Helsinki IWF Introduction–Running Republican Romans (photos)
Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:20 pm
I will start by complimenting the Finns on organising an excellent IWF. It was a great event in a good venue with friendly people. Even the taxi drivers and passport control staff on arrival were pleasant.
The near perpetual daylight did take a bit of getting used to – you’d wake up, look outside, see it was morning light, only to then discover it was 3am.
So earlyish on Friday (and with only a slight hangover) we set of for the venue…
And it was well set up.
Before the competition I was unsure whether to take Ilkhanid Mongols or Republican Romans. Nik, who was list checker, prompted me for my list a few weeks before the date of the comp and I opted for the Romans. I’d used mounted skirmish armies quite a bit in the last few comps so I wanted to try a heavy foot army. Romans it was!
I went for a “Pompey in the East” version, with Jewish allies. However, I economised on command points so the force wasn’t lead by the Great Man himself, but rather deputised to a subordinate.
The army was:
3 x TCs
3 x 6 HF “Average” Legionaries – armoured IP + sword
3 x 4 HF “Veteran” Legionaries – superior IP + SSw
1 x 4 Spanish LH – unprotected, average, undrilled, javelins, lt spear
1 x 4 Gallic Cv – undrilled, armoured, superior, lt spear + Sw
1 x 6 Bow LF unprotected, average, undrilled, bow
1 x 6 Sling LF unprotected, average, undrilled, sling
1 x Jewish ally TC
1 x 6 Jewish slingers LF unprotected, average, undrilled, sling
2 x 8 Jewish phalanx of the foot MF protected, ave, drilled, off. spear.
13 BGs with an initiative of 0.
The thinking behind the army was to go for “bulk” by taking average legionaries, and a reasonable number of legionaries (30 bases) meant that they should be able to look after themselves. Of course there is a risk that they get rolled over in melee, but I hoped armoured impact foot would do okay.
The Jewish ally was there to ensure that I had good rough terrain troops, but they were also capable of moving reasonably fast on a wing if facing light horse or skirmishing cavalry.
I was worried about knight armies and cataphracts because the Romans struggle against those troop types – it’s not a walkover for the mounted, but it is pretty dicey with a slight advantage to the mounted because of their ability to rally back and charge again.
The FOG field consisted of 13 players using:
2 x Seljuk Turk
An Alexandrian Macedonian
2 x Late Republican Roman (including mine)
A Skythian
A Later Seleucid
A Bosporan
3 x Santa Hermanded Nueva Castilian
A Medieval Cypriot
Gary Waterworth - ??? (lost in RSA paperwork I think)
I got to play:
- James “Hammy” Hamilton (Santa Hermanded Nueva Castilian)
- Ian (JD) McNeil (Cypriot)
- Terry Shaw (Seljuk)
- Bill Marlia (LRR)
- Nik Gaukroger (Seljuk)
The scoring system uses a score out of 20, with an additional 5 point bonus if the opposition army routs. If there was no army rout then the sum of the two players score equals 20. The actual allocation of the 20 points to the 2 players is formula based but depends on the number of attrition points lost on either side. A draw would mean 10 points to each player.
So how did the Romans do? Before the competition Dave Ruddock predicted that the “Romans will not fare well”. Will this prove to be the case?
Game 1 – A Bye!
Oh well, at least I get some points. Onto game 2, which can be found here: viewtopic.php?p=56207#56207
The near perpetual daylight did take a bit of getting used to – you’d wake up, look outside, see it was morning light, only to then discover it was 3am.
So earlyish on Friday (and with only a slight hangover) we set of for the venue…
And it was well set up.
Before the competition I was unsure whether to take Ilkhanid Mongols or Republican Romans. Nik, who was list checker, prompted me for my list a few weeks before the date of the comp and I opted for the Romans. I’d used mounted skirmish armies quite a bit in the last few comps so I wanted to try a heavy foot army. Romans it was!
I went for a “Pompey in the East” version, with Jewish allies. However, I economised on command points so the force wasn’t lead by the Great Man himself, but rather deputised to a subordinate.
The army was:
3 x TCs
3 x 6 HF “Average” Legionaries – armoured IP + sword
3 x 4 HF “Veteran” Legionaries – superior IP + SSw
1 x 4 Spanish LH – unprotected, average, undrilled, javelins, lt spear
1 x 4 Gallic Cv – undrilled, armoured, superior, lt spear + Sw
1 x 6 Bow LF unprotected, average, undrilled, bow
1 x 6 Sling LF unprotected, average, undrilled, sling
1 x Jewish ally TC
1 x 6 Jewish slingers LF unprotected, average, undrilled, sling
2 x 8 Jewish phalanx of the foot MF protected, ave, drilled, off. spear.
13 BGs with an initiative of 0.
The thinking behind the army was to go for “bulk” by taking average legionaries, and a reasonable number of legionaries (30 bases) meant that they should be able to look after themselves. Of course there is a risk that they get rolled over in melee, but I hoped armoured impact foot would do okay.
The Jewish ally was there to ensure that I had good rough terrain troops, but they were also capable of moving reasonably fast on a wing if facing light horse or skirmishing cavalry.
I was worried about knight armies and cataphracts because the Romans struggle against those troop types – it’s not a walkover for the mounted, but it is pretty dicey with a slight advantage to the mounted because of their ability to rally back and charge again.
The FOG field consisted of 13 players using:
2 x Seljuk Turk
An Alexandrian Macedonian
2 x Late Republican Roman (including mine)
A Skythian
A Later Seleucid
A Bosporan
3 x Santa Hermanded Nueva Castilian
A Medieval Cypriot
Gary Waterworth - ??? (lost in RSA paperwork I think)
I got to play:
- James “Hammy” Hamilton (Santa Hermanded Nueva Castilian)
- Ian (JD) McNeil (Cypriot)
- Terry Shaw (Seljuk)
- Bill Marlia (LRR)
- Nik Gaukroger (Seljuk)
The scoring system uses a score out of 20, with an additional 5 point bonus if the opposition army routs. If there was no army rout then the sum of the two players score equals 20. The actual allocation of the 20 points to the 2 players is formula based but depends on the number of attrition points lost on either side. A draw would mean 10 points to each player.
So how did the Romans do? Before the competition Dave Ruddock predicted that the “Romans will not fare well”. Will this prove to be the case?
Game 1 – A Bye!
Oh well, at least I get some points. Onto game 2, which can be found here: viewtopic.php?p=56207#56207