Showing posts with label TotheStrongest!. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TotheStrongest!. Show all posts

Monday, 26 October 2015

Sumer to Sargon


I've just uploaded a new booklet for To the Strongest! covering the Third Millennium BCE and including Sumer, Akkad and many more lists, which were largely written by mate Happy Wanderer who runs the excellent Sumer2Sargon blog (the pic is of one of the Big Men from his blog). They can be downloaded for free from here in the BigRedBatshop.


Monday, 28 September 2015

The second "To the Strongest" World championship

Caesar Nick plans his advance in the first TtS! championship last February
The second-ever To the Strongest! World tournament will be held on February 13th in the village hall of the village of Chalgrove in southern Oxfordshire. People will be travelling there from as far away as the depths of Wales!

Choose your army from any of the To the Strongest! army list booklets, up to 120 points. If your favourite historical army list isn't already written, drop me a line and I will write a list for it. We will be playing with 28mm figures on 6' by 4' tables using a 15cm grid. Gridded battle mats will be provided (or you can buy and bring your own). If you don't have a suitable army I can write a list for you and loan you one on the day; I have quite a few! :-)  I can teach you the rules if you've not previously played.

If you would like to come along drop me a line and I'll forward to Steve Dover who very kindly is organising the event. There will be a nominal charge to cover costs. Due to the relatively small size of the venue we only have a very limited number of places, so I recommend an early application!

Friday, 12 June 2015

Money for nothing

I've recently added some splendid new Victory Medals (for To the Strongest!) to the BigRedBatShop; some lovely chunky and misshapen replica Armorican silver staters for your celtic warriors...


 ...and replica silver didrachim and gold staters with Athena and an owl on for your hoplite armies:



To celebrate the launch of the new medals I shall be giving away a set of the replica Armorican staters (my personal favourites, despite my well-known misgivings about celts) to a randomly selected person who "likes" this post, either here or on the To the Strongest Facebook account.

If you share this I'll give you an extra entry to the draw, which will be held one week today at 12:00 GMT.  

All of the coins (including the earlier Roman releases) are available here:

http://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/victory-medals

Friday, 24 April 2015

To the Strongest has landed!


...just in the nick of time for Salute.  Phew!  The print quality looks very good, and I am rather chuffed to put it mildly. A huge thank you to all those who helped get me to this point! Now I just need to introduce Mrs. Bat to the new warehouse facility in our hallway, and schlep half a tonne of books, minis and boards to Excel.

If you'd like to pick a copy at Salute, you can still pre-order from my shop- I'll refund postage costs

http://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/wargames-rules

and collect from Agema Miniatures (TE11), or just turn up with twenty quid on the day at either the Agema miniatures stand or Caliver Books (TL11).

Orders for delivery by post will go out next Monday/Tuesday.

Friday, 10 April 2015

Pre-ordering To the Strongest!


I have the proof copy is in my hands and it looks brilliant; the quality of the paper is excellent and the images and diagrams are really crisp. :-)

If you would like to pre-order a copy of the book, it can be now purchased in the BigRedBatShop. The physical book version retails at £19.99, and the digital version £9.99.  Both versions can be purchased together for £24.99, a saving of £5.

If you previously bought the previous digital version, the new extended version will be emailed to you on the 27th of April. You are also entitled to a £5 discount off of the cost of the physical book; just buy the book in the normal manner, drop me a separate email at simonmiller60 (at) gmail.com and I will refund £5 against the cost.

If you are attending Salute you can pre-order and collect the book from the Agema Miniatures stand (TE11), saving the cost of postage. Simply purchase the book in the normal manner, drop me an email at simonmiller60 (at) gmail.com l to let me know you will be collecting it and I will refund the postage costs. I will post out the remaining orders early in the week after Salute (i.e. from 27th April onwards).

Salute is also be a great opportunity to pick up chits and victory medals, post free!  I have just added some shock missile (pila, angon or soliferrum) and lance markers to the shop that will be handy with the new version.

Here's the pre-order link for the rules, again:  BigRedBatShop

Whilst you are picking up the rules, you might like to take advantage of one of the the several excellent deals on their own products that Agema Miniatures will be offering on the day.  They have their Legion Deal (1 x box Legionaries, 1 x box Velites, 1 x pack metal command) for £30; a Praetorian Army Deal (2 x Legion deal, plus a pack of metal Army command, all for £60) and a buy three, get one free deal on all their metal blister packs. 

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Sneak-peeks of To the Strongest! v1.1

Very shortly I'll start taking pre-orders for the new book version of my "To the Strongest!" ancient and medieval wargames rules and the associated digital version (which will be free to those who purchased the previous version). 

In the meanwhile I thought people might like to see some pages from this new extended version of the rules, which has benefitted from a glossy makeover by Aussi mate Millsy and editing/proofing by various mates but especially Aaron Bell in Japan. Here's the new front cover (all images are clickable):


Next are some other pages, chose more or less at random. There are some rule changes to the previous version; legionaries now have a pila to throw, for example. There are a couple of new troops types, too: war wagons and heavy chariots. I will be providing a summary sheet listing the various rule changes. 


I really like the photo on the page below, which I hope helps to make the point that the game can be played in 15mm (or 10mm, 6mm or even 2mm!) as well as 28mm. The production-value of this version of the rules is much improved, and both versions have an Index. The digital version will retain the popular hyperlinks.


Lastly, diagrams have been made clearer and more examples have been included to help players to pick the rules up quickly.


I am momentarily expecting the proof-copy to plunk through my letterbox. Assuming I'm happy with it, I'll put them up in the shp for pre-ordering! I will have both versions ready by Salute (25th April), and if you are attending you will be able to pick up a copy (and perhaps chits and whatnot) there and save yourself postage.

Best, Simon

Thursday, 2 April 2015

Arriba Espana!


Today I uploaded another army list to the BigRedBatShop; this time ancient Spanish, and I thought I'd show a pic of the few Spanish caetrati (round shield bearers) that I finished some years back. I have more in the loft that just need basing, just not enough time to do it! It was interesting to research this list.  Over the last decade opinion seems to have shifted towards a regular battlefield role for the Spanish, compared to previously, when they were considered more as guerillas.

The new list can be found here

In other news, mate and proof-reader-extraordinaire Aaron has played a game of To the Strongest- you can read his after action review here and here.  

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Like frogs around a pond

Plato described the Greeks living round the Aegean "like frogs around a pond."

I've just uploaded some "To the Strongest!" army lists covering the Greek states for the Peloponnesian War and after. Over the coming weeks I'll add the equivalent Achaemenid Persian lists. They can be downloaded for free from the BigRedBatShop. These are still somewhat "under construction," and I would value comments or suggestions, via the email address on the front of the blog.

I have a fair-sized Spartan army but would dearly love to paint some more hoplites for this period... especially Thebans, I'm a big fan of Epaminondas!

Monday, 9 March 2015

Fallen Victory


These are some shots of the game we played on Saturday. I've been write a wargame campaign that could be played by non-wargamers, set during the Boudiccan revolt of 61-62AD.  It is named Fallen Victory after the statue of Claudius in Colchester that supposedly fell over just before the revolt began.

The campaign day broke into two parts. During the first, the two teams, in separate rooms, manoeuvred across replica antique maps of Roman Britain. This proved to be very exciting, as for almost the whole two and a half hours, neither team had very much of an idea what the other was up to. I umpired the Roman team which reacted to the growing crisis with considerable stoicism; no tears were shed even when II Augusta perished to a man. Below is the British team; after a somewhat shaky start, they rallied and burned a broad swathe of destruction right across the width of Roman Britain.


When the two armies met (near a burning Cirencester) we transferred the action to the tabletop, and fought it out using my miniatures and To the Strongest! rules.  The Britons formed up in a huge mass with chariots to the wings and the laager to their rear.



Above are the Romans, and below the revolting Britons.  Most of the players were novices, but there were four gamers mixed in.



Above, a flanking move by one of the British chariot wings.  Below, other British chariots that had launched an unexpected flank attack, sweep around behind the Roman lines.


Because of time limitations, we only had around an hour-and-a-half to play the game, and consequently didn't get to finish it. Some of the non-gamers picked the rules the rules up well, others found them challenging to master in 90 minutes. I am currently writing some even simpler rules that should enable the same game to be played by non-wargamers in under an hour.

Below is my favourite shot, from behind the British wagon laager.  I'll take proper photos of the laager in a few days, when I have more time.


With time running out awarded a marginal victory to the British, largely for not having lost to the far superior Roman legionaries!  It was a splendid day of gaming; I am sure I shall repeat it.

Sunday, 8 March 2015

Meeples and Miniatures 140 - To the Strongest!


I was recently interviewed by Neil Shuck and Mike Hobbs of Meeples and Miniatures Podcast fame. We talks a great deal about why I wrote the game, how it works, and the potential merits of substituting Vodka shots for Victory Medals. It was a lot of fun!

The interview can be downloaded from here:

https://meeples.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/meeples-miniatures-episode-140-to-the-strongest/

I shall be downloading it shortly, and will probably be wincing for much of the rest of the day.

The lack of posts this week has been due to the preparations for a campaign and large wargame yesterday. This was unusual in that it was aimed at (and largely played by) non-wargamers, and observed by a team psychologists. It went very well indeed; I'll post some pictures tomorrow.  In the meanwhile, here is one to be going along with!


Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Shiny, shiny

This week I've added "victory medals" to my shop; these are the same replica Roman coins that I use for my own games.



They are cast in lead-free pewter, and the gold ones are gold plated!  Initially I've purchased Caesarian and Late Roman coins, but should they prove popular I will add dark age and medieval coins, so one can theme medals to a particular army. They can be found here:


Of course, one could also use the chocolate coins as we did recently at the Benson tournament... 

In other news, this week I've been very busy working on v1.1 of "To the Strongest!" This will be a free update of the rules for those who have already bought them, and the basis of the print version of the rules which I hope to have published before Salute.  The rules will be very similar to the current version, but I'm adding additional examples, diagrams and some new troop types (war wagons!). I am keen to run these past people for comment (and to spot errors); if you are interested in seeing them, please drop me a line via my email address on the blog.

Sunday, 8 February 2015

World's Strongest 2015

Yesterday we fought the first ever "To the Strongest!" Tournament at Benson in Oxfordshire. I was delighted to be able to play, myself, to roundup an odd number of players. Ten players fought a total of 15 games, each lasting 2 hours. 10 games were decisive and 5 draws, with most of the draws occurring in the first round, before the players had "warmed up". 

Unfortunately in the rush I failed to take many photos of the players, but I did get shots of some of the armies and games.  Below, my "Decline" Romans in the foreground await (with considerable trepidation) the charge of John Sharman's Saxons.  My Hun wing, led by Attila, had a good game, ending up behind the Saxon centre.



Above is Nick Speller contemplating his own Caesarian Romans- a splendid-looking force (lovely shields and basing) but about to be roughly handled by John's Saxons.  Below Steve Dovers Granadines are menaced by Simon Purcheon's Sassanids.  The Sassanids, with their combination of armour, shooty-ness and mobility did very well indeed and I think Simon came second (or third?) overall.  Looked good, too!


Below my Decline Romans prepare to receive (my own) Early Imperial Romans, played by Trevor Holcroft. The Romans in my force didn't manage to kill anything at all, but their Hun and Gothic allies were lethally effective, especially the former who could do no wrong!  Atilla was again definitely Man of the Match.  Note the edible chocolate victory medals...



Above Peter Ryding's army of veteran (in two senses) Essex Caesarians proved very hard to kill- my Polybians (played by Ian Notter) seem to be keeping a safe distance!  Or maybe it was just early in the game.  


Finally I have a couple of shots of Barry Lee's lovely Late Romans. I particularly covet the Warlord wagon in the above photo. Below, there's nothing quite as good as Late Roman army when it comes to shield designs.  Hopefully Barry and I will be able to stage a Late Roman Civil War at some point later this year.


It was very interesting to see how others interpreted the rules, and to encounter armies which I've not previously experienced on the table.  Bevan Marchand won the tournament with a Hundred Years War English army (sadly I have no photos); shooting armies did quite well.

Huge thanks to Steve Dover and the South Oxfordshire Generals for organising the event. It was a splendid day out and I think everyone enjoyed themselves! I'd very much like to repeat the experience later this year or early next. 

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Not Noreia 112BC


Here are some shots of a game of "To the Strongest" I played with mate Ian last week. In the foreground a horde of migrating Germans approach a Roman blocking force protecting a town. Below is a photo of the Roman centre and right, including three of their four legions. All of the photos are clickable.


The Roman force was Polybian, organised into small units of 8-16 figures, whereas the Germans (proxied with Gallic figures) were in 40+ strong blocks. One of the reasons I wanted to fight this match up was because I'd read an account of one test game where the small units of the Roman legions were entirely swept away by a wild Gallic charge, and I wanted to check that this wasn't going to happen every game!

Below Ianus advances the Roman and Numidian cavalry screening his left, against my rather scruffy German cavalry (most of whom were "raw").  


The velites also rushed forward and showered the German warriors with their javelins, disordering several of them (note the stepped-back element in the right foreground). Disordered warriors only hit on an 8 instead of a 6, and are really hard to rally. I pushed the warriors forward as quickly as I could, in an attempt to minimise Roman shooting, and eventually managed to catch and kill a couple of units of pesky velites.

Below is a view from behind the German right.  At one point I managed to get a scruffy German cavalry unit onto the flank of the left-hand Roman legion (rear, centre, in the wheat field). Unfortunately the legion's Triarii flanked them, in return, and drove them off.


In the centre, below, the warbands collided with the Roman line. They managed to smash through the Roman Hastati and then the Principes, but took a lot of casualties along the way, becoming progressively disordered.  It is very hard to rally warriors when the enemy are in charge or shooting range.


Unfortunately the Roman Triarii proved too tough a nut to crack, and I just couldn't kill them and break through to loot the temples on the edge of the town. It turned into a very narrow Roman victory - they had one medal left when the Germans ran out!

It was a very enjoyable game that lasted around two and a half hours.  I took some video clips- I'll see if I can work out how to post them, tomorrow. We played the game using my new "Chits of War" instead of playing cards, you should be able to make them out in some of the photographs.  The last two sets of chits (more to come in a couple of weeks) and the rules are available in my shop.

Friday, 23 January 2015

Chits of War

I've just added what I call "Chits of War" to the BigRedBatShop.  These are intended as an alternative to using playing cards in a game of To the Strongest!, and are likely to appeal to those who don't like the look of cards on a table or who are gaming on smaller grids, perhaps with 15mm minis.  I used them in a game last night and I am very taken with them- I'll certainly use them myself in games that will be photographed for this blog.

These chits have been cut from 2mm MDF. The activation chits are designed to be drawn from a cup or small pot and used in exactly the same manner as playing cards are in a game of To the Strongest! The ammunition markers have a dinky little arrow on them, and the playing card-shaped chits are perfect for stratagems.  The set includes a total of 143 chits:

  • 80 TtS! activation chits numbered from 1-10
  • 13 TtS! playing card court card chits for use as stratagem cards
  • 50 TtS! ammunition markers


The full set can be purchased for £9.99 plus shipping from here.

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

World's Strongest

Plans for the first ever "To the Strongest Tournament!"proceed apace, and I'm just starting to think about the loan armies I'll be bringing along for anyone who needs to borrow one.  I am minded to paint and base the last couple of units I need to base to be able to field this army:


http://bigredbat.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/EIR2

We still have 2 places left for the tournament - if you are free on Saturday 7th Feb and can get to the Oxford area, please drop me a line at the address on the left and I'll book you in!  

Saturday, 10 January 2015

Back to Prax

In days of distant memory, long before I got into Ancients, I used to do a lot of Gloranthan gaming with a group of friends known as the "Glorygeeks".  We used the Hordes of the Things rules, and later Command and Colors to run battles set in the Runequest world of Glorantha.

I thought it would be a lot of fun to get some of the old models out and try them with a slightly adapted version of my "To the Strongest!" rules. The majority of the figures are from Ian Notter's collection. It proved pretty easy to fit all of the troop types in- the Lunar mages of the Minor Classes became cannon, for example, and the Rhino Riders cataphracts. 

I played the progressive (=evil expansionist) Lunar forces, with their Sable rider allies, fighting against Ian's coalition of reactionary (=freedom loving) Praxian nomads.  My left consisted of the Sable riders; more skirmish-y than their Bison-riding foes, and moreover half of the heavier sables were "lost!" off table, to boot. Below the chief and his shaman look down from the hill upon a rather scary buffalo herd!  All photos are clickable.


My right had a screen of Lunar infantry (the Red Dragoons and Steel Sword Legion) protecting no less than three units of Minor Classes spell casters. You may be able to make out the summoned "Lunes" that will shortly be driving some of the nomads (and Ian) insane.  On either flank of the line are a pair of War Triceratops, with archer crew.  Opposite the mass of crimson soldiery is the lighter Praxian wing; Pol Joni horse-riders (looking very much like native Americans), the Pavis Royal Guard on their zebras, a combined unit of Ostrich riders and the virgin Yelnorans on their unicorns. On the hill are the Baboon Troop and some Rhino riders are in reserve.


I'll briefly describe the game.  In the first turn, the Praxians rode forward and fired a withering volley at the Lunars. The very first arrow...


...seriously wounded the Lunar commander, who retired form the field, calling for a healer. In the first Lunar turn the furious mages launched wave after wave of Lunes against the Praxians, and one unit after another was driven screaming from the battlefield (I was phenomenally lucky).  

    
To cut a long story short the ponderous Bison advance pushed the Sables back, and flanked them; it was looking pretty hairy on my left.  However the Lunars drove all before them and were threatening the Praxian camp, and the nomads decided to "leg it" whilst they still had a chance.  


My shooting and spell casting was incredibly lucky, not least because there is a roughly 1 in 12 chance of the mages (= cannon) driving themselves insane up each time they cast a spell! We had a very enjoyable game, washed down with a delightful bottle of Trivento Argentinian Malbec. After the game we have both started to plot expansions to our Praxian forces, of which more, anon.

As well as being a fantasy game, this was unusual because it was the first time we played with numbered chits, drawn from a cup, instead of playing cards. You may be able to make some out in the photo above. They worked really well and I'll start selling them from the To the Strongest! shop in the next week or so. 

Monday, 5 January 2015

The first ever "To the Strongest!" Tournament


A friend, Stephen Dover, is organising the first ever "TtS!" tournament called "The World's Strongest".

It will be a fun open competition using the “To the Strongest” Rules run in 28mm at 120 points (roughly a dozen medium sized units a side) on Saturday 7th February 2015.  It will be held at the Millstream Day Centre Benson, Oxfordshire, OX10 6RL, with registration from 9.00 AM for a 9:30 AM start. 

Everyone will get three games in during the day, so it'll be a great chance to see how the rules work. It isn't intended to be unduly competitive, more a fun day out with some limited death and destruction!

You can build an army using any of the free army lists in the TtS! shop:  to-the-strongest.myshopify.com  If there isn't already a list for your favourite 28mm army, I will write one for you. If you don't have a suitable 28mm army, I can lend you one of mine- I will be there purely to help with the umpiring (unless the numbers are odd, muwhaha...).

Entry costs £6, and if you are interested, mail me at the address on the panel just to the left of this post and I'll send you the full details, including Stephen's contact address. The Day Centre is a relatively small venue and we only have around a dozen places, so please book early to avoid disappointment!

Friday, 28 November 2014

To the Strongest is released!


Over the last few days I have written about the mechanics of the rules; today I'll talk briefly about what's contained within them.

The rules come in the form of a 68 page PDF, illustrated with many photographs of beautifully painted figures (including many by leading painters) and of games, small and large. Diagrams They can be printed off or run from a tablet, such as an Ipad. When run on a tablet, the many hyper-links enable players to navigate swiftly to the appropriate section of the rules.  

I've just launched the rules in my new eShop, the BigRedBatShop, as the modest price of £9.99! They can be found here, where you can also download a number of free army lists:


Next week I will get some army lists out, and hopefully have time to play a game, myself!

Thursday, 27 November 2014

To the Strongest D-1



The To the Stongest! rules cover a period of two thousand or so years of history, and thus require a generous number of types of unit to represent the various combinations of warriors and weapons encountered.  There are consequently twenty nine different unit types, which expand to thirty eight when variants are included.  Moreover, units can also be small, standard-sized or deep and veteran or raw, which gives a huge amount of wiggle room when it comes to modelling historical units.

Units have a save factor representing their armour, shields and drill.  This is expressed as 6+, 7+ or 8+, representing the card they need to play to save against a hit.  Some units have bonuses to their saves in certain situations; units with long spears, for example, gain a save bonus when charged by cavalry.  It is also possible to add additional gear; crossbowmen can have pavises, for example, and longbowmen optional falchions and mallets.

Some troops have unusual qualities; cataphracts, for example, save on a very low 6+ representing their very heavy armour, but may become disordered when charging or moving too fast.  Scythed chariots play a bonus to hit card when they charge two boxes.  And whatever you do, don't play an Ace when activating a cannon to shoot...

The most common missile weapons are the javelin and bow, although all of the usual suspects are present.  Unusually ammunition supply plays a part in the rules.  I wanted to created a model where skirmishers play a significant role at the beginning of a battle but decline in importance as it progresses.  Ammunition supply is also very important when modelling armies with a high proportion of shooters, such as Henry V's longbowmen.  Units typically have between two and four ammunition chits, and there is a small additional reserve in the baggage train. 

I have included points values for all the troop types, partly because they can be very helpful when building a couple of evenly-matched armies for an evening's play and partly for those people who want to play competitively.

Tomorrow I'll make a final post about the rules in general, and where to buy them from.


Wednesday, 26 November 2014

To the Strongest! D-2


I mentioned yesterday that I'd describe in outline how shooting and combat are tackled in the rules.

Firstly, the rules are quite decisive.  Most units only have two hits, and skirmishers, in particular, are only ever a single failed save away from destruction!  In fact it is not uncommon to see units of skirmishers perish inside the first thirty seconds of game play.  Formed units, however, have two or sometimes three hits and can attempt to rally if they are disordered by enemy action.

Shooting is very straightforward; units play a card to activate to shoot and a second card to hit.  If they hit, then the defender must play a card to save, usually requiring a 6, 7 or 8 depending upon its type. Veteran units save on a number one lower than the average.  

The sequence of a melee is as follows.  Once players are familiar with the rules, each melee is usually resolved inside ten seconds, amidst a flurry of playing cards. 
  1. Charge – the active player plays a card to activate a unit to charge.
  2. Evade – some defenders may be able to evade.  If the evade is successful and the box is now vacant, the attacking unit must advance in, and the melee is concluded.
  3. Attacker hits – if the charge was successful, the attacking player plays a to-hit card on his baseline, requiring either a 6+ or 8+ to inflict a hit, depending upon its type.
  4. Defender saves – if hit, the defending player must play a saving card on his baseline.  This card may sometimes be modified by terrain or other factors.  If the defending unit fails this save then it will be disordered or even lost, depending on its type.  If it is lost, and the box is now vacant, the attacking unit must move in, and the melee is concluded.
  5. Defender strikes back – if the defending unit has survived, and did not try to evade, then the defending player now attempts to strike back.  He does this by playing a to-hit card on his baseline, requiring a 6+ to 8+ to inflict a hit, depending upon its type and whether or not it is disordered.
  6. Attacker saves – If hit, the attacking player must play a modified saving card on his baseline.
There are also tactical factors that can effect saves; cover, for instance, or infantry standing to receive an uphill charge.

Tomorrow I will write about some of the different types of units encountered in the rules.

In other news, mates Scrivs and Mog played a very pretty Roman vs. Carthaginian game yesterday, and here are some links to their respective blogs: