Here’s a quick After Action Report from Mark Luther. This was a 6mm I Ain't Been Shot Mum game played at GigaBites Cafe in September 2025.
This was a fictitious scenario that was based on some units of the 21st Panzer Division moving closer to the Sword Beach landing area than they did historically on June 6th.
Click on the picture to see all.
My final game of day one of this year’s Britcon To The Strongest tournament was against Howard and his Later Carthaginians.
I’d faced these lads before, and they have always been a tough nut to crack, especially with Howard’s propensity to put loads of steep hills onto the tabletop and then hide his light infantry on them: very difficult to winkle out!
I lost the scouting again, so set up in a tight formation weighted towards my left flank, but a slow Carthaginian start gave me the time to readjust for their deployment and establish a more central position as the game began. My plan was to defeat the Carthaginians on the left with most of my army, before turning right to finish off the remainder.
The action duly began on my left flank, where I had rapidly advanced my Knights in an attempt to knock out the Carthaginian and Numidian cavalty there before heading into the centre behind the enemy line.
My first charges were very successful: knocking the Numidians and a unit of cavalry off the table. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to exploit this initial success, and the Carthaginians were able to bring across reinforcements and stabilise the situation.
This pattern then repeated itself as again my Knights successfully charged forward only to fail to finish the job and let the Carthaginians back into the game…so much so that it looked as if I was about to lose that flank entirely.
Fortunately I managed to bring some reinforcements of my own across and, by the end of the game, the left flank was very much in a tied position, both sides too exhausted to do much more than glare at each other!
Note that that initial unit of veteran Carthaginian legionaries was still standing, as were my Knights on that side: some units prove just impossible to kill!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, fearsome amounts of Carthaginians were heading towards my lone command there.
Very quickly, the Carthagians managed to get their cavalry right down onto my baseline, and I now faced the classic problem of trying to defend both front and flank at the same time.
The Venetian Knights are, however, very tough (when, that is, they remember not to put on their cardboard armour!) and that initial flanking position was defended successfully and all seemed to be stabilised on the right, especially as the main body of Carthaginian infantry (nasty veteran javelinmen types) hung back in relative safety on the steep hills that scattered that side of the table.
This couldn’t last for long and, as Howard realised that his right wasn’t going to win the battle on its own, he send the infantry forward, and the situation on my left suddenly got a whole lot more critical.
Althoug helped by a bit of bad luck on Howard’s part, my troops on the right soon found themselves pushed right back to my camp and under extreme potentially game-losing pressure!
All was not lost, however: fighting from behind the walls of my fortified camps (the rather infamous barbed wire!) gives you a major advantage, and my camps remained inviolate.
Both sides were now on their last legs, but the cards were smiling on me for a change and, as both Howard and I ruefully checked how many coins we each had left, my veteran Later Knights (with two heroes from the Tonight We Dine In Hell card I’d played earlier) swung into action and, with a cry of “Venice Forever, whilst they keep paying my wages” they charged forward against the two units of Carthaginian cavalry in front of them.
It’s the Knights on the right that you need to be looking at!
It was, quite frankly, glorious: with both enemy units being dashed from the table along with their accompanying general to give me victory!
These ones!
Well that had been a very close run thing!
If the Knights hadn’t charged when they did, and if my cards hadn’t been good and Howard’s bad, then I doubt that I could have held my camp for that much longer. But they did, and they were, so the game was mine - just!
All my games with Howard were good, but this was particularly so, and a great way of finishing day one of the tournament.
Figures packed away, we headed out to sample the delights of Leicester’s nightlife…
My second game at this year’s Britcon tournament was against Adrian’s Imperial Macedonians: not the ideal army for me to face as I didn’t have much that could beat the pikes head-on, and those Companion cavalry are very nasty!
As is now becoming usual, I lost the scouting, so set up traditionally with my knights on the wings and my infantry in the centre.
Looking at the Macedonian deployment, it looked very weighted towards my left flank, so I determined to refuse my troops there and try and hit the left end of his line (i.e. on my right) as hard and fast as possible, hoping to get around the side of his Pike and Hoplites before they connected with my Spearmen in the centre.
That meant wending my way Knights through the rough ground in front of my right whilst I kept his Companions (already in wedge formation) at bay in the centre.
The cards really helped me out here, as Adrian’s men advanced forward then stopped dead, letting me take the initiative. The Companions also failed to make any real headway against the Venetian Spearmen they had charged, allowing the infantry to retreat back to the comparative safety of the hill in front of their camp.
This let my Knights on the right charge home secure in the knowledge that the line behind them was secure, sending some veteran Macedonian infantry fleeing from the field before turning to face the enemy flank.
It has to be said that Adrian was suffering from the same sort of luck that I usually enjoy: he couldn’t pull an activation or save card to, er, save his life!
Back to the action…in the centre, the Macedonian Pike had finally got moving again, only to be disordered by handgun fire from my Armati di schioppo and then double-disordered as the Alabardieri (halberdiers) joined in the fun.
Meanwhile, on my left, my other Knights had calmly been waiting for the right moment to get stuck into the battle. This came as the Macedonian right flank finally got its act together and advanced forward.
Before the Macedonian right could properly make their presence felt, however, a series of good activation cards for me and poor saves for Adrian saw the Macedonian left flank collapse: large amounts of coins lost as the Venetian Knights and Alabardiers really got stuck in to the cavalry and pikemen in front of them.
The end came quickly after that. My outflanking Knights chased the last bit of Macedonian cavalry across the field before riding them down as they turned to fight and, at the same time, more Knights finished off some Hoplites from the flank, despite being disordered themselves.
It had been a glorious victory for the Venetians: I had only lost two coins (both units of mounted light crossbowmen) so scored a great 14-2 win. As mentioned above, however, Adrian suffered from the most appalling luck throughout the game, so I’m not sure that much of my triumph was down to superior tactics or suchlike on my part!
On to game three…
My first game proper at this year’s Britcon tournament was against Chris’ Bretons i.e. lots of cavalry and light cavalry!
Unsurprisingly, I lost the scouting, so set up in a largely defensive position in the centre of the table. I did have one unit of Knights off-table to begin with: they were carrying out a flank march on the right and were designed to be my battle-winning trump card, arriving just in time to roll up the Breton flank!
Unfortunately, Chris got some pretty decent cards on his first turn and, almost before I knew what was going on, the Bretons were all over me, especially on my left flank, the one that was weakened by the absence of the flanking Knights.
Worse, the Later Knights who were on that side of the table seemed to have put their ceremonial cardboard armour on that morning, so that rather than runnng rough-shod over the opposition, any initial success that they had was soon wiped out as the Bretons in front of them evaded and those to the side flank-charged them off the table!
That’s what happens when you pull six Aces in one turn, two of them doubles!
In a tournament as well!
I was now pretty beleagured on the left side of my camps, and it looked as if the game could be over very quickly.
Fortunately, my off-table flanking force chose that moment to arrive, and did exactly what they were supposed to do: driving into the left flank of the Bretons and starting to roll them up.
At the same time, the troops on the left of my line suddenly remembered how to fight, and the situation around that end of my camps stabilised.
The game could now go either way. We each had eight coins remaining, but whilst I had begun on 14 coins, Chris had begun on 11, so all I needed to do to win the game was to take out 1½ of his units…and I could see two clear opportunities to do so.
Unfortunately, both these opportunities slipped through my fingers - a combination of more poor cards and some excellently slippery tactics from Chris - and the initiative passed to the Bretons without me having been able to firmly put them to bed!
Chris, too, could see an opportunity to take the last of my coins and, without hesitation, he swept a unit of light cavalry into two of my now undefended camps (we were busy trying to stabilise the other end!) taking the last six of my coins and the game for a 14-8 victory!
Excellently played by Chris, but highly annoying for the Venetians. If you look at the picture above, you can see a unit of light infantry handgunners on the flank of some Breton horse. If those handgunners had managed to step back into the camp (anything but an Ace!) then Chris would only have been able to take one camp and I’d have had another chance to win myself.
So that was two defeats in a row for the Venetians (the warm up game and game one) and with a result that somewhat belied the actual situation on the tabletop. All credit to Chris for taking full advantage of the opportunity on my left and his super evading tactics (which made it very difficult to kill the Bretons as they retreated and were then recycled back into the action) and I had better pull my finger out for the next four games if I was to have any chance of holding on to my title!
Friday late afternoon at this year’s Britcon saw an opportunity for a warm-up game where my Venetians (Abroad) would flex their muscles against Richard’s Later Achaemenid Persians.
The Venetians lost the scouting, with the Persians taking full advantage to load their cavalry onto my open right flank whilst countering the Knights on my left with their mercenary Hoplites.
A Potentially Unfortunate Deployment for the Venetians
As the game began, I advanced forward rapidly on the flanks, determined to use my Knights to smash through his first line of cavalry on the right whilst attempting to slip around the Hoplite flank on the left.
On the left, my plan initially succeeded, with one unit of Knights getting well behind the enemy line, poised to turn and go crashing into the rear of the enemy infantry. Unfortunately, the Knights then decided that what they had achieved was quite enough, thank you, and decided to stop for lunch: refusing to turn and charge the Hoplite rear for a couple of turns.
This then allowed some Persian javelinmen to get into the rough ground anchoring the Achaemenid flank and, for some reason (probably incompetance) I allowed myself to get tangled up in dealing with them rather than focussing on smashing the Greek heavy infantry. You’ll also see, in the photos below, how my other unit of Knights has got itself trapped on the sideline: more stupidity on my part!
As the very promising situation on the left now looked like a pile of poop, it was time to focus on the right!
Here my Knights had sallied forth determined to kick some Achaemenid butt: we might be outnumbered at the moment, but smash a couple of units from the field with your first charge and the numbers start to make sense!
Unfortunately, although I disordered both units of veteran enemy cavalry on first contact, I didn’t break them, meaning that they had the opportunity to pull back and rally.
This also allowed the rest of the Persian cavalry to break off from that melee and hit my units in the centre: the result, combined with some devilish missile fire from some Persian Lights, being the loss of two units (the militia spearmen and the crossbowmen) and a hole the size of the Blackwall Tunnel right in the middle of my line and, more worryingly, in front of my camps!
The Persians promptly poured some light infantry and their “spare” cavalry into the gap, and suddenly what had looked like a great position on both flanks now looked like Armageddon in the centre!
I desperately needed to free up my units stuck on the left, but an unwise decision not to lead with the Knights bit me firmly on the derriere when my Balestrieri montati (mounted crossbowmen) failed to activate on an Ace and so condemned their entire command to sit there doing nothing for another turn.
All was not lost, however: all I needed was the Alabardieri (halberdiers) to charge back into my camp, disperse the enemy Lights there, and thus rescue three coins and the battle from disaster.
All I needed…
Now the initiative passed to the Richard and the Persians, who clinically finished me off by hitting a unit of Venetian Knights in the flank and front with the cavalry whom I’d failed to destroy in the first melee of the game. He didn’t even need his Lights in the camp to move sideways and take another three coins!
It had been a great game that had started so well for the Venetians. Just a pity that it ended so badly!
Not the first AAR from Britcon, but a catch-up AAR of a game played a couple of weeks ago: the Thai (Siamese) commanded by me versus Rob using the Ancient Britons. This was another big game: 160 points per side.
Both sides advanced quickly towards each othere, although one of the Ancient British cavalry commands dawdled behind, obviously pausing to finish their “full English”!
The action began on the right flank, where the two veteran and one fanatical British warbands smashed into the Thai Royal Guard, some Spearmen and an elephant unit.
The Thai had the initiative by threw it away through a couple of unfortunate Aces but, surviving this, went on to disorder the Celtic line. Even better, the elephants on the far right smashed the Gaeseti fanatics (with accompanying Druids and obelisk!) from the field!
Meanwhile, on the left, the rest of the Thai army prepared to take on the massed chariots and light cavalry.
Thw two sides came together with an almighty smash, and a colossal melee broke out. Things swayed backwards and forwards until the advantage slowly began to turn the Thai’s way despite the intervention of some more Ancient British infantry that came across from the centre.
Back to the right, where the Thai’s were slowly pushing the British back. More (this time raw) British warbands joined the fight, necessitating deploying the Thai cooks and bottlewashers to stop the Brits getting into the Thai camp.
Then, suddenly, the tide began to turn on the right flank. The veteran British warbands pulled back and rallied, with some of them even managing to flank the elephants that had mullered the Gaeseti.
Things were also sliding for the Thai’s on the left flank. From a commanding position where it looks as if the end was nigh for the Ancient British, the Thai’s suddenly found their opponents had managed to extricate themselves from the fight, rally, and were now threatening all sorts of mayhem. In fact, the Thai’s were very lucky that some of the British chariots pulled an Ace when preparing to flank charge some Thai infantry!
Fortunately, despite these late set backs, the Thai Royal Guard were able to finish off a raw Warband, giving me the coins I needed to win the game.
That had actually been a much closer battle than the above report suggests. The Ancient British had suffered quite bad initial reverses, but all credit to Rob for managing to pull them back from danger of immediate destruction, rally those that he could, and then come straight back at the Thais. As I said, I went from being quietly confident to thinking I could very well lose the game!
A terrific game of To The Strongest and the first win for the Thai/Siamese!
Rob and I fancied a game of For King & Parliament - Eastern Front variant. I wanted to get my newly-painted Azabs onto the table, so Rob would play the Ottomans, and I took the Zaporogian Cossacks as (a) they hadn’t been on the tabletop for some time and (b) they would be a historical match-up for the Turks.
This could also be an interesting game as, rather than being cavalry versus cavalry like many of our recent games, this would be cavalry versus war wagons! It would also be fairly epic, as we were playing at 160 points per side: a large game even for FK&P.
The Ottomans had committed the majority of their cavalry to the left flank, facing the rather motley Cossack horse and their Tatar allies. I wasn’t going to win this clash, so my horsemen sallied forward aiming to do as much damage as they could before dying gloriously!
One unit of Tatar lancers, four bow-armed lights, and two units of raw Cossack horse versus the pride of the ottoman empire!
Now if you’re going to go, you might as well go in style, so one unit of Cossack horse charged the Ottoman guns that had, perhaps unwisely, strayed too close to the front line.
Much to my surprise, the Cossacks ran right over the unfortunate Turkish artillerymen and announced their intention to charge the Janisseries behind them…before realising how stupid that would be and skidding to an abrupt, Ace-inspired halt!
This did leave the Cossacks a little exposed, but the Sultan’s elite Sipahi’s of the Guard were so stunned by the action that they just stood there watching as their motley opponents charged by!
Meanwhile, the other Sipahis had been clearing the Tatar light cavalry from the table, the unfortunate horse-archers’ attempts to evade failing dismally.
The Tatars weren’t done yet, however: forward went their single unit of noble lancers and, although disordered by the process, they smashed one of the remaining Turkish Sipahi units from the table.
Even better, after pursuing the survivors for a bit, the Tatar nobles then spotted the Ottoman camp, pulled themselves together and, executing a smart right turn, went on to do what Tatars do best and sacked the camp, stopping only to gather in the spoils!
Back to the Cossack horsemen…who’s blood was obviously up!
Those of you who know the history of my Cossack army will know that I bought the box-set in ignorance thinking Taras Bulba like waves of elite light horse riding down all in front of them, only to be somewhat surprised that the army was almost all foot, and foot in wagons no less, with the only cavalry available being little and raw!
Well, no-one had told the Cossack horse that they were little and raw. The so-far-unengaged unit leapt forward and ran over a unit of Janisseries, only to be followed by the other unit, still disordered from running over the guns, then crashing into the Janisseries that they had pulled up to avoid, and sending them flying from the field too, despite the disadvantage of their disorder!
Meanwhile, the Cossack tabor (war wagons) had been slowly advancing forward in the centre of the field, looking for the right spot to stop and form an impenetrable wall of wood from behind which to fight the advancing Ottomans…except that the Ottomans weren’t advancing!
Although a couple of their cavalry units had bashed through the Tatar light horse and were ready to turn inwards and attack the Cossack left flank, the rest of their cavalry and half the Janisseries had either been destroyed or were worrying about the Cossack horse who had got through behind them.
The tabor were therefore bunched together firing sideways at the enemy cavalry that had beaten the Tatar lights, with some Cossack moloitsy (literally “lads”) moving to protect the rear left flank.
And what of the Azabs, the reason for the Ottoman presence?
They had been kept back on the Ottoman left along with a couple of units of light horse. They finally got moving forward as the Turks became a bit desperate, having been hemorrhaging coins for most of the battle so far.
The Cossack right, however, was ready for them: three units of infantry (admittedly two more Raw “lads” units) would be enough to hold them up at least until the battle was won elsewhere.
The end of the battle came not with a “huzzah” but with a bit of a damp squib.
The tabor opened up of whatever they could see, and one of the casualties caused was a Turkish officer, which was enough to remove the final Ottoman victory coin. Defeated, the invaders slunk off the field back to Istanbul, leaving the victorious Cossacks to both celebrate and to wonder what the Cossack horsemen had been drinking!
It had been a cracking battle from the Cossack point of view: some very good cards meaning that their raw Cossack horse had rather surprisingly swept all before them rather than acting merely as speedbumps as anticipated.
Add in the Tatar noble cavalry doing what they were supposed to, and some lucky sniping from the tabor, and everything had gone rather extraordinarily well!
I just hope I haven’t used up all my good luck: I’ve got Britcon next weekend!
With Neil having beaten my Achaemenids with the Alexandrian Macedonians, it was time to swap sides and give thinsg another go.
As you can see from the picture, above, deployment was interesting. On the far right, my three Companion units faced the entire mass of Persian cavalry, whilst on my left, the rest of the Macedonian horse (a motley crew of Greek allies) had nothing in front of them and would hopefully have the chance to loop around the Persian right flank.
As the battle opened, therefore, I sent my left flank cavalry full steam ahead, held back the Companions, and advanced my pikemen and hoplites strongly forward in the centre, confident that my infantry were more than a match for their lighter Persian equivalents.
My initial advance was, however, a bit stymied by the appalling performance of my troops: with a unit of ally Hoplites left-centre being mullered by more Hoplites allied to the Persians (traitors!) and, more worringly, my lead pike block being double-disordered from, of all things, missile fire!
The pikemen were, however, safely pulled back and protected by some handy lights.
More important tactically, the pike block to the right of the wounded Foot Companions had burst through the enemy line, and the mounted Companions had moved across and engaged the left hand units of Persian cavalry (actually Indian allies), meaning that the majority of the veteran Persian horse were now fighting thin air!
Unfortunately, the Persians had light infantry that were able to get in front of the injured pike block and dispatch it with javelins: Alexander’s finest foot troops removed from the field all from missile fire!
Things looked a little dicey for the Macedonians, but they were saved by the actions of the right hand pike block: the one that had broken through the enemy line. This ignored the temptation of the left flank of the Persian infantry line and turned right towards the Persian cavalry. Then with two 10’s in a row, the pikemen gloriously dispatched the unit of Indian cavalry that were pinning the left hand Companions (actually Thessalians) in place!
This freed up the Thessalians to turn smartly to their left and, after a problematic first attempt, crush two units if Persian light infantry against the Macedonians left hand pike block: all exciting and highly amusing stuff!
Meanwhile, over on the left, my glorious outflanking manoeuvre had, as last game, achieved absolutely nothing: their initial flank charge being thrown off by, of all things, a unit of raw Persian Levies!
Things were, however, looking up just to their right. Those of you who are paying attention will recall that Hoplites in Persian service (traitors!) had punched through the left end of my infantry line. Hoplites in Alexander’s service (loyal heroes!) had, however, turned to face them and were in the process of driving them from the field.
The loyal Hoplites are the ones without the double-disorder marker in the picture below!
The Persians were now getting a bit desperate, so launched an all out attack against Alexander himself on the right wing. If, the Persians thought, we can kill the God-King himself, perhaps the Macedonian army will disintegrate.
If…
Despite being attacked on all sides, and hit with an Infamy stratagem (another traitor trying to stab Alex in the back when no-one was looking), the Companions with Alexander at their head remained strong, shrugging off five attacks with ease.
This was too much for Darius to bear (his opponent obviously proven to be at least part divine) and he ordered a retreat.
These had been two big battles (160 points a side) fought to a conclusion in just four hours.
They had been two excellent games with plenty of excitement and glorious ten’s, and very few dismal Aces. My thanks to Neil for his hospitality and producing the two armies: I think he’s doing Crusaders and Ayyubids next, so something very much to look forward to!
Off to Neil’s house for some more 2mm To The Strongest action. Today we would fight a 160 point clash between the Later Achaemenid Persians and the Alexandrian Macedonians, with me taking the Persians and Neil the Macedonians.
An unusual battlefield with no terrain features at all, but apparently Darius had had the surface cleared and flattened for his sxcythed chariots!
Once we were both deployed, I immediately noticed that I had achieved an overlap with my cavalry on the right, and was facing three unsupported pike blocks. This looked like a good opportunity to me, so I sent my cavalry forward down the open flank, bringing up my infantry in support.
Unfortunately, the pikemen proved surprisingly manoeuvrable despite their depth, and some good cards for the Maccys and poor cards for the Persians meant that, try as I might, I never managed to exploit my initial advantage.
In fact, things went from bad to worse on that flank. The General commanding the infantry coming up in support was killed in the first clash, meaning they couldn’t keep the pikemen pinned in place, and those pikemen remained eerily manoeuvrable: I never managed any flank or rear charges and, in fact, soon found my cavalry pushed back against and then off the edge of the table.
As the final cherry on the cake, I then got caught with the new Even Stronger v13 rule (only a week old at time of playing) that kills a unit that draws an Ace when trying to return to the table.
So that was the right flank well and truly lost after what looked like a great initial advantage: I would have to win the battle elsewhere.
Neil had placed his Companions on the far right of his line, but some deft use of my deep units of cavalry kept the elite lancers bottled up against the right-hand edge of the battlefield, whilst I tried to manoeuvre my single unit of elephants into a position where they could disrupt the Macedonian cavalry.
Meanwhile, left-centre, my Allied Hoplites and Mobs of unwilling infantry moved forward and engaged the rest of the enemy line.
This latter figth developed into a grinding melee where neither side seemed to be able to get the advantage.
Back to the left, where the ebb and flow of the battle had finally let a unit of Companions out of their cul de sac: success with my Indian horse leaving them vulnerable to a charge in the rear from the lance-armed veterans.
For once, however, the cards were well and truly with me: the Companions, headed by Alexander himself, had armed themselves with lances made from spaghetti rather then wood!
Relief was, however, only temporary. More Macedonians flooded into the combat, and the brave Indian horsemen were destroyed: the five medals that cost me (deep unit plus commander) also costing me the game.
An interesting encounter where I don’t remember doing much wrong but still lost the battle!
My cavalry, most of it veteran, should have ridden down at least one of the pike blocks, and I still don’t quite understand how I never managed to get even one flank charge in.
Bottling up the Companions so that they took no part in the first half of the battle was also a tactical success, but led nowhere as I couldn’t seem to find a way forward elsewhere on the field.
And my scythed chariots - the reason for the lack of terrain? Shot down by archers in the first turn!
Time to play the battle the other way around, but that is a story for another day…
One of the great things about the To The Strongest system is that you can fight a decent sized battle in a couple of hours and still get a definitive result.
Thus it was that after our game featuring Ayyubids and Crusaders, Rob and I still had time for a game of For King & Parliament/Eastern Front variation. Rob would take the Ottomans, I would play the Muscovite.
The game began with strong advances on both sides, in particular with the Turkish horse seeking to break through on the Muscovite right flank.
The fighting opened on the left flank, with a massive cavalry clash between ten units of cavalry: five Turkish, five Russian.
The Muscovites had managed to get a tactical advantage: getting into position to be able to charge into the flank of the Ottoman line. Unfortunately, the Turkish horse proved extraordinarily resilient, failing to take any damage even when attacked from front and flank!
Not a bad set of saves!
Despite this resilience, the initial clash went to the Muscovites, who now still had five units of cavalry versus the three remaining to the Turks.
This advantage was, however, an illusion: the Muscovite horse had been badly disordered in the initial clash and, as the two lines closed again, it was the Ottomans who burst through the Russian line, evening up the scores to three remaining cavalry units each.
Meanwhile, on the right flank, the Ottomans were definitely dominating the situation after the Muscovite Cossack and Tatar allies had suffered a ‘mare on first contact, leaving the Turks utterly dominant in that sector of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, in the centre, the Ottoman Janisseries watched the action, unmoved…
Back to the left flank, and the Turks saw an opportunity to wipe another Muscovite cavalry unit off the field with a flank charge stymied by the cards.
This gave me the opportunity to move their targets to safety, but in one of those quirks of fate that makes FK&P so exciting, the Sons of Boyars decided that they would rather be flank-charged after all!
The Turks were keen to oblige, de-Boyarising the table with ease. At the same time, the rest of the Ottoman cavalry on that flank charged forwards and that, combined with the losses on the right flank, was enough to send the remainder of the Russian army fleeing back towards Moscow!
Well that had been an epic game, well won by the Ottomans: their cavalry had proved unstoppable even by the usually super tough Muscovites!
Another great game!
Another stunning 6mm game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum from Mark Luther: the Germans defend as the Soviets advance on the Kursk southern front.
Click on the picture below to see all…
Having painted up all my Berber spearmen, it was time to get them onto the tabletop where, as part of an Ayyubid Egyptian army, they would face the Early Crusaders.
As I watched the Crusaders deploy, I began to evolve a plan: I placed all my cavalry on my right flank intending to overwhelm the Christian Knights in front of me whilst the rest of my army held back.
The two cavalry forces quickly got to grips on the right flank but try, as I might and even with the advantage of numbers, I just couldn’t break the enemy Knights: even when outflanked by my lights they just shrugged off any damage and carrried on.
At the same time as my plan was being thwarted on the right, the Crusaders were trying to outflank me on the left. Fortunately, I had an infantry command ready to cover that flank and, just as the enemy Knights on the right, they were able to hold their ground against everything thrown against them.
In fact, the troops on the hill were so successful at repelling Crusader Knights and Arriere Bans that they were able to begin pushing forward.
That was both wings tied up, but what of the centre?
With one of my infantry commands tied up protecting the left flank, that left three units of Berber Spearmen (one the veteran Black Guard) facing all the Crusader foot. Fortunately, their deployment meant that I wouldn’t necessarily have to face them all at once: the pilgrim contingent on the right of the Crusader line would initially be fighting thin air!
The two sides closed quickly.
My troops on the right of the line were victorious, sending a unit of Crusader infantry fleeing the field. To their left, however, the Arab Spearmen were pushed back, but managed to retreat to a safe distance to reform.
The rest of the Crusader infantry then finally got into a position where they could join the fun, and the melee neatly pivoted through 90 degrees.
Meanwhile the battle between my cavalry and the Crusader knights on my right flank was still very much in the balance: try as I might, my Jund cavalry, even supported by all those lights nipping at the Crusader flanks, just couldn’t break the veteran Norman horsemen.
Sidenote: I can’t help feeling that if I had been facing my Venetian Knights, the Arabs would have wiped them out in one turn! Why can’t my Knights ever survive attack after attack in the same way?
Some Crusader infantry came to help the Knights, and a cunning use of the Cry Havoc! stratagem card (caltrops!) almost derailed my attack entirely, but the Arab horse survived and the fight went on.
Things were also starting to look a bit dicey on the left, where the Crusader Knights there were having a bit of a resurgence…
…but in the centre a lucky run of cards knocked the enemy Arriere-Bans off the table, and I only needed a couple more coins to win.
In the end the battle was decided on the right, as the cavalry unit that had retreated back from the enemy caltrops managed to catch a unit of Crusader infantry in the flank as they moved to intervene in the big battle on the right. Already disordered, the Crusader foot crumbled under the onslaught of the Jund, and the game was mine!
That had been an epic battle, with thrills and spills throughout.
All kudos to the two units of veteran Crusader Knights facing my right flank, who at one stage were keeping four units of cavalry and four units of light cavalry occupied, and it was really only a bit of luck in the middle of the field that would eventually give me the game.
After my narrow defeat at the hands of Peter’s Marian Romans, there was time for another game, so we cleared everything from the table and started again.
Peter immediately saw an opportunity to overwhelm me on my right hand flank: sending his men forward as fast as they could go.
In response, I retreated my infantry on that side back into my fortified camp, hoping to lure him forward even further to expose his right flank to my Knights.
The Romans are very manoeuvrable, however, and, with my infantry temporarily not a threat, Peter now snapped them around to present a solid frontage to the marauding Venetian horse.
My Knights turned to pin the Romans in place, and out of my camp came my infantry again, looking for those elusive Roman flanks!
I needed some form of strike now, whilst the Romans were still somewhat off-balance trying to fight in two different directions at once.
The oportunity came with my Someone Has Blundered stratagem card: one of the Roman legionary units replayed an activation card with their General, and I converted their move into a smart about turn, exposing their rear to the ternder ministrations of my Later Knights.
This did expose my Knights to a counter-charge from a small unit of Legionaries on their flank, but I thought the risk worthwhile to knock a full unit of Legionaries off the table and force lots of other Romans to make a Rally check.
I was now in a cracking position: on the advance with one command of Knights, the other poised to attack, and with infantry threatening the Roman flank. Surely it would now just be a matter of rolling up the Latins and sending them scurrying from the field!
Unfortunately not!
The Romans are a tough bunch, Peter a canny commander, and those two factors combined with a poor run of cards knocked the Venetians for six!
First up, the light infantry in the woods twice failed to charge the Roman flank, also ending that command’s activation before it could really get started.
Secondly, my Later Knights proved once again to be wearing cardboard armour, and just evaporated from the field. Note that, in the second picture, Peter has also drawn a ten over a nine to be able to continue his charge!
My dreams of victory over the Master had turned into nightmares and, at this point, I very maturely threw all my toys out of the pram and threatened to resign the game and go home in a huff!!!
I eventually calmed down, however, and got back to the business of trying to retrieve the situation. Here’s an overview shot showing what’s what. As you can see, it’s not quite as bad as it could have been for the Venetians: the forces remaining and tactical positions are about even.
On the far right of the field, the Roman cavalry had been trying to get around my flank, but had been stymied by a unit of Venetian Spearmen. These then chased the Roman horsemen right back to their camp, but wouldn’t quite get in to finish them off before the end of the game.
Meanwhile, a confused melee broke out in the centre of the field, with the remaining units on both sides fighting for the game.
First up, the Venetian Alabardiers had outflanked a Roman Legionary unit, but just couldn’t manage to break the veterans, only managing to drive them back into the Roman camp.
Next, my remaining units of Knights charged forward. One managed to break another unit of Legionaries, but was thenkilled by light cavalry coming at it from the flanks and rear.
The other also broke a unit of Legionaries, leaving the game poised on an absolute knife edge: next kill would win the victory!
All I needed to do was to let Peter’s current turn end, then I had a couple of chances to win the game. Unfortunately, I never got that chance: Peter’s last activation was to send just about his last unit of Legionarirs into the flank of my Knights. They had two chances to hit, only hit once, and all I needed was a 6+ to save. Naturally I failed, lost four coins (their General had nowhere to go), and that was that!
Well that had been a very bloody game of To The Strongest and a very frustrating one for the Venetians.
They had defintiely had the advantage after the initial deployment and early stages of the game; then had many chances to do some serious damage to the Romans in the middle of the game before the Aces hit; and even in the game’s second half seemed to have done enough to win.
But that’s the way it goes sometimes: and all credit to Peter for rescuing what seemed like a doomed situation at least twice.
I’ll get him eventually!
Here’s an After Action Report of a game of To The Strongest played as a practice session for this year’s Briton competition: my Venetians versus Peter’s Marian Romans.
I have Marian Romans, so I know how manoeuvrable they are, so it was no surprise when Peter set up with all his troops in one quarter of the battlefield with a command of light cavalry on the other flank: his intention being to either fight his whole army against only part of mine, or have the light cavalry get around my flank with disastrous results, or use the Romans’ manouevrability to react to whatever I did, or a combination of all three!
My plan was to send my knights forward into the Roman half of the battlefield, and then turn to the right and hopefully hammer the Romans from front and flank as my infantry came forward.
First, however, I needed to make sure that I kept an idea on that enemy light cavalry. This was a job for my mounted crossbowmen, who quickly shot down the veteran Numidians, removing one threat to my left flank.
Meanwhile, the Romans had expanded out of their initial tight formation, and were manouevring into a position where they could fight to both front and flank.
I did see an opportunity to kill another of the light cavalry units by squishing them between two unit of Knights, but unfortunately the cards were having none of it and the moment quickly passed.
Despite this minor setback, my plan unfolded nicely, and when contact was properly made with the Romans, it was generally with my troops having the advantage either from flank charges or being able to get two units onto one enemy one.
Unfortunately, although the cards I’d had for moving around the battlefield were decent enough, that good fortune didn’t extend to the actual combats themselves, and the initial clash left the Venetians down a unit of Knights and Spearmen having destroyed only one small unit of legionaries.
Meanwhile, on the right, the Venetian Alabardiers drove the Roman cavalry back towards their camp. For a moment I had visions of killing the enemy horse and taking the Roman camp, but forcing Peter withdrew a Legionary unit from the front line to combat this threat, and soon my right flank was empty of all Venetian troops except a couple of units of handgunner lights!
The battle was definitely not going my way: the manoeuvrability of the Romans combined with their veteran status making them very hard to kill.
I did, however, still have some Knights out of the left flank and, in a glorious charge back into the centre of the field, the “Broken Lances” rode down and destroyed an entire Legionary unit in one legendary thump from the flank!
That put me right back in the game, especially as the Roman formation had now got slightly extended, with the game breaking up into a series of individual combats.
So all I needed was one more turn where my flank charges went in and my shooting was effective and I could still win the game.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. At this crucial moment my veteran Knights (technically saving on a five, but obviously wearing their cardboard armour) were knocked off the table by a unit of Legionaries pulling a ten and then a decent melee card to get one final successful attack before Peter’s turn ended.
That was a very frustrating end to what had been a great game: and the closest I have come to beating Mr Riding for some time…but I was at least pleased that I had dealt with the initial Roman deployment and first phase of the battle well, even if the actual fighting bits hadn’t gone my way. Previously I would have let the enemy light cavalry harrass me from the flank and ended up with my Knights fighting air whilst the rest of the Romans mashed through my infantry to give Peter an easy victory…so an improvement of sorts at least!
Regular visitors will have seen the two recent reports featuring the excellent Starmaskaya table put on by legendary IABSM duo Phil and Jenny: one from a preview game and one my own report from this year’s Operation Market Larden event.
Here now is a third report using the same terrain layout, but an earlier, playtest battle with a report from the excellent Bleaseworld blog: highly recommended as a regular site to visit.
Click on the picture below to see all:
My final game at this year’s To The Smallest competition was an absolutely bonkers affair against other-Rob’s Later Carthaginians.
I say ‘absolutely bonkers’ as I’ve never played a game of To The Strongest quite like it. Seven of the eight Generals that started the game died; I was pulling 10’s out of the pack like there were no lower cards present; victory could have gone to either side in the final stages of the battle ; and the whole 160 point game was over in 45 minutes!
So what actually happened…
First up, Arab mounted infantry and the Take the High Ground” strategem card meant that the two sides started the game really close together:
The first action was on the far left, where Rob had been trying to sneak a unit of massed light cavalry around my flank. Not wanting this to happen, I sent some light camelry in that direction, thinking to intercept the Numidians in a turn or so.
The cards, however, were with me, and pulling a couple of tens in a row meant that I hit the lights in the flank right when they were on the edge of the field.
Although the camels didn’t manage to destroy the Numidians, they did disorder them, and for the rest of the game the two sides knocked seven bells out of each other without either side actually managing to finish off their opponent.
Meanwhile, on the other flank, some more Numidian cavalry had managed to get onto my flank, and despite the fact that they were raw massed lights, eventually managed to wipe out the cavalry command I had stationed there!
This was a bit unfortunate, but the cavalry had managed to take some of the enemy with them, so not a total loss.
Back to the centre, which had neatly divided into two halves as the two battle lines moved together.
Left-of-centre, I had a couple of units of Jund cavalry facing vast numbers of Celtic types - these Carthaginians are a mixed bunch! - but the Jund were on form smashing one warband from the field and moving up to engage the others. My cards had been very good here: lots of tens!
Generals had been dying in droves at this point: Rob had already lost three, and I had lost two, and at two Victory Medals apiece, that can really cut into your cache!
Right of centre, the action developed into a massive infantry melee as deep units of Hoplites and Spearmen smashed into my Warriors (half of them Fanatics).
Disorder markers rained down on the units involved, with the advantage slightly with me as my Fanatics ignored the associated penalty on combat ability.
The luck, however, stayed with me, and a final flurry of ten’s from my infantry (in defence as well as attack) and the death of the last remaining Carthaginians general gave me another five coins and the game.
I had won 16-9, but that didn’t really represent how close the game was. I had taken the last of Rob’s coins with a deep unit and a general going i.e. five coins, so before that, we had been on 11-9 in my favour. If my fanatics had gone (I’d already lost their general!) then the score would have been 11-12 in Rob’s favour with all to play for.
It had been a great game, played at a rapid rate of knots, full of action and much hilarity, especially as one general after another bit the dust. A great way to end the tournament. In the end, I came 6th overall, not bad for two wins and two losses…and it’s always a pleasure to game at Firestorm and to see the TTS crowd again.
My third game at this year’s To The Smallest 15mm To The Strongest competition was against Richard’s very nicely painted Ayyubid Egyptians.
The Ayyubids had a lot of cavalry available on the flanks, so my plan was once again to hold back on the wings whilst getting my infantry in the centre stuck in as soon as possible.
This I duly did, but without any great success. For some reason the cards had decided that they’d had enough of helping me out, and every single clash resulted in my troops going disordered!
Things continued that way for the rest of the game.
On the right flank, my cavalry moved up into a position where I could get a two to one advantage on one of the enemy units facing me, but the initial clash didn’t go my way to the extent that I ended up losing my cavalry general on that flank.
Now outnumbered, I needed to retreat to consolidate, but an unlucky Ace left me vulnerable. Unbelievably, however, the Egyptian cavalry failed to follow up, giving me time to get away, but the writing was on the wall and, a few turns later, that flank was definitively lost.
Things were not quite so bad on the left flank, where both sides had held back their troops to see what was happening elsewhere on the field.
When the clash did eventually occur, so did mutual self-destruction, with only one of my cavalry units surviving the melee.
So the game would be decided in the centre where, if you remember, the initial clash had not gone my way.
Things broke down into their usual (when using the Arabs) fragmented melee, but with my warbands suffering the effects of that initial clash.
Valiant efforts by the Daylami mountain tribesmen stemmed the tide of enemy troops flooding in from the right flank for a moment, but the loss of both of my foot generals meant that the writing was now on the walls!
The end of the game was very much a damp squib, with me just running out of coins as the attrition of the central melee combined with my losses on the wings took effect.
I had lost 11-16 (including three of my four generals) which showed that my men had been fighting hard if not successfully. A very frustrating game during which even Richard, my opponent, said that I had suffered the most appalling cards: not so much the usual surfeit of Aces, but more my men just not hitting or failing their saves during the general course of play.
But it was a game played in great spirits, and I look forward to a re-match some time in the future!
My second game at this year’s To The Smallest was a repeat of the warm-up game I’d had on Friday evening: my Arab Conquest army versus Adrian’s Later Achaemenid Persians. I’d won that game, so that had to be a good omen for this one…didn’t it?
Looking at the Persian deployment, they seemed very strong on my left, so I determined to hold back that flank and sent the rest of my army forward as soon as possible, helped by the fact that my infantry was all mounted.
The idea was that I used most of my army - all except a covering force on the left - to beat half of his army, then turned to fight the rest of his troops from a position of being in the lead coins-wise and having a attacking-the-front-and-flank advantage.
Things started reasonably well. My green flag Jund cavalry began pushing his horsemen back, the Daylami veteran javelinmen managed to disorder the mercenary Greek Hoplites and kill their general, and Adrian still hadn’t committed his troops on the right, meaning I was tying up more points than I had committed there.
Unfortunately, disaster then struck!
If you are pushing forward hard on one side of the battlefield, you need to make sure that you watch out for enemy troops from the flank turning through 90 degrees and then hitting your advancing units in the flank.
My two non-fanatic units of Warriors had got a square forward of the main battle line, showing Darius’ veteran lancers (plus army standard) a little too much of their flank. I had my covering force on the left ready to intervene should the lancers turn, but really needed to pull the left hand Warrior unit back one square to be safe.
Two goes (I had a general present) to get 4+ on the cards and I failed both. There’s only a 9% chance of that happening!
Adrian took full advantage, and smashed his veteran cavalry into the flank of the stuck-in-the-mud Warriors, smashing them from the field. Their General died too, meaning that I gave up five of my sixteen coins in one loss!
Worse, there was the second unit of Warriors also with their flank exposed. Adrian hit that too, doubly disordering it with other enemy troops sending it from the field shortly afterwards. For those keeping count, that’s eight or half my coins gone!
But I wasn’t giving up yet. As planned, I’d smashed Adrian’s left flank (i.e. on my right) and was within Ames Ace of taking his camp there too. I had taken seven of his coins so far, so although I was losing, it was not by a huge margin, especially as Adrian’s right flank, now committed as he could see victory in front of him, hadn’t achieved very much.
Unfortunately, again, Darius and his pooping veteran cavalry weren’t finished yet!
They carried on their rampage across the field and hit one of my Fanatical Warrior units in the flank. They rapidly lost their devotion to the cause and fled the field, taking another General with them along with my lst few coins!
Although a disappointing result, it had been a great game of To The Strongest.
I must confess that the early manoeuvres had left me thinking that, after a grind, I could probably win the game…but Adrian spotting the slightly too advanced warband, me failing to move it backwards, and then Adrian superbly taking full advantage not once, not twice but three times in a row rightfully gave the win to the Persians.
It just goes to show how one event can decide the course of a battle, and it’s perhaps fitting that the unit that won Adrian the game (and then some!) was the one I had destroyed to win the warm-up game, Darius getting his revenge!
My first game proper at this year’s To The Smallest 15mm TTS tournament in Cardiff was against John’s Later Lithuanians: light cavalry, more light cavalry…and even more light cavalry!
My main concern was getting outflanked and enveloped by the Lithuanian horde, so I took full advantage of my mounted infantry to deploy as close to the enemy as possible.
I should also note at this point that this was actually our second deployment: a mix up regarding what the terrain actually represented meant that I had severely compromised my set up but, once we both understood what was Impassable and, more importantly, what was not, John was very happy for me to adjust my positioning…a generous example of great sportsmanship on his part.
As expected, the Lithuanians’ first move was to advance quickly against my flanks. I was okay on the right, where my outnumbered troops were helped by the marshy terrain, but things were not looking so good on the left, where the beginnings of an overlap were already beginning to show.
Things went from bad to worse on the left as I desperately, and ultimately unsuccessfully, tried to stem the tide of the Lithuanian horde. The left was lost: I would have to win the battle elsewhere.
John’s army might have been large and manoeuvrable, but it was fragile: if I could connect with a unit, even one of his massed lights, then I could probably kill it. It was the connecting bit that would be difficult, as his horsemen could evade away from infantry charges with comparative ease and my cavalry were tied up on the wings.
That was, however, the only thing I could do, so I set about relentlessly charging every light horse unit I could with my infantry. This shot, taken after a couple of turns of this, shows how fragmented the action had become: rather than two battle line clashing in the centre of the table, the game broke down into a myriad of minor actions scattered across the field.
There were several epic chases as my foot soldiers desperately tried to close with the Lithuanian light horse. A unit of veteran Daylami javelinmen chased down some enemy cavalry until the horsemen crashed into a wood on the edge of the table and were forced to fight…and then die!
A unit of fanatical warriors chased some Lithuanians right to their baseline, even taking one of their camps as they did so.
I even managed to bring one of the cavalry units from the right wing back into the action and use them to squish some Lithuanian light horse up against the back of another of my warrior units. I was doign everything I could to whack-a-mole the enemy!
Finally the Lithuanians had had enough: their last victory medal was taken as the survivors fled the field. That had been a 13-9 victory to the Arabs and one hell of a game!
I was just pleased we had been fighting on a simulation of the field of Thermopylae, with the fighting area of the tabletop narrowed by plentiful terrain on the flanks. I might have won this time, but a more open table would, I think, have led to me being enveloped by the Lithuanians even with me trying to chase them down.
A good start to the day!
Another amazing looking I Ain’t Been Shot Mum tabletop from a Mercian Miniatures post on the IABSM Facebook Group.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
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