Slitherine

I'm introducing (stealing?) a concept called 'Wheel of Time' that covers a certain nation and its army lists in Ancients from its first year to its last through a small number of rounds (each with its time period), with players attempting to expand to new regions and basically paint their maps with their colors.

Each player has his own map, on which to expand region by region through successful attacks. But he may also conquer regions on his own map through successfully defending against other players' attacks on their maps.

Every attack is played out as a mirror match, with the attacking player selecting the attacking army list (available for the time period of the round in question), the defending army list (suitable for that time period and plausible for some part of the attacked region), as well as the map terrain to be used. No allies are used. The defending player in each attack is determined through a pre-set rotating schedule. Players can select the same attacking army lists in the same round, but not the same defending army lists.

The player inflicting the most casualties in total in the two games of the mirror match is the winner of the attack, who (whether attacker or defender) will expand on his own map.

The victory conditions for the tournament as a whole will differ, depending on the number of rounds and regions.

Any of the themes below looking interesting? Or any other ideas? Opportunities and variations are endless!

• Carthaginians (490 - 146 BC, 4 rounds, 9 army lists)

• Persians (553 - 329 BC, 3 or 4 rounds, 5 army lists)

• Romans (490 BC - 1049 AD, 7 rounds, 21 army lists)

• Franks (260 - 1049 AD, 5 rounds, 5 army lists)

• Nomads (25 - 1122 AD, 3 rounds, 12 army lists)

• Seleucids (320 - 63 BC, 4 rounds, 6 army lists)

• ...

• ?

For example, Carthage. Its army lists (9 in total) span a time period from 490 BC to 146 BC (344 years). Split that overall time period into four shorter ones of 85-86 years each, each constituting a round. Apply to that a map with eight regions, to which the Carthaginians are attempting to expand and you've got the Wheel of Time concept!

Players start out on their own maps holding only Carthage at the beginning of the first round (490 - 404 BC). Each player selects an army list from the ones covering the time period of that round (Carthaginian 490-411 BC and Carthaginian 410-341 BC) and a yet unconquered nearby region (West, East, North, South) to attack. Another player selects a (non-Carthaginian) army list appropriate for the attack region and the round's time period and the two players fight it out in a mirror match, with the overall winner of the two games conquers a region on his own map (if the attacker, the attacked region of course). The player who first has conquered the four regions in all directions plus one Far (Away) region wins, and if the tournament goes the full four rounds, the player having conquered the most regions wins.

Rounds

1. 490-404 BC
2. 403-318 BC
3. 317-232 BC
4. 231-146 BC

Army lists

• Carthaginian 490-411 BC

• Carthaginian 410-341 BC

• Carthaginian 340-281 BC

• Carthaginian 280-263 BC

• Carthaginian 262-236 BC

• Carthaginian 235-146 BC

• Carthaginian (Hannibal in Italy) 218-217 BC

• Carthaginian (Hannibal in Italy) 216-203 BC

• Carthaginian (Hannibal in Africa) 202 BC

Another example is the (Achaemenid) Persians, with say still four rounds. (Could be three as well.)

Rounds

1. 553-497 BC
2. 496-441 BC
3. 440-385 BC
4. 384-329 BC

Army lists

• Achaemenid Persian 553-546 BC

• Achaemenid Persian 545-481 BC

• Achaemenid Persian 480-461 BC

• Achaemenid Persian 460-420 BC

• Achaemenid Persian 419-329 BC

Or why not the Romans with its whopping 21 army lists in Ancients over 1531 years (490 BC - 1041 AD)? More appropriately played over seven rounds maybe.

Rounds

1. 490 BC - 271 BC
2. 270 BC - 53 BC
3. 52 BC - 166 AD
4. 167 AD - 385 AD
5. 386 AD - 604 AD
6. 605 AD - 822 AD
7. 823 AD - 1041 AD

Army lists

• Roman 490-341 BC

• Roman 340-281 BC

• Roman 280-220 BC

• Roman 219-200 BC

• Roman 199-106 BC

• Roman 105-25 BC

• Roman 24 BC - 196 AD

• Roman 197-284 AD

• Roman 285-312 AD

• Roman 313-378 AD

• Roman 379-424 AD

• Roman 425-492 AD

• Byzantine 493-550 AD

• Byzantine 551-578 AD

• Byzantine 579-599 AD

• Byzantine 600-649 AD

• Byzantine 650-739 AD

• Byzantine 740-903 AD

• Byzantine 904-962 AD

• Byzantine 963-987 AD

• Byzantine 988-1041 AD

Could also work on the Franks and its offspring French over five rounds.

Rounds

1. 260-418 AD
2. 419-576 AD
3. 577-733 AD
4. 734-891 AD
5. 892-1049 AD

Army lists

• Frankish 260-495 AD

• Frankish 496-599 AD

• Frankish 600-750 AD

• Frankish 751-887 AD

• French 888-1049 AD

Of course, it may also be applied on Nomadic Horse armies that over three rounds attempt to expand as much from the Pontic-Caspian steppes as possible (westwards and southwards).

Rounds

1. 25-391 AD
2. 392-756 AD
3. 757-1122 AD

Army lists

• Alan 25-650 AD

• Hunnic (Western) 250-375 AD

• Hunnic (Western) 376-454 AD

• Hunnic (Western) 455-559 AD

• Avar 553-557 AD

• Avar 558-631 AD

• Khazar 568-737 AD

• Avar 632-826 AD

• Alan 651-1049 AD

• Khazar 738-969 AD

• Magyar 830-1049 AD

• Pecheneg 850-1122 AD

Or the Seleucids, starting out of Babylon, playing their six army lists over four rounds.

Rounds

1. 320-256 BC
2. 255-192 BC
3. 191-127 BC
4. 126-63 BC

Army lists

• Seleucid 320-303 BC

• Seleucid 302-301 BC

• Seleucid 300-206 BC

• Seleucid 205-167 BC

• Seleucid 166-125 BC

• Seleucid 124-63 BC

NOMAD HORSE ARMIES MIGHT HAVE MOST INTERESTING UNEXPECTED RESULTS....CHAOS TO THE MAX

ROMANS MAYBE LEAST SURPRISES, THEY ARE JUST TOO GOOD ?

Yes, the horse armies will be chaotic ( ) and Romans may be superior. Which in itself is not a problem, since we'd be running mirror matches, having all players represent not only the nation itself but also its opponents in two separate games.

This said, I'm inclined to try out the Persians actually:

4 rounds: 553-497 BC, 496-441 BC, 440-385 BC, 384-329 BC.
5 Army lists: Achaemenid Persian 553-546 BC, Achaemenid Persian 545-481 BC, Achaemenid Persian 480-461 BC, Achaemenid Persian 460-420 BC, Achaemenid Persian 419-329 BC.

sure lot of variety.....but to be clear, the Persians then fight their contemporary enemies, per each period, ja ?

heidipie wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 5:59 am sure lot of variety.....but to be clear, the Persians then fight their contemporary enemies, per each period, ja ?

Yes, per each period and per each region attacked. So for example, in the first round (553-497 BC), the player can use either Achaemenid Persian 553-546 BC or Achaemenid Persian 545-481 BC (since both overlap the time period of that round) and assuming that they attack the region to its northwest and as opponent select any army list that (plausibly in order to get some flexibility) existed somewhere in that region and whose time period overlaps 553-497 BC (e.g., Babylonian 626-539 BC, Babylonian Revolts 522-482 BC, Elamite 815-539 BC, Median 626-550 BC, and what have you). Of course, there will be a mirror match, so both sides will be played.

This said, I'm open for any suggestions on other nations, not firmly stuck on the Persians.

its a clever idea ... i dont know persians very well so will be my education !

Good idea....i like all your suggestions

I never played a campaign so I'm interested to start with a little one. I'd like to play Carthaginians or Persians in 4 rounds.

That said, a Arab campaign could be interesting. 16 "arabs" lists on 2000 years (1000BC - 1160AD) + 1 Nabataean + 1 Andalousian + 1 Fatimids, so 19 lists. Could be on 5 or 6 rounds.

I would definitely be interested in this too

In each of your posts on the different nations I'm getting a blue box with the statement "Content not viewable in your region" which I presume is the relevant map. I'm also getting it in your Vae Victis - Rome v Etruscans thread under the Map and Board section.

Any idea why that is and how one overcomes it?

Ironclad wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2026 8:57 pm In each of your posts on the different nations I'm getting a blue box with the statement "Content not viewable in your region" which I presume is the relevant map. Any idea why that is and how one overcomes it?

You're based in Birmingham, UK? These are Imgur images, and unfortunately Imgur has blocked access to UK users.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo
https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/article ... ed-Kingdom

Fair enough - that rules me out then.