Bucellarii: Capital Region Wargames Group

Showing posts with label Capital Region Wargames Group. Show all posts

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Battle of Dertosa 215 BC - Command and Colors Ancients

Carthaginians deployed on the left, Romans on the right

View from the Carthaginian lines

View from the Roman lines

Carthaginian left flank

Numidian cavalry advance optimistically

Last Wednesday night Rick, Simon and I met down at the Vikings Club in Lanyon for a game of Command and Colors Ancients. It was one of the busiest Wednesday evening meetings I've seen. Despite such a good turn out for a Wednesday night, it looks as if the Little Wars event in November, may not be held as Ian only has four confirmed games so far, and needs a minimum of ten games to make it viable. If you're interested in running a participation game for Little Wars get in touch with Ian Haidon as soon as possible, otherwise it won't happen.

The scenario for our game was the Battle of Dertosa in Spain with Hasdrubal Barca taking on Gnaeus and Publius Scipio. Rick and Simon were the Romans and I was the Carthaginians. This was a tough scenario for the Carthaginians who had four command cards and one commander to the Romans six command cards and two commanders. Our game pretty much followed the historical result with the Romans smashing the Carthaginian centre, scoring a decisive win, with six to two victory banners.

Libyan spearmen

Gnaeus Scipio leads the legions

Publius Scipio leads the legions

Romans advance in the centre

Carthaginian elephants and Libyan spearmen see some action

Roman Triarii help smash the Carthaginian centre

Monday, July 15, 2019

Battle of Sentinum 295 BC - Command & Colors Ancients

View of the table from the Samnite/Gallic side

View from the Roman side

Gallic and Roman cavalry in action

Gauls attack on their right flank

Roman right flank

Samnites on the left flank

Last Sunday Garry, Rick and I met at the Vikings Club in Lanyon for the monthly club meeting and we played a Command and Colors Ancients game (CCA) of the Battle of Sentinum, from the Third Samnite War in 295 BC. Rick commanded the Romans, Garry commanded the Gauls (the Senones) and I commanded the Samnites. In the afternoon we also played a Hun versus Patrician Roman 100 point ADLG game, and a game of Battle Ravens, the Dan Mersey shieldwall boardgame. I'll put photos of the Hun vs Roman game in a separate post.

The Gauls had early success on the right flank and before long had established a reasonable lead over the Romans. This brought in to play the Devotio Special Rule where the Romans could sacrifice the consul Decius Mus, when two or more victory banners behind, and receive a victory banner and in subsequent turns, units in combat would hit on a leader symbol. At the end of the turn the Roman player also draws two cards and plays with six for the rest of the game.

According to Livy (10.28)

Decius shouted to his men and asked them whither they were fleeing, what hope they had in flight; he tried to stop those who were retreating and recall the scattered units. Finding himself unable, do what he would, to check the demoralisation, he invoked the name of his father, P. Decius, and cried: ‘Why do I any longer delay the destined fate of my family? [13] This is the privilege granted to our house that we should be an expiatory sacrifice to avert dangers from the State. Now will I offer the legions of the enemy together with myself as a sacrifice to Tellus and the Dii Manes.’ [14] When he had uttered these words he ordered the pontiff, M. Livius, whom he had kept by his side all through the battle, to recite the prescribed form in which he was to devote ‘himself and the legions of the enemy on behalf of the army of the Roman people, the Quirites.’ [15] He was accordingly devoted in the same words and wearing the same garb as his father, P. Decius, at the battle of Veseris in the Latin war. [16] After the usual prayers had been recited he uttered the following awful curse: ‘I carry before me terror and rout and carnage and blood and the wrath of all the gods, those above and those below. [17] I will infect the standards, the armour, the weapons of the enemy with dire and manifold death, the place of my destruction shall also witness that of the Gauls and Samnites.’ [18] After uttering this imprecation on himself and on the enemy he spurred his horse against that part of the Gaulish line where they were most densely massed and leaping into it was slain by their missiles.

http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi00110.perseus-eng3:28

While our game was not quite as dramatic as that, there was close fighting and plenty of ebb and flow in fortunes from turn to turn. In the end the Romans managed to secure a close victory by eight to seven victory banners.

Gauls have early success on the right

Samnite cavalry attack

Samnite infantry

Fighting on the Samnite left flank

Romans win a close victory

Monday, November 5, 2018

Little Wars Canberra 2018 - The Games

Greg Blake's 28mm ACW Regimental Fire and Fury game

28mm Spectre Operations game

54mm WW2 game

Lebanon 1941 Export or Perish game

North Africa WW2 What a Tanker game

Allenby 1917 WW1 Gaza The Men Who Would be Kings game

Last Sunday the Little Wars Canberra 2018 event was held at the Vikings Club in Lanyon and here are photos of most of the games. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves as usual, checking out or playing the various participation games and buying essential gaming supplies from the traders! A big thanks to Greg, Ian and Leigh who organised everything, with all proceeds going to the Soldier On charity. I'll post photos from our Command and Colors Ancients, Battle of Hydaspes game separately as I took quite a few pics.

General Quarters GQ3 WW2 Naval game

Mexican Adventure 1861-67 Black Powder with Mexican forces visible

Mexican Adventure 1861-67 Black Powder French forces advancing

28mm Immingham ECW game

WW1 Gallipoli Lone Pine game

Craig and David's Maximilian 1934 game - Watch out for the 'roos and emus!

Command and Colors Ancients Battle of Hydaspes game

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Little Wars Canberra 4 November 2018

Zama 2015

Gabiene 2016

If you live in the ACT or nearby, just a heads up that the Little Wars Canberra event is coming up soon, on Sunday 4 November 2018. This is a one day participation game event that has been run by Greg, Ian and Lee since 2015. Greg had a short article on last year's event published in Wargames Illustrated Issue 365 March 2018, so check that out, if you're interested. It will be held down stairs at the Vikings Club in Heidelberg Street, Lanyon from 10am. Entry is by gold coin donation with all proceeds going to charity. Apart from a wide range of participation games there will be vendors attending, with full food and bar facilities available upstairs at the club.

We will be running another 28mm Command and Colors Ancients (CCA) participation game, this year the Battle of Hydaspes 326 BC. Usually we run two games, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with up to three players a side for each game. So if you fancy being Porus, Alexander or another commander please come along and join in the fun. The GMT Games' Command and Colors Ancients website has the scenario for the Battle of Hydaspes and a pdf for the Third Edition Rules. GMT Games are releasing Command & Colors Medieval supposedly early next year, although the release date has been pushed back so many times, I wouldn't hold my breath on this! Interestingly the first expansion set will cover the Justinian Wars of the sixth century.

I have included photos of our previous games of Zama, Gabiene and Cannae with this post. Details of all the participation games have yet to be totally finalised but will be on the Little Wars Australia website or Facebook page, closer to the time of the actual event. Games that I'm aware of, apart from our one, include Allenby 1917 a WW1 Gaza action, with 'The Men Who Would Be Kings' rules. A 1/600 scale Queneitra 1973 from the Yom Kippur War with Fistful of TOWs rules, Salting Tommy's Soup WW2 North Africa with the Too Fat Lardies' rules 'What a Tanker', General Quarters GQ3 WW2 Naval action, Immingham 28mm (or possibly 54mm) ECW skirmish game, The Mexican Adventure 1861 to 1867 Black Powder game, Monmouth Courthouse AWI with Regimental Fire and Fury rules, The Meeting CIA agents taking on insurgents with Spectre Operations and a Mortem et Gloriam (MeG) Ancients and Medieval game.