First 10mm Ancient Test Game

 Well, I finally made it, just managed to sneak a couple of 10mm games in before the end of the year, and here is a quick review of the first one.

I used the One Hour Wargames rules as writ, plus the first scenario in the book, for my first game. I used the force generation table too and came up with a Roman force of 1 cavalry unit, 1 unit of archers, 1 unit of auxiliary infantry and 3 units of legionaries. The Britons got one unit of chariots, one of cavalry, 1 of skirmishers and 3 infantry units.

I also rolled for random disposition of both forces - the outcome can be seen below, with the Romans at the top of the image.

I took basically one picture at the end of each of the fifteen turns, plus a couple of close ups of the action

I reduced movement and ranges from inches to centimeters, as I thought that was better, given the small scale of the figures (plus the fact that I measured my card table and found its not 3' by3' at all - its only 29" square!)

First attack saw the Roman cavalry charge the chariots!

Position at the end of turn three

Turn four, and the Roman cavalry, mid left, are in a spot of bother!

The British skirmishers turned onto the cavalry's flank, which doubles the value of all hits!

Turn five, and the British cavalry charges the Roman auxiliaries

The end of turn six, and the Roman cavalry has been eliminated! Melees continue turn by turn, until they are resolved. Once a unit has accumulated 15 hits, it is broken and is removed from play.

End of turn seven, the British chariots on a sneaky flanking move, whilst in the centre, the infantry forces get stuck in.

End of turn eight, the Roman archers pulled back onto the hill to avoid being assaulted by barbarian infantry - but that has allowed the latter to swing into the flank of the Roman infantry line!

End of turn nine, the British cavalry has been destroyed by the auxiliary infantry on at the top right, whilst the chariots have charged the rear of the Roman infantry on the left of the picture

End of turn ten, the archers are ordered forward into the flank of the Britons who had previously flanked the main Roman battle line, as the auxiliary infantry also advance down the hill - meanwhile, the Roman unit with the chariots to their rear has been wiped out.

By this stage, turn eleven, most units were hanging on by the skin of their teeth - the auxiliary infantry, for example, were carrying 14 hits - and there had been a couple of lucky escapes for both sides, when flanking forces rolled a 1 for their attack, doubling to 2, rather than a 6, doubled to 12!

End of turn twelve, and both sides are pretty bashed about - the Britons only have a single infantry unit, isolated between three Roman units, plus their chariots and skirmishers out to the left of the picture.

End of turn thirteen, and the last British infantry were eliminated, as the Roman general forms a line with his remaining, battered troops

But the Britons decided they had had enough and ceded the field to their exhausted opponents.

The remaining Roman troops were, from left to right above, the auxiliary infantry on 14/15 hits, a legionary infantry unit on 6/15 hits and the archers on 0/15 hits!

The Brits had 11 hits on the skirmishers and only 2 on the chariot unit.

For those who are interested, here are the rules used:

Very simple but quite pleasing to use - and they lived up to their name, the first image is timed at 1432 and the last at 1527!

I then reset the table and played the same game again, using my adaptation of Andrews home brew ASN rules - but that is a tale for another day!