Yesterdays game of Song of Spear and Shield playtesting, So Georges Republican Romans, ;Warband Name Centurion;110;2;3;false;Armor 3,Leader,Shield,Sword;; Optio;88;3;3;false;Armor 3,Leader,Shield,Sword;; Aquilifer;82;3;3;false;Armor 3,Shield,Standard,Sword;; Cornicine;74;3;3;false;Armor 3,Drillmaster,Sword;; Vet. Legionary;62;3;3;false;Armor 3,Heavy Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Vet. Legionary;62;3;3;false;Armor 3,Heavy Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Vet. Legionary;62;3;3;false;Armor 3,Heavy Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Vet. Legionary;62;3;3;false;Armor 3,Heavy Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Auxilia Archer;30;4;3;false;Bow: Short;; Auxilia Archer;30;4;3;false;Bow: Short;; Auxilia Archer;30;4;3;false;Bow: Short;; Auxilia Archer;30;4;3;false;Bow: Short;; Numidian Cav.;33;4;2;false;Javelin,Mounted: Light Horse,Spear;; Numidian Cav.;33;4;2;false;Javelin,Mounted: Light Horse,Spear;; Numidian Cav.;33;4;2;false;Javelin,Mounted: Light Horse,Spear;; Numidian Cav.;33;4;2;false;Javelin,Mounted: Light Horse,Spear;; (The above text is for use with the warband builder) and my Revolting Slaves, ;Warband Name Slave revolt Leader;78;3;3;false;Armor 2,Leader,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;48;4;3;false;Armor 2,Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;48;4;3;false;Armor 2,Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;48;4;3;false;Armor 2,Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;48;4;3;false;Armor 2,Javelin,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;42;4;3;false;Armor 2,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;42;4;3;false;Armor 2,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;42;4;3;false;Armor 2,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;42;4;3;false;Armor 2,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;42;4;3;false;Armor 2,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;42;4;3;false;Armor 2,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Swordman;42;4;3;false;Armor 2,Shield,Sword;; Slave Revolt Skirmishers;29;4;3;false;Javelin;; Slave Revolt Skirmishers;29;4;3;false;Javelin;; Slave Revolt Skirmishers;29;4;3;false;Javelin;; Slave Revolt Skirmishers;29;4;3;false;Javelin;; Slave Revolt Skirmishers;29;4;3;false;Javelin;; Slave Revolt Skirmishers;29;4;3;false;Javelin;; (The above text is for use with the warband builder) Squared off for battle, George rolled high for the attack, I rolled for terrain, and George picked his side, rollign high for the first move. The first pair of activations had the two forces advane. Next round of activations had my javlinmen run off of the wooded hill drawing first blood on the Roman Archers, and falling back onto the hill. The next pair of activations had the Numidians exacting some revenge vs my skirmishers, and my skirmishers attacking the bowmen more. This pair of activations had the Romans charging in and a general melee of the two forces swordmen. the Numidian cav moved around to attach my Swordmen on the Slave forces far right. This pair of activations saw my force break loosing 32 of the forces 63 moral points. The Romans had lost 29 of the 82 moral points they had. We had gotten the Roman Forces points wrong, as a list from a mod for SBH was used. Still a interesting game, and we are plannign on something diffrent for the next game, a Reconquista game full of skirmishing cav. That game certinally will need the full sized table. We used the 3'x3' for this one. I sure could have used Buggs in this game... Here is a WarnerBros cartoon complete with Yosemite Sam failing a chariot control Q test. Well thanks for visiting and check back for the next game report.

A couple of more Song of Spear and Shield plays test games. This game we tried New Kingdon Egyptian's with chariots ve a Hittite leader with sea people allies. The Hittites had 810 points, Hittite officer Q3+, C3, Armor2 86pts 1 Heroic guard Q3+, C3, A1 8X44=352 8 Guard Q3+, C2, A1 8 Archers Q4+, C2, A1 8X36=288 The NKE had 800 points, Egyptian comm Q3+, C3, A3 96 pts Charioteer Q3+, C2, A1 96pts Elite Chariot Archer Q3+, C2, A2 80pts Charioteer Q3+, C2, A1 8 Strong Arms with 2Hand Weapons Q4+, C3, A1 264 pts 4 Archers Q4+, C2, A1 168 pts My Charioteer went out to get stuck in, but they didnt get far with a shot taking out the driver, the Hittites advance through the woods (we dictated that you could see through one short stick of woods, The mace men take the first hit of the sea people, got some good shots in using a heroic action to get a 2+ in combat but that was mitigated some with the 1+ to the opponent for them beeing shieldless The Hittite hero charges the chariot and survives the attack for contacting the chariot, He tries to take out the driver but fails, the chariot breaks away and the next two bounds end the game with the Egyptians breaking due to the melee vs the mace men and the sea people.

Song of Spear and Shield

Play testing a Ancients game called Song of Spear and Shield from Ganesh games. We have been playing the Song of Blades n Heros, Song of Drums and Shakos, Flying Lead, 61-65, Hearts and Minds, and Large Battles Drumes n Shakos. And now its the Song of Spear and Shield. The Egyptian force was a leader, 5 thanded axe/mace men, 2 armored archers and one unarmored archer (403 points). The Sea People had a leader (mirror image of the Egyptian leader) 5 tribal ally (half naked savages) archers and three armored swordmen (397 points). Well the two forces came charging toward each other and bashed in the middle. I tried to be cute with my archers but my opponent just got everyone "stuck in". The Sea people lost 4 out of the 5 archers but that wasnt enough to break em. Now the Egyptians lost just three mace men, but that dont go down as well as 4 half tribal archers... Next round had the loss of another mace man and the Egyptian force moral breaking. The game went well. My opponent is a LOOONG time wargammer, but never played any of the Ganesh games. He picked up the system fast. I had made up a cheet sheet for him to help expidite the game. Our set up, go over the rules and play to completion was a little over two hours (and that includes the pre n post game BS scession). The next day I played another game, this time was with my long time opponent George. Him n I have played all the Ganesh games I listed earlier. This time I tried another funky idea of not purchasing a leader. So the Sea People had 8 tribal archers, and three sea people warriors and a barbarian with a 2 handed weapon. The Egyptians had a leader, 5 armored archers, and three shock infantry. Was real hard to do much with out a leader. Had to roll individually, so I rolled one dice for each of the archers, firing every other rould at best. And two dice for the warriors as they a a better than 50% for a activation so I could keep them in a coordinated attack. And the Barbarian (sigh)not much help from him. So my heroic charge sending in my three Sea People warriors was countered by a heroic charge and the loss of them broke the Sea People. Leaders are important. Trying to self start the the guys leaves a lot of miniatures standing around. Next weekend I want to get the guys to try two 800 point games side by side, Egyptians vs Hittites. More on that later...