Around the world in several games

On top if the current Sudan campaign I've played a few other games over the last couple of weeks. 

Medieval Japan

The first is some samurai skirmish using Test of Honour. The game scale is fairly small with either individual figures of blocks of 3. Activation is done using drawn from a bag with leaders have more possible actions available than ordinary troops.       

A peaceful looking village

The rules are fast and furious with options to act honourably /dishonourably, special events and a wide variety of troops / weapons.   

Persian Civil War - The Society of Ancient battle day

 I also made my first visit to the SOA battle day just off the M4. The idea is to play the same battle but using different sets of rules. Some games have spare places and there is a chance to wander about and speak to the other players about their games. 

 

The game I played - Armati II

This years game was Cunaxa - a Persian civil war scenario from 401 BC. In the real game the outnumbered rebel forces under Cyrus the younger attacked the larger Royal army under Artaxerxes. The battle is possibly best know for the presence of 10,000 Greeks under Clearchus, who ended up on the wrong side and had to march back to Greece through occupied territory.    

An interesting feature of the day was the number of games using grid or hex based systems. I would say about half the games featuring this mechanic.

Pillage - Ransacking the dark ages.

The final game in the round-up is another game of Pillage. In this game I was attacking and had to attack a fortified tower surrounded by a high wall. The aim was to get a flag to the top of the tower within 10 turns.  

The distraction unit - guys in red shirts

Ladders up - my Helmsdeep moment

I weas able to win the game in turn 9 by attacking the outside wall of the tower while some sacrificial troops kept the defenders best troops busy.   

 

I reach the top of the tower