Monday 28 November 2011

15mm Ancients Battle

The Rejects gathered yesterday for a 15mm Ancients battle using house rules devised by Postie, our host. The battle was Hittites v's Assyrians with Dave, Mark, Fran and Richard commanding the Assyrians and Surjit, Myself and Ray commanding the Hittites.

I'm afraid I didn't make many notes, partly because I forgot my notepad but also because only the victor gets to write history and it was clear from turn 1 that I wouldn't have that privilege! As normal we each drew random lots for which commanders we played and for this game the Hittite King was played by Surjit. I'm afraid there was a clear disagreement between Ray and I and our King right from the planning stage before we had even moved a figure in anger. Ray and I favored a different deployment and a more aggressive strategy than our King but ultimately we were good generals - we never rebelled and did exactly what we were told - and were trounced good and proper as a result.



I can't bring myself to go into the details but rest assured that Ray and I were right all along and had we deployed how we wanted we might have stood a chance of winning. As it was our Chariots and Cavalry were boxed in by our own troops on either side and spent most of the game sitting on the start line because our King was waiting for the right moment to 'unleash hell'. The moment was never going to come. Also the bulk of our infantry spent five whole turns doing nothing, not even moving, and by the time we started to move  they were being flanked by overwhelming Assyrian units. We also had some bad luck in the form of Assyrian reinforcements right where we were weakest but by that stage we had made plenty of our own bad luck and had all but given up.

Keep an eye open for BatReps on Rays blog and the Angry Lurkers blog. I'm sure they will have more details, and in the case of the lurker (looking on from the far side of the table) plenty of pictures of our despairing faces!

14 comments:

  1. Yes, less said the better. Especially with regards to the 'bribe' our king offered at the start of the game....

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  2. 1p and a 1 cent coin, we should have chopped his head off and done what we wanted!!

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  3. Very nice photos Lee. Looks like Ray is still smiling at the end so not all was lost!

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  4. Hittie chariots....tricky things. Besides, never argue with a King. Looks like a great game, all the same!

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  5. Hahah good write up, so Surjit is a bad King then ?

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  6. On this occasion his judgement of the situation was definitely 'lacking'. Two thirds of our army did nothing (not even move) for five out of 9 turns. We effectively took ourselves out of the battle and allowed our opponents to execute their plan unhindered.

    By the time we were let off the leash we were outmanoeuvred, outflanked and outnumbered.

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  7. Ahh, but if you had won, it would have been a brilliant strategy I’m sure. You realise generals only take praise for winning and with any losses the blame falls on the subordinates.
    Looks like a great game.

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  8. No... if we had won it would have been a genuine miracle and I would have abandoned my wicked ways immediately and signed up as a believer on the spot.

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  9. It could have been worse, Lee. You could have devised the plan.

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  10. Some great photos, just read Rays report. Commiserations sir

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  11. An interesting blog! Good luck!
    Greetings from Russia!

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