ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Sunday 9 June 2019

From my side of the table...The Second Battle of Bedriacum 69AD.

Greetings...


On Thursday Alan Perry, Rick Priestly, Dave Andrews and myself met up at Michael Perry's for a game of Hail Caesar...


The Second Battle of Bedriacum 69AD...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bedriacum


This battle was set during the period known as the Year of the Four Emperors...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_Four_Emperors


This was also an excuse (as if one was really needed ) to get Rick and Dave's wonderful collections of Romans on the table.


Alan (Marcus Blunderus Maximus), Rick (Grammaticus Malam Fortunam Horret) and myself (Lucius Semper Infelicis) took command of the forces of Vespasian.


Dave and Michael took command of the forces of Darkness.


Our Haruspex predicted a glorious victory...
I should have been more concerned when I noticed that instead of the normal choice of animals he was using a mouldy meat pie covered in ketchup...


 The opposing forces...



 

Our brave men...






The forces of Darkness...




The forces of Darkness send their light cavalry forward... Alan orders his men forwards to counter them...





And earns his name...
Double six... A blunder.
One... Run away like you just don't care...




Despite much pathetic and desperate pleading ...




Three moves backwards...




The gods visit him with the vulture of Despair...








Rick attempted to move his cavalry... And yes the gods looked kindly on us... Hmmmm!
A double six...
This time it was just a case of his men meandering forward a bit and pestering some slingers....




The forces of Darkness advance towards me...







Rick sends his cavalry forward... and gets thumped...




Then his 'Scorpions' get thumped...


You can see where this is going.... can't you?




I manage to not order my men forward... sigh!






My brave men advance... a bit... to engage and are engaged by the enemy...




Alan finally gets his men moving forwards... Hurrah!






Beset on many sides I charge forwards promising death or glory...




The gods of dice and men accepted my offer with open arms...





As Alan continues to move forward...





My replacement Augustus Lenta Fortuna throws our men in for one more try...
He manages to break one of the enemy units... but everything else gets stomped on.


With two thirds of the army now broken we call it a day and accept defeat ...


A classic classical battle in the now traditional Aly Morrison style... And a splendid night with splendid friends and toy soldiers...


All the best   Aly.




28 comments:

  1. A very nice looking game and tabletop.

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    Replies
    1. It was indeed an splendid game...

      All the best Aly

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  2. Looks a excellent game - lots of toy soldiers - you can't go wrong !

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    1. You are right ... you can't go wrong...
      And it would appear we cant win... :-)

      All the best Aly

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  3. Game looks super, Aly! Too bad about the outcome. Remember, its not whether you win or lose but about having fun with friends and playing with our toys!

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    1. Thank you Jonathan...
      Yes fun with friends and playing with toy soldiers is what it is all about.

      All the best Aly

      Delete
  4. Cum autem plures deos talis cacas in vobis.
    Nice looking game by the way.

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    1. Thank you David
      Putting the Latin through Google translate gives an interesting result...

      All the best Aly

      Delete
  5. Fantastic looking game - enjoyed the report very much. You wuz robbed, by the way...

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    1. Thank you Tony...
      I blame the fickle nature of the gods of dice...

      All the best. Aly

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  6. A feast for the eyes Aly. The result was immaterial.

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    1. There were some fine toys on the table...
      And the game was immense fun ... regardless of the outcome.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  7. Splendid, nice to see a bit of sword and spear action. That commander was a miserable pleader.

    Lurkio

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    1. Action? ... more like blundering about and praying to all the wrong gods...

      I saw what you did there... very good...

      All the best. Aly

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  8. Great looking game indeed Aly.........leadership and dice rolls though ! Pretty tough. Next time slaughter a pig !

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    1. I doubt slaughtering an elephant would make any difference... ;-)

      All the best. Aly

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  9. Replies
    1. Thank you...
      Got to love google translate....

      All the best. Aly

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  10. What an enjoyable start to my day Aly. Very entertaining account dear sir and what a sensational collection of wonderful figures on a table to match.

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    1. Thank you Carlo...
      It’s great to get a chance to play with two such splendid collections.

      All the best. Aly

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  11. Splendid indeed. Really captures the look of a Roman army.
    Love the table too

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    1. Yes It captured the look of a Roman army perfectly...
      And the Romans were guaranteed a victory... as was prophesied in the mouldy meat pie...
      A top game indeed...

      All the best. Aly

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  12. Quite a spectacle--and the visuals are impressive as well :)
    To paraphrase my dad (on fishing), "A bad day blundering about on a lovely wargames table with friends beats a good day at work, any time."

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    1. A spectacle indeed... and we certainly blundered... and it was so much better than work... ;-)
      All the best. Aly

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  13. Lovely looking game, whatever the outcome!
    Best Iain

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  14. Very true Iain...

    All the best Aly

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  15. Looks great - inspiring me to get my new Romans into action

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    1. Hopefully you will do better than I did... ;-)

      All the best. Aly

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