Indecision

A game of sword and spear at Rod's place.  The game was supposed to be a WWII combat, but Rod didnt think the game was balanced, so at the last minute he changed to Sword and Spear.

The game resembled Pharsalus -- a small veteran Roman force vs a large raw recruit Roman force.

The table looked great!!!!

Rod had a bathroom break, so I took a few snaps of his great 28's!!!!!!!

It took us a while to remember the rules, but we figured it out.  The forces get close.  On the left, Rod's veteran legions are skirting some rough terrain

Rod in thought.  Note that his veteran legions on the left have split up.

The forces meet.  My raw legions are taking casualties!!!!  But I have a follow up legion.

But my follow up legion wasnt needed.  My raw recruits beat the veterans!!!!!!  Partly helped by the splitting up of Rod's flank, so I managed to double team each of his veteran units.

Sword and Spear is a great game.  But twice we have had armies of crap just walk over veteran armies.  Either we arent doing something right, or there is a balance issue, or thats just plane bad luck.  But it seems to me that a few extra units on the flank allows you to get extra dice, and once that happens you can start rolling up flanks easily.

Sword and Spear at Rods

Went to Rod's for a game of Sword and Spear.  500 points.  Rod was Numidian, and I was Later Carthaginian.

My army list was an attempt to take as much cavalry and skirmishers as possible

Things looked good with an attack on the right by a strong cavalry force

But then one unit of Carthaginian foot held up my Cavalry despite being attacked by a unit with extra dice.  The Carthaginian foot lasted for 3 turns - despite routs on either flank.  The cavalry that advanced on either side of it had vulnerable flanks - which Rod exploited!

By the end of the game my cavalry hammer had been shredded by light horse and skirmishers hitting them in the flanks

Rod took minimal losses on the way to a crushing victory!

Sword and Spear at Rod's

Nick was introduced to Sword and Spears by Rob -- a long time Launceston gamer.

Sword and Spears is almost like Bolt Action for ancients.  Each side has different coloured dice, and gets a dice per unit.  The dice are placed in a bag, and 7 dice are drawn from a bag.  The player with the most dice rolls his dice, and allocates dice to a unit.  Typically you need 4 or better to move, 5 or better to charge, and if you have a 6 you get a bonus (better melee or movement).  There are special rules for formation movement and leaders reduce the score you need to move and veteran troops are easier to move.  The player with the least dice then rolls their dice and allocates their dice to units.  Then units are moved in dice roll order and combat is decided.  Repeat until all dice are drawn from the bag.

While it may not seem like it, it suddenly becomes very hard to coordinate troops.  We played Gauls vs Romans, and the Gauls went off in a very uncoordinated flank attack that was promptly destroyed.  The Romans maintained discipline while the Gallic infantry closed, but again the Gauls couldn't coordinate an attack.  And while their hairy barbarians are scary, uncoordinated attacks lead to disaster.  End result was a comprehensive thrashing, with the Gauls only managing to kill one unit of archers on the Roman side.

But the end result was that this was a very, very fun game.  Highly recommended!


The picture is an uncoordinated attack by the Gauls onto the Romans.  The shield indicates the Gauls have taken one 'hit' out of 4.  The die indicates the unit has moved this turn, and cant move again.