Dacians vs Sarmatians MeG Pacto Game

 

Forces deployed

Opposite end

Forces advance

Dacian Allied Sarmatian lancers
threaten Sarmatian horse archers

Dacians and Sarmatians close

Last Wednesday afternoon Garry and Robert came over and we played a Dacians versus Sarmatians MeG Pacto game out in the shed. We diced for sides, Robert and I commanded the Sarmatians and Garry commanded the Dacians. The forces advanced and the Sarmatian lancers charged the Dacian infantry. The combat didn't quite go according to plan for the Sarmatians and those on the left flank fell back for another charge. On the Dacian left flank the Allied Sarmatian lancers charged and this combat proved decisive. The Sarmatians broke with the Dacians winning 15-10 victory points.

Sarmatian lancers charge the Dacian infantry

Sarmatian lancers fall back for another charge

Dacian Allied Sarmatian lancers charge

Sarmatians break, Dacians win 15-10 victory points

Ashurbanipal - King of the World, King of Assyria.

 

Here is a Neo-Assyrian King, on campaign in his chariot, that I've finally finished painting. He is supposed to be Ashurbanipal, the last great Neo-Assyrian king who ruled from 669 to c. 631 BC. Figures and chariots are by Wargames Foundry. A great book to get if you're interested is I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria edited by Gareth Brereton a publication which accompanied the 2018 and 2019 exhibition at the British Museum.

 

First Game of Arrowstorm

 

Norse and Anglo-Danes deployed

Opposite side

Anglo-Danes

Norse

On Friday afternoon I played a solo, first game of Arrowstorm out in the shed. It was a small game of sixty points a side with the Anglo-Danes taking on the Norse. These Medieval rules by Dan Mersey are similar to his Age of Penda, Dark Age rules, starting out as Scottorum Malleus, a copy of which is included in an Appendix. They are available as a pdf on the Wargames Vault website:
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/454240/Arrowstorm-Battle-Games-in-Medieval-Britain

The army lists for both forces are the same so I gave the Norse four units of Warriors, instead of four units of Spears. Each unit has a Battle Rating which varies between 2 and 5 depending on the quality of the troops. This rating is the number of dice they roll in combat and the number of hits they can take. Special Tactics for the Anglo-Danes and Norse include Extra Attack, Onslaught, Reinforce and Shieldwall. I made an offset grid of dots in five 20cm squares to give a playing area of one metre by one metre. My 28mm forces were in eight figure units (except for skirmishers) with an 80mm frontage but the rules are very flexible with basing, figure and unit sizes.

Each side, starting with the player with the initiative, chooses four tactic tokens in a turn out of a possible twelve, and uses these to activate each unit in an area or grid. Combat is fairly brutal with hits on a 4+, although it is possible to rally casualties, if you have chosen that as a tactic. In my game it was all over fairly quickly with Anglo-Danes launching an Onslaught on their left flank only to be slaughtered there and in the centre. The Norse Huscarls survived and the Anglo-Danes were automatically routed as they had less than three units remaining.

As with any new set of rules there is plenty to ponder and get used to. Quite a bit is abstracted from the nitty gritty of medieval warfare but the focus is on a fun, fast game and the use of historical tactics to defeat your opponent. Other army lists include Anglo-Norman, Feudal English, HYW English, Feudal French, HYW French, Irish, Islemen, Early and Later Welsh.

Tokens on the Tactics Chart

Anglo-Danes launch an Onslaught

Norse Huscarls survive in the centre

Anglo-Danes rout

Neo-Babylonian Infantry

 

Here are some Neo-Babylonian infantry from the archives, mixed spearmen and archers, they're Newline Designs figures. I'm currently reading Mark Healy's The Ancient Assyrians, Empire and Army, 883-612 BC. This is a hardback updated and expanded version (320 pages) of his 1991 Osprey book The Ancient Assyrians. It still has the colour illustrations by Angus McBride, as well as additional illustrations and full page photographs from the British Museum. Definitely worth getting if you are interested in the Neo-Assyrians. Also highly recommended are Eckart Frahm's Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire and Roland Sennewald's The Art of War in Ancient Assyria: The Sargonid Dynasty at War from Sargon II to Ashurbanipal (722-627 BC). Sennewald has an accompanying volume The Enemies of the Assyrian Sargonid Empire to be published this year. Tamas Dezso's three volume The Assyrian Army seems to be out of print now but might be available from second hand booksellers.

Carthaginian Sacred Band

 

Here are the Carthaginian Sacred Band for my Early Carthaginian army, that I've finally finished painting. The figures are a mix of Crusader, A&A, Gripping Beast and Foundry with shield transfers by LBM/Victrix, Veni,Vidi, Vici, Foundry and some are hand painted. They have a mix of armour too with iron and bronze corslets with linen pteruges, linothorax and bronze scale.