Saturday, January 12, 2013

Impetvs- Carthage vs Gaul

Its been a while but Kent and I got round to a game of Impetvs. I had my Armenains all ready to go but a last minute e-mail informed me Kent ated to use his lovely but as yet untested Carthaginian army so I quickly morphe my Germanic hordes to Gauls/Galatians.

Both armies were 300 pts, I ran 3 commands, Kent had one.

I fielded:
Command 1 (poor): 3x Cav
Command 2 (poor): 2x larg warband, 2x warband, 1 skirmshers
Command 3 (Fair): 2x larg warband, 2x elite warband, 1x skirmishers

The Carthaginians had:
3x Cav
2x Veteran infantry (inlcuding general)
3-4x Libyan spears
3x Italian alllies (FL)
1x Elephant
2x Baleric slingers (skirmishers) 

My Cavalry took the left flank and warband the centre and right.
 Kent's army deployed- elephants ahoy!
 Kents absolutely amazingly painted elephant. This even exceeds his normal standard of painting. 
 Slingers protect the "Nellie"
 The Carthaginians advance.

 Here warband prepare to charge the Carthaginian line.
 Kent ponders his next move as the Gallic warband crash through the Italian allies.
 One Italian unit onto two large warbands? Doesn't seem fair really
 My skirmishers taunt the Nellie.

 the elephant ignors the taunts and charges my warband instad.
My right flank is dangerously exposed (some would say non-existent) as the warband try to make it to the safety of the broken ground.
  Combat is brutal in the centre but eventually the elephant is slaughtered.
 Disorder everywhere. Kent is tarting to use the mobility of his veterans to flank charge my large warband.
 My army is about to break so in throw in the cavalry vs the Libyans as I attempt to stave off defeat.
 I just manage to finish off the Veteran Carthagian general to break Kent's army- my army has already been broken this turn so earn a hard fought draw.


It was a close but brutal game. Having thre commands worked for my force (well nearly) as it allowed me to have lots of turns to eahc one of Kent's and I thik is a very useful tactic for barbaric horde armies.

 I concluded that Impetvs seems to work better with single player operating several commands as opposed to several players each with a single command due to the dynamic nature of rounds.  With multiple players you need to wait until a player has finished before activating another command so a lot of time is spent watching, this dos not happen in one vs one play.

It as a fun game. Kent is keen to use the Carthaginians again so we will have a rematch on Wednesday at 400 pts. Time to get my Chariots out and build a "proper" Celtic army. Alas the game has "forced" me to take advantage of the Black Tree Design 50% off sale to get some Celtic (and German) reinforcements.

Craig


6 comments:

  1. Great report !!!! Very nice figurines ! Congratulations

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    1. Thanks el frances. Impetvs is a great, dynamic game and having nice figures is a bonus- that elephant of Kent's is truly inspiring.

      Craig

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  2. Hi Craig, Carthaginians are very cool - Nellie and all, I was pondering getting some Pre Marian Republican myself would need people to have suitable opposing forces. I guess now I will need to focus on some Samurai for if this Impetvs thing @ southcon occurs! I agree with you about the multiple commands and the warbands - Having multiple generals around is very handy too for the bonuse to cohesion and discipline too. Can really lift the army.

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  3. My Republican Romans are in the half finished pile, without the Triari they should do as Marians too. My Cathaginians are almost battle ready but went on the back burner when Kent started his. I really need to get Extra Impetvs 4(?) to get the lists so I can use my Numidians too. I really struggle to get enthused to play Roman type armies but enjoy the chaotic hordes so the next job is to get a few more Celts up and running- and they will include a couple of chariots this week.

    More commands is definitely the way to go but the Celts are glass cannons as more commands also makes it easier to break the army too

    Craig

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  4. Great figures and AAR, "par Belenos"!
    Phil.

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  5. Thanks Phil, expect another AAR later in the week as the Gauls/Celts clash with the Carthaginians once again.

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