Monday, December 31, 2018

2018 Down..... What Happened?


2018 is now passing away as the calendar is to be reborn anew as 2019.  But what madness has 2018 wrought?  Will its long shadow cast only madness and despair or will it instead fade away into a bright beacon of hope eternal for the future of my hobby dreams?  Only a bespoke few can tell….

So, that was some purple prose to herald a standard end of year goal review.  Each year I set some Hobby guidelines for the rest of the year and see how I manage.  They act as guard rails to keep me focused on the right things and not succumb to “Oh Shiny!”.  2018 I got a good start on and by the mid-way point I was in good shape.  Granted, I expected a lot of real life to get in the way of hobby stuff in 2018 so I made my goals pretty light this year. 

Typically, I break my goals up into the following categories:

·         Purchasing
·         Playing
·         Rules Writing
·         Miscellany

This year I had the following goals set…..

Purchases
Typically, these are things I plan to spend money on for the year.

-          Purchase all new Opsrey Wargame Series Books- Thankfully, they only released a few books in 2018.  I have them and reviewed them both.  They were Kobolds and Cobblestones and Outremer: Faith and Blood.- Complete



-          Pick-up 6mm Successor Armies from Baccus- I got it all sorted and priced out and even put them in my cart.  However, I didn’t sell quite enough wargames on the WargamesVault to pay for these new armies.  However, I need to get them purchased, painted, and based soon so I have them for a potential Osprey Publishingof Heirs to Empire. – Not Started

-          New Professional Terrain- My main purchase here was nifty new terrain clothe for my table.  It looks great.  I also picked up some cool Greco-Roman temple terrain from Terrafin.  This really took my terrain game up a notch or two.  Plus, I got a ton of lichen for scatter terrain.  – Complete, but I want to add a decent river to my collection.


-          Purchase Blucher- I picked up the rulebook, the 100 Days Supplement, and a PDF of La Salle from Sam Mustafa games.  It only took my three years, but I have it now.  Look for a game early next year. – Complete Plus!


In addition, I also picked up a few other odds and ends.  When I dropped 6th edition I was pretty convinced that I would not spend money on Games Workshop games again.  However, they sucked me back in with the re-release of Blood Bowl.  I have purchased several teams including the Skaven team, Dwarf team, Dark Elf, Elven Union, and Chaos team.  I buy teams for Blood Bowl as this is a game my family is more than willing to play on a regular basis and we have 12 teams for our League.  Maybe if I had not bought so many Blood Bowl teams I would have had enough money to buy those Successor Armies!  – Bonus Points!


Painting and Modelling
In this category are all the items I am making a bold effort to paint, sculpt, build, etc. for the tabletop.  Typically this is the area where I fall the furthest.  However, this year I was very conservative.

-          Paint Mobile Artillery for All Quiet on the Martian Front- Two years later they are complete!  Woot me!  


-          Paint D.A. Thompson from Pulp Alley- Complete after….. far too long. 


-          I also painted some Blood Bowl. teams, but have not had a chance to show them on the blog before today….. behold! – Bonus Points!     


-          I did not paint, but did have some Greek Hoplites, Macedonian Phalanx, and some light troops painted up for Men of Bronze this year too.- Bonus Points!


-          I did some Re-paintson Nano Metal Super-Figs for the superhero genre. – Bonus Points! 

 

-          Painted the models for the Path to Woodbury Walking Dead: All Out War solo starter.- Bonus Points!


Playing
Here are the games I wanted to play in 2018 when I set out. 

-          Play 8thEdition 40K- Done and done!  There was a lot of positive buzz about this edition so I wanted to check it out.  Some of my old gaming group were getting back into it, so I figured “why not try it?”  I have been playing Warhammer 40k since Rogue Trader days and still have the old RT book nipping about.- Complete!

-          Finish the BalkanUprising Campaign for Castles in theSky- Complete!  I manage to complete the campaign this year.  It took two more games to wrap it all up, but it is won and the victors decided.  You can see all the games in the campaign linked here.

-          Play a Game I Have Not Played Before- I played a couple of new games.  The most significant for the wargaming world were Super System 4th Edition and Walking Dead: All Out War.  Surprisingly, I had painted forces for both games! – Complete with Bonus Points!



-          Blood Bowl Tournament- With my family we managed to play a small 8 team Blood Bowl tournament with our teams; the PrincessOwayanna Healing Spring Bottled Waters Tournament   – Bonus Points!

-          Played a Variety of Wargames- I played a number of wargames this year including Men of Bronze, Heirs to Empire, Conquest!Rome in Italy, Rampant Sun, Super System 4th Edition, and Aeronautica Imperialis. – Bonus Points!







Rules Writing
For this section of the list I put my goals for actually writing and producing my own wargames.  I am typically pretty productive in this category and I do not think this year was any exception.  It doesn’t take any money to do this category, only time and attention. 

-          Complete Two New Rulesets for the Blog- Complete!  For the most part, I just wanted two new works for the WIP sections.  I was pretty successful getting Fog of War, Rampant GalaxiesConquest!Rome in Italy, and Rampant Sun up in the WIP section over the course of the year.


-          Photos for Men of Bronze to Osprey- Complete!  I actual provided around 100 photos for the publication of the Men of Bronze rules.  It is up for pre-order and I expect it to be out late- Spring of 2019 in the Osprey Wargaming Series.  I am pretty excited.



Miscellany
This section is for random hobby related stuff that doesn’t fit neatly any place else. 

-          Blog Once Every Two Weeks- Complete with Bonus Points!  I have managed to get a post up once a week this year, and sometimes twice!  I do not know how long this can keep going, but enjoy it well it does!

-          Clean-up a Game for the Wargame Vault-  Complete with Bonus Points again!  I managed to get the dexterity combat game Green Army Men: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve up the first half of the year.  I rounded out the year with the mass sci-fi battle game Rampant Galaxiesand model-vs-model skirmish game Rampant Sun . 




Conclusion
Not a bad year if I say so myself.  12 out of 13 goals complete with 9 bonus point pick-ups.  This is one of my most productive hobby years yet.

I am also proud of my serious of Blogs about the process for building and designing a new game from the ground up as I work on the Dinosaur fighting game- Only the StrongSurvive.  Hopefully it can help other aspiring game designers figure out how to methodically tackle the process of building a game from concept to the complete rules.  There is still more to share on this topic, and I look forward to continuing the series in the coming year.

Well, next post will be 2019.  Time flies by while you are having fun!  See you next year where I lay out my goals for 2019.   

Monday, December 24, 2018

Blood Bowl: Princess Owayanna Tournament Match Report- Finals: Chaos vs Skaven



Lord Summervale: It all comes down to this! Welcome one and all to Cabalvision IV's coverage of the Princess Owayanna Bottled Healing SpringWater Tournament! Teams across the Deep North League- Southern Regional Conference gathered to battle for the illustrious Princess Owayanna Cup and a season long supply of her bottled healing spring waters.

We started with 8 teams coming into this competition, but now we are down to the final two competitors. Today, our match will be between the Skaven Rat Packers and the Chaos Goat Herders.

Mad Johan: Both of these teams had to battle through some fierce rivals to get here today! Da Rat Packers bested the Ork Skulsmash Reeverz in a game that came down to the wire, and then defeated the Nottingham Nobles. The Chaos Goat Herders took on and crushed the Skaven Cheez-Ballers and then rocked the Dwarf Rock-N-Rollers to pave their way to the path to glory here at the tournament.

Lord Summervale: By Nuffle, this is going to be one heck of a match. The speed of the three Gutter-runner offense versus the brutality of the 4 Chosen chaos line. Johan, what do you think the keys to the game are?

Mad Johan: Both teams are going to have to focus on what they excel at and try to force the other team to try and play by their terms. You know the Rat Packers are going to try to dodge through the Chaos lines and get their play-makers into the back field, meanwhile the Goat Herders are going to simply try to grind the opposing team into dust. You know what I always say, it is hard to win a match when half you team is in the dug-out.

Lord Summervale: Both teams have injured players returning to the line-up. The Goat Herders have their Team Captain Asquith Kneecapper return after a mysterious injury during the game against the Rock-N-Rollers.

Mad Johan: Yeah, I'm still not entirely sure what happened? One minute he was there holding off two Dwarf blockers and the next minute he was being dragged off to the Dug-out.

Lord Summervale: The Rat Packers have their one and only blitzer, Bashy; returning.

Mad Johan: The Rat Packers like to have Bashy to clear the key lane for the Gutter-runners to get to the back field. They were successful without him last game with the Nobles, but you can bet that Team Captain Favre the Cheese-monger is glad to have Bashy back.

Lord Summervale: The fans are all ready warmed up to a fever pitch here at the beautiful Citadel Arena, which is normally home to the Nottingham Nobles. However, Nottingham won the bid for the Tournament Cup event from Freeboota Field and Khaz-a-Killid. That has only fueled the rivalry between the three teams and their fans.

Mad Johan: I think the committee made a good choice for the Cup-event to be held here. This new venue is amazing and Nottigham has been a great place to stay. I am a big fan of Bugman's Brewery.

Lord Summervale: You and apparently 90% of the fans here today! This looks like it could get rowdy early.

Both Team Captains have gone to the center of the Pitch. Kneecapper looks to have his normal, aggressive stride back. The two shake hands as Nuffle demands prior to the coin toss. Da Rat Packers win the toss.

Mad Johan: In the last two games, they elected to get the ball first. Will they continue with that strategy?

Lord Summervale: Yes, that is exactly what they do. Favre the Cheesemonger decides his team will receive to start the game! Both side start to line-up for the opening drive.

The beastman Hack has been practicing his kicking, and he is going to boot it for the Goat Herders. Boom! The kick is up!

It is a short kick that drops just behind the secondary of the Skaven line. Squaeky runs up and picks up the ball. The rest of the Skaven push on the near side and make a gap in the line. The Goat Herders were playing back from the line, and a pair of Beastmen quickly move to close the gap.

Mad Johan: Brisbane Skullthumper starts the game off with a bang and punishes the skaven linerat Pincher with a powerful hit.

Lord Summervale: Seeing the gap close, the Skaven use their speed and shift the point of attack to the far side of the field. A good block by Nipper springs the corner, and Pokey gets deep into the back field alone.


Mad Johan: Now is the time for the Goat Herders to hit him hard....

Lord Summervale: The Chaos team seems to take your advice as three beastmen converge on Pokey and knock him down.

Mad Johan: They then start kicking him while he is down! That's how you play Blood Bowl!

Lord Summervale: The refs are too busy watching where the action is and miss the fouls. However, Pokey looks stunned from Grafitti's hooves.

Another block by Nipper breaks Squeaky and Sneaky loose! They dart down the field. Squeaky tries to dump it to Sneaky, who bobbling catches it and runs to the corner, right at the end zone.


 However, the Beastman Payne manages to rush over and knock him out of bounds before he can score.


Mad Johan: The crowd of frenzied Chaos fans sends Sneaky to the Dug-out. The Chaos coach must be giving a prayer to the gods!

Lord Summervale: The Beastman Dance party sends Pokey to the Dug-out as well. Graffitti and Payne seem to have taken your advice Johan.

Mad Johan: The ball is still loose in the end zone after the crowd tossed it in. Todd Organgrinder and Murder drop back to cover Squeaky, but the Skaven may still steal a touch down out of this yet if the Chaos Goat Herders are not careful.

Lord Summervale: Squeaky tries to sneak in behind Payne, and manages to avoid him, but he fails to pick-up the ball.

Mad Johan: The pressure got to the little guy as he normal has very sure hands.

Lord Summervale: Payne easily knocks him into the crowd and takes the last Gutter Runner off the field.

Mad Johan: Finally! Someone knows how to play against this offense! It is a bit away from the play but Brisbane Skullthumper has lived up to his reputation and stunned two Skaven linerats. He is doing More than his part to take the Skaven out of the game!

Lord Summervale: Seeing their plan to score early fall apart, the Skaven try to dodge away from their opponents and set up a defense in depth to stop the Goat Herders from scoring this half.


Murder picks up the ball in his own end zone and starts the long journey back to score. A cage quickly forms around him while some of his fellow beastmen that are free head for the end zone.

Mad Johan: The Skaven linerats are doing their part and start to try to break the cage open. A powerful hit by Fodder stuns his foe.

Lord Summervale: The cage holds and the Beastman manage to block the line-rats away and let Murder rush past the Skaven defenses.

Mad Johan: Over on the near side, Violence tries to block Bashy, but misses his footing and goes to the dug-out!

Lord Summervale: Squish-squish breaks loose from his defender and manages to lay a hand on Murder. However, the Beastman manages to stiff arm him away and stay on his feet..... er hooves.


Mad Johan: This Chaos team has done a good job keeping the dodgy Skaven pinned. More times than not, the Skaven have not been able to dodge away as another linerat goes down to a tackle zone.

Lord Summervale: Bashy manages to come across field using that Skaven speed and pummel Murder to the ground. The ball goes loose and Favre final evades Asquith Kneecapper. He scoops up the ball and launches it back to mid-field with a completion to Nipper.

Mad Johan: Bashy and Favre just saved their team from going down by 1.


Lord Summervale: There is some jostling and shoving, but the half winds to a close with neither team scoring.

Mad Johan: The Chaos Goat Herders should be pretty proud of themselves. They manged to stop this Rat packer offense from getting points on the board, and threatened scoring themselves. I said the team that is going to win today will need to force their opponent to play their way. This Chaos team did that to the Rat Packers and did something no team has done yet this tournament, kept the Rat Packers from scoring.

Lord Summervale: You are indeed a fine Blood Bowl mind Johan. With the half, we will send you back to to the Cabalvision studios for highlights from around the Olde World and a word from our sponsors. Bloodweiser would like to remind you that with a Bloodweiser it is always an Oh-Positive experience. Johan and I; Lord Summervale; will return with continuing coverage of the Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament Finals between the Chaos Goat Herders and the Skaven Rat packers. See you back here soon!

** ** ** ** **

Lord Summervale: Welcome back to Cabalvision IV's coverage of the Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament finals between the Chaos Goat Herders and the Skaven Rat Packers. The score is currently tied at 0 a piece after a surprising first half.

Mad Johan: Yeah, the surprise was that the Rat Packers got the ball first and did not score!

Lord Summervale: Indeed. The Goat Herders seemed to take your advice Johan and sent all the Gutter Runners off the field by fouling or sideline pushes. In fact, Sneaky; arguably the Rat packers star Gutter Runner is still in the dug-out.

Mad Johan: Well, the Chaos team is going to receive so it makes sense that the Gutter Runners stay in the dug-out and the extra linerats come out.

Lord Summervale: Since the Goat Herders are getting the ball first this half, what do you think will be the keys to the game?

Mad Johan: Well, if I am the Goat Herders I am going to play ball control. I am in no rush to get down the field and score. Ideally, I should be walking it into the end zone right when the buzzer for the second half rings. The Rat Packers best weapon is their offense, so I do not want them putting their offense back on the field. Instead, I want to use this second half to grind their team down because the Skaven need to get the ball from me.

Lord Summervale: What if you are the Rat Packers?

Mad Johan: You need to minimize where and who they can hit you with. Then, you need to time your blitz right to knock the ball loose and use your speed to recover and score. You can not let them grind your team into pulp, or eat up all the clock. Of the two teams, the Rat Packers have the harder job now. They really needed to score first and early.


Lord Summervale: With that, let's get back to the game. The Chaos Goat Herders are set to receive the kick. And ….. BOOM! It is up.

It is a very short kick and barely makes it past the line of scrimmage! Gore slides over and retrieves the ball. His fellow team mates quickly form up an extra thick cage around him.

Mad Johan: Ker-runch! Todd Organgrinder finishes his block strong and sends Pincher to the box. So far, the Chaos team is executing on the right plan.

Lord Summervale: Pokey and Bashy team up on Brisbane Skullthumper and push him back. This allows Kil-kil a chance to start breaking open the chaos cage. However, the Chaos team made it extra thick.

Mad Johan: The Chaos Chosen are doing their job and grinding the Skaven linerats up. Asquith Kneecapper takes Bucktooth to the dug-out, while Brisbane Skullthumper stuns Nipper. However, Winston Azhander runs into a tougher nut as Bashy and him square off in the center of the Chaos cage.

Lord Summervale: I bet the Rat Packers are glad to have him back!

The Skaven line puts on a clinic on how to break into a cage and push their way into the ball carriers face, despite the extra protection the Goat Herders tried to put on him.

Mad Johan: Bashy is leading the way again. He is trying to make up for lost time and be an MVP this game!


Lord Summervale: However, the Chaos team excels at grinding the ball forward, and here we see them keep pressing forward, very slowly.

Mad Johan: That's how you handle Gutter-Runners. Hack managed to break loose from the scrum and lay horns on Pokey. He sent him to the dug-out right quick!

Lord Summervale: The Goat Herders look like they may have broken through the Skaven line. Gore tries to dump the ball to Malice, but the other Beastman drops the pass. This could be the Skaven's chance to stop the Chaos push.


Mad Johan: The Rat Packers will miss their Gutter-runners now.

Lord Summervale: Favre dodges away from Todd Organgrinder and scrambles for the ball. He manages to scoop it up. He pivots while Nipper dodges away from a defender on the far side. Favre da Cheesemonger hits him with lightning bolt strike and the little linerat scampers away at full skaven speed into an open back field.


Mad Johan: Wow, you don't get to see it much but even linerats can accelerate quickly.

Lord Summervale: Inspired, Pak takes out Payne and sends him to the dug-out.

Arson drops back and tries to stop the nimble linerat, but he can't keep up and gets tripped up and falls. He gets ups and chases the winded linerat again, but the Beastman again tumbles to the ground.

Mad Johan: It looks like Arson is going to be the goat for this game.

Lord Summervale: Really..... With very little time left in the game, Nipper runs in for the touch down. The skaven fans go crazy!


Mad Johan: That was exactly what the Skaven needed to do this half. What makes it worse for the Chaos Goat Herders is that the turn-over was an unforced error. I don;t know who is more likely to be sacrificed to the media and the Chaos gods tomorrow.... Malice or Arson?

Lord Summervale: Maybe both!

The two teams line up for the kick, but it would take a miracle for the Chaos team to score. Murder retrieves the kick.

Mad Johan: Asquith Kneecapper seems like he wants to make and example out of someone and smashes Fodder to the ground, stunned.

Lord Summervale: Violence gets into the back field and Murder hits him at long range, but the beastman drops the ball.

Mad Johan: You really need to catch those in this league.

Lord Summervale: Favre scrambles forward and scoops up the ball. At this point the game is essentially over even though there is time on the clock.

However, Favre dumps it back to Bashy who catches it. He then steam rolls forward and blasts Grafitti... sending him to the dug-out. With that the game ends.



Mad Johan: What a bunch of unnecessary showing off and violence at the end of the half.... Nuffle would be pleased.

Lord Summervale: With that, we have a new Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament Champion! Congratulations to the Skaven Rat Packers led by team captain Favre Da' Cheesemonger! They win 1 to 0 over the Chaos Goat Herders.

Mad Johan: This is one of the few teams remaining from the old Deep North- Southern Regional Conference and their veteran nature really helped them overcome some adversity this tournament. They barely squeaked out a win against the Ork Skulsmash Reeverz and then lost their only Blitzer to injury. Despite that, their offense managed to overcome these drawbacks.

Lord Suumervale: Indeed, now Favre and his team can add this Chamionship trophy to their locker room, a season long supply of Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water, and the tournament prize money.

Looking back at the game, who do you think were the MVPs of this championship game?

Mad Johan: Well, let's look at the Chaos Goat Herders first. No one really stands out as they had a really strong team effort. It is easier to point out who will be reviled by fans, press, and the gods tomorrow. However, I think Brisbane Skullthumper did his job very well, Grafitti took out one of those Gutter Runners early by leading a stomping party, and Payne's goal line stand all stick out in my mind. I think the MVP for the Chaos Goat Herders is going to be.... Payne.

Lord Summervale: Sounds like the key, positive plays for the Chaos team came in the first half. How about MVPs for the Rat Packers.

Mad Johan: This is easier to choose. The Gutter-runners went out early in this game, and that left space for other players to step it up. You have to include Nipper for his last minute touchdown drive miracle, Favre Da Cheesemonger for his scrambling and passing, and Bashy came back with a vengeance this game to stiffen the Skaven line and really lead the team.

I have a feeling Favre and Bashy will get their chance to be MVPs int eh future, but how often does a lowly linerat get to be the MVP instead of a casualty? I'm going with Nipper.

Lord Summervale: With the inaugural Tournament complete, what do you expect to see develop in the Deep North- Southern Regional Conference now?

Mad Johan: This conference has a great fan base and a diverse population. Therefore, I expect it to keep growing with more teams and more great games of Blood Bowl. I mean, after this Tournament you have to think the Chaos Goat Herders and the Rat Packers are in a position to lead the Conference to the Championship. However, The Dark Elf Black Guards and the latest addition to the League the Elf Supremes will change things up as we go forward.

Overall, I expect more big hits, more incredible scoring drives, and great Blood Bowl action.

Lord Summervale: With that, let's rejoin our Cabalvision IV studios. Thanks for joining us for the final championship game of the Princess Owayanna Healing Spring Bottled Water Tournament. Thanks to our other sponsors as well; Bloodweiser and Gullotine Razors. Until next time, this is Mad Johan and Lord Summervale signing off!


Monday, December 17, 2018

Conquest! Rome in Italy: Battle Report- Forced Recon in Samnium

The Roman forces faced a humiliating defeat at the Caudine Forks in 316 BC.  Despite this defeat, the Samnites were the ones to be unsettled.  The Romans were incensed to fight on to regain their honor.  However, the prospect of continuing the war took time and the “Caudine Pax” took hold.  Despite an official peace, the war still boiled around the edges. 

 In 315 BC the war started in earnest again.  He war raged on until 304 BCE.  During this time, the Roman army evolved from the Phalanx formation into the Manipular Army of the Triplex Acies.  There were any number of battles and skirmishes between the two sides and their allies.  Besides local Italian tribes and city-states, the Etruscans also became embroiled in the war between 312-308 BCE.  It was a Pan-Italian conflict.  The winner would be poised to control northern and central Italy.

Conquest! Rome in Italy is a derivative of the Men of Bronze engine with special rules and units to help match the flavor of combat in ancient Italy. These rules cover a long period of time fromt eh founding of Rome until the Pyrrhic Wars. The rules are still a Work-in-Progress, but those familiar with Men of Bronze will have a general idea of the rules being used here. Since I ma int eh testing phase, behold my amazing paper template armies in action!

You can read all about a previous battle of the Great Samnite War here.

Rome had a three part strategy to contain the threat of the threat of the Samnites.

  1. Isolate them them from their potential allies
  2. Colonize deep into their territory
  3. Beat them on the battlefield

As part of this strategy, the Romans had to establish and build colonies deep in Samnite territory. Naturally, the Samnites did not appreciate this move to enter their territory. When possible, they would raid and attack these settlements. Roman troops would try to drive them away and secure the settlements. Many such battles will be lost to history as they were not recorded, but if Rome's settlements were destroyed, her three part strategy to defeat the Samnites would be for nothing.

Today's battle will be a Roman column coming to defend a settlement but the Samnite have all ready ransacked it and are waiting for them.

Forces:

Romans
2 Hastati
1 Principe
1 Drilled Hoplite
1 Skirmisher

38-Points

Samnites
2 Drilled Infantry- Pila
2 Warband Infantry
2 Velites

38-Points

Scenario:
This is a Recon-In-Force scenario. The Romans are the Attackers and trying to find survivors from the Samnite raid in the ruins of the settlement. There are six counters on the board, some are even and some are odd. The Romans are trying to touch and reveal 2 even number tokens of the 6. The Samnites are going to try to stop them. They have 8 turns.

The Set-up:
The Romans are lined up with the skirmishers on their right in a grove of trees. Then the Principes, Triarri, and the Hastati on the Roman Left. The Samnites are lined up with velites on their left across from the Roman Skirmishers. Then both units of drilled infantry, then the warband infantry, followed by the rest of the Velites.


The ruins are difficult terrain, and the fields are not.

The board has several ruins and 6 counters scattered near the middle. These counters are the objectives. The Romans want to hold two even ones by the end of the 8th turn.


Turn 1:
The Samnites generate 6 Honor points to the Roman 5. Neither side bids to go first. The Romans win the roll off.

The Roman skirmishers use an Honor Point to move through the difficult terrain of the grove as skirmishers. There is a general advance across the Roman battle line, but none of the units form Legion.


On the Samnite side, the same general advance occurs.


Turn 2:
This time, the Romans bid 1 to go first. They are unopposed by the Samnites.

Immediately, the Roman skirmishers rush forward and reveal an objective. It is a five, they find nothing of value in the ruins. The Hastati see the Velites on their side of the battle line lurking near an objective by the groves, and they form a Legion unit and advance. The second Hastati stays in open order as they approach the ruins in the center of the board. The Principes also form legion and advance seeing the Samnite horde across from them. The Triarri move to back them.

The Samnites do not attempt to interrupt. Samnite Velites use an Honor Point to skirmish up into the ruins to deny it to the Roman skirmishers. Meanwhile, the Drilled and Warband infantry continue their advance, they are not going to let the Romans claim any more easy objectives. The last Velites stay camped near the final Objective and wait for the Roman Hastati to come for it.


Turn 3:
Again, neither side bids to go first, and the Romans win the roll-off.

The Romans press forward, led by their legion of Principes. The triarri move behind them and form up at a slight angle, moving to secure the large ruins the Samnite Velites are in. The Skirmishers just consolidate around their objective, not wishing to engage the enemy forces yet. The Hastati also advance, with the loose formation lagging behind the formation in Legion.


The Samnites have their Velites secure their position in the Large ruins and the grove on their right, safely defending Objectives with their missile fire. Meanwhile, the Warband infantry press into the center ruins to deny easy objectives and possible secure flank positions. Finally, one of the Drilled Infantry units steps forward to challenge the Principes.


Turn 4:
The Romans are running out of time. They will need to move quicker to secure some Objectives. Again, neither sides bids to go first, but the Samnites win the foll-off. They are in no rush to move into Roman charge range. The Samnites make some slight adjustments to their lines, as time is on their side. They are content to let the Romans come to them!


The Romans grimace and move forward, they know time is against them and they are moving into the Samnites attack range. The real battle is about to start.

Turn 5:
The Samnites bid 2 to the Roman 0. They will be going first.

They start by declaring a charge with their Drilled Infantry who are also using a Pila attack on the Principe. The Principes decide to counter-charge and Pila attack as well. The Romans lose one Courage, but completely route the Drilled Infantry in the process. The Romans then try to steal the Initiative, but fail. However, a flank charge in support by the Samnite Warband also hits the Principes and reduces them another Courage and forces them to be disordered. However, they will also be routed with the Drilled Infantry.


The Velites on the right fall back into the woods, while the Velites on the right charge into the Roman Skirmishers. The Skirmishers try to evade, but it is not far enough. The fighting pushes the skirmishers back and causes the Romans to fall into disorder. However, both sides took casualties.

The Roman Hastati charge the warband infantry in the center ruins. However, the terrain forces them out of Legion formation. The Samnite warriors manage to push back the young Romans and cause 1 Courage loss.

The Roman Triarri keep marching to their objective, as do the Hastati on the Roman left. The Samnite Velites melt before their approach.

The remaining Samnite Drilled infantry passes their morale check after seeing their comrade defeated by the Roman Principes.

Turn 6:
With their loses, the Samnites only generate 4 Honor Points to the Roman 5. The Romans need to recover their Principes before they get charged and bids 3 Honor points. The Samnites also bid 3. The Samnites win the roll-off.

The Samnite Drilled Infantry immediately declare a charge which will use their Pila. The Romans are disordered and can not spend Honor Points to Counter-Charge or use their own Pila this time. It is a bloody fight in the center. The Principes are pushed back and the Triarri behind them get caught up in the melee as well.

The Samnite Velites and the Roman skirmisher continue to battle to a stalemate in the edge of the ruins.

The Hastati in the center ruins and the Samnite Warband are at a standstill with neither side gaining the advantage.

Finally, the Hastati on the Roman left manage to charge into the Velites in the woods and push them back. The Velites took two Courage loss and the Romans none. However, the Romans are no longe rin Legion due to the terrain.


Turn 7:
With everyone in melee, both sides hold on to their Honor Points for re-rolls and the like. Samnites win the roll-off.

The battle turns for the Samnites as the Drilled Infantry in the Center manages to put the main Roman force to rout! The Principes and Triarri decide to run for it in the confusion of the battle. The Samnite Velites also manage to rout the Roman Skirmishers.


Meanwhile, the battle in the center ruins and continues to be a stalemate. However, on the Roman left, the Hastati are whittling away the Samnite Velites to secure the objective. Next turn they should have it.

The Hastati units pass their Collapse test.


Turn 8- Final Turn:
The Samnites have 4 Honor Points and the Romans 2. The Samnites bid 1 to go first and win the initiative.

The Drilled Infantry and Velites on the Samnite left try to swing around to support their colleagues. However, they will not get their in time to make a difference.

On the Roman Left, the Hastati route the Velites!. They mange to find some Roman colonists hiding in the woods. That is one even objective!


In the center, it is a stalemate again. The Roman Hastati have been denied their objective there. That's the game. The Samnites have won the battle, but at a terrible cost.

Conclusion:
The Samnites won. However, I am still unsure if the Roman Legion rules are overpowered or not. When the Principes routed the Samnite Drilled Infantry in one round by dealing 5 Courage loss to 1 Courage lost in return, I was a bit nervous. However, the additional flank charge and managing to disorder them to lose the legion rules really mattered. To break a unit in Legion, the Pila rule is a must.

I also learned that the Samnites must make use of terrain in a defensive manner to boost their own Armor ratings and to deny the Romans their Legion rules. They also have to make use of the flanking and support attacks. If they do that, they can beat the Romans as they greatly improve their own sticking power.

In this scenario, time was not on the Roman's side. The Samnites had the luxury of delay and stalling, while the Romans did not. They had to move aggressively, and that allowed the Samnites to set the terms of the battle. Overall, a good time.

Perhaps next time I play Conquest! Rome in Italy I will try out some of the other army lists such as Etruscans vs Romans? The Etruscans did get involved in the Great Samnite War as allies of the Samnites. We will have to wait and see what happens.