With four of us at Julians for a Friday night game, I paired up with our host to take on Chris and John in a battle pitting medieval Spaniards against their Muslim enemy.
The rules used were TtS.
The figures used all belong to Julian - Normans standing in for El Cid and Co
The toothpicks represent "lances" which are used in a charge to add an extra damage card - once all used up, cavalry is "blown" and can only move one box not two.
The cardboard "arrows" are ammunition - once all are fired, the archers are simply light cavalry, or skirmishers if on foot.
Two images of initial set up - Julian and I (Christians) on the right, Chris and John (Muslims) to the left
Julian on our left with John opposite him
Both sides advanced in the centre
Blow and counter blow between Julian and Johns mounted troops.
On our right, I sent forward our massed heavy cavalry
And Chris countered with his own mounted warriors
Heavy foot in the centre of the field
John seemed to gain the upper hand in his cavalry clashes with Julian, who kept withdrawing his lighter cavalry off the table edge, then reentering a couple of turns later, which is permitted in TtS
Spanish heavy foot move against the Muslim centre
Clash of heavy cavalry on our right wing - the stand turned sideways indicates 1 hit and the unit being disordered
Spanish heavy cavalry thunders forwards
It was all getting a bit disorganised for both sides!
Units eddied around, looking to hit their enemy in the flanks....
... neither Chris nor I could land a winning punch - for those who know the rules, we were both turning over 8 or 9 for our first activation, then a 4 or 5 for any hits! Flank or rear charges invariably led to the target succeeding in an evade move, and when we did eventually score a hit or two, the other side turned over a save card!
The battle was won (and lost) in the combat between Julian and John
We started the game with 15 coins apiece in our army morale, by the halfway point, our side was down to six, whereas Chris and John still had around thirteen! I think I lost two units (4 coins as they were both heavy) and killed one unit (2 coins) of Chris's force. All the other damage took place in the clashes between John and Julian and by the time we gave up just before 11pm, we were down to one single remaining coin, with our opponents still on around eight - we had played two or three turns at that scoreline, but John and Chris had been unable to get rid of that one stubborn last point - they definitely won the game, however!
A lot of banter and laughs, along with considerable frustration caused by the fall of the cards (I might have been heard to utter the words "Bloody stupid game!" at one point!) - at least the bad fortune was evenly distributed between Chris and I - neither of us really managed to gain much advantage over the other - John was the hero for the Caliphs army, having accounted for the vast majority of our lost coins!
LATE EDITION UPDATE!
John sent through some of his trademark close up images of the figures, so here are the nicest ones!
An entertaining battle report--and one coin left at the end of the night is as good as ten (stick to that story, lad...).
ReplyDeleteLOL - thanks for the moral support, Ed, but I know when I have been beaten!
DeleteHandsome armies! I always enjoy seeing Reconquista battles out on the table. Good to see TtS! out and in play too. Looks like you suffered defeat but when you're all having fun, it matters not. TtS! is a good, lighthearted game and it often produces games of great laughter mixed with groaning when the cards to not fall right. Nice report!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jon - I am not always completely convinced by TtS but it does have the advantage of being pretty straight forward and simple to remember, so play becomes a bit more intuitive, and things happen more quickly as a result. And bad card luck is no different to bad dice, I suppose, although being a "mathy guy", you can probably explain to me why I have a greater chance of getting a bad card when using a pack of forty or more playing cards number 1-10 than I do when rolling dice?! (I may not understand the explanation, of course!)
DeleteSuper looking game, some great figures on show and plenty of great pictures to drool over. Good read too.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Donnie - Julian does have some nice medieval and dark ages collections!
DeleteGame looks great and seems like you had fun
ReplyDeleteThanks, Scotty - yes, it was mostly fun, leavened with a dash of frustration!
DeleteSounds like it was a fun game. Even if you just remember it for the laughs and forget the result.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking miniatures as well.
Thanks Ben - after a few days, you only remember the good bits!
DeleteWhat a fabulous way to spend Friday night.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michael, it was that!
DeleteFantastic looking game sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal!
DeleteA great game there with loads of wonderful minis. After an initially good impression of the rules years ago, in the end they never really grabbed me, possibly due to the card counting nature of the game (if you've got a good memory of course!). In the end I think a rule mechanism that was too different from my other games which led to me abandoning them. Still this stable of rules seems to be very popular and is a regular on the show circuit.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve and I know what you mean. I am happy enough to play the rules, but if I never played them again, I don't think it would worry me much - they are functional without being particularly inspiring - but simple to explain and understand, so I can see why they would be popular at shows!
DeleteGreat stuff! I thoroughly enjoyed that battle report.
ReplyDeleteThanks OB and glad you enjoyed the report 😊
DeleteGreat stuff here! Excellent report and outstanding figures.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark, I do like Julian's collection in this period
DeleteLovely looking figures and a fun game. Hanging in there like that must have been very frustrating for your opponents. I'm still trying to convince my gaming group to give TtS a run.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence, it was a very entertaining game although not always for the tight reasons!
DeleteHopefully you get to give the rules a try sometime
Super looking game and entertaining report Keith. I need to play TtS again, my first game left me feeling a little ambivalent about them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard, our host Julian likes a simple rule set for the end of the working week and these ones work quite well for that - it is more of a game along the lines of Command n Colours, to my way of thinking - but then, they are all just games at the end of the day, aren't they?
DeleteIt certainly looked like a fun game Keith …regardless of the result .
ReplyDeleteI’ve not tried To The Strongest yet … I will probably pick a set of the rules up… It’s always interesting to see what new and different.
All the best. Aly
Thanks Aly, it was mostly fun, so can't complain!
DeleteInteresting you say, "see what's new and different", as my next "repeat" post may well be my first ever game of these rules, dating from Aug. or Sept 2016!
A lovely looking battle Keith, although I’m not really a fan of the rules
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt....as mentioned, I think they are OK without being great, so I understand your point of view!
DeleteLovely looking game! Personally, I adore To the Strongest! Very easy to teach and learn, everything makes sense, and LOTS of decisions to make. The game is more subtle than it appears at first. I think there might be some house rules here; ordinarily Lance markers can be replenished, which takes a successful RALLY activation, and the supply is limited (1 lance marker in reserve for each lance armed unit). Same for missile troops, except they use an easier, "RELOAD" activation. Cavalry become blown in "For King and Parliament" when they have expended all of their Dash markers, after which they can only move 1 box, and don't get a bonus card for charging. Not a bad house rule, though! To me the speed of play and the fact that the games almost always reach a definite conclusion within 3 hours are big plusses. Also, no arguments about flank attacks, shooting, field of fire etc., due to the grid. As they say, "your mileage may vary", however! :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Peter...I agree with virtually all of your points...thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive response!
DeleteYes, Julian has adopted some "bits" from FKAP...usually, we can resupply missile troops, this was just a one off for this particular game.
The grids do have the benefits you describe but also some downsides, in my opinion....but overall, yes, the rules provide a fun game and (usually) a finite and definite result!
thought I responded to this post...
ReplyDeleteNice looking game. can't really see the grid. TtS is one of those games that I have on my list to "try one day but probably never will'
I'm LOVING Julian's Normans. 😁
Thanks a lot Stew....I did check the spam folder yesterday but it was empty, so no withheld comments there.....
DeleteYip, these are both very nice collections!