Operation: Rebase

Having enjoyed the game the other day I am frantically rebasing to get a force of Numidians assembled and ready for a rematch vs Kent and his carthaginians. Hunting through my lead piles I discovered 4x packs of Foundry Numidian infantry that will make a great start to my Numidian warband. That is about half of what I need so scanning the internet I have spied the new plastic Victrix Numidian light infantry and will add some of those to the Foundry figures to each base to bulk out the force. I've not bought Victrix before so am interested to see how they will turn out- they look good on the website.

I've revised my army list from the other day, doubling the infantry component and will need a total of 6 light infantry/warbands for the bulk of the Numidian light infantry warbands.

My figures are being rebased to the "Impetus standard" which has the look I prefer. That means my bases will be 12cm wide and depth varying according to troop type. So that figures don't get damaged I tend to go for slightly deeper bases for skirmishers and heavy infantry:

• skirmishers: 4cm 
• Heavy foot 5 cm
• Light foot 6cm

Just to complicate matters further the local gamers use 2x 8cm bases= 1 unit in Hail Caesar so their unit frontages are 16cm wide. I'm not keen on 8cm, or 16 cm for that matter, bases anymore so will need to come up with a cunning plan for gaming vs the other local armies. I think I will add a 4cm wide spacer/sabot to increase their unit footprint. Luckily my light horse are already at the right (12cm) widths being "small units". At this stage I'll just use empty terrain covered "spacers" but may end up putting 1 or two figures on them. We will see.

The other issue I have is how to depict my warband units such as my Numidian light infantry.
In Hail Caesar light foot, warband are 3-4 ranks deep which means that bases need to be twice as deep, or two standard bases- which means a lot of figures, hmmm... Large Warband are double width (as well as double depth) in HC so that means a large foot warband unit is 4 times larger than my "Impetus" warband. Given that each base has 8-10 figures that is a lot of painting! Okay, so how does Impetus treat "large" warband? You add a second rank to the warband and once it has taken enough casualties your remove it, so a large warband in Impetus will be half the size of the large warband in Hail Caesar and deeper rather than wider on the table top.

Having given it a bit of thought this morning I've come up with a compromise (of sorts) that should work and will require slightly less work for large (HC) warband bases.  My solution? I think I'll make my warband bases the same size as my Cavalry bases, thus they will be 12cm x 8cm and will each have 8-10 figures in a loose formation on them. If I want to make large units then I'll add a second such base for Hail Caesar. For both games I think I will simply add a skirmisher sized base with 3-4 figures to represent the extra back ranks- that way the footprint will remain about right. An ideal solution? Maybe not but, and this is the important part, it should work.

Anyone got any idea which manufacturer these are? I thought they might be Crusader and quite like them so wanted more but aren't 100% sure which brand they are.

Rebased light horse and some Numidian command stands.

And the bases painted and ready for vegetation. However, I am unsure what I will add to add to them at this stage.

Below is this mornings efforts: Since I need 6 bases of warband I started rebasing some Celts (mainly Warlord plastics) which I'll use as Galatians as well as allies for the Carthaginians and Republican Romans and till I've enough Numidians done support for the Numidians too.

As you can see my idea of "spacer" bases. Adding a couple of infantry to these spacers would be visually appealing and would kind of represent skirmisher types on the flanks of the main warband.

So a bit of work finishing off these bases tonight.

It is nice to be back into doing some gaming related after a long, long break.

Craig

Carthaginian's vs Gauls- 400 pts

Another clash vs Kent's Carthaginian's tonight. A couple of minor changes to my list:

My Gauls

Commander: Poor (+1)(13 pts)

4x        CM Cavalry 

1x        S Javelinmen

           

Commander: Fair (+2) (19 pts)

2x        FL  Elite Warriors-large (Gen)

2x        FL Warriors- large

2x        S Javelinmen

Commander: Fair (+2)(19 pts)

2x        FL  Elite Warriors-large (Gen)

2x        FL Warriors- large

2x        S Javelinmen

I used the rulebook (VBU 3 skirmishers) and put all my cavalry into a single command.The rationale for the single javelin unit is bit of a metagame- the command will break at 50% losses so it brings the break point up to 7 meaning that if I hide the javelinman along my backline I will need to lose 3 cavalry units to break the command. Hopefully though if I send two cavalry units forward and leave two in reserve. If I can retreat the cavalry when they are damaged before they are destroyed I should be able to throw forward the two reserve units.

 

Kent used the same commands as last time, evenly split.

Carthaninians 

Good command

1x Veteran spearmen

1x Libyan Spearmen

2x Spanish scutari (javelins)

2x skirmishers

1x elephant 

1x punic cavalry

2nd command the same but with a poor commander. 

Kent's poor commander rolled double ones on turn 1 and so become incompetent which had major repercussions for the rest of the game...

 My plan? To try to win on the flank with my cavalry, holding half back a a reserve while also trying to outflank Kent's troops on the open right flank.

 The Gallic cavalry prepares to advance.

 Nothing like a mob of impetuous Gauls. My strategy this time is to put all my infantry into large blocks and close as quickly as possible  before the accursed javelinmen wear down my infantry.

 Kent's punic cavalry.

 My right flank infantry command advances on turn 1.

 Turn 2- After having become incompetent on turn 1 on turn 2 he wheels his line to face my advancing horde. In the centre/right he pushes forward his screen of scutari and skirmishers. My second block of nfantry advances in the centre.

 My right flank advances though the woods, their young javelinmen advance taunting the Carthaginians.

 Meanwhile on the left flank my cavalry drive the punic cavalry back.

 Turn 4 (I think) my infantry on y right pass the woods and close with Kent's poor command- which once again is paralysed with indecision.

 My strategy on the left is going much better than expected, smashing several units. Kent's left in in danger of being overrun and I have still taken no losses!  Having destroyed the Libyan spearmen and driven off the cavalry the Spanish Scutari have turned to face the threat and try to stabilise the situation.

 In the centre, my crazy Gauls close with the Carthaginians, driving back an elephant. Finally though Kent's javelinmen start doing some damage and my centre takes a couple of losses.

 In the end Kent's left flank collapsed spectacularly and his army routed. My left flank took some damage in the last turn as Kent tried to get some points back before the game ended. That command lost 8 pts in the end (6 n the final turn)  and my centre command lost 6 pts but we destroyed the right and inflicted major losses on the left flank too. My cavalry command performed much better than expected, even if my plan to hold half the units back failed when I spied an opportunity early on...

A rather decisive victory and a complete reversal of last weeks game! The game took less than  1 1/2 hours all up so we are keen to increase to 500 pts for the next game, I might need to paint up a couple more units of Gauls for that though...

Next Thursday is ANZAC Day so Kent a talking of a multi-player game with Nigel and Dale, possibly an East Front FoW bash so no Impetvs next week. 

Craig

Impetvs- Carthaginians and Celts

Work continues  (slowly) on my Carthaginian and Celt armies. Last night I painted up two stands of Spanish skirmishers (Caetrati) to finish off the 400 pt Carthaginian army and over Easter managed to paint up a couple of stands of armoured Celts to act as my heavy foot soldurii (VBU 6) in my Celtic army. These will be the heavy hitters and unlike the rest of the force are FP so somewhat slower on the tabletop. I was a bit ambivalent about the BTD Celt sculpts (though I do love the Germans)  but painted up they look fine and will add a few more as my warband grows. I now have 18 stands of Celtic Warband done so the army is getting to be a decent size and can easily make 500 + points. I need to paint up another 4 stands of rear rank warband and also 2 stands of Javelin armed skirmishers, overall though the army is getting there.

 400 pt Carthaginian Army

Command structure good

Commander: Fair (+2)

1x FP Veterans (Gen)

1x FP Libyans

2x FL Veteran Gallic Warriors

2x CL Numidian Cav

2x S Numidians

           

Commander: Fair (+2)

1x FP Veterans (Gen)

1x FP Libyans

2x CM Spanish  Cavalry

2x FL Spanish Scutarii

2x S Spanish Caetrati

At 500 pts I simply add 2x Carthaginian Vet cavalry and 2x elephants. Done

 

My latest 400 pt Celtic army is:

 Commander: Fair (+2)

2x CM Cavalry 

1x FL  Vet Warriors-large (Gen)

1x FL  Vet Warriors-large VBU 5

2x FL Warriors- rear rank

2x FL Warriors

2x S Javelinmen

           

Commander: Fair (+2)

2x CM Cavalry  

2x FP Soldurii (Gen)

2x FP rear rank (regular warriors)

2x FL  Vet Warriors-large VBU 5

2x FL Warriors- rear rank

2x FL Warriors

3x S Javelinmen

 Below: Warband (left) and Soldurii (right). There is quite a difference in size between the Foundry Celts (the three figures in the front rank on the left base) and the BTD armoured Celts (right). Both fit with the plastic Celts from Warlord though- the Foundry being slightly shorter and the BTD a bit taller and definitely chunkier. The general figure is Warlord Games metal and fits better with the BTD range, overall though as long as Foundry and BTD figures are on separate bases the difference isn't too bad and not enough to worry about.

Thoughts on using Warband armies in Impetvs

I really enjoy using the Celts and my Ancient German warband armies in Impetvs. They are unpredictable and hard to manage, and timing of the charge is everything so they take a bit of getting used to. Much more fun to use than the oh so predictable Roman Legionnaires.   The German especially suffer at the hands of the Imperial Romans whose interleaved auxillia cancel the Germans one ace, their Impetvs bonus, but even so they make for challenging and fun games.

With my Celtic/Gallic/Galatian army the smaller warbands act to protect the flanks and fill any gaps that emerge while the large warbands, operating in pairs, do the heavy lifting. I have found the key to their success is holding the warbands back on opportunity for a turn or two to see what develops. I tend to lead with a skirmisher screen of javelins and possibly cavalry to disrupt the enemy line before releasing the warband and then tryng to get into contact with the Impetvs bonus intact. Not exactly rocket science when it comes to tactics and cunning with this lot.

One thing I do want to experiment with is more FP for the Celts, being slower they won’t race off quite as quickly, but of course it means that they cannot dominate the bad going to the same degree. 

Craig

Impetvs- Cathage v Celts

Gaming Room update. Concrete went down today so is now drying.

lowly getting back into painting. I have painted up 6 stands of rear ranks for my Celtic warband and also a unit of Black Tree  Design cavalry.  I have some Black tree Celtic infantry to paint up but am a bit concerned that they dwarf the Warlord Games and Foundry ranges os am pondering whether or not to get more Foundry Celts to add to the army instead.

Tonight Kent and I got together for  a 40 pt rematch of our last Cathage- vs Gaul game.

I now have Extra Impetvs 4 so was using the new Gallic lit in that, which meant no more VBU3 javelinmen but the option fo taking some heavy foot. as per usual I opted for 3 commands, a small cavalry command, a large warband command and a smaller command of heavy foot.

Cavalry (poor commander)
2x cav, 1x skirmisher

Light Foot Command (Average commander)
3x large warband (vets in front)
2x warband
2x skirmishers- javelines
1x cav

Heavy foot command
2x large solduri (VBU 6)
2x warband
2x skirmishers- javelins
2x light chariots

 The Celts deploy.

Kent' Carthaginians- he had 2 commands with:
2x punic cav
4x Spanish scutari (javelins)
2x vet infantry
3x infanrry
3x skrimsihers
2x elephants

 A rather nicely painted elephant.

 Turn 1. I opted to put most of my army on opportunity to hold it back till the right time but let my cavalry advance, screening the flank.

 Kent reacted by ending his punic nobles forward to investigate.

 In the centre our skirmishers clashed and his superior troops (VBU 3) soon drove my skirmih screen back.

 Meanwhile on my right the Carthaginian advance continued,

 Turn 3 or 4. And still the Celtic warband wait their orders to attack- about the only tactical decision we get to make, when to release the horde.

 Wait for it...wait for it....

 The cavalry clash and my cavalry come off second bet and are routed form the field.

 Was that the signal we were waiting for? Time to advance then!

 In the centre the heavy foot crash into the Veteran spearmen and in time will come off second best.

 Even the chariots tried to run down a few Spanish scutarii.

 The warband drove the elephant back and, as so often happen in Impetvs, the battle breaks down into a series of disjointed fights with both sides desperately trying to get to win the command roll offs to activate endangered commands.

 My right wing is starting to collapse but I also have Kent's troops on the ropes. Who will break first?

 On the left I am finally making inroads having driven back the pesky skirmishers and advancing into the Libyan spearmen but the casualties have not been light.

 Booth sides are rapidly approaching their break point.

 Even the chariots are thrwon i to try to turn the tide of battle in our favour.

Our right flanks have utterly destroyed each other, I am left with my general and a stand of warband (5 pts out of 24) at the end of the final rounds combats but Kent's command is also shattered.

 On my left the final rounds combats also broke this command and the Celts returned home to lick their wounds as did the Carthaginians. Both sides were utterly exhausted and retreat to lick their wounds.

Result
As usual a great game. As so often happen it came down to a race to break the other army first and in the end we both lost but had a lot of fun doing so in game that really went to the wire. I am already looking forward to a rematch.