TTS AAR: Britcon Game Five: Venice Abroad versus Early Hoplites
/And so onto the last battle at Britcon 2025…
As organiser, I was aware of how close the overall rankings were: after four games, as I let everyone know, the scores meant that any of the top four players (and maybe even the top five or six) could win the tournament, and they were all playing each other in the final round. The Venetians and I would take on Sid’s Early Hoplites; Howard and his Carthaginians (whom I’d beaten in game three) would fight Chris’ Bretons (whom I’d lost to in game one). To be sure of total victory, I needed to beat Sid and have Howard beat Chris. Exciting stuff!
Now I’m lucky that Sid is also a regular writer of excellent AARs, and he has kindly given me permission to reproduce his here, taken from the To The Strongest Players Facebook Group.
Day two in the Big Brother Household and my fifth and final game for BRITCON.
After the disaster of game four when my hills and armour had deserted me it was time for the final game before travelling home for tea and medals.
Rob Avery who was the maestro organising and conducting the affair announced that any of four players were up for the final honours and were all playing each other.
It was Howard with his Middle Carthaginians against Chris Cornwall’s Bretons, and I was up against Rob Avery’s Venetians. It was all to play for.
This time the start was much better as my traditional flanking hills stayed on the table, and I won the scouting. Naturally this meant nothing to me and I set up the same way I had done every game of the weekend. The Spartans on the right, the reliable allied contingent on the left and the dross in the middle.
Rob set up as expected with a triple fortified camp fronted by spear and halberds with numerous crossbows and crossbow armed light infantry plus a single handgun unit. He split his knights on either flank. If memory serves his right had a Light Cavalry (LC), a veteran Later Knights unit with army standard and a normal Knight unit. On his left two Knights and another LC.
I had no intention of assaulting a fortified camp into a long-range hail of crossbow bolts. So, my plan was to pinch off his flanks for the points to win. His camp although tempting was in my view a trap, so I intended to stay away. As I advanced, I could not avoid the three box range of the crossbows but I could make sure they didn’t hit anything vital. Hopefully I could use the hils to screen my advance up the flanks and channel his Knights. The Knights really worried me with the save of 4+ on the veterans and 5+ on the others. Being lance-armed they could break through my lines. Then I would be in a similar dire straits to my last game. The good thing was that my stratagem was “Where in Hades did that come from” which could nerf any nasty knightly charges.
Tempting the Knights to Attack
I was aware that my single hit mounted Hoplites were vulnerable and that Rob was aware of this. So, on my left I pushed them forward into the gap between the steep hills and the table edge. Just beyond that was a rocky outcrop of low impassable terrain. The hope was that Rob would see that single hit unit and rush it, that way I would be fighting his Knights from the top of the hill rather than having to pursue him down the length of the table in the open.
In similar vein, I hoped my Spartans would drive up the right side but I could see he might not be so accommodating against my strongest command.
The battle was very intense and on a knife edge at the end, so once again I didn’t take so many pictures. However Rob did take pictures and I sure he will do his normal entertaining Batrep on his blogging site vislardica.com always more thorough than my wittering and self-pitying nonsense.
The Greeks push forward on the Right
My right pushed Rob back as expected and even took out a Light Infantry (LI) unit. One of my Spartan Hoplite units pushed through to the back edge. Meanwhile my right side Hippias single hit unit pushed his LC back.
On my left I lost a couple of LI to those pesky crossbows from the camp but did manage to catch another of his LI to destroy it. As expected, Rob took the bait and rode down my single hit mounted infantry Hoplite unit. This put that unit between the table edge and large steep hill on my left. I managed to get the Arcadian raw Hoplite unit to its front to stop it advancing now it was less of a threat having expended its lance. I managed to get a Hoplite unit on the hill next to him and another one to their left. My unit on the hill turned and was hitting the pinned Knights in the flank but they just would not die! The risk here was presenting my right flank to his unengaged veteran Later Knights unit. Fortunately, it had an activation nightmare buying me a turn. I used this to slip a LI onto the far-left side of the table to engage his LC on the flank.
A Poor Activation Stalls the Hoplite Right
Meanwhile on my right the Spartan unit on the baseline turned right to shut down his LC from evading. However, a very poor activation result stalled this entire command. Unfortunately, Rob did not have that problem and turned a Knights unit around to hit me in the flank. All strikes hit home, and I failed all saves with a veteran Hoplite unit. This was the turning point on a flank I had previously been in control of. At the end of the battle, I realised that I could have played my stratagem which would have saved me as rough terrain would have negated his lance and given me a +1 save v mounted. This is not the first time and likely not the last I got over excited and forgot a stratagem. Rob took advantage of the gap and opportunity to advance his Alabardiers (Billmen unit) from his centre towards my right side against my Peloponnesian Hoplites.
I still had hope on my left. Rob’s Knights came forward and were on the flank of my Hoplites on the hill. I was able in turn, to move forward the Elean raw Hoplite unit onto their flank and hit them causing a disorder. Rob didn’t forget his stratagem and used “Tonight We dine in Hell” to negate that hit. He then turned the Knights to face the flank unit, which gave my unit on the hill a reprieve. To make my position even better my LI javelin unit was able to finally shoot down Rob’s LC on that flank and turn on the rear of the veteran Knights.
The Knights that would not die!
After a long struggle both Knights were disordered and I was looking at four coins of units; the generals, two coins (these were the final units in his command) and the army standard which would give me the win if I could hold my right. But try as I might, they were just not dying. I forget how many attacks hit home but ‘numerous’ would seem to cover it.
Finally on my right, the Alabardiers attacked, failed and got injured. I managed to get two LI on their flanks but again they would not die! If memory serves, when disordered they managed five saves. Although they did kill a general.
My Spartan Hoplites were now surrounded and taking hits from everywhere. My recall of the details of this fight on the right are vague but I lost most of my coins here making me vulnerable to losing. I was trying to hold on, relying on the fighting on my left.
Rob had fed another Spearman unit from the centre to his left and it travelled along the baseline to hit my LI who had driven off his LC. The LI disordered by shooting the Spearmen and my veteran Hippias single hit unit charged in, hit, the disordered spear saved, then hit back killing my Hippias. This was my final opportunity to turn things around on this flank. This left the Spearmen able to move forward and drive the LI off table for my final coin.
It was an intense game, very close and I learned some new words from Rob. The plan to avoid the camp and pinch off the flanks nearly worked but no cigar. It was as always, a great game. Up to now, I had always been Rob’s Kryptonite and he finally managed to break the curse.
My thanks to Rob for setting up a great tournament, I enjoyed every game. BRITCON is unique in being the only two day event on the TTS calendar, so no game feels rushed. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the game. Everyone played in a friendly manner and there were some interesting armies fielded. I was pleased that an army with no cavalry can still work.
At the end of the day, Rob Avery topped the board, after thumping me; Chris Cornwell just shaved for a second place.As for yours truly, I managed to sneak a third place, which to my mind justifies my unnatural Hoplite obsession.
A great battle report from Sid and, TBH, I’m not sure there’s a lot I can add to it, but here are a few notes.
After I’d seen how Sid deployed, I decided to lure his elite troops forward on the left flank, then move my Knights there into the centre, meaning that his elites then faced nothing but air and my Knights could have a go at hitting his raw Hoplites in the middle of the field. Although that didn’t happen, the whole “elites facing thin air” worked very nicely and, as Sid says, given a crucial poor activation card on his part, even let me hit his elite Hoplites in their inside flank with the Knights from a central position.
Conversely, I did fall into Sid’s trap on my right, and my Knights and Later Knights there then spent the whole game bravely resisting attacks from all sides. It was indeed a miracle both survived, especially as losing both would have given Sid the game. But they are Knights, and those low saves are what you pay the points for…it’s just that I usually pay the points and lose the Knights to poor cards anyway!
Another miracle was the survival of the Alabardiers in the centre of the field. Assailed on all sides and with only a 7+ save, they survived far more hits than they should have.
Finally, Sid mentions being afraid of my Knights: try being mounted troops facing a row of Hoplites in good order or, as happened on my right flank, finding yourself in a situation where your Knights have no choice but to charge up a steep hill into the front of ordered Hoplites…not fun at all!
As Sid says, it was a great and very intense game. I seem to remember getting very over the top at several stages, and did consider myself very lucky to have won the encounter, especially against such a formidable opponent.
Here’s my full gallery of the game:
So that was Britcon 2025. My thanks to all the players and the team at BHGS for making my job as tournament organiser very easy. I was pleased to have held on to my title from last year, but it was a very close run thing. You can find full results at: https://www.vislardica.com/blog/2025/8/25/to-the-strongest-at-britcon-2025
As a final note, if you play TTS, I’d very much encourage you to enter some if not all of the tournaments that are held. They are great fun and always played in the very best of spirits.
