dean!
DeleteI really enjoy seeing your vintage armies on a gridded table. That is a large game for two players. Played to conclusion in under three hours? Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteOn your grid system, did you ever consider offsetting the grids to, in a way, duplicate a hex based playing area while maintaining the simplicity of a rectangular grid?
These rules were in fact originally played on a 3" hex grid, so a "bricklay" grid would work fine. My original Napoleonic rules were based upon Frappe!, again played on a hex grid. Joe made a bricklay grid for us to use at his plac back in the 1970's. One of the other points of this playtest was to se if the switch to a sqaure grid would result in any unanticipated changes in the games. he answer is basically, no.
DeleteNice AAR; impressive playing time. How much of your army was Levy? Good practice for those 1813 Prussians.
ReplyDelete6 units out of about 25, so almost 25% of the army was Levy. Playing time for these rules is usually 2.5 - 3 hours. Once troops get into melee, they can be quite bloody!
DeleteLOL re: 1813 Prussians!
My queue of 'intended armies' include both Garrison Sassanid and Byzantine armies. I even started casting figures for my Sassanids. Twice. People kept buying the things.
ReplyDeletePeople buying the Garrison Sassanid figures is the best possible recommendation, no? As I said, I really like the Garrison Byzantine figures! Oldies but goodies to be sure!
DeleteThat looks tremendous fun Peter! A very colourful game with loads of troops - love it! To echo the posts above - playing such a large game to a conclusion in that time frame is excellent and something I need to think about how to achieve.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Jason
Gridded tales really speed up game play by greatly simplifying movement, maneuvering, range measurement and fields of fire, and angle of attack (for melee). Almost any rules set can be converted for use with a gridded board with little difficulty, and the grid can b made unobtrusive by just marking the vertices (or even just the centers) of the squares. This applies to bricklay/offset squares/"squexes" equally well. Despite the large number of units, the number of figures in the army is fairly small - about 150.
DeleteWhat a fabulous looking game Peter. Talk about ebb and flow, eh? The Sassanid goose seemed cooked when the right flank collapsed, but then you pulled victory out of the embers--thanks to the levies*. Marvellous.
ReplyDeleteMasses of heavy cav. going toe to toe (lance to lance at least). Who can want more?
*Oh yeah, with a bit of help from the Elephantidae
Thanks, James. With the exception of the musings above, these rules have stood the test of time. They borrowed some Key concepts of Charlie Sweet's Ancient rules (gridded board, small units, shooting catapults) and married them to the excellent game mechanics drawn from the Legion! rules. It is very much warGAME, but a fun one. Back in the day, we often did two side by side games, and then had the winners play the winners and the losers play the losers, no on eplaying the same army twice.
DeleteThe use of the Elephants was key in trampling the superior Byzantine foot under! There was still plenty of fight left in the Byzantines, but I think Barryleus made the right call by withdrawing.
Great looking game, interesting system and beautiful colored armies...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Phil!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed those figures Gonsalvo. The rules were also a great read. Wish I'd had those in the 90's!
ReplyDeleteThanks, David. We had a lot of fun with them from the late 1970' to circa 2000, and it was fun to play some games with the rules again now.
DeleteDicing for initiative has a long history in wargaming. I am not sure if it beats simultaneous movement but it can give an advantage to an army if in either a good or not so good position. Some rules give the option of great commanders to gain initiative two or three times on the go to reflect their superior general ship. I would keep it if I was you but develop an easy to use system.
ReplyDeleteA good game and I'm happy that the Sassanids won in a wargame for a change,:-)
I'm actually curious to try out To The Strongest, which of course uses a gridded board and a card driven initiative/action system
Delete