Massacre at Bute

 Today I played my first game of Dead man's hand against John. We played on John's fantastic looking board using his collection of western miniatures. We played the standard gunfight scenario with John taking control of the outlaws, and myself controlling the lawmen. 

The view down the high street to the saloon where the outlaws would be setting up.

The lawmen lead by sheriff Harkness and featuring Marshall P Nut. Four lawful citizens of Bute turned up to support the three deputies. 

The Preacher gang lead by the Preacher himself on the far left take up their positions on the high street.

Harkness and his Posse set off from their HQ at the hotel.

The outlaws steadily make their way up the street making the most of the available cover.

The citizens supported by the lawmen rush to intercept the preacher gang.

The opening rounds saw lots of movement a couple of gun jams and absolutely zero hits scored. 

The preacher gang comes under fire but the sparse cover keeps them from harm.

A deadly gunfight breaks out between the infamous Preacher and the brave citizens of Bute.

The game ended shortly after this as long range rifle shots spelled doom for the marshal, the sheriff and and a couple for outlaws. Both side managed to pass their initial nerve test but the lawmen broke and ran for their lives upon witnessing the death of sheriff Harkness. 

At least the deputies managed to take down the Preacher.

That was a great game that swung between the two sides throughout. I'm very much looking forward to my 2nd game of Dead mans hand.

MeG Mid republican Rome VS Later Carthaginian

 This is my first game of Mortem et Gloriam. I have read through the rules a couple of times and read a few game reports from various places on the internet and thought its about time i took the plunge and had my first game.

Pre Battle Phase 

The Carthaginian commander won the role off and defended. After the 5 flips before the battle the Romans had managed to move the battle from Dense coastal to open coastal. After the scouting phase the two armies drew which resulted in the Carthaginians setting up first.

The Carthaginians set up with the elephants on the left flank, the cavalry on the right and the infantry in the centre but deployed quite deep. The Romans set up to mirror the Carthaginians but had light troops and the flexible Italian foot to counter the elephants

The Battle  

The first few turns the Romans advanced as quickly as possible in the centre with the Legionaries and held the cavalry back against the superior numbers of the Gallic cavalry. The Gallic cavalry rushed around the woods to threaten the flank of the legion and the roman cavalry. The elephants on the left were held up due to some poor command cards.

    

Numidian light horse race off after the Roman slingers and Velites.

The Roman light foot seemed to be in trouble

The Romans appear to be rushing into a trap as Carthage start to close in on the flanks.

Impact! the Numidian horse contact the Triarii asthe Roman light foot fall back

Balearic slingers loose slings at the Hastati.

The two battle lines start to close

Fortunately I changed camera at this point so the pictures should improve. 

One unit of Numidian light horse are easily wiped out by the Triarii

The clash of the skirmishes. Numidians charge some Velites and the other unit of Velites charge Numidian and Spanish javelinmen. 

Numidian horse struggling against the Velites while the Spanish javelinmen kill off the Velites

Gallic cavalry face off against the Roman cavalry

The Roman legion advance inexorably towards the Carthage battleline, as the Balearic slingers attempt to hold the up.

All the Numidian light horse have now been defeated

With an almighty crash the two sets of cavalry charge into each other

The elephants finally get some decent cards and set up for a charge nest turn

Elephants charge into the Hastatii and Triarii...

...But are quickly destroyed by their Roman opponents. 

The Roman cavalry are slowly being whittled down by the Gallic.

The Romans now have a strangle hold on the battlefield.

The infantry close in...

...And battle commences. 

The Carthaginian infantry are methodically cut down by the Hastatii.

Result

Carthage: 5pts

Rome: 7pts

Minor Roman victory.

Afterthought.

Well that didn't quite go as I had expected. The Carthage elephants were definitely underwhelming. I definitely made the mistake of using them against close order infantry instead of cavalry. Also the Numidian cavalry were very average. I probably should have used them to harass the romans rather that commit them to combat so early.

Finally the roman Hastatii are absolute machines. I cant see any obvious way the Carthaginians could confront these combat monsters and succeed. I think i will keep the same Carthaginian list for a couple more games were I will endeavour to use the army more effectively.