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| View of the table from the Roman left flank |
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| View of the table from the Ostrogoth left flank |
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| Aetius' Roman infantry advances |
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| Attila's Frank foot advance |
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| Ostrogoth and Visigoth cavalry manoeuvre |
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| Visigoths charge |
Last Saturday afternoon Craig came around and we played a Mortem et Gloriam (MeG) game, with a refight of the Battle of Catalaunian Plains. Craig commanded the Roman, Alan and Visigoth army under Aetius and I was Attila with the Huns, Gepids and Ostrogoths. The scenario for this was played as a Pacto game by Simon Hall for the MeG launch recently and is available on the MeG site. For our game I doubled the unit sizes for a Magna game of about 8000 points a side but was short a few figures for some units and had to draft in some other Dark Age troops to make up the numbers.
I followed Simon MacDowall's Osprey book Catalaunian Fields AD 451 for the battle field and deployment and the camps of both armies were off the table. One thing I noticed with the scenario was that the Ostrogoth left flank was a bit light on infantry with only a single unit of combat shy foot archers! In the end it was a straightforward victory for Aetius with Attila's right and left flank pretty much destroyed and only the centre remaining.
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| Attila and Sangiban in the centre |
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| Gepids, Franks and Huns on Attila's right flank |
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| Attila's centre is a bit ragged |
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| Centre under Attila and right flank under Ardaric have yet to close |
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| Visigoths and Ostrogoths slog it out |
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| Gepid cavalry rout |
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| Ostrogoths rout on the left flank while the centre is still undecided |
Excellent, I’ve done some reading on this battle recently for SAGA’s Aetius & Arthur Rules. Fun battle to read about. Table setting and troops in your pics look great.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Kevin
Thanks Kevin, the Late Romans are interesting in Saga. Simon MacDowall's Opsrey & Pen Sword books are definitely worth getting.
DeleteOutstanding presentation, Mike! Do you prefer MeG to either Impetvs or TtS?
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan, I do prefer MeG but have only played five games so I'm still learning the rules.
DeleteA fine looking game. It's interesting when a battle is decided by the flanks, when the 'real' battle is still going on isn't it. One feels a bit 'cheated', I reckon!
ReplyDeleteThanks James, cheated or stranded, it often seems to have happened in battles.
DeleteFantastic! Looking so epic!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal, it was hard fitting in all the figures on a 6 by 4 foot mat.
DeleteVery iconic Dark Age gaming, Mike! Attila was a bad a×@!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean, he was indeed, it was all downhill for the Huns once he died.
DeleteAn interesting period and a fantastic looking game, beautiful armies!
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil, it's an interesting battle to do with all the allies.
DeleteGreat looking game and I would also be interested in your assessment of Meg ?!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain, I really like it but have only played five games so far. I think it is a clever set of rules with some great features, the coloured card and dice system works well. Give it a go and see what you think, if you know anyone who plays.
DeleteThat looks damn good!
ReplyDeleteThanks fmb.
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