L'Art De La Guerre another 2 games

Another 2 games using LADG played at Stephens today.
Again we went with 200pt armies.
I used Punic Romans again and Galatians against Pyrrhic and Seleucid respectively.
The Roman vs Pyrrhus match-up was a good old ding dong but the Romans could not gain any advantage against the Pikes.
The Galatians (all Elite mind) had a disaster vs the Pike and Cataphracts of Seluccus !
I hit his line of Pike and the nasty 'Cats' with 11 'Warband' but won a mere three rolls, drawing a further two and losing a mighty 6 others !!
The dice demon at his meanest saw me lose some 5 Warrior units the next turn and soon the army succumbed.
I should mention I attempted a flank march with 4 Heavy Cavalry but of course it failed to arrive.....
Great stuff again.











Romans vs Pyrrhic

 Galatians vs Seleucids (freaky autumn lighting)

L’Art De La Guerre - two 200pt games played

Played a couple of LADG games today using the standard 200pts sized armies instead of our usual 300pt games.



First up was Punic wars encounter with my Romans facing Hannibal’s Carthaginians and then my Avars faced off against Charlemagnes Carolingians.



Of course I lost both although the Punic encounter was a close game.


These 200pt games are very fast playing but we can see how they are the standard for competitions.

                                     

L'Art De La Gurerre - Sassanids versus Huns

Game today using LADG for a change with 300pt armies.
I choose my Sassanids and Stephen fielded Huns (under Attila)
Been awhile since we played LADG but what an excellent set of Ancient rules they are.
Bit of a bloodbath this one with a constant drain of hits from the 'shooty' Huns.
Whilst Huns were mainly Medium Cavalry their being nearly all Elite makes them pretty much the equal of my Sassanid mounted bowmen.
Great stuff and so now planning to try the 'standard' 200pt game on Monday.

Hitler's Reich another couple of games

Played this excellent little game with my Dad again last night.
We managed two close but quick games.
Axis won first by taking all Soviet Production Centres for auto victory.
In second Allies won by reducing Axis hand to zero through relentless Strategic Bombing
Great game easy to play and fast and furious fun.















Only one pic as I forgot to take more !

This game arrived this week but not more than a cursory look at so far

Hitler's Reich - two more games played

Another couple of play throughs of this highly playable game with my Dad tonight.

First game was over fairly quickly as Barbarossa failed for Axis and my Allies has a good run of cards and successful Events and Attacks whittling the Axis hand to zero for auto win.

Second game was a much tighter affair as Dad took Balkans and both Tobruk and Suez before launching Barbarossa.

His invasion was successful and his Blitzkrieg actions saw Kharkov, Leningrad and Moscow fall ! 

However in 1942 the Soviets counterattacked taking back all three Production Centres.

In 1943 we both had a hand size of a mere 3 cards but I was able to win Strategic Bombing Events to force the Axis to zero again for the win.

We learnt a lot in these games including how essential it is for Axis to take Yugoslavia and maybe Greece to protect Romanian and Austrian Production Centers (Austria is also the gateway to Berlin if not protected.

Indeed Axis in 1941 (when hand size and Conflict deck is at most favourable) need to build a decent hand of Events prior to executing Barbarossa or to reduce Allied hand by attacking Western Allied resources. 

Excellent little game this, highly abstract but very playable and fun.

Field of Battle - Katzbach 1813 scenario with Le Duc

FOB game with Le Duc played using a GDB scenario as basis.
French of McDonald facing attack by Prussians (and a few Russians) under Yorck.
Le Duc took the Prussians and I the French defenders in what turned out to be a lengthy blood soaked battle of attrition as befits an 1813 encounter.
Sizeable numbers of Raw (D4 defence) troops on both sides and a Poor deck for French with Average deck for Prussians meant lots of Lulls (9 in total) and weak vulnerable units aplenty.
The arriving reserve Brigades served to keep the game taught as seemingly every break in opposing lines was swiftly shored up.
We seemed to have endless re-shuffles in this game due to equal Initiative rolls meaning some cards took take ages to appear.
French went for what seemed an entirety without seeing any Move cards but had lots of Melee opportunities which they often could not complete.
I was down to 3 Morale chips when Le Duc announced he was close to ruin as well.
But he got the next initiative run with several cards he used well causing me a good deal of damage with me 'gifting' him several Morale Chips.
When I used my initiative I had a poor run of useable cards and failed to cause Prussians any Morale Chip loss.
The next initiative went in similar fashion with Le Duc now 'up' 10 of my cards !
Of course on a Lull card I then drew an Army Morale Card but managed to survive it however another appeared a few cards later and France succumbed.
Another great game of FOB and one of longest we have played.
Mind you there were some 32 Prussian/Russian units against 25 French so a largish engagement.
I really must do a video of this excellent system.



The battlefield prior to deployment

French side of table

Prussians arrive

French left

Large (4UI) Prussian cavalry units on move

A Brigade of French Conscripts arrive

Prussian approach on French right

French left (Chasseurs Brigade to rear failed to Move on 3 opportunities ! my 1's in inaction)

As Prussians push in center around Janowitz village.

Things getting messy and intense on French right as both sides reserves arrive

Chasseurs and Lancers still refuse to leave initial area

Landwehr support their Regular colleagues

Veteran Prussian Brigade tries to outflank French on hill

Squares formed in center to protect from my Hussars

Lines thinned on both side on right flank !! My reserve cavalry done sterling service here.

Whilst my Chasseurs after coming into action lost badly to a crack unit of Prussian Hussars.
It should be noted that at top center a unit of French foot have destroyed 2 Russian units after attacking from the village. Sadly they later Routed under superior numbers.