PUN3 Rome vs Gaul

Game 3 in our Epic Punic Saga! General Scipio's victory celebrations, after beating the Carthaginians are cut short. News has arrived that the Gauls have built a fleet & crossed the Med in order to give the Romans a sound thrashing!!

Jack took the Gallic Horde & was the attacker. I took the Polybian Romans. The table had a tricky river running down one flank & some hills on the other. DA Roman Plan, hold the bottleneck between the river & hills. Sneakily I placed some units on the other side of the River. Lo & behold, Jack placed his Cavalry on that side of the board..... How would it go?

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The Battlefield & plan of attack.

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The Heroic Roman Cavalry go scout for Gauls!

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Jack takes the bait & off go the Gallic Cavalry

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Oh I do like the look of this Roman Battle line!

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WAAAAAAARRRGGH! Crazy Gallic Nutters getting a sun tan in the desert!

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It would be a two pronged Gallic attack.

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Back go the Roman Cavalry, on come the Gallic Horse boys.
In a last ditch bid, Chieftain Virdumarus tries to help out, but succeeds in being stranded.

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Down goes one Gallic Cavalry, the other is repulsed.

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The Romans attack & the other is swept away!

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The wild hairy Gauls get closer!

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In they go minus their Chieftain!

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Virdumarus is left helpless & can only watch....

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Off go the Roman Cavalry.... To pillage the Gallic Pig & Goat camp.

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Roman meat grinder tactics hack down a Gallic Warband & the rest recoil.

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CHARGE!! Scipio orders the line forward & is rewarded with victory.

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Nice view of the final battlefield.

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Scipio's position. HAIL SCIPIO!!!!!!

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Nice one, victory for the Roman meat grinder. Though splitting up the Gauls made it very easy, plus having your General float around didn't help!
UP next, Syracuse versus the Carthaginians...

DBH Japanese

Imperial Japanese Army for the Russo/Japanese War 1904-05 . I couldn't resist keeping some of the Blue uniforms, in reality the Army switched over to Khaki during 1905. As usual, we used Osprey as a main resource, you can't go far wrong with that.




http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/The-Russo-Japanese-War-1904–05_9781841767086

This army is smaller than the Russian one, so I reckon this force we'll use in a defensive action. We'll add more units as we go, again I don't know most of the manufacturers of the figures we have. Though the Cavalry & Artillery is Irregular. Now to get a game planned!

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Prepared for the Russian onslaught.

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Japanese Cavalry

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Japanese General & Staff. Divisional Command

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Captured Russian Maxim Machine Gun

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Japanese Artillery

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Field Guns

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Meiji 38/15cm. Japanese 15cm heavy field gun

DBH Russians

I've been reading into other periods, after the Sudan & Victorian British adventures (Zulu War is on hold at the moment.... need a lot more Zulus than we have!) then the Boxer Rebellion. Next up is the Russo/Japanese War. I reckon the DBA 1500-1900 is at it's limits, so we've been looking around at other DBA'ish' rules. We'll be using the De Bellis Horribilis rules by David Manley & the Trowbridge Irregulars. They are for the First World War BUT I reckon we can 'try them out' on the Russo/Japanese War, plus we can morph the armies across into WW1...

http://www.btinternet.com/~david.manley/wargames/Odds/dbh.htm

"The basic manoeuvre unit is the Battalion.
Each battalion consists of 3-4 infantry stands (companies) or 6 cavalry stands (squadrons) plus an HQ stand (one of the individual officer figures) attached to one of the stands (alternatively one stand may be designated as a command stand).

LMG, HMG, etc., are added as supports.
Artillery batteries may be grouped into 'battalions' of up to 3 batteries with OP stands.
Tanks and armoured cars may be grouped into 'battalions' of up to 6 vehicles.

Players take on the role of Divisional commanders with up to 6 battalion sized groups, typically 3 infantry, one cavalry, one battery and one additional, which may be aircraft, tanks, support stands, etc.

Division HQ is denoted by a large command stand and appropriate transport. I have deliberately left this section vague as players are free to develop their own organisations dependent on the armies they wish to field." - taken from De Bellis Horribilis Rules

Here's our joint Russo/Japanese - World War One Russian Army. This is the basic Army that we have at the moment, we'll add extras as we go. Some of the Russian troops you'll recognise from our Boxer Rebellion games. I don't know what manufacturer the bulk of the troops are, but we've added some Irregular Minis Guns & Cavalry.

We'll run a few games around the Russo/Japanese War then move onto the First World War.
UP to now we've got some British, Germans & Turks.

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Russians ready to repel the Japanese.

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Russian Field Guns

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Big Russian Howitzer 150mm (Irregular)

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Russian Cossacks (Irregular)

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Russian Infantry Battalions ______________________

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Russian General & Staff, Divisional Command

PUN2 Rome vs Carthage

Round 2 of our Punic Campaign, Jack took the Carthaginians & I the Polybian Romans. The Polybians would be the attackers so Jack set up the table. A nice open table, with a couple of hills & a rough piece of terrain. He went with a centre of Elephants flanked by Warband & Spears on the other. To face this I went with an 'odd' cutting edge of Psiloi, I just couldn't help taunting Jack with the possibility of being 'Quick Killed' by them.....

Plus we've also created some DBA markers, which will be used from now on. They'll help with the photo taking.

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The initial battlefield, Scipio versus Hannibal!!!

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The Polybians advance


Hannibal urges on the Carthaginians

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Slight advantage to Jack on the right

Trumpets, bugles, fanfare....

The lines clash

In go the Special Psiloi Elephant hunters....

General Scipio piles in, he has the 'Scrapper' ability (+1 to combat)

The Roman Cavalry are in for a hard time.

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Back go the Carthaginian Spear

Ha!! Back go the Gallic Warband, Jack was counting on these to break through.

One of them is cut down by the Romans.

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MMMM... The Psiloi plan is pants... They promptly leg it back!

Recoils all round...

Scipio takes out another Carthaginian,

in go the Roman Blades to fight the Jumbo's.

Jack fights back!

Hannibal plugs the gap, but it going to be a clash of Generals.

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At last, a kill for the Carthaginians.

Even the Carthaginian Psiloi get stuck in...

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The Warband get ready to take the flank.

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Mega Clash, who would be the master?

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Recoil... Recoil...

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HOWEVER.... Scipio cuts down Hannibal.... Victory to ROME!!

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Nice one, after a long break way, it was good to play a nice simple game. I like the Polybian Romans, they are tough foe to beat, all those Blades. Anyway that puts the Romans & Gauls in line for a mighty clash. Now, the Carthaginians limp back to their capital with the body of Hannibal. A new General will have to be elected for the rest of the campaign....