Monday 28 May 2012

Pyrrhic Victory

I went to Partizan yesterday, full of resolutions about shooting all the games, but only really managed to shoot the game we played, Heraclea.  Harry (eldest son below) and I arrived a full 15 minutes before any other punters (or the door staff!) and formed an elite queue of 2.


Here are some shots (all clickable) of Aventine Keith's, Adam and Craig Davey's splendid armies re-fighting the battle of Heraclea, 280 BC.  The armies were pretty well set up when we arrived, Pyrrhus and his allies below:-



...and the Romans, above.  Almost all of the miniatures are from Aventine's range, and painted by Keith, Adam and Craig.  Craig built the beautiful table.


Above is the view across the (very realistic) river towards the Pyrrhic skirmihsers opposite the Roman left.  I commanded the Roman left, and Harry, eldest scion of the Miller family, the Roman right; Keith the centre.  Craig and James (Wargame Insomniac) commanded the Greeks.

Below the Roman centre is advancing (both wings repeatedly and miserably failed command rolls):-



Above, on the Roman right, Harry had a lot of trouble but did gradually gain an ascendancy.

Below is a shot from behind the (very scary) phalanx.


Below, battle is joined along the line.  In general, the phalanx pushed the Romans back...

 
...and further back into the river.  Unfortunately my dice rolling was execrable and I just couldn't stop them!


Everything went wrong... Pyrrhus himself is in that unit of lancers on the left.

 
He killed my general, below (unhorsed), in hand-to-hand combat.

We decided that Pyrrhus had won, but his army took a beating, in a classic "Pyrrhic Victory".


It was a great game but Harry and I were somewhat frustrated by the numerous failed command rolls, which really slowed it down.  I'm still not entirely happy with Hail Caesar.  Aventine Keith had a really great grasp of the rules, though, which helped.  It was very kind of Keith to patiently explain the rules, and of Keith and Craig to let us play.

Below is the one other game I managed to get a picture of, the very photogenic "Warwick at Sea" laid on by the fine fellows at Wargames Soldiers and Strategy, fine fellows.  It was a stunning game and looked to be great fun.


I also managed to meet David Imrie, Phil Steele of the SOA, RTB plus one, Dug "Gimli" Page-Croft and Dr Phil Hendry (I bought the first set he has sold of his new "Augustus to Aurelian" rules) and a whole bunch of the WSS crew, amongst others.  It was very sociable.  Harry and I really enjoyed our first Partizan, and shall certainly be back in September!

21 comments:

Craig said...

Yep, I was right - others definitely did get better pictures than me!

Thanks for joining in the game.

Regards,
Craig

BigRedBat said...

Thanks for letting me play, Craig! Looks great!

Cheers, Simon

roma912 said...

Awesome! Wish I had been at the show where this was displayed.

Cheers
Ross

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Great looking table and it seems the battle was just as epic!

Christopher

Kaptain Kobold said...

Wow - is that Harry who didn't want to play HOTT against the 'scary guy with the beard' during one of the Glory Days :)

DeanM said...

Oh my! What a fantastic battle that is. The number and beauty of the figures are awe inspiring. Good work! Dean

Sire Godefroy said...

Tears in my eyes - what a great looking game. That's finally justice to the Pyrrhic Wars, one of the most interesting campaigns in Ancient history, and what got me started in historical wargames ages ago when there were no dedicated miniatures. Good to see them produced and presented at such a high standard nowadays.

Thanks for sharing it.
SG

Ray Rousell said...

Great pics, love the wotr ships, they look awesome!!!!

Counterpane said...

Yeah, Harry's a bit bigger than when last I saw him. Then again, my twins, Jamie and Charlie are sixteen today! Shocking!

The game looks great.

RTB said...

Good to see you Simon, meet Harry and get my eyes ruined by that shirt.

BigRedBat said...

Thnaks chaps! I do wish those were my minis, the chaps have a great collection.

Hi Alan, great to hear from you, has been too long! Yes indeed that is Harry, somewhat bigger than in '06 or whenever it was. I'll link to your blog.

Richard, I looked around for you in case you were there with the SOTCW crew. 16 year old twins, an interesting age, my youngest is just coming up to that.

RTB, what am I going to do when that shirt wears out? No one will be able to spot me at 200 paces!

Cheers, Simon

Cyrus said...

Excellent photos and a fantastic looking game!

Paul´s Bods said...

That phalanx does look a bit scarey!!! Great looking game. That fleet (the zvezda cogs) must have taken ages to build and paint.
Cheers
paul

Michael Awdry said...

Wow! Now that really does look seriously impressive! What a tremendous game.

Phinster the Gamer said...

Good photos, thanks for the post. I wish I were there.

BaronVonJ said...

Greta looking game. Don't give up on Hail Caesar.

Silver Whistle said...

Great looking game, thanks for sharing.

fireymonkeyboy said...

Fantastic. So cool to see that many figures on the table.

Gary said...

What rules where used for the battle? The battle report was great to read. Been a lurker reading your blog for a very long time.

BigRedBat said...

Thanks everyone; Craig and Keith laid on a great spectacle!

Gary, welcome. Rules were Hail Caesar with which I currently have a love/hate relationship!

Dalauppror said...

Thanks for some very good pictures !

Best regards Michael