Poseidon's Warriors First Game

 

Various Ancient Naval rules I've
collected over the years!

The two fleets deployed with the coast on the left

Individual squadrons advance cautiously

My fast trireme squadron is on the left flank,
 Craig's one is opposite on the right

Last Tuesday afternoon Craig came over to my place and we played our first ancient naval game out in the shed. The rules were the Osprey set, Poseidon's Warriors by John Lambshead. We had identical Greek fleets of two slow trireme squadrons and one fast trireme squadron, each squadron with five ships. Our ships were all Langton Miniatures 1/1200 but I also have some Navwar 1/1200 ships as well. Our fast trireme squadrons were on opposite flanks. I thought I would try some oar bank strikes with my fast triremes as they're automatically sunk without a save in a straight bow to bow ram. 

This tactic worked quite well as I had the initiative that turn and was lucky enough to succeed with three oar bank strikes and one of Craig's ships was totally immobilised. On the opposite flank Craig's entire fast trireme squadron was sunk but he managed to sink three of my ships as well. In the centre he was able to exact some revenge and there was a fair bit of carnage. We both failed our fleet morale tests in the same turn but Craig had lost more ships overall. We both enjoyed it, it was a fun quick game but would probably be better with bigger fleets of five or more squadrons and more variety in ship types. We're going to try the Society of Ancients rules Corvus by Richard Lee for our next game.

My fast triremes succeed with three oar bank strikes,
one ship is totally immobilised

Craig's fast trireme squadron is sunk

Craig's centre squadron exacts some revenge

Both fleets fail their morale tests
but Craig has lost more ships

Hebrews versus Philistines Chariots Rampant Game

 

Philistines with Midianite Allies

Philistine and Hebrew forces deployed

Hebrew Gibborim with the Ark
of the Covenant on the left

Midianites advance, Philistines fail activation

Hebrews all advance

Last Friday morning I played a solo Chariots Rampant game, out in the shed, with the Hebrews taking on the Philistines and their Midianite allies. The game was the usual Bloodbath scenario with the additional aim, for the Philistines, of capturing the Ark of the Covenant ( a sacred relic +1 to all Hebrew units within 12" with their courage tests). The Philistines were the attackers but fail to activate in their first couple of turns. Only the Midianites actually advanced and found their range against the Hebrew chariots. The Hebrews advanced and were soon shooting with their chariots and light infantry.


The Hebrew light infantry on the far right failed a courage test from shooting casualties and routed. The Hebrew leader attempted to bolster the right flank but the Philistine chariots charged the remaining light infantry. These retreated battered but the Philistine leader was killed by lucky blows. Unconcerned the Philistines and Midianites carried on. In the centre the Hebrew Gibborim with the Ark of the Covenant fought valiantly but suffered shooting casualties and eventually routed. The Ark of the Covenant was captured with an easy victory for the Philistines and Midianites.

Whenever Israel sowed seed the Midianites would march up with Amalek and the sons of the east. They would march on Israel. They would pitch camp on their territory and destroy the produce of the country as far as Gaza. They left Israel nothing to live on, not a sheep or an ox or a donkey, for they came up as thick as locusts with their camels and their tents; they and their camels were innumerable, they invaded the country to pillage it.

(Judges 6:34-35)

So the Philistines gave battle and Israel was defeated, each man fleeing to his tent. The slaughter was very great; on the Israelite side thirty thousand foot soldiers fell. The ark of God was captured too, and Hophni and Phineas the two sons of Eli died.

(1 Samuel 4:10-11) 

Quoted in Warriors of the Old Testament by Mark Healy, p.39 and 58. Brockhamton Press, London, 1998.

Midianites find bow range against the Hebrew chariots

Hebrew chariots and light infantry shoot 

Hebrew light infantry rout

Hebrew leader attempts to bolster right flank

Hebrew light infantry retreat battered

Hebrew Gibborim rout, the
Ark of the Covenant is captured!

Hebrew Spearmen and Archers

 

Here are some Hebrew spearmen and archers that I've just finished painting. Most are Newline Designs figures with four Castaway Arts figures in the front rank of the spearmen. I now have enough painted figures for a Chariots Rampant game with the Hebrews versus Philistines and Midianite allies so will try a solo game of that soon.

Lion Rampant at BelCon

 

Game One - Irish and Byzantines deployed

Irish elite infantry, warriors & skirmishers

Irish warriors & skirmishers

More Irish warriors & skirmishers

Much of the game involved
moving around the hill in the centre

Byzantine horse archers shoot

Left flank is tempting

Last Saturday I played in a Lion Rampant event with my Nikephorian Byzantines as part of BelCon II (8th and 9th July 2023) held at the Raiders’ Club in Kippax. Each player had the same 24 point warband and played three games with the scenarios of Bloodbath, the Convoy and Hold on Tight. Here are some photos of the three games. It was a fun relaxed day of gaming and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There were plenty of other great looking games and competitions at BelCon including 15mm Mortem et Gloriam, 6mm Blucher Napoleonics, 28mm Billhooks Italia and 28mm ACW with Pickett’s Charge.

Irish gather on the hill

Irish warriors charge Byzantine heavy infantry

Irish warriors retreat battered

Byzantine leader is killed in a challenge

Irish are below half strength

Game Two - Byzantine convoy
starts out against the Saracens

Seljuk light cavalry

Seljuk light cavalry

Heavy cavalry, Azerbaijani
warrior infantry and skirmishers

Byzantine convoy and Saracens close and shoot

More shooting

Byzantines attempt to force the gap

Casualties mount

The convoy stalls - Byzantine elite cavalry fail to
 activate repeatedly with wild charges

Game Three - Forces deployed

Byzantine heavy infantry
hold the objective on the hill

Roman Buildings

 

Front of the house or shop

Rear of the house or shop

Gangs of Rome fighters for scale

Here are two Roman buildings that I've just finished assembling. They're very nice pre-painted mdf kits with plastic pantile roofing by Empires of War. The first one is a Roman house or shop and the second one is a Roman farm house with some Gangs of Rome fighters for scale. They were easy to assemble, the only real issue I had was with the base of the farm house. While it fitted the building, it was missing the front floor of the verandah, as shown in the illustrated assembly instructions. I just added this part with cardboard and glued it to the roof supports and painted it. There is a new version of the Gangs of Rome rules coming out next year so will probably pick that up when it is published.

Front of the farm house 

Rear of the farm house

Gangs of Rome fighters for scale