A Hail Caesar Test Drive: Much Bonking and Hacking

This weekend in the old Rectory games room I had a few hours to put all my painted ancients figures on the table and try the Hail Caesar rules from Warlord for the first time.   I used the early German and imperial Roman army lists and had enough figures to field the following:

Roman: 1 18 regular sized and 1 8 small sized unit of Heavy Infantry Auxiliary Infantry w Spears, 1 small unit of slingers, 1 small unit of Auxiliary archers, and 1 regular sized unit of Medium Auxiliary cavalry.

German: 2 32 figure warbands, both Eager Fighters, 1 small unit of 8 javelin skirmishers, 1 small unit of 8 archers, and 1 small unit of skirmish javelin cavalry.

Most of the figures on the table are Victrix plastics, though there are a few Foundry metal figures and some fantasy castings from Thistle and Rose filling out the German ranks.

Here are the forces arrayed at the start of the battle.  I didn't put any terrain down as I simply wanted to learn the core mechanics.   I quickly realized that with infantry movement at 6", cavalry movement at 9", and maximum bow range at 18", you don't want to put the two forces too far apart.  My limited collection meant that I played with one division aside, though HC allows for three divisions per side.

Romans won the initiative, which as I understand HC means that they keep it all through the game.   The command/activiation rules mean that units might get 1, 2, or 3 moves, or none at all, depending on how far they are away from their division commander, so the side that moves second might have a better turn depending on how the activations go. 

In their first turn, all the Roman units got to move, but in subsequent moves things got a bit herky jerky for both sides, so if you don't like activation rolls, this probably isn't the game for you.  The war band on the German right held back, and the Roman cavalry were reluctant to move.   I quickly learned how missile fire worked, and between them the Roman slingers and archers made short work of the German bows.  The German skirmishers and Roman horse exchanged volleys of javelins.  It seems to me that most units in HC have some kind of missile capability, but the real game is decided in hand to hand combat.

Below, a small unit of German skirmish horse is trying to annoy the Roman left, but as they are skirmishers and the Romans are formed, there didn't seem much that they could do, and the Roman archers kept them well at bay.

Proconsul Luigi briefly visited the battlefield and watched as everyone in the centre collided.  He seemed to be planning his next triumph, with my dogs in chains behind his chariot.  I don't have a lot of experience with ancients gaming but it seems that the big scrum in the centre is how most fights are decided.

Giving the Roman archers some love.  They did well in their first fight.  My sabot bases from Warbases take eight figures, and as far as I can tell from HC, eight figures is a small unit, and sixteen would be a regular sized unit, so that's convenient.

So on to the big final scrum.   There are a lot of photos just because it amused me to see all my figures on the table, locked in combat.   One thing about Ancients, the big battles just look darn cool.

The two war bands had an initial advantage.   For their first melee they throw seven D6, hitting on 4-6, but as Eager fighters they get to re-roll misses.   The Roman auxiliary infantry elected to Close Ranks, meaning that they get a plus on on their save rolls, saving on a 4-6, but hitting on a -1.  That seemed a fair trade, and thus the Romans survived the first round with only two hits.  

However, in subsequent rounds, the tide began to shift.   In their subsequent attacks, the war bands only attack with 6 d6, whereas the Romans fight every round with 7d6.  Hits on the Germans began to accumulate faster than they could cause them.  In the third round, the Roman cavalry finally passed an activation roll and joined the battle.  Likewise, the small unit of Roman infantry joined, though how they achieved that was funny.  I rolled a 12 on 2d6 for them to join the fight, which in HC is a blunder, but the blunder table result was an uncontrolled advance into the enemy, which allowed them close the distance and contribute to the final round.

At close of play, the German war band on the left broke thanks to the intervention of the cavalry and was removed from play, while the one on the right was very close to breaking.   The larger of the auxiliary infantry had been forced to retreat in disorder, but the result was still a Roman victory.

It's always interesting to try a set of rules for the first time.  The mechanics were fairly simple to grasp and there was a clear result within six turns, but there were some dynamics that I would like to explore further, particularly how skirmish, open order, and close order units interact.   There was a moment where the Roman slingers fired annoyingly, and then in the next turn the auxiliary infantry advanced through them to seek a resolution, so I felt I was doing that part right, but there feels like more to explore.   

The two sides felt different - the German power lies in their unwieldy war bands, which felt both powerful and fragile, whereas the Romans felt more resilient. Perhaps it would have been a tougher fight if the Romans had been outnumbered.

One thing I felt I might have missed was the influence of commanders on the game.  As far as I could tell, they simply exist as a measuring point to units being given orders - if they are beyond 12" from the commander, it's harder to get them to react.  They didn't seem to have any other rule that I could see. There were rules for commanders becoming casualties, but in my first play through I couldn't see how that worked, but you always miss details the first few times.

As for the activation rules, you either like them or you hate them.   I recall the same sort of activation principle when I once tried Warlord's Black Powder, and they are not unlike Lardie rules in that respect.  

Having all these figures on the table looks grand, but in 28mm, if you use the unit sizes that HC requires, you need a LOT of figures.  Two war bands at 32 figures each exhausted my available figures, so I had to add in some fantasy barbarian figures from Thistle and Rose.  If you look closely you can see them in the back ranks of the war bands.   My friend James suggests just using smaller units, or another set or rules, such as Midgard.  Not bad ideas; Midgard certainly has some interesting roles for commanders and their influence on battles.  Another way to maximize a smaller collection such as mine would be to try playing skirmish games using a set of rules such as TFL's Infamy, Infamy, or Clash of Spears.   Those are both options to explore.  Otherwise one is looking at painting a LOT of figures, which may be what a company that makes minis and rules wants!

So, congratulations to me for trying a new set of rules and getting all my ancients figures on the table.  I'll give Hail Caesar another try down the road.  Next up, the same armies using the Midgard rules from TFL/Reisswitz.

Thanks for reading and blessings to your die rolls!  

MP+

Carnage In Middle Earth, an End of the Year Battle Report

Sylvan Angodnil sat uneasily on his spotless white charger (and it was spotless because be and his whole troop spent long hours grooming them when off duty) watching the dark hosts approach.    Aglardor, their troop captain, laughed like silvery bells in a high tower, which Sylvan found annoyingly pretentious, and said coldly “The more of them, the more glory for us, am I right, lads?”   The laughter of the troopers sounded a little forced and just slightly nervous, because there were a LOT of them.   Sylvan counted four armoured trolls on the right flank, anchoring at least six bands of orcs and goblins marching towards them, and how many more on the left, or behind the tall trees which screened their centre.

The elven host was divided into two wings, that of King Cuildil on the left, and the right wing under the command of The Lady.    A band of her nymph scouts had passed by earlier, taking up position in the woods on the right, only pausing to pet the horses of the Evenstar Hussars.   “Pretty ponies!”  they giggled, before flitting off into the foliage.  Sylvan thought them underdressed and insubstantial.   And then there was that damned giant bear, Bjork or Bjorn or something, one of the Lady’s pets, and his smell got the horses whinnying every time he ambled by, muttering loudly about how many goblins he would eat before the day was done.    Sylvan wished he’d also wander off into the woods, as if you could tell which were woods and which were the tree spirits ambling about, more of The Lady’s friends.

Now the horns were sounding on the left, as Cuidil began shifting some of his reserves to that wing.   Sylvan could hear the howls of wolves, rather a lot of them.    That also made the horses nervous.    Next, a company of light archers, their gray green cloaks flowing, trotted in front of the troop and took up positions.   Felanor, the trooper on Sylvan’s left, looked at them critically.    “Oh, that they were not in front of us, to steal our glory!”   Sylvan scowled and thought, “What a birk.   As far as I’m concerned, they can stand in front of us for the whole battle."

Soon battle was joined across the whole front.   Elven horns, the deep voices of the treefolk, the brazen trumpets of the orc hosts, and the howls of countless wolves came from the left.   A messenger from the king came and told Aglardor to be ready as the reserve.   Aglador acknowledged curtly, watching enviously as Lindor’s troop of Hussars trotted towards the right wing, while ahead of them Bjork the Bear raged forward, bellowing in his uncouth and monosyllabic tongue.  “BEAR SMASH!” , Sylvan thought he was shouting.   

Both companies of elven archers were now continuously drawing and loosing, their bowstrings emitting a continuous thrumming sound, and as the battle lines shifted, Sylvan could see black orc and goblin bodies piling up before them like windblown leaves.  “Good," he thought, "keep it up”.

With silver horns braying, Lindor’s troop of horse smashed into a goblin regiment and scattered them.  “See them ride like the furies!” Aglardor cried to his men.  “Oh, that we were with them!”  “Oh that you’d shut up” thought Sylvan.

From their reserve position, Sylvan could see that the pressure on their right wing was easing.   There were fewer orc and goblin trumpets sounding, and through a break in the trees he thought he saw goblin bodies flying into the air as the bear ripped their ranks apart.

On the left, though, things were still dire.  A regiment of armoured foot trotted left to seal a gap on the flank, struggling to hold off a surge of goblin wolf riders.   A bloodied nymph came running past them, clearly done with fighting.  “Those wolves were REALLY MEAN!” she complained to no one in particular.   More wolves were surging against the King’s bodyguard.

“See how the king staggers!”  cried a trooper, and in horror, they saw Cuildil wander aimlessly, clearly under some sort of enchantment, while the few of his guard left standing struggled to protect him.   Aglador drew his long and expensive sword.  “Trumpeter, sound the advance!  We ride to the king’s rescue”.     But, scarcely did the troop begin to move before cries of triumph began to rise through the elven ranks.   “They flee!  The day is ours!"

Sure enough, the dark hosts, now much reduced in number, were streaming to safety, while the Nazgul leading them shook his fist at his fleeing minions before turning about and himself galloping away.   Elves ran to steady the king, who, recovered, beamed in triumph and summoned a minstrel for a first draft of the victory lay.

Aglador sheathed his sword in disgust.  “Never you mind, sir”, said Sylvan consolingly, “I’m sure we’ll get to charge one of these days.”  

“Shut up, and go wash my horse.”  

So ended another big game of Dragon Rampant fought just before the end of the year in James’ Basement of Quondam Rabbits.   As is our tradition, we try to get together at least annually for a big Lord of the Rings themed game, using our preferred rules, Dragon Rampant.  Almost all the figures in these photos are from James’ exquisite collection of old school figures from Vendel (now Thistle and Rose), though I brought a mix of my own, some GW, some Foundry.   We put about 100 points aside on the table.  I don’t mind saying that I was quite pessimistic at first, as I didn’t see any clear way of stopping James’ hordes, but my archers did yeoman’s work, and James had some bad dice luck with the morale roles in response to their volleys, so the archers bought me the time I needed to counter attack and gradually break James’ army morale.  Some of my reserves, like poor Aglador’s riders, never got into battle.

It was a good lesson for me as a player in keeping my nerve, as I’d lost the first (Napoleonic) game we played that day and I was feeling a little pessimistic.  As is our custom, the winner of our big Dragon Rampant game gets to keep Smoochy, the plush dragon, so he will remain with me until our next match up.

James has already put some of these photos up on the Wargaming in Middle Earth Facebook page, here.  I hope everyone else’s gaming year is ending on a similar high note.

Cheers and blessings to your dice rolls.

MP+

Friday Fantasy: Thistle and Rose Barbarian Raider Cavalry

These four rough and smelly riders are finished and mustered into the ranks of the wild Dunlending hillmen opposing the Kingdom of Rohan for my Lord of the Rings gaming.   These are 28mm sculpts from the Vendel catalogue that was taken over a few years ago by Thistle and Rose miniatures.  I have quite a few of their hillmen foot counterparts, which I’ve collected to use as allies of my Isengard orc and Uruk army in the service of Saruman, so it’s nice to have a small mounted capability for my Dunlendings.

 These are very basic sculpts, with minimal detail, but they have their own old schoo charm, rather similar to Minifigs in style.    The horses supplied are likewise very basic, without a ton of detail.   Because they’re such simple minis, I painted them much more quickly and basically then I usually do for, say, Seven Years War figures.   I had to drill out the hands to fit the spears supplied with the minis.

 

I don’t imagine that the Dunlendings would have mustered many horsemen.   As I imagine it, they’ve been pushed into the hills  and lower mountains over the centuries by the Rohirrim, fighting a guerrilla war against Rohan’s border forts and garrisons, and retreating where the Horse Lords’ cavalry can’t reach them.  They would likely have a small number of sturdy, smaller horses suited to the rough country and useful for raiding the occasional village.  As you can see by the one shield, they have received some arms and pay from Isengard, who find the Dunlendings useful for keeping Rohan off guard.

One of the sets of rules I want to use for this sort of fighting is the Dux rules by Too Fat Lardies, and in the Dux the Raiders supplement there is some provision for small bands of raider cavalry, so these chaps will do nicely.  Those sheep a few posts back are now in a lot more danger!

 

Thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

MP+

Raid On The Elven Woodland Realm: A Dragon Rampant Report

Not feeling up to some more complicated historical rules, much as I enjoy them on occasion, I wanted to get my fantasy collection on the table and give some new figures an outing.   Thus, the Wizard La Main Blanche rallied his unspeakable hordes and marched on the Elven Woodland Realm to pillage its magical mushrooms, or some such.   Orc army of about 60 its in Dragon Rampant terms, with an Elite Spellcaster and a heavily armoured troll (Great Warbeast).

In the centre, the Lady of the Wood, also an Elite Spellcaster, places herself along with her best foot: heavy archers, heavy foot, and elite foot.  

On her right, she places one of three units of Wood Nymph scouts and the Dryad Queen (Great Warbeast Cunning).  On her left, two more units of Nymph scouts and the Lord of the Bears (also Great Warbeast Cunning).  To reflect the home field advantage, I made the woods impassable to any Evil units except those with the Ranger ability.

With only one leader one per side, I played the Initiative rules fairly strictly, so a lot of false starts, but in one good turn the entire army of the Wizard lurched forward.  On the Wizard’s left the Troll got off to a fast start and might have closed with and bashed the Elven Heavy Archers but for a missed initiative roll.   That gave the archers time to pepper him at close range and the Bear Lord closed to deliver some serious Bear Bashes/

Having smashed the Troll, the Bear Lord then decided that he wanted to pick his teeth with some orc swords.  With some favourable initiative rolls, he basically ran the table in the centre, smashing the orc foot unit by unit as they slowly made its way forward.

Elven nymph scouts on the flanks made life miserable for the advancing orc foot with their missile fire.

The Wizard’s wolf riders (Heavy Riders Missile) attempt to put pressure on the elf centre,  but the Dryad Queen has other ideas once the riders get within range of her Wild Charge.

As the Wizard’s right flank crumbles, the Nymphs begin to lap around the flank, and with the Wizard’s army now below 50% and the Elven Host barely scratched, I decided to call it a game.

The star of the game.  This lovely resin model from Thistle and Rose miniatures really fits into the overall theme of my Elven army and did extremely well on its first outing. He will definitely get a pot of honey after the battle.

 

 

While I could have tried to remember the Oathmark rules, Dragon and Rampant was a perfect way to while away a snowy afternoon.  These remain my go-to rules for cheerful fantasy gaming.   

With the Wizard and his surviving host still at large, I am sure that the Elven Realm still faces greater threats.

Blessings to your die rolls!

MP+

 

It's Fat Bear Night!

ghhhrgergerge

 

I’m always on the lockout for whimsical figures for my pulp gaming project set in the Canadian Rockies, including animals.   Hikers in the Rockies know all about bears, and what could be more dangerously Canadian than a bear?    I found this fellow on the Northstar Minis website, a Frostrgrave model, I think, and he looked the part.   Why he is up and angry in the middle of winter?   I’d be cross too if someone woke me from hibernation!

 

Once I noticed it in this photos, I wasn’t happy with the yellow blobs of glue left around the winter tufts by my white carpenter’s glue, so I went back with some white pain and cleaned them up.  Sometimes it takes a camera to see things.

If you think the winter bear is a chonk, meet his resin friend from Thistle and Rose miniatures, their B01 Were Bear model.  He is HUGE by comparison.  He has a forst/grass base because he will be a possible option for my Elven Woodland Forest army for Dragon Rampant, a single base model.

 

Serious chonk!  I like a bear with a big butt and I cannot lie.   That paw could take out an orc shield wall in one fell sweep, and then open up a pot of hunnee.

 Finally, if you like big bears, I encourage you to check out Fat Bear Week, a bracket contest featuring actual brown bears in an American wilderness park in Alaska. 

Meanwhile, in Mordor

Hello friends!

My new (since June) post-retirement church job has kept me happily busy, along with finding safe day-trips to do with Joy during a stay-at-home summer.   I was able to use part of the last few months to finish this lot of orcs for my Lord of the Rings collection.  What a horrible lot!

This batch includes a GW orc captain from the lad pile, as well as eight Thistle and Rose (formerly Vendel) orcs, painted in Mordor livery.  I love that they are well wearing the same baggy trousers and puttees, it gives them a bit of a regular army look, the 3/92nd North Mordor Foot, maybe.  If you want to see Thisle and Rose figures well painted, visit Rabbit Man’s blog.

“Roiht, you ‘orrible lot, what do you do when you sees an Elf Lord?  You stick him, see!  No, don’t bleeding tickle him, STICK HIM!"

This ‘orrible lot also includes a box of Oathmark goblins that I purchased May 2019.   I built some as archers:

Spear chaps without shields.  Sorry the photos are rather dark.

Shields and hand weapons.  Tried for a general red and black theme to the shields, with some Mordor Eye livery, some more tribal.

Shields and shabby sticks.

Regimental photo before marching off to Gondor.

In general I found the Oathmark plastic figures to be easy to assemble, with a pleasing variety of weapons and gear.  While the Oathmark universe, from what I’ve seen of the rule books, is standalone fantasy, the figures fit well with my existing LOTR collection and have a Tolkienesque feel to them.  I haven’t done the math to see if they are cheaper than GW plastics, but they add a variety of poses to the Perry orc sculpts, so I may order a few more boxes over time, though the old Vendel figures, happily back in production through Thistle and Rose, are appealing..  I currently have a box of Oathmark wolf riders half-assembled to tackle next.

Blessings to your brushes!  

MP+