Saga in the age of Hannibal - Claiming Territory

After the successful Roman raid both sides set about establishing the front-line between their forces. In this scenario you have to try and hold several strategic points in greater strength than the enemy to claim conquest points.

The Gauls were joined this week by Getafix (Nigel) boosting their forces to 12 points with his Gaesatae. Cacofanix and  Panoramix held back  defence while  Getafix looked to attack. 

Getafix and the Gaesatae

Cacofanix

Panoramix

The Romans were also expanded with Phonious Balonis holding the centre / left while Spurious attacked with his Spanish against Cacofanix. It was also the first outing the Cretan Archers.  

The Celts attacked straight up the middle with the Gaesatae supported by some noble cavalry, heading straight into the Roman centre. Some deadly shooting and the intervention of the Triarii was successful in blunting the attack and pushing them back with heavy losses. 

 res ad triarios venit, 'it comes down to the triarii',

The Spanish were unable to exploit this success though with their medium cavalry again proving unable to really damage the Celts. Phonious did launch a probe of his own but was pushed back by Panoramix who was able to wipe-out a cohort of hastati in a fierce charge. 

A draw looked certain when the sole surviving Gallic noble cavalryman was able sneak across the board (moving last) and steal a point to make it measly 73-72 conquest points to the Gauls.     

Saga in the age of Hannibal - village pillage

While we build or forces for Napoleonic's we're playing the Punic version of Saga. The campaign will be a linked series of scenarios somewhat styled along Asterix lines. We're using suitably silly names for to keep in the spirit of things.

Rome: Phonius Bolonius (me) & Spuriosa Pansa (Mike - Spanish allies)

Gaul: Panoramix (John), Cacofanix (Roy), Getafix (Nigel) 

Game 1 - Village Pillage

The Romans have pitched camp a small distance from a Gallic farmstead. The aim of this scenario is to destroy as much of the enemy as possible, with bonus points for raiding the enemies buildings.

The Gauls deployed with both warband's noble cavalry centrally. Panoramix set-up to attack the Roman camp while Cacofanix was defending the farm. The Romans mirrored this with Spuriosa attacking the farm through some rough terrain and Phonius defending the camp.   

The Romans pushed forward a little to clear some Gallic skirmishers on their left  whole the Spanish infantry advanced through the scrub towards the farm. The Gauls made their move in the centre pushing up some archers covered by the horse. The Gallic shooting proved highly effective as emptied several Spanish  saddles and damaged a few of the troops hiding in the scrub.

  

The Gauls unleashed a fierce attack against the Romans who withstood the initial attack and then began to grind-down the tiring Celts, slowly pushing them back. The Spanish assaulted from the cover and although they took heavy casualties they were able to just gain the upper hand and capture the farm.

The result was pretty close though: 24-21 for Rome. The big difference was the Celts losing two complete units of  noble cavalry to the Triarii.  

    

The Mahdi and supporters in 28mm

A long running project of mine has been painting some 28mm Sudan units for an eventual future game. I've completed another unit of Mahdist and the great man himself - looking rather like Laurence Olivier

 

The Mahdi

I also have Osman Digna - one of the Madi's most notable commanders 

Osman Digna

And finally some Beja cavalry mounted on camels. One more unit of Beja foot and I can begin on the British. 

  

Beja cavalry

Shadow of the Eagles - 20mm

 Yesterday I popped around to Roy's and we broke out the 20mm figures for a game. Despite being mentioned in the rules for his various inputs during development this was only his second game. We pitted the Austrians (me) vs the Bavarians in a very straight-forward head-to-head.

The Bavarians went straight on the offensive, attacking all across the line. This suited the Austrians who were  happy to set back and let their guns do some of the early work. 

As the German infantry toiled-up in the centre they came came under stiff fire and so shook out of column into  line so they could lessen the casualties. This worked pretty well but most units were worn, or close to it, by the time they approached the  Austrian lines. 

On the flanks the Bavarians fared much better. On their right they charged and caught the waiting Austrians slightly on the hop, breaking them after about three turns. On their left a stalemate occurred as neither side wanted to crest the rise between them and risk giving the other a free charge. In the end Bavarians had to make the move as they needed to support their advancing infantry. They need not have worried though  as they too made quick work of their Austrian opponent's, but too late to change the game.  

Centrally the Bavarian infantry were almost all routed by Austrian counter attacks or heavy fire. The Bavarians managed to get onto the Austrian left flank but a Grenadier battalion in square hung on long enough to stop them really exploiting that. The Bavarians high point was a bold charge against the Austrian guns but sadly they stopped short due to some smart cannister fire.    

 

So an Austrian win in about 2.5 hours play. Hopefully Roy will also post some thoughts.