More Arthurians

Hot on the heels of Partizan, Scrivs and I planned to meet up for a game on Tuesday..
"Fancy a small game.. something skirmishy perhaps?" says I, particularly after the massive epic Arthurian do on Sunday.. 

...short version, a few texts later and we decided to play a game of To The Strongest!

And I'm glad we did. Had a cracking game, probably all the better for having played so recently - very little time was spent looking up rules etc (Although I do tend to forget to modify Saves - learning point).

We played around 130 points each - Scrivs will be posting soon no doubt, and took pictures on a proper camera, so hopefully with better ones than I have here from my phone..

The armies deployed

Up against his Saxon host, I fielded my Romano-British force - a mix of Romanised 'Auxilia', Pedites (javelin men), Light Bows and cavalry, with a strong wing of Saxon mercenaries or allies (Two deep veteran war bands with Shock)

I made a fundamental mistake in deployment and placed my cavalry, very useful troops, in a stupid spot from which they never really recovered. For much of the game, the Saxon horse faced no real opposition.

For much of the game it was fairly fluid.. on my right the Saxons met their compatriots head on and got into a grinding melee.. 

Although one of the Saxon war bands broke through, I had some success in the centre, and on the left things were pretty balanced, swinging back and forth.

However, in a couple of turns things went quite wrong for me.. Firstly one of those big mercenary Saxon war bands was destroyed, taking their general with them - losing me 5 of my 11 medals in one go! Then over on my left I managed to get some success, getting a few medals back, but charged my flanking foot straight into the path of the Saxon advance! (Charging units occupy the square vacated by destroyed units). That was it - although Scrivs lost a few more medals, I was down to 1 and it was a a matter of time before my army quit the field, having enough for one Tuesday night. Can't say I blame them really.

One observation.. I've found that when I'm playing games with TtS! that I'm not playing the rules, or the game.. I'm actually thinking about the situation in front of me, trying to decide where to act, where to take a chance and where to play it safe..for me, that makes it an enjoyable ruleset. (Doesn't make me any better or improve my chances of winning clearly!!)

** I just realised that there are no cards to be seen on any of these pics.. we did use them, honest!

Partizan 2.. Arthurian To The Strongest!

Today was the last ever Partizan show to be held at Kelham Hall. In some ways sad, as for me it's been a place of bi-annual pilgrimage for many many years.. my first ever war-games show was Partizan, just before they moved to Kelham Hall and I've only missed a few. On the other hand, it's dark and a logistical mare, so probably about time.

Anyway - by way of a send off, I was lucky enough to be involved in helping out with a rather splendid game (actually two games), showcasing Simon's To The Strongest! rules.. The two tables represented both ends of the Arthurian period, with Picts and Late Romans fighting it on one side, and Arthur's Britons taking on a Saxon horde on the other table.

Overall view of the two battles

The figures and scenery were all from our joint collections, and hopefully there will be some better pictures appearing soon, as my phone really wasn't up to the job today!

The games were for participation and we had good fun introducing new players (often Dads with Sons) to the rules..nice to meet lots of new people and share the fun of the game.

Along with all the people who came along and played, (some names I didn't get, sorry).. the team today included:

Simon Miller

Steve Jones

James Morris (who needs to start a Blog!)

Paul Scrivens-Smith

Dan Mersey

Last year at Partizan, Simon presented James with a perfect baboon for Keren (long story!).. Scrivs and James returned the gesture today with some lovely Asterix legionaries painted up for Simon.. I didn't get a picture of the figures, but did capture the moment.. I think he was pleased :)