Little Wars: Battle of Metaurus

I hosted a Hail Caesar game – The Battle of Metaurus, at the Little Wars Convention.   The facility was bright and quiet enough to have a good conversation.  The vender hall was part of the ballroom and easy to get to. Parking was readily available by the main doors.  A contrast to the crowds at Adepticon when I visited last month.

In this Punic Wars battle, Hasdrubal, younger brother of Hannibal, marches a fresh army of Iberian Mercenaries and Elephants into northern Italy.  Rome is desperate to intercept the army and prevent the brothers from joining up.  The commander of the southern forces force marches half of his army to the north, and together they confront Hasdrubal at the Metaurus river.   During the battle, the Roman right flank is blocked by an impassable ravine, and so the Roman commander takes half of his forces and marches behind the battle lines to attack the left flank.  Ultimately, the Romans roll the Punic flank, and it ends rather badly for Hasdrubal.  Did history repeat itself?

I said a game, but it was actually, two battles.  Game 1 with 4 players and Game 2 with 7 players.  Both games played to the time limit of 3 hours and 4 turns.  Game 1 was a strong victory for the Punic forces with both mission goals accomplished and a strong position on the battle field.  Game 2 was a marginal victory for the Punic forces with one goal accomplished and no clear winner on the battle line.

The games were rather exhausting.  I was hoping to attract a few veteran players to ease the flow of the game, but the best we had were a few Black Powder players.  Needing to supervise every move and every battle over the 6 hours wore me out.  I certain that more than a few rules errors were made, but every attempt was made to keep the game flowing.  In retrospect, much of the playtesting for the game was versus my experienced opponent.  However, our methods and tactics did not apply to a group of rookies.  Changes made to the Roman forces (Hastati played as medium) to improve balance were not needed.  The flanking force of Romans did not appear until turn 3 and did not participate in the battle, leaving the Romans short handed.  As a take away, I want to take a second look at To The Strongest and see if it will be a faster/easier convention system in the place of Hail Caesar.

The battlefield in the morning quiet.

Looking down the Punic lines.

A view across the battlefield.

Battle in progress

Four Punic Divisions

Five divisions of Romans

Metaurus-Rules      Metaurus Army List 2    Metaurus-objectives

Celt Warbands

Two Gallic Warbands.  The first is a repost from two years ago, but with improvements on the shields.  The second is an experiment in large bases – the whole warband is on two bases.  The goal was to provide space for these wild Gauls with weapons pointing in all directions, to have more movement displayed in the unit, and finally to reduce the figure count from 32 to 22.  What do you think?  Does the large base work compared to the traditional unit of individually based figures?

Etruscan & Samnite Cavalry

Etruscan Cavalry by Agema Miniatures.  These figures came out of the Agema Kickstarter as two very different packs.  The cloaked figures are rather tall with the typical Agema issues of poor arm placement – I even had to drill through a cloak on one of the figures to place the spear.  The second pack is smaller/thinner with less detail and a few weirdly shaped limbs.

Samnite Cavalry by Newline Designs.   Clean, sturdy figures with smaller stature.  I’ve really taken a liking  the Newline miniatures, the only negative is the limited number of sculpts available.  The horses come with armour, which is unusual for Latin miniatures.  I’m uncertain how authentic this is, but it does make the unit distinctive.

Paint Plan:  I’ve made an effort to try and paint the horses in an ancient style.  My (limited) research indicates that horses were pale and spotted, leading me to focus on grey, buff and a matt brown as choices for the mounts.  Apparently chestnut and the rich red/browns are a more modern aspect of horse breeding.

Paints used in various combinations:

• Ghoul Skin (green/grey), Ancient Bark (almost white) dappled over dark grey.
• Flat Earth over any dark brown.
• Monster Brown + Yellow Bone or Handel Wood with Desert Stone

Red Stars

What do you know, Red Stars on shields.

“https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_duel._Fresco_from_Lucanian_tomb.jpg”

Fresco on the inside side of sarcophagus slab from a Lucanian Tomb.  Second half of the 4th century BCE. Paestum, National Archaeological Museum.

A unit of Crusader Samnites with Red (and Blue) star motif on shields.

Roman Commanders

Command stand with an Agema Roman front and center, and two Relic Romans in the back rank. I imagine the young buck urging the legions on, with the older consolers whispering  strategy in his ear.

I love the look of the Agema figure, dynamically posed with the shield flung back and a spear pointing at the enemy.  There are some sculpting issues – the left arm all but vanishes into the shield, and the strap & scabbard are extended in 3D to support the casting process.  The two Relic figures are a different vision of Romans with classic styled armour covered with ribbons denoting their rank.  The chest detail is somewhat hard to pick out, there appears to be an amount of “flattening” from the casting process.

 

In contrast, the Crusader Generals pack provides two sturdy miniatures with clean lines and well presented detail.  There are days when I appreciate this straight forward design that practically paints itself.

Sally 4th Vikings

2023 was big year for Viking/Saxon Kickstarters.  First up, Sally 4th.

Originally a plastic kit, this group was cast in metal with multiple parts.  About half of the joints went together cleanly, with the other half taking some effort to clean up.  Spears and banner shafts have some bending – time will tell if they hold up as the metal is rather soft.  The figures are well detailed, with many bits and bobs that will need attention during painting.

I went back and forth about how to base the figures.  Ultimatly, I selected the 25mm round.  Now seeing the figures based, it was the right option.  Arms, weapons and even feet are spread out, and use the full 25mm space.

Carthaginian Commanders & Spearmen

Second unit of Carthaginian Spearmen by Gorgon + Vendel Command.

Carthaginian command pack from Gripping Beast.  The mounted commander has a very convex shield which prompted an impromptu to free hand symbol when the decal failed.

The man himself, Hannibal from Salute 2004.

 

A few more Etruscans

Etruscan General and Snake Priest.  Both by Gorgon Miniatures.

 

Paint plan:

Rich Indigo is the base for the purple cloak.  Its worked up with either Khaki Highlight for a pale purple, or a more red purple with Witchcraft Purple or Runic Glow.

Carthaginian Spearmen

A unit of Carthaginian Spearmen.  Figures are a mix of Vendel Macedonian command and an unreleased line of Punic figures by Gorgon.

After painting Italians in bright primary colors for nearly six months, I needed to change up my pallet.  Colors are terracotta, grey-blue, khaki and brown leather.  Even the whites are not pure, with a touch of grey included.  Shield decals are from the Carthage Must Be Destroyed kickstarter.

Paint Plan:

Terracotta shade + Tan (Game Color) for the reds.

Heavy Gold Brown or Plague Brown for yellow details & shields.

Khaki Shade, Grey Liner, Khaki Highlight for off white on the Pteruges.

Dark Sepia wash directly over the spray brown + Oiled Leather on Pteruges.

Armour:  Ebony Flesh (either in full, or black lined), Dusky Flesh + either Glacial Mist, Desert Stone or Khaki.

Highlights:  Purple + Runic Glow

Shields:  Dragon Blue.  Wolf Grey + Wolf Grey/White

 

Etruscan – 1st Division Complete

First Division of the Etruscan army is complete!

Arranged for the Hail Caesar rule system:  Etruscan 2nd class, Army General & Division Leader, Etruscan 1st class.  Etruscan 3rd class, Axe Men, Etruscan 3rd class.

Agema Command for the 2nd class unit

Funny story.  I was building the 2nd class unit, and finding myself short 4 figures to make a 16 man unit.  I kept wishing that I had purchased the command squad for 2nd class.  Digging in the lead pile, I found a old command squad from Agema that I had purchased pre-kickstarter.  Turns out, they are from the same dolls that the 2nd class command were made from and the figures fit right into the unit without issue!

A Gorgon Etruscan as Division Leader.

Agema Snake Priest