So What's the Point?

With all the excitement building over the imminent release of Hail Caesar! the Yahoo Group (less than two months old and the rules aren't even out, yet and they have more members than Legion and Empire ever got! No I'm not bitter.) and Forums are already a buzz about supplements.

That was before Rick Priestly even asked what people would like.

This has kicked off another debate about points and army lists. For many decades we have had the WRG/DBx/FoG approach, with Chinese restaurant menus of troops and building an army to a certain amount of points. Some like them since it gives them a handy guide to what they can include in their army and limits on how many. There are some highly subjective and very tenuous quantifiers as well, although I think any mook should be able to figure out that a heavily armoured cavalryman is just a bit more valuable and useful than a guy in rags with a pointed stick. I wanted to take the high road and make Legion and Empire 'pointless' but I was pushed into it by the parties interested in publishing the rules.

I think this illustrates one of the fundamental problems with ancient wargaming.  Many of these lists are based on some very sketchy textual and epigraphical evidence. We cannot even agree on the colour of a legionaries tunic and yet we are to come up with an official and binding army list when all we have are literally some scratches on a rock? This of course creates endless arguing and spilling of ink in the gaming media as people bring out new research to challenge the old lists. Games set after 1700 can get away from points and army lists because there are more historical sources, including actual orders of battle upon which one can build one's army.

Plus the whole idea of selecting your order of battle off a menu like you're ordering a meal just doesn't work for me. The lying awake at night wondering if it is worth the points expenditure to go for the armour and long spear upgrade is extremely silly. (And I lost a Warhammer Ancient Battles game because I did not spend the extra points to get the long thrusting spear option!) I doubt Caesar had these issues. He had the troops he had on hand and did what he could with them.

So I'm thinking some sort of card or dice driven random selection process might not be better. One could start with the scenario and some basic core troops and then dice or draw cards for the extras to flesh out your order of battle. The possible selections could be varied by the scenario, the army or even the results of the last game giving a simple campaign mechanic. Peter Pig's Wars of the Roses and Samurai rules use some opposed die rolling to modify the orders of battle and generate a scenario. I'm trying to incorporate these ideas into the revision of Blood & Chivalry I was working on. I also have vague thoughts of doing the same for Legion and Empire, but going back and dismantling it to rebuild seems like a lot of work right now.

Many, like myself, have been turned off by the tournament style army lists and welcomed Hail Caesar's scenario driven approach as a breath of fresh air. Let's hope Rick is listening and resists the pressure to turn his game into a Chinese dinner.

Progress on Resolution #2 (SYW Orders of Battle)

Managed to have some of the guys over for a Seven Year's War Black Powder game last night. Keith brought his Russians and Swedes which were allied with my Bavarians and Austrians. The Austrians made a good showing, blowing away the Prussian Garde du Corps kuraissier regiment with massed musketry. This was the first outing for the Pandours, so they feel pretty chuffed about things.

The game was notable for crap command rolls on both sides. I think 7 for the middle of the road Staff Rating may be too low and bumping everyone up by 1  might be better. Making the senior Prussian regiments 'Superbly Drilled' helped (once I remembered about that rule for them), but one has to choose to use the move and leave the artillery behind or maybe wait for next turn? I definitely think now that a Staff Rating of 7 would hamper the Reichsarmee or Saxons quite enough. Everyone else should be 8 or 9 and leave the 10s for the really dynamic commanders like Ziethen or Nadasty (maybe).

Here is the Order of Battle for the Prussians used last night. 6 figure cavalry squadrons and 12 figure infantry battalions. I did add some more artillery to balance out Keith's Russian artillery. The table formatting has been stripped off by Blogger unfortunately. I suppose I could try and save it as a .jpeg and upload it as an image? Is that possible?

Army Name: Prussian Army

Commander-in-Chief Frederick the Great Staff Rating: 8

Brigade: Left Wing Cavalry Commander: Schmettau Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

KR 2 Heavy cav Sword 9 0 3+ 3 HvyCav d3

DR 6 Cavalry Sword 8 0 4+ 3

HR 8 (Red) Lt. Cavalry Sword 7 0 4+ 3 Marauder



Brigade: Right Wing Cavalry Commander: Furstenburg Staff Rating: 8

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

KR 13 Gd Cavalry Sword 10 0 3+ 3 HvyCav D3, Reliable

DR 3 Cavalry Sword 8 0 4+ 3

HR 5 (Black) Lt. Cavalry Sword 8 0 3+ 3 Hvy Cav +1,



Brigade: 1st Brigade Commander: Wedell Staff Rating: 8

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

IR 15 Gd Inf Muskets 7 4 3+ 4 Elite 4+, Superbly Drilled, First Fire

IR 6 Gren Gds Muskets 7 4 3+ 4 Elite 4+, Superbly Drilled, First Fire

IR 2 Musketeers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Superbly drilled, First Fire

Jaegers Lt Inf Rifles 5 3 4+ 3 Skirmish,Sharp shooter

12 pdr artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2



Brigade: 2nd Brigade Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

FR 35 Fusiliers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First Fire

FR 40 Fusiliers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First Fire

FR 42 Fusiliers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First Fire

GR 1 Garrison Muskets 5 2 5+ 3

6 pdr artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2



Brigade: 3rd Brigade Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

IR 19 Musketeers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Superbly Drilled, First Fire

IR 13 Musketeers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Superbly Drilled, First Fire

IR 18 Musketeers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Superbly Drilled, First Fire

Grenadiers Grenadiers Muskets 7 3 4+ 4 Elite 4+, Superbly Drilled, First Fire

6 pdr artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2



Brigade: 4th Brigade Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

IR 24 Musketeers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Superbly Drilled, First Fire

IR 27 Musketeers Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Superbly Drilled, First Fire

GR 2 Garrison Muskets 5 2 5+ 3

6 pdr artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2



Brigade: 5th Brigade Commander: ‘Quintus Icilius’ Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

Von Kleist Freikorps Infantry Muskets 5 3 5+ 3 Marauder, skirmish

Freikorps Infantry Muskets 5 3 5+ 3 Marauder, skirmish

Freikorps Infantry Muskets 5 3 5+ 3 Marauder, skirmish

FK Uhlans Lt Cavalry Lance 6 0 4+ 3 Marauder, skirmish, lance



Here is the Order of Battle for the Allied Army:

Army Name: Allies

Commander-in-Chief Staff Rating: no CiC


Brigade: Austrians Commander: Staff Rating: 8

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

Grenadiers Infantry Muskets 7 3 4+ 4 Superbly drilled, First Fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Pandours Lt infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Skirmish, marauder

Pandours Lt infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Skirmish, marauder

3 pdr Artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2 24cm range

6 pdr Artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2



Brigade: Bavarians Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

Grenadiers Infantry Muskets 7 3 4+ 4 Superbly drilled, First Fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

3 pdr Artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2 24cm range

6 pdr Artillery 1 3-2-1 4+ 2



Brigade: Russians Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

Grenadiers Infantry Muskets 7 3 4+ 4 Superbly drilled, First Fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Pandours Lt infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 Skirmish, marauder

Heavy Gun

Medium Gun

Howitzer



Brigade: Russian Cavalry Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

Dragoon Cavalry Sword 8 0 4+ 3

Hussar Lt. Cavalry Sword 7 0 4+ 3 Marauder

Cossack Lt Cavalry Lance 6 0 4+ 3 Marauder, skirmish, lance


Brigade: Swedes Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

Grenadiers Infantry Muskets 7 3 4+ 4 Superbly drilled, First Fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Musketeers Infantry Muskets 6 3 4+ 3 First fire

Medium Gun


Brigade: Swedish Cavalry Commander: Staff Rating: 7

Unit Type Weapon Hand-to-Hand Shooting Morale Stamina Special

Dragoon Cavalry Sword 8 0 4+ 3


Although I just realized I forgot to use the 'heavy cavalry d3' modifier when KR2 had their charge. They got stuck in with some Russian dragoons and flanked by cossacks. D'oh! It was a drawn melee and both sides recoiled. If I had remembered the heavy cavalry bonus they would have won their fight and turned the Russian flank!

Otherwise all the troop types got to see some action to test the stat lines and I was pleased with how they worked out. It was also the biggest SYW battle we've had in a while with 20+ units per side. I got all of my Prussian infantry on the table this time, and things moved along nicely.

The criticism I've heard that troops get blown away too quickly didn't happen last night. The Allies only lost two units and the Prussians three after some pretty intensive musketry and close range artillery. I had most of Keith's Russian infantry shaken and with another round of musketry he might've started blowing his Break Tests, leaving a big hole where his center used to be. Or he might've rallied some troops and rolled boxcars on his Break Tests and held it together too.

Shame no one brought a camera. But you can see the Austrians here and the Prussians and Bavarians here. Keith's Russians and Swedes are featured in an early battle here.

I've got one more commission to do and then for a reward I've promised myself I'll paint up some cavalry for the Austrians. 6 hussars, 6 dragoons and 12 kuraissiers.

Rabbitman Gets His Theme Song

A Steampunk friend put me on to this little ditty:


It's strange, but I like it anyway.

Ancient pictures of ancient battles

I realized the other day that I had some old pictures saved in the Albums section of the Legion & Empire Yahoo Group. The resolution and lighting arent' the greatest, but I'll post some of the better ones here to give you an idea of what my friends and I got up to back when we played a lot more often.



Roman infantry fend off Persian cavalry.



Cavalry wings clash.

Perry Gray of Ottawa and I got together at a MIGSCON one year to put our Roman and Sassanid Persian armies together for a rather big battle with Scott and Don helping. 

This was a game at John's house; Republican Romans vs. Seleucids. We made up the Seleucid army using Scott's Alexandrian pikes supported by Persian cataphracts. I think we had to use blank bases for the scythed chariots. No one had any model that could proxy for those.

Here's a game from Hotlead 2007 that I put on. Sertorius with some Spanish auxiliaries fights Pompey.

Another game at John's house. Spanish tribes ambush a Roman column.

Patrick made a city. So we had to lay siege to it. Legions advance with some siege towers. For the siege towers we used some resin city towers.

A nice view of the city itself.

The Fall of the West: A Review

There has been a lot of ink spilled over "Why did Rome fall?" and after reading a lot of Roman history I've come to the conclusion that the better question should be (as Gibbon points out in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) "How did it last so long?"

Anything by Goldsworthy about Roman history is worth reading and this book is no exception. My paperback weighed in at a hefty 531 pages. He starts with the death of Marcus Aurelius in A.D. 180 and finishes with the overrunning of much of the Eastern Empire by the Arabs in the 7th century.

In between he gives an economical narrative of events interspersed with discussions of the social, economic, political, military and religious threads that weave through the narrative. He approaches every theory about why Rome fell, examines the sources, the arguments and the evidence and then draws his conclusions.

Of course I think I like this book because it agrees with me. Goldsworthy argues that there was no one single cause for the fall of the Western Empire, but it did indeed fall (some argue for a more peaceful transition from the ancient to the medieval world). It was just a long, slow and painful process because the Empire was so darn big. It's bigness was both a strength and a weakness.

No barbarian group could hope to defeat the Empire and overthrow it because even in the 5th century it was just too big, but on the other hand the very size of the Empire made it very hard to control and react with any efficiency. Economic, demographic and military difficulties however all combined to eventually undermine the structure and leave it vulnerable. After the civil wars of the 3rd century the Roman Emperors were increasingly concerned with survival and defeating rivals for power. All of this exhausted Imperial resources and as barbarian groups were settled in the Empire to provide troops to support one faction or another they took Imperial land out of the tax base, further weakening the Empire in the long-term in exchange for a short term military advantage.

He also observes that the removal of the Emperors from Rome and increased reliance on barbarian warlords and equestrians rather than the senatorial class also caused long-term problems. The senators, being a small group were easier to know and control. But by elevating the equestrians and warlords the Emperors actually gave impetus to a larger pool of potential rivals, causing an increase in usurpers and civil war.

The barbarians may have murdered the Empire, but they found a victim already weakened by its own internal political, economic and social problems. Many of these problems seem to have been caused by inherent human short-sightedness and stupidity.

So if you only read one history of the later Empire, this is the one to get.

Legions of Doom!

I've had this blog for a year now and haven't really talked about my ancient armies yet.

For quite a long time I was a very serious ancients gamer. But not your usual "I have a 1500 pt tournament winning army" sort of ancients gamer. For one thing my collection of Penguin Classics ancient primary sources is pretty extensive.

OG15mm legion L faces Essex legion R

I hate tournament games. I've also never been able to get into the WRG or DBx rules. The whole power-gaming tournament mindset leaves me cold. Plus there are too many acronyms and arcane rule clauses. The generic vanilla flavouring of DBA just took all the fun out things too. (Although I have to admit than when I've played DBA as part of the battle resolution in a campaign game it was pretty brilliant.)

I tried Tactica when it came out but it was unplayable if you didn't build the exact Tactica orders of battle. Which takes all the fun out of planning your army. Those rules did at least break the WRG/DBx strangle hold.

15mm Goths. OG and Chariot minis.

15mm Late Imperial Infantry. Essex and Viking Forge minis.

15mm Late Imperial Limitani. Chariot minis.

15mm Late Imperial cavalry wing. Chariot, Essex and Viking Forge minis.

Then Warhammer Ancient Battles came along. Very pretty. Seemed fun. But the rules broke down in the way that all the other Warhammer games did; you won or lost your game in the army list design. And there were too many gimmicky troop types and special rules. I do still get out the WAB source books I bought, mostly just to peruse the pictures though.

So I wrote my own; Legion & Empire. Miniature Wargaming in the Roman Era. Playtested it to death until all my regular gaming buddies were sick of ancients and had two different publishers fold under me.

Army command stand. Corvus Belli, Essex and OG figures.

Division commander. Corvus Belli, Essex and OG figures.

Cavalry command stand. Corvus Belli figures.

Around this time I was influenced by Simon McDowell's book Romans, Goths and Huns. My armies are based in the way he outlines in his book. He has fleshed out his rules on his Comitatus website.

Now the wargaming community is set buzzing about Hail Caesar!, the ancient version of Black Powder which is due to be released by Warlord Games sometime this year. Articles by Rick Priestly discussing the rules (here and more here) sound very promising. A fast moving game with big armies that don't require a slavish adherence to a set basing scheme. Emphasizing scenarios and having fun? Sounds perfect. I think I've changed a lot as a gamer and ironicaly no longer have the time, energy or patience for a detailed game like Legion and Empire.

15mm OG Spanish light infantry javelinmen

15mm OG Balearic slingers.

I've got quite a myriad of ancient figures that haven't seen a game in a few years now. All my armies are 15mm and a mix of Old Glory, Essex, Corvus Belli, Chariot and Viking Forge miniatures. The VF minis are some of my oldest. The sculpts are crude and the legionaries are in the muscled leather cuirass that reconstructions had them in before Simon McDowell made  his convincing arguments for chain armour.

For armies I have Spanish, Late Republican/Caesarean Romans, Late Imperial Romans, Goths, Huns and Sassanid Persians. The Spanish either fight the Republican legions in their own defence or become auxiliaries when my legions have a civil war amongst themselves. The Goths and Huns perform the same functions for my Later Imperial legions. Plus I've tried to build baggage and terrain elements as well.

Rubber Temple from Miniature Worldmaker

Resin cast house.

Scratch built Middle eastern house.

OG Numidian LC escort Essex minis baggage train.


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Herd of goats. Falcon minis. 

Sheep with shepherd and helpful dog. Corvus Belli.

Cattle. More Corvus Belli.

Corvus Belli wagon.

Sassanid pack camels. Essex mins.

Essex Roman artillery.

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Another legion. OG 15mm.



Huns. Chariot minis.

Hopefully Hail Caesar! will inspire me to paint up some of the several more Republican legions I have in the box. I've always wanted to do a big battle between Caesar and Pompey.

Hotlead is Coming!

is coming.

The annual weekend of miniatures and mayhem at the end of March is fast approaching. Don, who has been to many gaming conventions all over North America, including Historicon, Cold Wars, Fall In, Little Wars, Gencon and Origins says it is the best one he attends, so I think that is high praise indeed.

But maybe he just enjoys our company.

So far this year's convention is shaping up quite well. I've only been recruiting games for a month and I already have 38 participation games and 4 DBA tournaments scheduled. I've also hit my goal of having every period, scale and style of miniature war game represented.

Air, land and sea. Big battles or small skirmishes. Micro scale to 28mm. Ancient to modern, we've got it all.

Well, except fantasy and SF. I don't have any games for those genres, yet. I'm pretty sure something will turn up in the next 8 weeks.

For more details go to our website at http://www.hotlead.ca/.