Imagination Ancients Wargame

     I have been looking for a map to use with my various wargames to give substance to my storyline. Somehow having invasions with no real goal doesn't make sense. Then I thought of the ESSEX, an American frigate during the War of 1812 that found itself fighting in a tribal war on the island of Nuku Hiva.  The island was made up of different valleys with different tribes in each valley. These tribes were continually at war with each other.  This description reminded me of a map in an old PRACTICAL WARGAMER magazine from campaign game called COCKPIT. This map is used quite often by solo gamers and I have used it myself.  The map itself is a hex divided 6 ways with various terrain and towns. I modified my map to break up the hex. And as I was thinking of this map, I received an order of Peter Laing Persians. I decided to do a narrative battle using this map and some of my ancients.

    On the island of Verdancia, the 6 countries that make it up were constantly at war with each other.  If one thought of the island as a pie, one would have to think of the pie being cut into six parts, each nation having a common border in the center of the island. That common border was on the top of a mountain. So if one wanted to invade one of the other countries that they didn't have a common border, they would have to invade by sea or by climbing this mountain. The Verdancians were poor seamen, so the mountain route seemed the best. However, ruling the Great mountain was the tribe of Obsidia, a tribe that rarely waged war. This was a good thing, because they had a reputation of viciousness in battle that so scared the other tribes that it had been generations since anyone dared fight them.

    Now the king of Verdancia was outraged with the king of Titania, the kingdom directly south of it. The King of Titania made a trade agreement with another island, part of the deal was the other island would not trade with any other kingdom on Verdancia. The King of Verdancia, Uaine, decide to invade Titania to stop this treaty. As the Titania fleet was stronger than his, he would march on Titania. This meant cutting through Obsidian territory. However, he had a secret weapon that would cow the Obsidians and they wouldn't interfere with his march.

The island of Verdancia. Verdancia is #1; Titania is #4. The cloverleaf in the center is the land of the Obsidians.

The Verdancia Army nears the pass which will lead to Titania. King Uaine sends a messenger to the Obsidian King saying that he wishes to pass in peace. The Obsidian King Dubh tells him that no army may pass through his lands. The Verdancians draw up for battle. Uaine hides his secret weapon; a unit of elephants!

What King Uaine sees of the Obsidian Army.

King Dubh hides a large force behind the hills.

The Verdancians send forward their archers. He shows the elephants to strike fear into the Obsidians hearts. 

King Uaine orders all his infantry forward. All are armed with bows and they start pelting the Obsidians with arrows.

King Dubh now starts feeding in his hidden troops.

The Obsidians close with the Verdancian Army, negating the archery  of the Verdancians.

Uaine sends forward the elephants, closely supported by his medium horse and bodyguard infantry (in yellow).

The Obsidians get over their initial shock of the elephants and dispatch half of the unit!  In the upper right of the picture is the unit of blue spearmen; these are the same figures that has been so successful in other games. In this game they have lost 3/4 for their men but still stand fast.

The Obsidians wipe out the elephants and put the medium cavalry to flight. The Verdancian center is in danger.

A closeup of the elephants defeat.

The Obsidians tactics call for them to engulf units. The blue spearmen fall to this tactic.They were surrounded with nowhere to go. This is the first time this unit has been defeated.

Uaine tries to consolidate his army.

The Obsidians use multiple units to attack individual Verdancian units, with great success.

The Verdancian right flank holds steady.

The medium horse tries to slow the Obsidians push in the center.

The Verdancian right forces back the Obsidian rush, giving itself a little breathing space.

But the Obsidian forces start infiltrating along the Verdancian line.

The Verdancian left flank is all but cut off from the rest of the army.

The beginning of the end of Verdancian Army. The Verdancians, fighting for their lives, do not realize that they are being cut off.

The Obsidians are trying to encircle the Verdancian center.

Only one archer and two cavalry is left of the Verdancian left.

While the Obsidians slowly eliminate the center, the sole surviving cavalryman on the left flees the field.

The Obsidians have overrun the center. King Uaine signals for the army to retreat.

These are the survivors of the Verdancian Army. (Man on horseback in yellow is King Uaine.)

King Uaine's bodyguard and medium horse find themselves surrounded and are forced to surrender.

I used Battlelore rules for this game. I arranged my room so I could view each side from behind, which I believe makes for a better game as you get a new perspective by seeing from the other side.