Return to Marathon

In a last-minute invitation to join into a game, Scott convincingly drew me away from domestic duties to make the drive to Coeur d'Alene to join he and Dale for a gaming session and lunch.  I am glad that I accepted!

After a brief catch-up as we awaited Dale's arrival, we descended into the game room to see the Battle of Marathon laid out on the table.  Scott and I refought Marathon back in September (see A Marathon Marathon).  Hard to believe that this was our last miniatures game together.  More surprising that the battle was still on Scott's table!  As expected, the rules of engagement were Command & Colors Ancients (CCA) using Scott's beautiful 28mm armies. 

CCA Marathon

Since today's offering was a first for Dale, Scott and I played Game #1 to give Dale a feel for the game and its mechanisms.  In this game Scott commanded the Greeks while I headed the Persian Army.  Banner count needed for victory is six so first commander to eliminate six units wins. 

I find commanding a lightly armed Persian Army a difficult task when facing the heavy Greek infantry.  When the Greek heavy infantry make contact, they can cut wide swathes through the Persians.  The Persians are not without hope, though.  In this first game, however, my Persians fell decisively to Scott's Greeks 6-3.  Not a horrible showing for my Persians but I never managed to truly bring the Persian firepower to bear.

In Game #2, I faced Dale in his maiden test with Scott ably assisting.  While the battle got off to a good start for the Persians with a successful playing of the "Darken the Skies" card, the Greeks came roaring back to lay waste to much of the Persian line.  Still, the Persians managed to pick off a few weakened Greek units to eke out a 6-5 victory at the last minute.  Hoorah!

Scott at the head of the Greek Army.

In Game #3, I faced the cunning maestro, Scott, as we swapped sides in a rematch.  Scott commanded the Greeks while I headed the Persian Army.  In a tense but quick game, my Persians overpowered the Greeks in a 6-3 victory.  There were anxious moments for the Greeks, though.  Scott successfully brought his cavalry across the river to cut up the Greek center badly.  Hoorah for a second victory!

With three games in the books, we broke for lunch.  After lunch I needed to return home while Scott and Dale continued with a game of What a Tanker.  Scott and Dale played the rules at the recent Enfilade! con in Tacoma in May and were anxious to bring that enthusiasm back home.  While I could not participate, Scott sent along a couple photos from that game.  Perhaps I will get to give these rules a try sometime?

For me, having spent a week away tending to family, this invitation for a half-day session was most welcome.  Now, back to catching up on domestic duties.

  

Thanks, Scott and Dale!

EDIT: A second post delayed from appearing in blogroll feed by about 20 hours!  This makes two posts in a row.

A Mixed Lot of Spanish

Following on the footsteps of the heavy discussion on blogging (whew! that was a lot of commentary!), I turn to something a little more sedate and short.  Of course, I greatly appreciate everyone who took the time to leave your very detailed thoughts on the topic.  This morning, my embedded Reply button seems to be broken on all posts.  Hopefully, this can be worked out.

Back to the painting desk.

Today sees a clearing out of a handful of assorted figures for the Punic Wars.  Making up this nine-figure stand of Spanish infantry are a mix of figures from both Black Tree Design and Renegade Miniatures.  The Renegade figures go into battle wielding the falcata while the BTD figures are armed with javelin.  A nice mixed stand that allows a few bits' bins to be cleared out in The Lead Pile.

On the gaming front, Richard hosted a remote game using the venerable Koenig Krieg rules.  I have two versions of the rules but had not played them.  Richard used an even earlier version!

Richard brought a hypothetical battle to the table using his tiles on a hex adaptation.  I was originally slated as an observer put was press-ganged into taking up the Prussian cavalry wing.  Having never played KK before, it was very good to see these rules in action.  Good fun!

For Richard's battle account, please visit, Battle of Pondeli.

A F2F game is on deck for Saturday morning in a return to the NWF.  On Monday, I host a remote game when the Battle of Wakefield takes to the table.  With holiday distractions behind us, time to start filling up the gaming schedule for the 2026 campaigning season.

A Marathon Marathon!

Tuesday saw an interstate trip over to Scott's in Coeur d'Alene for some Commands & Colors: Ancients and lunch. Kevin and I joined Scott a session in refighting the Battle of Marathon.  Games were played using Scott's fine 28mm figures played on a five-inch hex grid.  Scott mentioned that he was glad he finally decided to build this Persian Army to add to his already large Ancients collections.  I am too!

Using CCA scenario as his guide,

CCA Marathon scenario deployment

Marathon greeted us on Scott's table when we arrived. 

Marathon in 28mm

After the customary pleasantries, Kevin and I dived into the first game.  Kevin took command of the Greeks while I commanded the Persians.  I did not fare well as the Persians in this game.  Kevin played two back-to back Double Time cards to bring the Greek heavy infantry on the left smashing into the Persian Right that was hemmed in between the woods and the river.  To add insult to injury, Kevin also slapped down a First Strike card on one of my attacks!  I lost that first game 6-2.  Ouch!  

After seeing the destruction wrought by the Greeks in Game #1, we wondered if the Persians would have a chance.  CCA website shows this scenario as favoring the Greeks 70%/30% across 205 games recoded.  I will add our games into the mix.

We would soon find out if the Greeks were unstoppable.

In Game #2, Scott's Persians defeated Kevin's Greeks 6-4.  Then in Game #3 my Persians defeated Scott's Greeks 6-2.  In the final game of the session, my Greeks defeated Kevin's Persians 6-2.

Scott, the Happy Host..

at least until my Persians stormed across
 the table to destroy his Greeks! 

We managed these four games in about three-and-a half hours including a trip to a local Thai restaurant for lunch.  Greeks came away with two victories (6-2, 6-2) and the Persians came away with two victories (6-4, 6-2).  All four of the games played out differently with the last game of the day seeing the Persians driven back to the river.  From there, any momentum the Greeks maintained in the advance was lost once fighting occurred along the banks of the river.  Still, the Greeks managed to take out the Persians to see victory.  Hmm.  A handy tactic to keep in mind next time Marathon comes out on the table.

Now, there was discussion about the location of battle and the army alignments but we went with the published scenario. Surprisingly, Marathon turned out to be an interesting and even contest.

Good games, good company, and good food.  Who could ask for anything more?

Been a Long Time...

Yes, a long time has passed since I last fielded a new unit for the 28mm Punic Wars project.  Besides some game markers, the last unit to march out from the painting desk was a pair of Gaestatae units back in NOV 2021.  Nearly four years since the project witnessed any activity on the painting front.

The main reason that no new units have appeared in a long time is that there are not that many figures left in The Lead Pile.  Really, only a bunch of odds and ends remain with not much chance of fielding complete units unless I push some skirmishers into the production queue.  Already, plenty of skirmishers have mustered out such that more are not needed.  Still, I may paint and field these skirmishers someday to get them out of The Lead Pile.

With that explanation (excuse?) laid bare, today sees one more unit of Libyan heavy spearmen march out from the painting desk.  These thirteen figures had to be scraped together to form one more heavy spear unit.  Most of the figures are Renegade Miniatures but the Renegade cadre is augmented by a couple of Aventine figures and even possibly a Crusader figure or two.  Good to have these figures painted and out of The Lead Pile!

On the gaming front, no game this week.  Today's game at Scott's was called due to illness (not mine!).  Looking to get that game back onto the schedule.  Having cleared my table of the four-game run of Mortimer's Cross, my attention is turning toward horse & musket periods.  At present, I am focused on recreating a couple of battles from the War of Polish Succession.  Much work needs to be accomplished before I am ready to bring these to the table.  Study continues on scenario design and development.  Hopefully something tangible to share in the near future.

Battles and Brats

Monday was a holiday.  Given an opening in schedules, Scott invited Kevin and I to Coeur d'Alene for a gaming session and BBQ lunch.  Kevin and I cheerfully accepted!

In the Cunaxa scenario, the first army to score six banners wins.  The table was laid out according to the GB14 scenario.  Cunaxa is the SoA's Battle Day for 2026.  We are getting an early start.

When we descended into Scott's game room, we were greeted by the sight of the Battle of Cunaxa in 28mm.  While I have seen some of Scott's Persians before, this was the first time to study his chariot-work firsthand.  Beautiful models as the lead photo illustrates.

Including a lunch break of grilled bratwursts and all of the trimmings, the three of us managed to complete five games in about four hours.

The results of the five-game series were:

Game #1: Cyrus (Jon) defeats Artaxerxes (Kevin) 6-4.

Game #2: Artaxerxes (Scott) defeats Cyrus (Kevin) 6-1.

Game #3: Artaxerxes (Jon) defeats Cyrus (Kevin) 6-4.

Game #4: Cyrus (Scott) defeats Artaxerxes (Jon) 6-4.

Game #5: Cyrus (Scott) defeats Artaxerxes (Kevin) 6-0.

Cyrus won three of the five battles.  Scott came away the big winner on the day (as usual!) going 3-0 while I managed a respectable 2-1.  Kevin, however, could not see his way to victory and fell 0-4! 

Persian chariots attacking the Greek line

Great day out!  Hopefully, we can return to the table and Cunaxa again soon.

The Last of the Po River Battles?

Wednesday saw a return to the Commands & Colors: Ancients' Po River scenario in C3i06 with Scott hosting another in our continuing F2F sessions with three players.  We played six games with each player playing four games with player rotation.  As in the session two weeks ago, Rome came away with victory in all six games!  Yes, all six games!  Another statistical oddity or we are learning how to deal with the Carthaginian Army.  Scott and I made it out of the session with three wins to one loss each.  Kevin came away 0-4. By the time Kevin makes the drive back to Spokane, I am sure history will be rewritten and he will claim victory in all four of his games!

While Scott and I each played the game from both sides of the table, Kevin insisted on sticking with the Carthaginians in all four of his games. That tactic did not work out so well for Kevin. Rome won 7-6, 7-2, 7-4, 7-4, 7-4, 7-6.

Scott (in his angry rooster shirt)
intently watching Kevin make his move.

With the Society of Ancients announcing that Cunaxa will be the 2026 Battle Day game, we plan to get an early start in next week's session.

As always, good fun and a new lunch place.

Thanks, guys!

Back to the Po River, 203BCE

While this week is quiet on the gaming front as I take it easy from a recent back injury, last Thursday saw four games of Commands & Colors Ancients.  In a return to the much fought over ground at the 203 BCE Battle of Po River, Kevin and I joined Scott on his home turf for a gaming session using his splendid 28mm Ancients.

Scott, our host for the day.

While the Carthaginians have been taking two out of three games against the Romans in the past dozen games, Thursday witnessed Rome turning the tables on Carthage.  Rome saw victory in three out of the four games played in Thursday's session.  Rome won 7-5, 7-5, 7-4 while losing 5-7.  I came away 2-0, winning with both Rome and Carthage.  In my 7-5 Roman win, I started off 0-4 down before roaring back to victory.  A rare and most welcome outcome for me!  Ah, it was a good day at the gaming table but the lunch tab was on me.

Next week, gaming sees a return to the table as WotR armies take to the field once again on Monday.  Monday's contest utilizes One Hour Wargames' Scenario #4: TAKE THE HIGH GROUND as a basis for the contest.  In this trial, the notion of Leader Priorities is added into the calculus.  Should be fun.

Po River 203 BCE in 28mm

After having no games on the table last week, this week sees two gaming sessions.  The first game of the week took place on Monday in a one-on-one contest to give my current work-in-progress WotR rules their first trial by fire.  The rules and I both survived first contact.  The game went well with a close-run decision but that account is for another time.

Wednesday saw Kevin and I make the 35-mile drive to Scott's in Coeur d'Alene for a session of Commands and Colors: Ancients (CCA).  The battle presented to us upon arrival is a battle Kevin and I have fought nine times now in 6mm.  For Wednesday's game, Scott increases both table and figure size to accommodate his beautiful 28mm Ancients collections.  All photos are of Scott's collection.

Besides the preliminaries of catching up and sharing latest figures painted and painting commissions to be worked, we adjourned to the game room.  Once play began, the action was fast and furious as we are all well-versed in the mechanisms of CCA.  As I played in the first two games and with the frenetic pace of play, there was little time to reflect on the battle action and sequencing for later chronicling.  

When we broke for lunch, Carthage had won both games.  Kevin fell to my Carthaginians in Game #1, 7-4, while I fell to Scott's Carthaginians in Game #2, 7-5.  Rome fell in both battles.  Two very exciting and action-packed games.  When we returned from a leisurely lunch, no time remained to get in one more game.  We called it a day with two games played but with talk of keeping the armies on the table to reconvene in a week or two.

As always, great fun and great lunch.  Scott, thanks for the games!  Kevin, thanks for picking up the lunch tab!   

Until next time.

Gaugamela with CCA

Scott's 28mm figures

Tuesday saw Kevin and I make our way on an interstate journey to Scott's for a half day of gaming. The game invitation stated that we would be taking to the field for several Commands & Colors:Ancients battles.  The specific battle on deck was not mentioned.  When we adjourned from brief hellos in Scott's living room to the detached game room, the Gaugamela battlefield in all of its 28mm glory lay before us.  A session of round robin games awaited.

Initial army deployments

While the Persian army overlaps both flanks of Alexander's Macedonian Army, the composition of the Greek Army looked formidable.  No chariots or elephants but those heavy phalanxes looked dangerous.  Would the latter-day Darius' find this battle as hard to fight as their historical counterpart?  Well, the answer was not long in wanting.

In Game #1, I took command of the Greeks while Kevin took the helm of the Persians.  With seven banners needed for victory, Alexander walked away with a 7-4 banner count in the opening game by crushing the Persian center and driving survivors back to their baseline.  I was off to a good start!

Swapping sides, I took Persians in Game #2 against Scott's Greeks.  Scott trounced my Persians 7-2.  Ouch!  Game #3 saw Scott's Persians beat Kevin's Greeks 7-5 in a hotly contested match.  In a not so hotly contested match, Game #4 saw Kevin's Greeks embarrass my Persians 7-1.  To end the session, my Greeks bettered Scott's Persians 7-4.

In the final accounting, we managed to play five games in a little less than three hours and then broke for lunch to end the day.  While we did not get to play both sides against all opponents, we came close.

The Greeks won four of the battles to the Persians' single victory.  Gaugamela proved a tough fight for Darius as it did historically.

A great day out for F2F gaming in a change from my more standard remote play.

Next time, a few newly painted figures to parade.