Woot! First game! Ancients to boot!

Discussions about Kallistra's Hex Based Rules
Post Reply
KCGamer
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:23 am

Woot! First game! Ancients to boot!

Post by KCGamer »

Yay! We played our first Hordes and Heroes game last night. A good time was had by all. We played Romans vs. Carthaginians, using lists I cobbled together myself, and pretended that javelin chuckers were archers. Here are the lists we used:

Roman Legionaries B 1CR 4 (+2) A2 4 11
Upgrade Veteran Legionaries A 1CR 5 (+3) A2 4 13
Downgrade Slack Legionaries C 1CR 3 (+2) A2 4 9
Roman Cavalry B 3CR 4 (+2) A2 4 13
Roman Javelinmen (8+) C 2R 1 E1 4 6
Roman Archers and Slingers (8+) C 2R 1 E1 4 7
Light Cavalry (8+) C 4CR 2 E2F 4 9
Cretan Archers (7+) B 2R 1 E1 4 9
Allied Infantry C 1CR 3 (+2) A1 4 8
Ballistae C 1R 0 HF 3 6


Gallic or Spanish Cavalry B 3CR 4 (+2) A1 4 12
Numidian Cavalry (8+) C 4CR 2 E2F 4 9
African Spearmen C 1CR 3 (+3) A1 4 8
Spanish or Gallic Mercenaries (Horde) CH 2R 3 (+2) A1 4 8
Light Javelinmen (8+) C 2R 1 E1 4 6
Poeni Levies D 1CR 2 (+1) A1 4 6
Elephants E 2CR 6 (+2) A2 2 10

We did not use any artillery or elephants, more's the pity. We also did some things wrong (note to self: missile troops that are partially masked by friendly troops cannot fire), but all seemed to work well. Very enjoyable!
User avatar
Paul K
Posts: 405
Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:34 am
Contact:

Re: Woot! First game! Ancients to boot!

Post by Paul K »

Hi,
Glad you enjoyed the game. I've been studying your stats for the armies above. I recon, based on my knowledge of the Imperial Roman Legion, that you've got the stats pretty much spot on. I like the idea of separating the veteran and the 'slack' legionaries. I'm a little rusty in my knowledge of the Carthaginians - I need to get the books out on them! These two very different armies pitched against each other looks to me like a fun and interesting game. Seems like its all go H&H Ancients!
Kind regards
Paul

Image
http://www.kallistra.co.uk
tede
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:10 pm

Re: Woot! First game! Ancients to boot!

Post by tede »

Good to know that it works with ancient armies as well. I am also planning a Rome v Carthage tryout.

You got the same stats for light infantry (on both sides) as we have (there doesn't seem to be anything similar in the published lists, which perhaps isn't surprising). I wouldn't have made the Spanish into a Horde myself, as they seem to have been quite well disciplined, but otherwise your lists look good.

I hope you won't mind if I ask a few questions:

How many units did you use?

Did you do anything with the Romans which might represent the manipular legion?

Did it make much difference that the Gauls and Spaniards were Hordes as opposed to normal units?

Tede
KCGamer
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:23 am

Re: Woot! First game! Ancients to boot!

Post by KCGamer »

Thanks for your response. Both lists (all the HaH lists I've made up now, actually) are derived from the lists from another ancients game whose initials are FoG. Both lists were done in haste and with simplicity in mind. As a result I lumped troop types with similar traits together. Note the "Allied Infantry" for the Romans; that's an amalgam of about five different troop options available to the Romans; I sort of averaged them out and combined them. In the case of the Spanish vs. Gallic foot, these should probably be separated out.

If you're going to game ancients, you might think about reducing the effectiveness of javelins. I left the range at 2 hexes to represent individual skirmishers running up and throwing their missiles, but we are considering reducing javelin shooting dice to one die for every two stands rather than one for one. In our first game we had a unit of Gallic cavalry destroyed completely by two units of Numidian light cavalry; not a fun experience!

"How many units did you use?"

For the Carthies:
1 x Gallic Cavalry
2 x Numidian Cavalry
3 x African Spearmen
2 x Light Infantry (javelin men)
3 x Gallic Mercenaries (combined into two large units)
3 x Poeni Levies

For the Romans:
4 x Roman Legionaries (two were upgraded to Veteran)
2 x Missile Troops
1 x Roman Cavalry
2 x Light Cavalry
2 x Allied Infantry

Each side had three generals. Total points were approximately 150 per side.

"Did you do anything with the Romans which might represent the manipular legion?"

Not in this list, no. My Mid-Republican list does separate out Triarii, Hastati and Principes, and Velites.

"Did it make much difference that the Gauls and Spaniards were Hordes as opposed to normal units?"

Yes. Having 6 stands fighting instead of 4 was, in my opinion, worth the trouble of having to designate a general to babysit these units.
tede
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:10 pm

Re: Woot! First game! Ancients to boot!

Post by tede »

Thanks. That's very useful. Good point about babysitting the Gauls - that hadn't occurred to me.

Tede
KCGamer
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:23 am

Re: Woot! First game! Ancients to boot!

Post by KCGamer »

Here's an updated Carthie list including percentages:

Gallic or Spanish Cavalry B 3CR 4 (+2) A1 4 12 5 25
Numidian Cavalry (8+) C 4CR 2 JE2F 4 9 10 25
African Spearmen C 1CR 3 (+3) A1 4 8 10 30
Gallic Mercenaries (Horde) CH 2R 3 (+2) A1 4 8 - 25
Spanish Mercenaries C 1CR 3 (+2) A1 4 8 - 15
Light Javelinmen (8+) C 2R 1 JE1 4 6 5 25
Poeni Levies D 1CR 2 (+1) A1 4 6 - 25
Elephants E 2CR 6 (+2) A2 2 10 - 15
Hannibal in Italy campaign, 216 to 203 BC
Upgrade African Spearmen B 1CR 4 (+3) A2 4 11 All
Upgrade Gallic Mercenaries C 1CR 3 (+2) A1 4 8 All
Elephants E 2CR 6 (+2) A2 2 10 - One unit

One in two units of Light Javelinmen may skirmish at a cost of 2 points per unit.

3 units of non-upgraded Mercenaries can be made into 2 units of 6 stands.

All cavalry units (friend or foe) in hex contact with Elephants are treated as being Disrupted. Elephant units are not destroyed when reduced to one stand.
Post Reply