Samnite versus Camillan Roman Basic Impetus Game

I've just finished painting another unit for my Samnites (see photos above) and thought I would try a solo Basic Impetus game with them against my Camillan Romans out in the shed. I bought these A&A and Gripping Beast figures second hand and although they were painted it still took a fair bit of work to get them to a reasonable standard. Most have LBM shield transfers, except for some of the back ranks, which include some rather dodgy hand painted, swastika type shield designs! I think the Italian officer figure was a freebie from an old Ancient Warfare magazine subscription offer.

In the game I gave both sides an extra medium cavalry unit (CM) each and I had to draft in a unit of Velites for the Romans as I didn't have enough painted Leves as skirmishers. The Romans were the attackers and didn't have too much trouble at all against the Samnites. The Samnites caught the Roman Leves who failed to evade early in the game and later also managed to rout one Roman cavalry unit, including the Roman commander. Apart from that it was pretty much a Roman one way street!

View of the table with armies deployed

Samnite right flank near the wood

Samnite left flank - between a rock and a hard place!

Opposite end of the table

Both armies advance

The Linen Legion are the Samnite reserves in the centre

Samnite cavalry skirt the woods

The armies get closer

Samnites charge the Leves who fail to evade

Roman Hastati and Principes charge

Samnites are driven back

Roman Cavalry rout Samnite Cavalry

Samnite army is about to rout

The Alexander Sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Here are some photos of the famous Alexander Sarcophagus at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The sarcophagus was discovered at a necropolis near Sidon in Lebanon in 1887 and was made for Abdalonymus, the king of Sidon, who died in 311 BC. One long side depicts Alexander fighting the Persians at the Battle of Issus. The opposite side depicts Alexander and Macedonians hunting lions, together with Abdalonymus and Persians. The coloured reconstructions show how the sarcophagus was originally painted.

The two photos at the bottom of the post show Ptolemaic troop types, see Nick Sekunda's Montvert book, The Ptolemaic Army for more detail. I have heaps of photos of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum and will post these at some stage. There are actually three separate museums, the Archaeological Museum (in the main building), the Museum of the Ancient Orient and the Museum of Islamic Art.

Coloured reconstruction

Coloured reconstruction of Alexander

Sidon Stele (3) - The Stele of Salmas

Sidon Stele (7) - The Stele of Dioskourides of Balboura

Hatti versus Wilusa Chariots Rampant Game

Trojans on the left, Hittites on the right

Hittite three crew chariots

Trojan chariots on the right flank

Hittite force advances

Trojan spearmen in the centre

As I mentioned in my last post we played a Chariots Rampant game in the afternoon last Sunday at the club. This was a twenty four point game with Craig commanding a Trojan force against Garry who had the Hittites. The Hittites made good use of their superior fire power to weaken and then wear the Trojans down. The dice gods deserted the Trojans and the game was over fairly quickly.

Trojan chariots charge on the right flank

Trojan chariots retreat battered

Hittite and Syrian light chariots with Hittite archers

Trojans about to rout

Trojan chariots on the left flank

One of the games played at the club last Sunday was Greg Blake's extremely impressive 35mm Wars of Spanish Succession game. Greg sculpted all the figures in the armies and said he has been sculpting, casting and collecting these armies since 1983! He has designed his own set of rules for the period as well and you can see more photos of these fantastic figures on his blog:

http://landofthelead.blogspot.com

Wars of Spanish Succession 35mm game with troops deployed

Opposite side of the table

Marian Roman versus Pontic Basic Impetus Game

Marian Romans on the left, Pontics on the right

Romans advance

Pontic Noble cavalry

Pontic Chalkaspides (Bronze Shields) and Galatians

Infantry close in the centre

Roman legionaries get stuck in to the Pontic infantry

Spanish cavalry

Last Sunday Garry, Gary, Craig and I met down at the Vikings Club in Lanyon for the Capital Region Wargames Group's monthly meeting. We played two games, the first of these was a Marian Roman versus Pontic Basic Impetus game with two armies and commanders on each side. Garry and Gary commanded the Pontics, while Craig and I commanded the Romans.


For once Craig had some good luck with his dice, while Gary seemed to only throw sixes when doing cohesion tests! Soon the Pontic forces on the Roman left flank were in strife. On the Roman right flank the fighting was very close until the final turn when the Pontics managed to rout the Romans. Overall it was a Roman victory as the Pontics really got hammered on the Roman left flank. In the afternoon we played a Chariots Rampant game but I will save that for a separate post.

Spanish Caetrati

Roman left flank eventually rout the Pontics

Roman right flank

Spanish cavalry retreat

The fighting on the Roman right flank is very close

Spanish Scutarii

Roman right flank routs on the final turn

Pontic Chalkaspides (Bronze Shields) hold their ground