Seven Years War

I set up a sort of Auerstadt scenario with a small force of elite Prussians defending against a large force of poorer quality French.
Prussians (Jim): 14 infnatry, 3 Hussars & 2 artillery. All elite troops with superior command, better firing, HTH & morale.  Unit & army break tests only.
French (SteveJ & Mike): 3 divisioins each 6 infantry, 3 cavary, 1 artillery. The cavalry was one brigade each of hussars, dragoons & cuirasiers. All with poor morale & command, but standard combat factors. The devisions had to fight as 3 separate commands each with a separate divisional break test.

Initial deployment from behind Prussian lines.  The French are in a long road column.

The French took their time deploying all their forces 3 divisions abreast before commencing their attack.

The French begin their advance.  The Prussians shift cavalry to their left as French dragoons cross the creek there.

The French launch cavalry attacks on their left & centre.
On their right they are bombarding the village with artillery while their dragoons prepare to attack past the village achoring the Prussian left.

On the left the Prussian hussars are holding the line with support from the village, but the artillery fire on the village is relentleslsy effective. 
On the right the French hussars were beaten off easily.
In the centre the cuirassiers were tougher, but have also been held.  French infantry came up to take over the attacks but are suffering from superior Prussian musketry.

On the left the French dragoons have given up their attack & fallen back.  On the right of the village, the French got the worst of the firefight & the Prussians are counterattacking, but with numbers limited because the French artillery fire has shaken the defenders of the village
On the right, the Prussians are holding their line.
In the centre the French infantry fell back to get fresh troops to the front, but came under artillery fire they couldn't reply to.  They began to advance to get back inside musket range but were met with another charge by cuirassiers.

On the left the Prussian counterattack is inflicting heavy losses, but they are running out of unshaken units themselves. 
On the right the Prussians have fallen back to get fresh troops to the front.
In the centre, the French cuirassiers are about to break the Prussian line.

On the left, a charge of the light brigade up the hill took out the French battery & 2 infantry units breaking the right flank French Division.
In the right the Prussians are still holding the line., but with mounting casualties.
In the centre all the Prusians had left were two shaken squares formed by the with drawn previously front line. One has already been broken by arillery & the other is about to follow suit.

The Prussians broke one of French divisions & inflicted heavy casualties on the other two, but have only 3 units left fit to fight & lack the means to finish off either of the two remaining French divisions.  The Prussians concede the battle & order a retreat.

The French outnumbered the Prussians by 59% in numbers & 16% in points.  The Prussians came close to holding on but in the end numbers counted against an enemy also using good tactics.  The keys to French victory included the good placement & hot shooting of the battery on their right & the timely second charge of the cuirassiers in the centere. 

At Auerstadt in 1806 Davout won a similar action even more outnumbered.  We evened up the numbers a little because we don't have any wargamers dumb enough to replicate the poor Prussian tactics in that battle. 

Seleucis v. Ptolemy again

No time in Xmas week to set up a new OOB, so used last weeks, just removed the elephants.
Ptolemy: Mike
Seleucis: SteveJ & Jim

Ptolemy on the far side.
Both sides deployed onvntionally with inf in the centre & cav on the flanks, but Ptolemy made his left stronger than his right.  Both side deployed mostly in two lines, best troops in the front line. 

Ptolemy held back his weaker right flank & advanced with his right.  
Seeucis advanced on the whole front.

Prety much full frontal all the way along except a gap appeared between Ptolemy's infantry's left & cavalry's right & Seleucis slipped Thorakatai & light cav into it. 

OIn the far flank, Ptolemy's superior numbers of cavary was getting on top.
In the centre Ptolemy's levy phalanx is doing pretty well espcially at their left end where they broke the Galacians On the Seleucis phalanx' flank.
On the left, Ptolemy's cavalry is generally winning, except on the right of the cavalry line where the Seleucid catapfracts have broken thru.

On the far flank Ptolemy's cavalry is mopping up.
In the centre Seleucis is wrapping around Ptolemy's Thorakatai, but the levy phalanx units have broken Seleucis' Galacians & a veteran phalanx unit.  The next levy phalanx unit was broken, but their veteran opponents are under pressure from the levy unit that beat off the Galacians.
Ptolemy's second line peltasts broke the Thorakitai trying to break thru the gap, but Seleucis' Cataphracts are charging towards the Ptolomy's infantry rear as Thorakitai hold off Ptolemy's victorious  cavalry.

Seleucis has lost heavily, but got the breaks at the end so Ptolemy failed his army morale test first. Another close battle with sound tactics on both sides.  Ptolemy did a good job maximising the chances for his levy phalanx.  Seleucis's cataphracts breaking thu on the right with troops in place to exploit it may have been the decisive event, as otherwise Seleucis would have been rolled up from the right by Ptolemy's cavalry.

Two battles with almost the same armies giving very close but opposite results indicates that the points system can't be far wrong.

Successors: Seleucis v. Ptolemy

 Seleucis: Steve & Chris.  Small veteran phalanx ( 2 units), Galacians, Thotakitai, cataphracts, Agema, Light cav & elephants.
Ptolemy: Jim & Mike.  Large kevy phalanx (4 units), Peltasts, Agema, light cav & elephants.

Seleucis on the left, put the elephants in the centre as front line.
Ptolemy put his elephants on the right of his phalanx & most of his cavalry on his left.

Both sides advanced with their left leading.

It was mostly a brutal frontal fight all along the line with little manoeuvre except on the far flank.

Ptolemy's phalanx held off the elephants. 
Seleucis' Thotakitai had mixed success v. Ptolemy's elephants.
On the flanks, Ptolemy's cavalry was getting the upper hand.

In the centre, Ptolemy's phalanx disposed of the Galacians, but were no match for Seleucis' vets after being weakened by the elephants.

Although losing half his phalanx, Ptolemy's cavalry had won on both flanks & the Seleucid's broke.

Seleucis probably erred in putting his elphants in front of his veteran phalanx as they really didn't need their help & it delayed their victories.  Ptolemy also got a very good run from the dice gods. Good battle though, one of the best eras for ancient wargames with lots of variety of troops.

 

Byzantium v. Arabs take 3

 Chris & I got back early from our rafting trip so had another Sunday school.

This time the Arabs stuck with their deep fromations with a bit more cavalry on their left.
The Byzantiners put most of their cavalry on the right.

The Byzantines attacked on their right & centre & held back their weak left. 
The Arabs are transferring heavy cavalry from right to left.
The infantry are locked in battle.
On the right, the Byzantine cataphracts have engaged the Arab heavy cavalry exposing the flank of the Arab infantry to attack by their supporting heavy cavalry.   

On the far flank the  Arab light cavalry quickly beat the Byzantine light, but Byzantine heavies are winning against light cavalry. 
On the left of the infnatry line the Byzantine medium inf are being beaten by the Arab lights in depth.
On the right flank the Cataphracts are losing against the deep heavy cavalry formations.
In the centre the right hand end of the Arab infantry line has been broken by the flank attack & their line is in danger of being rolled up.  

On the left flank the victorious cavalry of each side have engaged each other.
On the left of the infnatry line, the Arab lights have broken the first line of the Byz'antine mediums. 
On the right flank the cataphracts have been defeated & the victorious Arab haeavy cav is turned towards the Byzantine centre. 
On the right of the infnatry line, the Arabs heavy cav have countered the Byzantiner heavy cav while the Byzantine heavy infantry try to expand the hole in the Arab line. 

On the far flank the Arab light horse defeated the Byzantine heavies & likewise the Arab light infabntry beat the Byzantine medium & heavy infantry in front of them.
In the centre all of the Arab medium infantry & the Arab cavalry that was moved from the other flank have been broken by infantry exploiting the hole in the Arab line. 
On the near flank the Arab cavalry are cleaning up the light troops of the Byzantien second line.

At this point we checked army morale & found the Byzantines just failed.  But it was a close thing, the difference being that in the last turn the Arabs\ light cavalry broke heavy cavalry & Arab light infantry beat heavy infantry in combats where the Byzantines had the advantage.

Byzantium v. Arabs again

 Chris & I delayed our Tarkine rafting trip for a day to allow a wether front to pass, so had a Sunday avfternoon battle using a selection of teh armies used last Tuesday reducing the numbers to about 2/3rds.
Arabs: Chris.
Byzantines: Jim

The Byzantines are on the left.

The Byzantines advanced quickly hoping to break the Arab centre before they could be outflanked by superior numbers.

Contact was made simultaneously all along the line.  The Arabs generally doubled their units to try to counter the better quality of the Byzantines but even so, the Byzantines by using small units in support had an advantage in almost every combat.  The advantges quickly disapeared in an  avalanch of hot dice as the Byzantines won only 2 of 9 combats in the first round.  One Komntaratoi unit broke thru but the rest of the line gradually disintigrated.

The Arabs only lost 2 unts before the Byzantine army failed their army morale test with half their units broken. Chris had a good plan & dice gods so approved of it, it became a crushing victory.

Byzantium v. Arabs

We have stepped another couple of centuries forward this week to pit Byzantium v. Arabs.
Arabs: Mike & Chris
Byzantium: SteveJ & Jim

Byzantines on the left with a symmetrical deployment:  heavy infantry in the centre flanked by medium infantry with archers in support, then cataphracts, then heavy cavalry with light cavalry support.
The arabs have a similar deploymenr, but have weighted their right wing with extra cavalry.

Thye Byzantines advanced quickly on theri right & centre to minimise the effect of the Arab's horse archers. They held their left back a bit where their cavalry was outnumbered.

The combats started on the near flank then quickly extended along the front.

On the near flank the Byzantine cavalry eventually got on top, but at such cost that their victorious cavalry was all shaken & unable to exploit their wins.  But the decisive issue on thsi flank was a gap the Aeabs left in their line between their cavalry & infantry.  They slipped  infnatry thru the gap to swing left to flank the Arab centre,
In the centre, the Arab deployment in two lines held well against the veteran Konaratoi until it was flanked from the left & a single medium infantry unit took out 3 units rolling up theri second line.  On the far flank, a single Byzantine cataphract unit turned the action Byzantium's way by blasting  a hole through the Arab lines taking out 3 enemy units in succession.

The Arabs lost half their units shaken but under our new Army Morale Test could still fight on becasue they had more unshaken units left than the Byzantines.  The Arabs still had a chance of victory if their horse archers could break some of the many shaken Byzantine units, but they lost more units in close combat & lost that advantage to fail the Morale Test first.  

Late Romans v. Goths

Romans: Jim, Steve & Mark.
Goths: Mike & Chris.

The Romans are on the left in the pics.

The Romans have legionaries in the centre with auxilary infantry then cavalry on both flanks.
The Goths have massed their infantry in the centre, in double lines in the middle & cavalry on both flanks.

The Romans advanced both wings while the Goth charged in the centre.

The legionaries are having a rough time in the centre, but the Romans are using theri better command control to manoeuvre to advantage on both flanks.

The Roman centre has collapsed but si has both of the Goth flanks.  The Goths are
counterattacking the near flank & trying to hold off the Roman left. 

The Romans right is bewing driven baway from the centre, but the Goth right has been noutflanked & has collapsed.  

The Goths fail our new army morale test.  Both sides have having lost half their units, but the Romans have more untis left on the field fit to fight (ie unshaken). 

The game a bit unrealistic in that the victoroius Goths would have pursued to pillage the baggage rather than wheel to the flanks, but also the Romans would have given up on losing nearly all their legionaries.  But it was a great game. 

Rome v. Carthage

Carthage: Mike & Steve
Rome: Jim, Mark & Chris

Romans on left: Legion in the centre flanked by allied spearmen.  Right flank medium cav. Left flank heavy cav & peltasts.
Carthos on right: Citizen spearmen in centre with elphants on their left & scutari on their right.  Heavt cav on right flank. Heavy & light cav on left flank.

The Carthos advanced their right. The Romans advanced their centre while pulloing back their left & extending their right further to the right.

On the far flank the Punics cavalry has charged the peltasts & the scutari have charged the legion.  
On the near flank the Roman's allied spearmen supported by triari are preparing to take on the elphants & their cavalry hang back away from those smelly elephants.

On the far flank the Punic cavalry has disposed of the peltasts & turned to deal with the Roman cavalry.
The scurai are slugging it out with spearmen & legionaries. 
The citizens are still hanging back.
The elephents & spearmen are hard at it.
The near flank cavalry are still both hanging back.

Heavy fighting along almost the entire frontwith wins & losses on both sides.

On the far flank the Carthos are finally getting on top.  
In the centre, it is still indecisive.
On the near flank, the elephants have had a win & a loss, but the triari are taking care of the winning elephants.  The Roman cavalry have worked their way around the flank.

On the far flank the Carthgos are now mopping up the last reisistance.
In the centre the citizens are on the verge of breaking.
On the near flank the elpahnts have been beaten & the Punic cavalry is surrounded

There a flurry of units of both sides being broken & both sides failed their army morale test at the same time, so it was declared a draw.  

The army break test is one of the trickiest rules to get right.  In the last two weeks it has failed to give a satisfactory result.   Some time ago I suggested an alternative test based on the number of unshaken units left on each side after one or both drop to or below half strength but we never came to a decision. 
.