Tommy's Wargaming blog

 Something a bit different from the MeG battle reports. A couple of optional rules were in place, such as no weather or time of day and the chance to remove or adjust the position of terrain. My list was Corps 1: Cv(O)c CinC, 60 Wb(F), 2 Cv(O)c Corps 2 +3: Wb(F) SG, 10 Bw(I), 10 Ps(I) Corps 4: Cv(O)c AG, 13 Bd(F), 2 Ps(I) All Libyan commands had 2 Army Baggage (I) and the Sea Peoples AG, had 2 Command Baggage (I). 96ME in total. I picked the army as I hadn't been in a real life competition for 20 months, plus it was a simple army with a simple plan because of all the self-propelled troops. Game 1, Early Libyan vs New Kingdom Egyptian. The Egyptians defended because of the Libyans' high aggression. Terrain on table included 2 enclosed fields and 2 rocky flats. I deployed second and was attacking in most places except with the Warband. The Sea Peoples ally in their first moves went into my right skirmishing sector. In the end, I was too cautious with my Warband and should have pu...

  Here is my description of a James IV Scottish list. Part of the reason I'm making this post is because I've been silent on this blog for too long, for which I apologise deeply. Another reason is that this army appeals to me greatly given the anti horse archer capabilities. Plus, it's an army whose composition will rarely, if ever, differ, in my opinion. Firstly, the generals are a Competent CinC, 2 Talented Subs and a Mediocre Sub. All professional. 13 cards for 13 units. Next, the camp is Average Unfortified. This was because I had points left over that I couldn't spend elsewhere. Next 10 blocks of Pike, front rank of 2 Average, Full Armour, Shield Cover, Combat Shy Pike and 6 Average Protected Combat shy Pike, all Formed Close. The schiltrons in the front make these units almost impossible to dent if your opponent can't get on your flank or behind you, except against Skilled Shooters. 2 4s of Cavalry, Formed Loose, Charge Only Crossbow, Short Spear. These are in...

 Game between 5 Hegemons and Later Sargonid Assyrians Hammy's opening hand. Better than mine but not by too much. Final casualties of the Chinese. Including an 8 base Di Devastating Charger unit which suffered 9 wounds in 3 shooting rounds from a 6 base Cimmerian Tug. 1 in 19683 chance of happening. Holes have started to appear in both armies. The Cavalry unit on my right had ripped apart 2 Chariot units with a flank charge. Ouch. However, at this point I've killed 2 Tugs and 1 SuG. My revolting and extremely rare first hand.  Initial deployment of the armies. On Monday the 30th of August, I played Hammy again. 5 Hegemons against Later Sargonid Assyrian. The game was very vicious and in truth seemed slightly closer than the score of 6-15 to the Assyrians suggested. At one point, I made a mistake of moving something after Hammy passed early, which allowed him to make crucial movements later on in the turn.  I was outscouted by 40%, and I had elected to invade. I made a sch...

 This is a really bad army, full stop. Yes, there are things you can do to improve it, yes you can make it resilient, but what you can't do is take away its main weakness. Firstly, a Talented CinC, a Competent ally, a Talented Sub and a Competent Sub I believe. 5 6s of Average, Experienced Bows, with Fleet of Foot who are TRIBAL Loose and unprotected.  3 8s of the same but this time they're skilled. 2 9s of Average, TRIBAL Loose Protected Melee Expert only foot. 1 8 of Superior Egyptian Short Spear Melee Expert, Drilled Loose Protected. 1 8 of the same but these are Average non Melee Experts. 1 6 of Poor Unskilled Drilled Loose Unprotected Bows. 2 9s of Poor Skilled Bow Combat Shy Skirmishers and 1 9 of the same but these are Experienced. The main weakness is that 10 of the 16 UGs are Tribal. Absolutely ridiculous to try and manoeuvre, and, as a result, even with the Egyptian ally, the army struggles to get decent matchups. Fleet of Foot means, to an extent, you don't have ...

The Samurai defended in Coastal terrain with a deep water secure flank, only got outscouted by 10%, had a long line of Spearmen mixed with 3 Foot Powerbows and a further 6 of Long Spears anchored to the secure flank. My opponent pushed forward with Flexible Cavalry in Tug formation, and also Cataphracts that were nearly all 2 wide. My shooting was very successful and my opponent charging Cataphracts into Long Spears didn't quite work. He caught one unit of 4 Powerbow with Cataphracts and killed it.  Basically, the Tuyuhun player conceded after the first melee phase. My Spearmen were proving too strong against the Cataphracts and my shooting was deadly against most of his army.  The final score was 15-2 to the Samurai. Fewer pictures than usual because I was so engrossed in the game, sorry.

Before starting the battle report, I should state that most of the comments on the photos are from what I remember to have happened in the game. I believe this was played sometime in January this year or perhaps earlier. My opponent was Hammy. The armies deployed, an uncivilized mob vs disciplined troops. 15 Tugs and 6 Skirmishers in the Slave army. Three ambush markers, why not?  The armies are trundling forward against each other, and as the Slave commander, I have revealed one ambush as fake. The Romans take the hill. The Slaves prepare to attack uphill. They are clearly insane. The battle has been joined. On the Slave left, Cavalry are appearing on the flanks. Somehow the Slaves are surviving and beating the Romans on the hill. I believe I threw the commanders of the Fanatic units into combat at this stage to beat the Romans which were off the hill. 2nd mistake from my point of view, but this time it was costly. Battle is very vicious. Quite a few Roman units are on their last ...

 In this game, my opponent was Steve Stead. It was a seesaw battle definitely. The Samurai won the initial dice roll and defended in Coastal, the result of the terrain phase being that there was only a deep water secure flank on table.  Then came the Scouting, the Samurai got away with only being outscouted by 10%. At the end of deployment, on the Samurai side will be a broken up line of Long Spears intermingled with Skilled Powerbow Infantry. On the Chinese side will be 4 Chariot units on their right, 2 9s of 3 Long Spear and 6 Bow, then 16 Tribal Devastating Chargers, 1 unit behind the other and a unit of Polearms. The Samurai are split up to counter the threats of the Chinese forces and also to take advantage of my mostly Drilled training. Initial shooting was fairly ineffectual, wounding units here and there, and scoring the odd skull. My centre left group of Samurai, made up of a Superior 8 and an Average 8 of Long Spears lunged for the Chinese mixed units. In hindsight, ...