Piracy on the High Seas!

 

Last Friday we played another game of Blood & Plunder.  Eric finished his Dutch fluyt, christened it the Zon and shipped the crew. James had already finished his own sloop, the Sea Witch. I determined to field Rob's beautifully painted brigantine crewed with the original Unaligned Nationality Starter Set as my own Warriors & Weapons barks were not really as pretty.

We went with a simple scenario since this was a friendly, "learning" game. 300 points for the fluyt, 200 points for James & I, and whoever controlled the fluyt at the end of the scenario won the game. 

The game went much faster then it has in the past as we are getting a handle on the rules. Artillery was also FAR more deadly then it has been. In our previous game James managed a stern raking shot that decimated my ship. This game showed that wasn't a fluke. 

This is a strength of the game, in my opinion. Ship handling in the face of adverse wind conditions is a key component of the game. I can easily imagine this going very different if the wind had favored us. Of course, james and I probably didn't handle our ships optimally in this scenario, we are still learning!

So far, I really like this system. the battles feel right for small scale engagements in the Golden Age of Piracy. The models are beautiful, of course, but for me, game play that has a proper historical flavor is always key and this seems to handle it well. More learning games to come!

Ancient Battle! ADLG Assyrians versus Hyksos!

 

A couple weeks ago we finally got to try Eric's Assyrian list (#9) versus my Hyksos list (#13) in an ADLG chariot battle. It was a fun game, but my Hyksos were overmatched from the beginning. That makes sense to some extent. 

The Assyrians were over 700 years after the Hyksos, and were a much more successful army and Empire. Moreover, this specific Assyrian list had a lot of heavy chariots, heavy infantry, 1/2 sword / 1/2 Bow, and cavalry. It was a small, powerful army. 

The Assyrian army list

Still, I didn't do myself any favors with my list organization, my deployment, or my game play. It was a fun game, but for me it was very much a learn from my mistakes game! Fortunately, Eric is a great guy to lose to. 

The Hyksos are dominated by light chariots, medium sword, and javelins (both LMI and LI). That can make for an odd list - the foot like lots of terrain, the chariots prefer a wide open plain.  

The Hyksos army list

I just think my Corps organization was at fault. I think I need to go back to two corps mixing javelinmen and light chariots, and move the bow into the corps with the swordsmen. 

Anyway, on to the game! :)

Happy with how the dunes and the gully came out.

As I mentioned in the last battle report, I needed some more desert terrain, so I refurbished some and created some new dunes, brush, an oasis, and a desert gully. I'm reasonably happy with how they came out. I do need to figure out how to add some texture to the game mat though. 

The Hyksos initial deployment was poor. The corps of archers and javelinmen faced off against the Assyrian cavalry, while the line of medium sword were faced with heavy infantry and chariots. But the light chariot bow were neutered facing the archer/sword combo elements, especially since they started very far away.  

The heavy chariots charge was deadly, destroying half of the
Hyksos medium sword impact elements in one round of fighting.

It was a dominating performance by the Assyrians. Much of that was simply good play by Eric. But I contributed to my own defeat, I never found away to bring my chariots into the fight, and so I was effectively fighting with 2/3s of my army. 

I look forward to facing the Assyrians again. The Hyksos list cannot change much, but with better organization and better play on my part I think I can give the Assyrians a better run for their money.