Sunday 6 May 2018

The Battle of Philippi 42BC - To The Strongest Rules


Well, it's been a funny old year so far.  Not least in my wargaming activities.  This has manifested in the form of incompleted units, stops and starts on projects and now redundancy putting the sudden brakes on my (sometimes excessive!) wargaming spending. 

I tend to like to put photos of finished units up on here, but finished units have been scant few so far this year. 


One of my greatest successes this year to date, however, has been finally getting a decent game in using Simon Miller's 'To The Strongest' Rules.  I have only just finished putting the figures away (it's now 0210hrs!) and i'm still buzzing from playing such an enjoyable game.


I have looked at the rules on and off over the last 3 years and tried play testing them but I clearly was doing things wrong.  A quick email to Simon and he very helpfully clarified what I should be doing!  Suddenly it all clicked into place. This was in 2016 and to my great shame, I never got around to playing again until last week when I play tested the rules correctly this time.  With this growing confidence I painted up a couple more units!


This evening the rules got a more thorough testing as I played my regular wargaming opponent, Ian.  We are both big fans of 'Hail Caesar' and are used to using ruler and dice and I was most interested to know what he thought of the rules.


I loosely based the game around the Battle of Philippi (42BC), the first of the two battles of that year.  I made a lot of guesses for the units and allies and introduced special rules and modifiers to reflect Cassius's likelihood of suicide if his camp is captured and also Octavian's poor performance as a General during this battle.


The marsh and hills were rough terrain and so favoured light troops.


I have to say I do mostly game with 28mm figures but playing the game with 10mm figures was an absolute joy for the 'Grand Battle' experience.  I have been painting these figures on and off for a few years now and did some serious basing work last night to get the troops ready for today.


I won't give a full battle report of the game - the main reason is that it is so much work to do that and it would just put me off making any kind of blog post at all - and I have struggled of late to get any posts done at all.


It reflects well on the rules in that, as Ian's army started to collapse (and mine somehow clung on despite the disorder affecting my centre) he still really enjoyed the game.  There are so many subtle and cleverly thought out rules that it really was a joy to play.


Please excuse the cotton wool balls being used as disorder markers - its just something that we have always used. Traditionally to represent smoke but I guess it could represent dust clouds being kicked up!


It was a hard fought game and the legionaries on both sides really slogged away.  Ian's Spanish Scutarii bravely prevented my cavalry from executing a dangerous turning motion and one of my light infanty units gave ground slowly against one of Brutus's Legions.  This held my line long enough to recover and ease rallying for my weakening troops.



 In summary I have to say that the rules are superb!  They really are so much fun!  There is much built into it which isn't perhaps apparent on first reading.  Initially I was surprised by the lack of supporting units rules - but they are there - they just work in a really great way.  Supporting units enable you to rally much more easily by preventing the enemy from having units threatening which could cause your testing unit deduction penalties.    The rules were great and we can't wait to try them again.  I have another couple of units of Spanish pushing their way to the front of the painting queue!




In case you wondered, the rules, gold Roman coin medals, marker chits and mat are available from Simon Miller's website https://bigredbatshop.co.uk/

The 10mm figures used here are available from Old Glory UK and are the 'Grandscale 10mm' figures.

I really do need to get some decent camps/field fortifications though - my card ones are a bit of a let down!

15 comments:

  1. Must have been a big change with 28mm...Splendid and impressive mass effect, great report Jason!

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    1. Hi Phil, It was a big change from 28mm. Years ago I would never have imagined going smaller than 28mm (but then as a teenager I would never have thought of going smaller than 54mm plastics!). Great fun and the possibilities of huge battles suddenly becomes more realistic! :-)

      Best wishes, Jason

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  2. Hi Jason, I'm so pleased you had fun! The 10mm units look wonderful- they give a real impression of mass. You might also like to download the "Even Stronger" supplement if you don't already have it- some revisions to rules that I think add to play. Best, Simon

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    1. Hi Simon, Great to hear from you. I will have to get the download now as you suggest! :-) Ian has got into 6mm War of Spanish Succession troops...the question is what rules to use. I'm starting to think that your new ECW rules with period amendments might be just the thing for large games we can do finish in an evening.
      Best wishes,
      Jason

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  3. Great looking game Jason and very pleased you enjoyed the TTS rules. We absolutely think they are sensational and a great rejuvenation of our Ancients Wargames at our club.

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    1. Hi Carlo,
      Thanks - it was a briliant game and I am now painting more 10mm Spanish to join my Romans. They are an excellent set of rules.
      Best wishes,
      Jason

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  4. Nice report Jason and great figures well worth the effort. Your figures are similar to mine but with many more to the unit, if only I had the time. Below is a link to my project, have a think about using the boardgame as a campaign (which I will continue at some point). https://thenorthumbrianwargamer.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/10mm%20Caesarian%20Roman
    Dave.

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    1. Hi Dave, Well I have to say that it was your blog and your great photos of your 10mm Caesarian Romans which made me opt to go for this scale! I saw it a couple of years ago and just thought 'Wow!'. I have never played a campaign game before and have always wanted to - your idea of using the Julian Caesar boardgame has really got me thinking. It is a great idea and looks a good straightforward way of doing it. It's a great looking campaign map too. I shall be thinking on this lots this week I think!
      Best wishes,
      Jason

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    2. ..Just spotted that I wrote 'Julian Caesar'...whoops! :-D

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  5. Great looking armies Jason!

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    1. Thanks Cyrus, the armies have increased by two further units this week! :-)

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  6. Your 10 mm troops look wonderful, Jason. As you know, I've been a fan of TtS! from early on. I'm glad you liked it as well. I agree that the rules are far more subtle than they appear at first glance.

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    1. Hi Peter, Thank you very much for your kind comment. I have just downloaded the 'Even Stronger' supplement as Simon suggested and I like the rules even more now.
      Best wishes,
      Jason

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  7. Yes, the tweaks ion the supplement improve the rules further!

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  8. Hello Jason.

    My name is Anastasios and I come from Greece (to be more specific, I come from Kavala -a city in northern Greece, extremely close to the field of the battle of Philippi).

    I have seen your model of the battle of Philippi and I would like to contact with you for further details about its construction. Could you please write your email address so that I will be able to send you some further details about my intentions?

    Best regards,

    Anastasios Markoulidis

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