Monday, January 26, 2015

Punic Wars BatRep - Impetvs

The guys gathered a couple of weeks back for an Impetvs game set during the Punic Wars.  This meeting gave me a chance to get the 28mm Punic Wars collection out onto the gaming table and introduce several of the guys to Impetvs.  Tabletop deployments also provided and opportunity to assess the state of the project.  Once set out, enough figures were available to provide four battle groups of almost identical size.  While I moderated, Jake and Kevin commanded the Carthaginians while Scott and Dylan took command of the Romans.  Of the four players, only Jake had any experience with Impetvs beforehand.

For the Carthaginians, Jake commanded the left wing and Kevin commanded the right.  For the Romans, Scott commanded the Roman left while Dylan took command of the right.  All commanders had a combination of foot and horse at their disposal.  "Disposal" is a good term to describe the carnage about to happen! 

The two combatants were arrayed in two battle lines with the Carthaginians on the left and the Romans on the right.
Ready for battle
Roman battle line with Roman cavalry
 already in disorder
Aggressive Carthaginian right advances
Numidian cavalry strike!
Against the odds, no fear here!
Celts advance behind skirmish line while
Roman cavalry on the far right
 charge into the Spanish cavalry.

Roman cavalry defeat the Spanish horse
 with heavy casualties to both.
Passing through the skirmish screen, the Celts
 charge into the Italian allies and push them back
Carthaginian heavy infantry in center advance
while the Roman line awaits...
Clash of shields!
With Roman cavalry success on the right,
 the Roman heavy foot on the right wing close
and the Libyan heavy foot are driven back
Battle line view from the left flank
Celtic cavalry charge and repulse
Cavalry locked in combat
Libyans counterattack, driving the Romans back
while Carthaginian heavy foot advance in the center
Battle rages all along the line
Celtic cavalry outlast the Roman cavalry
on the Roman left while the Celtic
 infantry advance.

With flank threatened, the Roman
 infantry wheels back.
Carthaginian heavies prepare for battle
With the Italians on the far right refusing,
Roman infantry in the center go on the attack.
A scrum develops in the Roman right-center.
Hacking in the center continues until the Roman
 right wing has reached its break point.
The Roman right begins to disengage as the Spanish
 outflank the position.
Slash and hack in the center as the Romans close in an
 attempt to stabilize the situation.
The race is on.  Romans attempt to destroy
the Carthaginian right before Spanish help arrives.
And the winner is...Rome!

Victory goes to Rome by the slightest of margins.  Casualties were heavy across the board.  Only Scott's Roman infantry on the left and a few of Jake's Spanish on the right maintain any offensive punch.  With the Carthaginian right in tatters, the carnage halts as the Carthaginians disengage.

The fight on the Roman right was much closer than it looked.  Jake's Spanish were nearing their break point as Dylan's Romans exceeded theirs.  I used the expedient of giving each Battle Group its own break point rather than an army break point.  The latter would have allowed the Roman right to continue fighting.  No matter; the game was hotly contested and we reached a conclusion within about three hours. I say, most participants were pleased with the outcome.

With no prior experience with Impetvs, Scott, Kevin, and Dylan picked up the mechanisms quickly and the game progressed at a rapid pace.
All agreed it was a fun contest and that Impetvs provides a very entertaining game.  All are looking forward to more such action.

For the 28mm Punic Wars project, I need to field more Roman legions and an elephant or two would be most useful.

29 comments:

  1. Great (and figures) After battle report Jon!
    I like Full or Basic Impetvs (great for beginners) rules set, they are more of command control over units in the army where as DBA are more into tactical actions of its units (elements) than command control during turns....anyway..I'm sure you guys had fun!

    cheers,

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    1. Thanks, Phil!

      We used Basic Impetvs with a few twists such as adding evade. It really was a close run and bloody contest. Great fun!

      Impetvs is all about managing unit cohesion and minimizing the impact of Impetvs-heavy enemy on ones own troops.

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    2. I prefer Basic Impetvs which has extra combat factors etc. to speed up the battle game, plus you may double or triple the number of units in BI Armies...anyway great looking game, wish I was there..oh well..one day! :o)

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    3. Phil, let me know when you will be in the area and we can plan a game.

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  2. It was a fun and gripping game to play in. It came down to the wire on my flank, which is why the partial breaking of the army was so much more devastating for the Roman side. I would love to add in "Baggage trains" or something similar to the rules to add the confounding variable of "I broke his flank, but now those troops are too busy looting to help finish the battle!"

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    1. Indeed, it was a close game and hard-fought throughout the engagement.

      I like the simplicity of the Basic version but maybe it is time to step up to the Full version in order to include a bit more chrome?

      I appreciate your participation, for sure!

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  3. Congrats to the Romans...and to you, a great report with beautiful pictures, love these lines of battl and, especially, the Carthaginian heavy foot...

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    1. A hard fought victory that could have easily gone to Carthage.

      Thank you, Phil!

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  4. Thanks for reminding me why Impetus provides the best looking games! I'm looking forward to the next time I play. Oh btw have you seen the new amendments? I think they are really nice.

    Christopher

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    1. Impetvs does produce a good looking game, doesn't it? We had another Impetvs game on Sunday. The Sunday game was with pikes, swords, and halberds.

      Thanks for the tip on the new amendments. I had not seen those official changes yet.

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  5. Top battle report Jonathan, its always great when a game goes down to the wire.

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    1. Thank, Ray!

      The excitement and tension levels are much higher when the match is a close one. This contest was a nail-biter!

      With Impetvs, even a player close to victory is never far from defeat!

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  6. That was a fun one, Jon. Thanks for hosting!

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  7. Very nice BatRep. I enjoyed it. Been a while for me playing Imetvs (or ancients for that matter). I always felt Impetvs provided a much more interesting game and provided the proper 'feel' of an actual ancients battle. Well done my friend. Keep it up.

    Kurtus

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    1. Thank you, Kurtus!

      Impetvs really produces an outstanding game, does it not? Besides the Impetvs Punic Wars game, the group held our first Italian Wars Impetvs game last weekend. That was great fun too!

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  8. Fantastic looking game with wonderful troops, Jonathan. I've never played Impetvs, but I'm sure I'd like it. I like how base sizes and not number of figures determine units.

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    1. Thank you, Dean!

      One stand Maneuver Units (MU) and not having to count figures is one of the things I enjoy about Impetvs. I much prefer element (or MU) dependent vs figure dependent gaming mechanisms.

      I bet you would enjoy a game of Impetvs! My game table is always open if you fancy a try!

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    2. I appreciate the invite, Jonathan. I'm sure you'd put on a great and enjoyable game.

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  9. Great looking, tense battle and a fine narrative.

    Note to self to try Impetus some day - even if I have too many [projects and rules already!

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    1. Thank you, Peter!

      Do give Impetvs a try sometime. Perhaps, a convention near you will offer a playing?

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  10. It's a treat to see your Punic Wars collection on the table. I don't quite understand ancient warfare, but it looks terrifically impressive and a hard road to victory for either side, which always makes for a good game. I love the Carthraginian heavy unit in the second to last picture, especially the fellow w the trumpet blowing the ears of the front rank. He must be very popular with the lads. :)

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    1. Michael! Glad you enjoyed the Battle Report! It was great fun for the participants too. I am no expert in ancient warfare either but Impetvs produces a very satisfying game.

      Yeah, maybe the trumpeter ought to be positioned in the front rank but non-combatants to the rear!

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  11. What a massive and great looking scrum! Nicely done Jonathan. It must be very rewarding to see all your hard work out on the table like this.

    I want to play Impetus now.

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    1. Monty, it was fun to get the collection out onto the table, for sure. It is easy to lose track of the extent of a project when you simply paint and store the units.

      As for Impetvs, give it a try!

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  12. Jonathan,

    Okay so you have me looking at trying out some Basic Impetvs . . . and I haven't played Ancients for over 20 years . . . but I still have a LOT of armies (in both 15mm and 25mm).

    Amongst my 25mm armies are both Carthaginians and Syracusans . . . so I might make up some sabots and try the rules out.

    Speaking of the rules, here is a link to a TMP post with a link to Basic Impetvs 1.5 (which includes evades):

    http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=374362


    -- Jeff

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    1. Thanks for the link, Jeff!

      Evade is a rule that we have been adding into our Impetvs games but it is good to get it codified. Some other good additions too.

      Pleased to hear that our Impetvs games have gotten you to consider pulling your old armies out of their bins and knocking the dust off of them. Impetvs provides an enjoyable and quick game with little fuss. Sabots are a perfect solution to testing the rules out with your old figures.

      Good luck and hope I get to see your BatReps!

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  13. I just saw this post of yours. Great looking game. I am going to put on a Punic Wars battle at my local convention in October with my 28mm collection.

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    1. Thanks, Duke! You are reaching a long way back with this post.

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