FOG 800pts Early Bulgar vs Abbasid Arab

FOG game with Stephen

My Early Bulgars vs Abbasids

Game essentially hinged on my charging 4 BGs of Lancers into 3 units of Defensive Spear MF and losing awfully. Lancers not potent at all vs such foot as they lose Lance vs steady Spear who also get +POA for being steady. So Lancers who need to win Impact are at disadvantage only becoming equal in Melee.

Much different interaction than in DBMM wherein KnF can 'take on' SpO/I more readily. FOG much like 7th Ed

Still fun game with lots of action. Again the rules proved their strength of writing as all queries easily answered in rulebook (once you find relevant rule).

Still think Dbmm has more depth but at cost of more complication....................

FOG 800pts Sassanid Persian vs Dominate Roman

FOG game today vs Stephen

Using my Sassanid vs his Late Romans.

Sassanid

1 FC

2 TC

2 BG of 6 Armd/Supr HC Bow/Swd

2 BG of 4 Armd/Supr HC Bow/Swd

1 BG of 4 LH Unprot/Avg Bow

1 BG of 4 Cat HArmd Lance/Swd

1 BG of 6 LF Unprot/Abg Bow

1 BG of 6 MF Unprot/Avg Bow

1 BG of 6 MF Prot/Avg Lr Spr

1 BG of 8 MF Mob/Poor LtSpr

2 BG of 2 Elephants

Romans (estimated)

1 FC

2TC

4 BG of 4 Legionaries with 2 LF Bow

2 BG of 4 MF Auxulia with 2 LF Bow

1 BG of 4 Cataphracts

1 BG of 6 MF Archers

2 BG of 4 LH Jav

2 BG of 4 Cav Lt Spr

1 BG of 4 Slingers

1 BG of 6 LF Javelin

Persian gained initiative and used Developed terrain with a River on left flank. My compulsory village ended up on Roman left edge and all other terrain ended up in my half with a small GH near river and my left bunged with large Enclose Field, a Vineyard and a Plantation.

Romans deployed with Legions massed in centre flanked by Aux on left with Archers and slingers and Cataphracts to their right with a BG of LH providing support to rear. Roman right comprised 2 BG of Cav with a BG of LH and BG of LF archers.

Sassanid placed an ambush of LF archers in the enclosed field with Hillmen in plantation also in ambush.

The MF archers deployed in the enclosed field with Levy. The Clibanarii deployed centrally with Cataphracts and on Persian. To their left the 2 BG of elephants were arrayed with a BG of LH on the GH with BG of Clibinarii behind.

Initial moves saw the Romans advance all along the line and Persians essentially matching them.

On Persian left and exchange of missiles between the LH saw the Persians go fragmented without losses and then evade Roman charge (they played no further part in proceddings ) Persian Cav charged with a General into oppossing Cav with their general and several rounds on inconclusive fighting ensued (Romans lost a base and went disrupted but recovered) with Roman LH charging ineffectually into Persian flank.

The Elephants charged the oppossing Roman LF and narrowly missed hitting a BG of Cav in skirmish order. Next turn the Elephants charged again and caught the LF (Cav evaded) and routed them. Nothing further of note occurred on this flank.

On Persian right the Persian LF Archers gained upper hand vs the Roman MF archers causing a loss. The Hillmen emerged from ambush to chase off enemy slingers. The Persian MF Archers shot with no effect at the Aux bearing down on them. The Aux then charged into the field and after some initial resistance the Persian archers routed.

The key central combat saw generally poor shooting from the Persian mounted and the Romans passed any Cohesion tests with ease. Persian lancers failed a CMT to not charge and broke off Disrupted from 2 Legion BGs.

The Legions charged enmasse into the lines of Clibinarii and usual grind occurred with Romans gaining slight advantage. Major turning point was death (by double 6) of a Persian General in frontline combat ! the Cohesion tests caused by this saw one Persian BG go Fragmented and another rout. This rout then Fragmented another BG and wavered the Inf in the field. Subsequently the Persian centre collapsed as did the right wing and their arrition level (12) was equalled ending the game in Romans favour

A decent game and played to completion in about 4 hours including several of our usual discussions.

FOG is definately in our experience a less decisive game than DBMM and I still feel it lacks a lot of 'flavour' of ancient warfare as such. But it is definately a more balanced game and will I think be main competition set eventually.

Mounted Bow is not very potent generally and Sassanids had problems dealing with Armd Romans with supporting Psiloi. They can option to use skirmish and frustrate the HF but still no real punch and evading Sassanid HC does not really seem very historical ?

FOG is growing on me slightly as very playable but it does seem a tad bland overall.

FOG Romans vs Selecuids

800pt FOG game at UWS Sat 29/03/2008

Game vs Keith Branagh at UWS club (some 5+ years since I attended there !!)

My Romans comprised

1 FC

1 TC

1 TC Roman Ally

2 4 base Roman HCav

1 4 base Numidians

1 BG of Elephants

1 4 base Extraordinarii (Prot)

2 8 base Supr Legions

1 4 base Elite Triarii

3 4 base Velites

2 4 base Avg Legions (Allies)

1 2 base Supr Triarii (Aliies) a

nd compulsory Fort Camp giving 14 BGs

Keith used (I think I recall it all correctly)

1 FC

2 TC (might have had 3)

2 Elephant BGs

1 4 base Companions

1 4 base Cataphracts

4 8 base Pikes (3 Avg 1 Supr)

1 8 base MF Bow

1 8 Base LF Bow

1 6 base Thorakati

1 6 base Thracians with Hvy Wpn

1 BG of Scythed Chariots

giving him 12 BGs

Selecuids won Initative and we placed terrain. On my left was an OF and a small Plantation with a OF on base line on Keiths half was a SH on his left about mid table and couple of OF that had no bearing on events.

I deployed with Legions lining centre (Avg Allies on my left) with Velites to front.

My Elephants took left flank duty with Numidians further left.

My Cav shored up my right opposite the SH.

I placed the Extraordinarii in ambush in the plantation.

Keith deployed his Pikes enmasse opposite my Legions with his right having the nasty Companions & Cats and Elephants with LF support.

His right was anchored on the SH occupied by the Bowmen/Thorakati/Thracians. Both sides advanced all along the line with my Numidians evading from the Heavy Greek horse.

Usual inconclusive shooting from LF was prelude to the clash of Pike and Legions.

My elephants supporting Allied foot clashed with enemy Elephants and one Greek set of nellies were destroyed. However a 4 Base Legions BG was fragmented.

As this was occuring my Numidians bravely stood against charges by both heavy Greek Cav BGs with predictable result (ie auto-broken) this exposed the flank of my own Ele and the shaken (sorry fragmented Legion.

Too late I brought my Extraords from their leafy sojourn (they never made it to contact). A Unit of Velites was routed exposing the flank of my centre.

On my right I extended one Cav unit into Skirmish formation and the other went Disrupted from bow fire but I had a TC on hand to restore cphesion.

In the centre a mighty battle ensued as I charged into the Pike Phalanx (4 BGs each 2 wide 4 deep) with my Impact Legions.

I gained very narrow advantage over two turns of combat disrupting one Pike block and managing to inflict a couple of base losses. This advantage proved decisive versus 3 of the Pike blocks in the end (due to loss of POAs once steadiness is gone) as one routed and the others failed cohesion tests.

It was great to watch 3 blocks of Pike flee with their General desperately trying to restore some order (not sure Keith enjoyed the spectacle as much)

One Pike block stood firm however and broke its oppossing Legion.

This was combined with the Companions/Cats flanking my Elephants and a Legion and breaking them both ! Time to send in the Triarii.

I only had the 2 base BG on this flank but had the Ally TC on hand to fight in front rank.

But despite intial stand they too sucumbed and another Legion was hit in flank (a Supr 8 baser !) and it too fled. On the right things were pretty indecisive as my Cav could not take on the Inf on the SH.

However when the Pikes wavered Keith was forced to come off his hill and charged his MF Bow into an overlapping Legion file but it made no difference to fight.

Indeed this unit then was charged by Roman Cav and routed. I charged my other unit of Cav into both the Thorakati and the Thracians but no advantage was gained by either side and the Cav broke-off.

At this point I had suffered 14 attrition pts and so lost the game but it was a bloody and close run affair with Greeks losing 10 attrition pts.

Keith might remember things a bit differently but I think I got the essential actions in reasonable order ?

Comments : All in all a very enjoyable game.

Only real gripe I had with rules was how to physically measure wheels ontable as it all seems rather fiddly. We had a few rules queries but managed (eventually) to find relevant answers after lots of page flicking.

As another confirmed 'DBMM lover' I must confess that FOG is a decent set of rules written in generally clear style with great support for any queries that arise and a lot less headaches than Dbmm.

Movement (wheels aside) and Combat flows logically and smoothly (we had several multi unit combats all resolved without headaches).

Combat takes a bit of getting used to with its 'grinding' nature compared to more descisive/quick events of Dbmm but it certainly works as it 'says on the tin'.

Actually its all has a familar feel to those of us who played 6/7th........... We played a solid 4 hours with minimal delays for queries, FOG games are not quick.

My main dislike is the Cmd and Control rules (or lack thereof) vis DBMM and FOG still feels like a smaller scope of battle than Dbmm despite having a few more toys on table, FOGs 'top-down' view seems to hover a tad lower than Dbmm

Whilst I understand the mechanism/simplisticty of having Generals whizz about the place from point to point I would have preferred that they were more limited in who they can control, that said it is certainly fun/exciting using them in front rank combat (despite numerous rolls and with every Gen on the table fighting at some point we were lucky we did not lose any !).

I miss the inertia generated by the PIP system of Dbmm as FOG allows every BG to move every turn potentially and indeed the new Strategems.

At times FOG feels like line 'em up roll' em forward and chuck buckets of dice but I know that is down to lack of playing experience and tactical nounce on my part although I am not sure just what tactics are viable in FOG compared to Dbmm as match-ups are not as critical ?

As I said recently on Dbmm forum if I rate Dbmm as 9 out of 10 FOG is a close 8. I can happily play either but suspect that FOG will be the more popular choice for Comps but maybe not otherwise ?

Looking forward to trying Cavalry based armies next instead of HF slogging matches