In-action shots of Raphia at Salute

Yesterday at Salute I was so busy failed to take a single photo, but happily chum Ian shot some lovely pics of our game. Most of the photos were shot during play and you may be able to make out chits, playing cards and ghostly hands, here and there.

The Egyptian phalanx- massed machimoi in the foreground.

The rather smaller Seleucid phalanx

Seleucid horse and elephants charge

Silver shields to the left rear

View from the dunes on the flank

Arabs- far from being the toughest unit on the table, but one of my personal favourites.

Almost 1K phalangites in this battle

The whole enchilada

 

A Ptolemaic "African" - they struggled against their larger adversaries

Ptolemaic xystophoroi

Clash of the  battle lines

Another African

Medes

Greek mercenaries on the Ptolemaic right

Ptolemaic guard (in the background)

Echecrates' Thessalians hold the Ptolemaic right

Galatian nudists in Ptolemaic service

Huge thanks to the team who worked so hard to set out  run the game- Ian Notter, Andrew Brentnall, Shaun McTague, Mike Brian, Mark "WHC" Freeth and Chris Cornwell. Many of the minis were painted by Shaun McTague and Craig Davey and some by Nick Spelller- hi Nick! The minis are a mixture of Foundry, Polemarch, Crusader and others. Most of the elephants are lovely Aventines.

Many thanks to the players- too- who really seemed to enjoy themselves! The first game was played in just over an hour, which absolutely astonished me and must be some kind of record for a 1600 mini game. The Seleucids won both games, although Antiochus was killed in the second one which was, therefore, something of a Pyrrhic victory.

Salute was a great show- although the venue is somewhat impersonal its meeting the people and many friends that makes it, for me. The Warlords organisation this year was extremely efficient and professional. A big hi! to every one I chatted with and to everyone I missed!  

On a final note, I have extended the current "To the Strongest!" rules sale to midnight tonight, for people who saw the game and want to buy a set with a 25% discount (or anyone else for that matter!). You can find them here:

Raphia at Salute 2017

On Saturday I'm taking Raphia to Salute; I hope to see as many of you as possible, there! 

We will be on stand GG08 which is a great central location! I'll be running it as a participation game- once at 11AM and again at 2PM.  If you fancy playing, please mail me at simonmiller60 (a t) gmail (d o t) com and I'll book you in.

In other news, I currently have a 25% off sale on the rules- if you don't already have a set, you can find them here!  I won't be selling anything at the show- will be far too busy chatting.  :-)

Raphia at SELWG

I had a very enjoyable day yesterday at SELWG, running Raphia again. Here are some shots of the game taken by mate Ian- lovely rich colours! The elephants (mostly Aventines) look brilliant.

To cap it all, SELWG awarded us best participation game! Thanks to Ian for the carrying and for taking all the photos, to Mike for his help setting up and to everyone who played or chatted! As ever, SELWG was a friendly and well-organised show- it was nice how a SELWG team came around at the start to greet us and check we had everything we needed.

Raphia at t'other Partizan

I had a fine weekend travelling to Newark for my favourite wargames show, Partizan. My extended Raphia  had its first public outing.

Above, the view from behind the Ptolemaic left; those are the (supposedly) inferior African elephants. In the photo below are the more numerous and heftier Seleucid pachyderms.

The cloths we used are the new Sagebrush Steppe mats from Deep Cut Studios. I was really pleased with these as I had them designed to match my bases.  Note that they have a good deal of green in them, as well as the dusty beiges and ochres; indeed very much more green than the Deep Cut thumbnail would suggest...

The game was particularly exciting. Usually the Seleucid Indian elephants sweep all before them, but yesterday the Ptolemaic African beasts overthrew them. To add insult to injury, the inferior and outnumbered Ptolemaic cavalry managed to seriously wound Antiochus the Great (next to the man on the white horse, below), who retired from the field.

In the centre (below) both phalanx hit each other and became locked in a shoving match in which honours were broadly even.

On the other wing, though, the Seleucids gained the upper hand and routed the Ptolemaic cavalry. They then turned onto the flank of the Galatians (below) and were well positioned to roll up the Ptolemaic line; it was looking sticky.

Just at this point a wonderful wargaming event occurred.  A 13-year-old named Matthew was commanding the Ptolemaic centre- he'd had a fairly uneventful battle, so far, but had picked up the basics of the rules. He noticed that a couple of units on the Seleucid left had failed to advance, leaving the left hand side of their phalanx temporarily unsupported; it was "hanging in the air". Matthew saw an opportunity to turn his rightmost phalanx unit onto the Seleucid flank. This might have gone very badly for him (I told him it was very risky), as it exposed this unit's own flank, but luckily the opposing Seleucid general was temporarily distracted and the young Alexander proceeded to slaughter not one but two phalanx with flank attacks, winning the game for Ptolemy! I should imagine he won't forget that in a while.  :-)

Many thanks to all who played and all who helped, especially Ian Notter (who took the photos), Andrew Brentnall and Dave Lycett who helped hugely with packing. Another fantastic show organised by Tricks, Laurence and the Newark Irregulars! Oh and we won the raffle, too.  ;-)

Raphia and other battles

...so last Friday I drove to the Wargames Holiday Centre and with Mark Freeth, set up the five games from the boxes in last Thursday's post. Along the way we set up the phalnx and Mark shot a video; here's a link to the video on Facebook with an explanatory voice-over.

The largest of the games was Raphia and I shot quite a few photos because, after six months preparation, I was more than a little excited about seeing it on a table. I should say that I have plans to make the terrain more arid for when I next run it, since the site of the battle was probably covered in sand and scrub. Jeff Jonas tells me there were limestone outcrops and cacti!

Here's the game set up, as the players were arriving, shot from behind Seleucid lines. We had sixteen or eighteen players over the weekend who each played around five games, which kept me and Mark very busy. All of the 25-odd battles were fought using my "To the Strongest!" rules.

Above is a shot of the Ptolemaic Machimoi, in three units each of 96 miniatures. We had a very entertaining rule to depict them; if they killed any enemy units, then the Seleucids would win a moral victory (as the cocky Egyptian peasantry would have revolted after the battle). I don't believe they did kill any units, but they came close! They were commanded by Sosibus the Eunuch, who died in at least one of the four games.

Below are the Seleucid Arab allies painted by Craig Davey, they got a lot of admiring glances.

Above are the Ptolemaic Galatians, who did sterling service, hacking their way through the Medes in all four games. Below; from behind; break out the Factor 40!

The below shot caught the spirit of the game in action. The Ptolemaic cavalry are desperately manoeuvring in the foreground, whilst a Seleucid elephant threatens a flank charge. 

My personal high was this charge by Echecrates the Thesslian which snatched victory form the jaws of defeat- we only had two victory medals left at the point of victory.

We fought Raphia four times; there were three Seleucid victories and one Ptolemaic. Antiochus Megas died twice and Ptolemy once; go figure!

There were other games of course, Leuctra with Epaminondas' phalanx (above) and below Sotium with Caesarians and, well, Sotiates.

And finally here are some of the players; the extrovert is Mark Freeth who runs the Wargames Holiday Centre and who is a super host. it was a terrific weekend, certainly the best so far. I shall return in the autumn with a new set of games!

Raphia test run

Last night I tested the extreme left of the Ptolemaic line, around a quarter of the width of the battlefield. In my experience it is always important to test the components of a really big game; something always comes up that can be improved.

Above is the extreme left of the Ptolemaic line; four wedges of xystophoroi lancer cavalry on the left, three escorted Indian elephant units and the left edge of the phalanx including the agema and peltastoi. Below is the portion of the battlefield in question.

Below is a close-up of the Ptolemaic cavalry.

In the first game we tried an experiment with the elephant screen, deploying the light infantry and elephants as separate units. Using this we found that the Ptolemaic elephants were all-too-quickly swept away and so in the second game we restored them to what I call in the rules "escorted elephants" which have two hits. Although eventually bested by the superior Indian pachyderms, the two hit units put up a much more spirited resistance. We also changed the command structure, adding some more generals.

The second game played quickly and was very enjoyable and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the whole battle fought at the Wargames Holiday Centre!

Antiochus Megas

Here is the Seleucid Emperor, Antiochos Megas (the Great) for my too-big-for-Salute Raphia game. He will lead a bodyguard cavalry unit on the extreme right of the Seleucid line. He was painted by Shaun and he and his escorts are Aventine (although he rides a Foundry horse).

Mate Shaun McTague dropped off the last phalanx and cavalry unit for Raphia and Leuctra this morning. Now I just need to assemble, varnish and base them! Not a trivial undertaking...

Above are the new Silver Shields and some Victrix Mercenaries, below is a close-up of the Victrix. I've given them metal pin spears which I hope will be durable. They will be mixed in 50/50 with some Lucid Eye hoplites that Shaun painted earlier; it'll be an amazing-looking unit.

Ptolemaic Xystorphoroi

I've re-based the Xystphoroi on the front of my rulebook (which was painted by Raglan) into wedge and added a second unit painted by Shaun McTague.  Shaun will shortly paint a third regiment to match. I really like the look of wedges for Successor cavalry. There will be seven regiments in wedge, two in rhomboid and four in line in the Raphia battle, for a total thirteen.

Both units are of Polemarch riders, sold by Gripping Beast, on Aventine Successor horses.  These are their older horse range- the new horses are slightly different but just as nice.  These units can be deployed in line or wedge as I prefer. 

After Raphia I plan to add some Alexandrian companions, some prodromoi, some Thracians and a whole load of Persians to the mix, which will permit me to re-fight most of the  Successor battles.

Raphia roundup

I've been working hard on the Raphia game and I thought it might be interesting to share the deployment plan (above, clickable) and for me to review what is left to do. The battlefield (including the dunes at the edges) will be fourteen foot wide. The Ptolemaic phalanx (and supporting infantry) will be 8' 8" wide (2.6m). I have the majority of the troops I need painted and based, but there is still a deal of ground to cover. 

Troops not yet painted include:-

• 48 Silver shields
• 48 Thureophoroi
• 24 Thracians 
• 24 Galatians
• 9 Ptolemaic lancers

There are also the following to do- these are substantially painted but not finished or on based:-

• 20 Seleucid lancers
• 96 phalangites
• 48 Greek mercenaries

Troops on bases but needing grout/flocking

• 336  phalangites

When finished, these will add another 2' to the pike phalanx and 2' of supporting infantry to the host.

I also need to finish and base the following by the week after Salute for a Leuctra game; half of these are painted but most need spears, finishing and basing.

• 145 Thebans

It's going to be a busy March and April!

Raphia Elephants

No, not ones made out of twisted straw but rather of tin and lead!

Here are the four new elephants for the looking Raphia Game. All of the elephants and most of the crew were painted by mate Shaun McTague although I added some detailing, notably the skin pigmentation, washes and based them. All of the photos are clickable!

Three of the elephants are superb Aventine Miniatures and the fourth (on the right) is a solid lead beast from Timeline Miniatures with an Aventine howdah and crew. She weighs an absolute ton!

Above and below, Shaun did a magnificent job on the drapery.

I have finished these with a Pyrrhic vibe- later I plan to get some specifically Seleucid armoured elephants painted up, with proper red ears.

Above, Indian elephants tend to fade to pink as they get older; think bald patches. These are very old nellies, being part of Alexander the Great's own herd, passed down to Pyrrhus like family heirlooms through several generations of Successor owners. 

The elephants are escorted by Wargames Foundry javelinmen that I bought from Steve Marshall.

Last but not least the tusk-less cow (above) is a Timeline Miniatures model with an Aventine Howdah. I think of her as Mrs Jumbo and that is, of course, Dumbo behind her. At the battle of Beneventum the Pyrrhic elephants panicked after such a cow became concerned for her calf and rampaged back through their own lines.

There will be 11 elephants altogether in the Raphia game. Because there is no room for baby Dumbo at the Salute Inn, the battle will instead be fought exclusively at the Wargames Holiday Centre over the weekend after Salute (22nd-24th April), along with the Sabis (thousands of Celts; I bloody hate Celts!), Leuctra (with a spanking new Theban army), the vast Cremona 69AD game and a Late Roman bash. A weekend at the Wargamees Holiday Centre is a very fine experience, indeed, and Mark tells me he still has a couple of places left... you can book here.