Ancient Greek Geek - Ancient Wargames

 Work In Progress.  Mauryan Indian armoured elephants Copyright Please note:  All images and text are copyright Andrew Moran and must not be reproduced in any form without the author's express permission. Thank you.

Last Saturday saw the 'Old Berks' reconvene for a WAB 1.5 game.  This time another Greek vs Macedonian battle; very loosely based on Chaeronea. From the battle-map below, you can see that the Greeks had proportionally more cavalry and skirmishers than they may have had in the real battle. Phil and Steve paired up as the Macedonians and John and I as the Greeks.  We are still getting familiar with the rules so, this time, introduced a modest amount of scenery to see how that played out. I'd decided that I'd been too cautious in recent games, so the Greeks - perhaps uncharacteristically - engaged the Macedonians on both flanks.  A rather stupid decision on my part saw us concede the initiative at the start, but, fortunately, this was compensated for by the oracle rolls: 3 for the Macedonians and 8 for the Greeks. This helped us considerably in the forthcoming battle. Unlike the original battle, the Theban Sacred Band survived.  However, in our version, they didn't eve...

  Just have a look at these beautiful 28mm Classical Indian figures from Blitzkrieg Miniatures .  Paul Corcoran from Blitzkrieg brought these samples along to the Sutton-in-Ashfield WAB 2.0 event (see previous post).   They are magnificent sculpts and exceptionally well-painted samples. Paul allowed me to drool over them for far too long! And now I can't wait for them to be released.  I understand that they will be launched soon - when the cavalry are ready.  He says that they prefer to launch when an entire range is ready, rather than in dribs-and-drabs I see that that the  Ancient Indians  page is already to go on their website (plus Palmyran and Egyptians).  They already have Seleucids (look great - see the Seleucids in my previous post), Romans, Cretans, Thracians and Barbarians. Hmm! I wonder if it's possible to have an entire army of macemen.

Well, it's been since I posted on here.  A new job has been taking up my time - that's my excuse! Photo courtesy of John Kersey Two Saturdays ago, I went to spectate at a WAB 2.0 event held at Sanctuary Gaming in Sutton-in-Ashfield.  And I'm glad I went!  It's a great venue; plenty of space between the many tables and coffee and cakes on sale (always a good incentive for me!). Two Carthaginian armies collide Also, fellow "Old Berks" player, John Kersey, was there with his newly-painted Palmyran army (so fresh that you could smell the paint!), complete with Queen Zenobia.  It was good to meet some more WAB players and to watch some interesting games unfolding.  Thanks for the welcome!  I'm even tempted to play some 2nd Edition now, although I do still want to use 1.5 too.  I love the supplements! Nicely-painted Thracians. Seleucid vs. Palmyran. I quote directly from John:  'When you write the history of the brave Palmyrene struggle against the Sel...

Time to start on a new army.  After a lot of debate (with myself!), I settled on an Ancient Indian one.  My thinking is that if I paint up 3 or 4 core infantry units, then I can look to add units so that I can field a Mauryan Indian (see the list in the WAB Alexander the Great supplement), Indo-Skythian/Parthian, or Kushan (assuming I can find decent army lists).  I have to confess, my personal preference is chariots (the heavier the better!) over elephants.  However, both will be on my Christmas list. I spent several weeks looking at different manufacturers' Indians.  Some figures were tucked away in other ranges.  I sent for  a few samples and was disappointed with the size of some 28/25mms (i.e. too small).  I've now settled on the Newline figures.  Although not so dynamic in their poses and a little 'thinner' than my Essex and Foundry Greeks (in case I ever want to go full Bactrian!), they are not bad height-wise and I really like the scu...

The inaugural meeting of the 'Old Berks' (Phil lives near Berkswell, so the name just suggested itself!) took place at Partizan three weeks before.  We all met last weekend to have our first game.   So, the historical context for the battle (and don't tell me this never happened): after India, the Macedonians with Greek mercenaries pushed on into China, and there they met - amongst other things - Straw Dogs and Flaming Bulls! John brought hordes (?) of excellent Chinese Warring States troops, which he and Steve commanded.   John, incidentally, is the author of the excellent WAB supplement, The Art of War (above).  Knowing very little about ancient Chinese armies, I have found this an instructive and entertaining read.  My opponent had no excuse for not knowing his troops.   But, John, you still haven't signed my copy! No detailed battle map this time folks.  It was 3000 points aside (1500 per commander), so you'll see from the accompanying photos that...