A Thursday Night Game

 No "Wargames Wednesday" solo game this week, but my excuse is, I knew I was having a face-to-face game with Andrew on Thursday - we were going to try out an "ancients" version of his AS9 rules that we have recently been using for 20th century games. I asked if he wanted me to bring along my 10mm Romans and Britons, but Andrew advised he was intending to play a 28mm game - and invited me to bring along my "Amazons/Shieldmaidens" - how could I refuse?!

We set up a points-based game - 13 points each I think - units of light troops were a half point each, medium and commanders one point each and heavy units two points each. I had two commanders, two light cavalry, four light infantry (bows) one heavy cavalry and four heavy infantry. Andrew had a different mix - four light cavalry, only one heavy infantry, two leaders, two bow armed units and the remainder medium infantry

Andrews horse archers

Heavy Infantry

A leader and two units of medium infantry

One of my horse archer units

Leader, two heavy infantry and two light infantry units

My heavy cavalry unit

The other commander

Close ups above and below of my two commanders

This princess and shield bearers group came from the Celtos Gaels range by I Kore - I think they may now be out of production.

The game I think had 24 turns plus eight "event cards" (four each) The events were -"Betrayal" - the player was allowed to take command of one of the other players units! - "Inspired Leadership" - the player was allowed an extra round of rally rolls on all units - "Assassin" - the player placed an assassin figure next to either of the enemy leaders - they conducted a +3 attack on the leader, if they succeeded, they then rolled 1 D6 for the effect - I think it was 1 or 2 no effect, 3 or 4 drop one leadership level and 5 or 6 the leader was killed. The last event card was an increase in leadership ability on the players leader of choice.

My archers occupy woods on my left flank

The table after a couple of turns - with my troops starting on the right edge and Andrews on the left

The first melee as my heavy infantry crash into Andrew's mediums

The medium infantry lost and were pushed back with a hit marker

A couple of turns later, another melee developed, with some archers emerging from the woods on Andrew's flank to add one to my dice rolling - notwithstanding this advantage, this melee carried on through several rounds of play.

My heavy cavalry advanced on my left flank, supported by a bow armed unit. The large infantry block was Andrews only unit of heavy infantry.

The clash of steel in the centre of the field continues!

On my right flank, two equally balanced forces of horse archers conducted a series backwards and forwards skirmishes for most of the game, with neither side able to gain the ascendancy.

To the left (by the woods) Andrew's infantry has lost the melee and been pushed back again.

On the right, one of my light cavalry units has also been pushed back.

I get the "Betrayal" card!

I chose to take control of the medium infantry on the hill, who were handily placed in the rear of several of Andrew's other units!

General melees ensued on my left.

In the centre, my heavy infantry struggled to get into position to make their numbers tell. In this era, Andrew allows light troops to pivot as often as they like during movement, but heavy troops must go in a straight line - if they wish to pivot (change direction) or make a formation change - they get a hit marker.

Light cavalry skirmish continues on my right

A few gratuitous close ups - just because!

At this stage, I got the "Assassin" card

The assassin was one of Andrew's figures - and was a roaring success! She easily rolled a hit and then rolled 5 or 5 - thereby dispatching one of Andrews leaders to the nether world!

Andrews remaining leader got personally involved, charging into combat against my archers!

On the other flank, my girls were finally managing to take charge - one of the enemy horse units was pushed back on maximum of four hits, and the other is sandwiched between two units of cavalry, and a unit of bows attacking in the flank from the adjacent woods.

Andrews mounted leader, having driven the archers back into the woods, charged into my heavy infantry

And his archers got up close and personal with mine!

A general view from Andrews side of the table

On my right/Andrews left, both the enemy horse archer units have been driven back with four hits.

Heavy infantry, supported by the "turncoat" unit, assault a medium infantry unit.

The mounted leader joins the fray to even things up!

Andrew had managed to take control of my heavy cavalry when he got his "Betrayal" card - and here they crash into the flank of my heavy infantry.

But against expectations, the cavalry was repulsed!

But next turn, they charged in again.

Having dispatched both enemy light cavalry units on my right flank, my horse archers headed for my centre rear, as Andrews right flank light cavalry swept around behind my infantry!

At this stage, Andrew drew his Assassin card, but my leader's hearth guard successfully dealt with the threat (Andrew rolled poorly and the attack failed!) NOTE, the blue marker indicates this leader had been "upgraded" thanks to the relevant event card.

Almost all the units of both armies are engaged in combat somewhere on the table as we neared the last activation card.

From the left - heavy infantry v heavy cavalry, my leader v medium infantry and two units of archers in close combat.

The rear of Andrews position, heavy infantry supported by my other leader v medium infantry on the hill, and another archer v archer melee to the right.

From the left to right - the heavy cavalry was sent reeling back on six hits, my leader destroyed the medium infantry, my archers pushed back their enemy, my light cavalry has arrived in time to prevent the enemy counterparts running amok, and top right, my archers have again succeeded in pushing back Andrews!

But the bloody heavy cavalry rolled a 12 for rally and ALL six hit points were removed - and they charged back in AGAIN - with support from their light cavalry hitting my heavy infantry in the flank. Behind them, my chariot borne leader engages Andrews leader in combat.

Final shots of the very confused situation as the last card was drawn

The decision came down to points. Andrew counted up all remaining units on the field. Any light unit with three hits or heavy with 4 hits did not count. The units were worth the same as they had been when "buying" them at the start. I was feeling quietly confident, as I had killed one leader and broken two light cavalry units and one medium infantry unit, and not sure I had lost any - if I had, it was single heavy infantry unit.

Andrew completed the count, and the result was - drum roll - a 10 - 8 victory for my Shieldmaiden army!

The rules worked pretty well, and I enjoyed the game - a couple of tweaks were that heavy units could accumulated 6 hits before they potentially retired from the table, whilst the lights were only able to have 4, as in the 20th century version. As already mentioned, heavy units were much less maneuverable and had to "pay" for changing direction etc with a hit marker (to represent a loss of cohesion when changing formation/direction). There were no "minimum" moves, infantry rolled 2 D6 and cavalry 3 D6 for inches of movement.

I hope you enjoyed the report - I certainly enjoyed getting this collection (mainly Shadowforge Valkyries and Eureka Amazons, with a few Foundry Valkyries in the mix) back on the table for the first time in several years!