MEG Maximus Cyrenean Greek vs Late Republican Roman

 

Hi All

On Saturday we had a very interesting and full of suspense game of MEG Maximus

We played at IDAS wargame club in the center of Athens.

My Cyrenean Greeks against Kostas Later Republican Romans

Kostas had opted for a foot heavy army with only 2 units (1 was a skirmisher) of cavalry, while I had 4 units of horse and lots of Hoplites.

I won the roll of and opted to be the defender (I have only plains).

After the terrain set up only one hill was placed my right (close to Kostas board edge).

I won the scouting by 10% and we set up our forces.

My plan was to have the Hoplites in deep formations as to survive the Roman charge, while using my Horse units to turn his flank from my left side.

Kostas opted to put his sup legions in front of the Hoplites as to try and brake them while some average legionaries and the cavalry would try to hold me on the left. Kostas put some archers and the Thracians with some more average legionaries on the mountain to my right.

Turn 1

Kostas moved one of the 4 sup legionaries from the center to my left as to support his units on that side.
I moved two units of chariots forward, while I moved my Xystoforoi to charge a unit of average legionaries.

On my right I moved my ally forward as to pin the enemy troops in the area.

Turn 2

The Xystophoroi charged the average legionaries, while the 3 units of superior legionaries charged 6 units of Hoplites in the center.
On my left one chariot charged some cavalry but the skirmished so we had no contact.

The impact was brutal and the superior legions caused losses to my hoplites but thanks to the deep formation I was able to absorb the impact and even caused some wounds to the Romans ( the white dice has 2/6 chance of wounds).

The Xystophoroi on the other hand did a bit better but the average legion was holding on.

In the movement I only maneuvered my second chariot on my left as to take shots at the superior legion.

The melee that followed was more of the same.

The roman superior foot was causing hits to the hoplites but they were spread on 6 units while the hits that the hoplites made were more concentrated.

The Xysrtophoroi again could not break the average legionaries and I opted to break of and charge again in the next round.

Turn 3

The Xystophoroi charged again, as did the chariots against the roman cavalry, Kostas charged with his Thracians on my far right.

This time the Xystophoroi broke the average legion thanks to some shatter roles.

The chariots came in contact with the cavalry.

In the movement we had some more micro movement

The Melee saw the first of the superior legions in the center breaking while my chariots were taking more hits than the enemy cavalry was   

Turn 4

the superior legion on my left charge my chariots (I charged as well)

The impact was even so we both took some hits.

In the movement my Xystophoroi moved as to charge the 2 superior legions in the center

Melee was again bloody and I had 2 units of Hoplites that need 2-3 more wounds to break but they were still in the fight.

Turn 5

I charged with the Xystophoroi, while kostas charged my chariots with skirmish units (they can charge if the enemy is close to breaking)

The charge of the Xystophoroi from the rear broke both legions

Both my chariot units also broke in the impact.

 

A very strong test for both the armies and a very good opponent.

My Hoplites can only have a chance against the superior legions only in mass numbers.
The Xystophoroi (the most expensive unit in the army) earned the points they cost

I need to make some more experiments with the chariots as to optimize them.

The Romans on the other hand are very powerful in the foot department but if the terrain is open the lack of cavalry can cause problems

MEG Maximus Mid Republican vs Late Republican (Romans)

Hi All

More MEG during last weekend at IDAS wargame club in Athens

My friend Takis used Mid Republican Romans vs Kostas and his Late Republican Romans

The two armies’ lists are very different

Takis Had 11 Tactical Units while Kostas used 9 tactical units and 3 skirmishing units  

Both had 4 units of superior Roman infantry

Takis won the roll of and was attacker, the scouting was a draw.

In the end of the set up Mid republican had his ally on his left (secured flank sea) the superior romans were in the center while the loose foot and average romans were on the right. A roman cavalry unit was kept in reserve.

Kostas on the other had superior and average romans on the open ground and Thracians with archers on the two hills on the Mid republican right.

The Battle started with the Mid republican moving forward on the left and center while on the right a lot of cat and mouse was in play.

Turn 2

Thanks to good maneuvering on the Mid republican side 3 units of superior romans were ready to charge vs 2 units of superior romans.

On the right the archers had to move a bit off the hill as to be able to shoot the roman cavalry (We used Gallic horse).

The ally on the left made the hoplites in 2 frontage as to hold against the superior romans that were in front of them, while the ally cavalry was causing problems.

Turn 3

The two forces in the center collided and a grind match started.

In the right the roman cavalry charged the archers and the Thracians charged average legionaries

While on the left Kostas had to charge with foot against lancers and foot as to avoid a flank charge.

Maneuvering was limited as most units had engaged, only the Mid republican loose foot moved on the mountain to oppose an average legionary unit

In the Melee the grinding continued and only the lacers seemed to be getting an upper hand.

Turn 4

The superior roman on the left charged the Hoplites but fortunately they held on (they lost a base in the impact)

The loose foot on the hill and the average legionaries came to contact but it was even.

Now only 1 unit from the Mid republicans was not engaged while the Later republicans had 2

In the Melee units started to break from both sides,

In the center one unit from each side broke leaving 2 Mid vs 1 Late still in contact

In the left the lancers and superior legion broke the opposing enemy superior legion and chased them.

While on the tight the archers broke.

Turn 5

The allied lancers charged into the roman cavalry of the Late Republicans

After some more maneuvering the Melee started and in the center another unit from each side broke as did the Later republican cavalry fighting the lancers.

The Later Republicans lost the 5 Tugs needed to break and the game stopped but the Mid Republicans had also lost 3 units o legionaries in the game    

MEG Maximus Indo-Greek vs Mid Republican Roman

Hi All

Had a great game of MEG Maximus on Sunday

My friend Takis (MEG Pacto player) wanted to try out Maximus so I made a list of Mid republican Romans so he and I could play as a team against a very good MEG player (Kostas) who had Inod-Greek.

Our list was as expected lots of roman foot an ally with some cavalry and that’s it

The Indo-Greek had Cavalry lancers, Horse archers, Pikes, Hoplites, Indian foot

The Greeks were attackers and after terrain was placed only some wood were on the table on our (Roman) right side.

In the scouting phase the Greeks won and we had to set up 40% of our forces thus giving the Greeks an advantage.

After set up was complete the Romans had their flex foot in the woods opposite to Indian foot, the Roman heavy foot was next and on the far left the ally contingent.

The Greeks had the Indian foot on the roman right, in the center the pikes and some lancers and on the far left of the romans more lancers and horse archers and hoplites.

Both armies started maneuvers for the first two turns as to get in good positions.

The action started on turn 3

The Romans declared 6-7 charges to the Greeks 2

The Ally lancers and hoplites charged the enemy lancers and horse archers on the roman left.
In the center the Greek lancers and pike charged one unit of roman foot from two directions

While the roman flex foot and some heavy foot charged the Indian foot.

The ally managed to contact all 3 enemy units (Lancers, 2x horse archers) on the left and now allied lancers and hoplites were in battle with Greek lancers and horse archers.

In the center the roman superior foot having lost two bases in the impact was holding vs Lancers in front and pikes on the side.

While on the right the romans were starting to cause losses on the Indian foot

Turn 4

As most generals were in combat (both players are very reckless) the only new combat was 2 roman foot that charged a lone pike unit.

In the melee the Indians were the first to break as they had lost the front bases of the mixed units and now roman foot was in combat with loose unprotected archers of the rear ranks.

The horse archers on the roman left were the next to go, while the lone Roman foot that was in combat vs lancers and Pike was still holding on (very unlucky dice by the Greek).

Turn 5

Was the last round as the Greeks had lost 3 units and the pike in the center was ready to go we stopped after this turn.

The ally with the cavalry gave the Romans much needed mobility, while 6 out of the 11 units in the army are superior.
The Indo-Greek are a very good list and can defeat any opponent, It has a great mix of units and lots of speed (5 units of horse).

In the end the Greek was a bit unlucky with the dice rolls and should have taken 1-2 units of romans.    

MEG Maximus (Later 100 YW English vs French Ordonnance)

Hi All

Had 2 great games in the last two weeks both I used Later 100 Year war English. 

The first report is Later 100 year war English vs French ordonnance

The English had a Burgundian ally

And a total of 11 tugs, 6 missile units, 4 knights units

The French had a total of 9 tugs

4 knights units and 5 missile units (all the knights were superior) 

English were attackers (rolled skulls) and the coastal area was chosen (thankfully no secured flank)

After set up the English had

The Burgundian ally + 1 unit of mounted longbow on the right   
4 units of longbow and a unit of men at arm in the center

1 unit of knights on the left

The French put 3 units of knights on the English (Burgundian) right

4 units of longbow in the center

1 unit of knights and 1 unit of crossbow on the English left.

Turn 1

All the English / Burgundian knights dismounted as well as the mounted longbow

The French moved all their knights forward (in true French fashion) while the longbow in the center tried to catsup.

Turn 2

 The first French knight unit charged in on its own vs a unit of dismounted Burgundian knights and a unit of skilled longbow on the far right of the English line.

The longbow fired in but only caused 1 wound
thankfully only 2 bases of French made contact (one vs each unit) so the dice were not that many and with a lucky black dice the English caused a loss of a very expensive superior knight base.

On the rest of the front some exchange of bow fire caused some losses to both sides but nothing out of the ordinary.

In the movement phase the rest of the French knights positioned to charge, while the English moved about as to threaten the flanks of enemy units.
In the Melee phase the dismounted Burgundians (having opened up more bases to fight) caused more casualties to the French mounted knights.

The French knights broke off having lost 3 bases.

Turn 3

3 units of French knights charged in.
the knights in the English left slammed into the dismounted English knights causing 3 kills in the impact.
On the English right the French knights again charged the Burgundian knights and the longbow but was close to breaking from the shooting and the impact (needed only 1 wound to break).
The last unit of knights charged some Burgundian crossbow and some dismounted knights but as only 1 base hit the crossbow and 2 hit the dismounted knights again the results were not as good as someone would have expected.

After some shooting and more movement

      In the Melee the unit of French knights in the left broke the English dismounted knights and only the unprotected Irish stood in their way for the English camp.

On the right the French knights broke and the pursuing Burgundians fell on the side of the other unit of knights.

Turn 4

The game was almost lost for the French and the English men at arms charged a unit of longbow in the middle while another unit of French longbow was close to breaking from the shooting.
In the melee the English foot broke the French longbow while 2 units (1 skilled) of English longbow broke the other French bowmen.

When the dust settled we had a chat on the tactics used by the players.
The English thanks to the skilled longbow had an advantage vs the French longbow in the center.

The French did not coordinate the charge of the knights as to fall all together as to cause max kills (only did that vs the English on the left).       

MEG Maximus (LNS vs French Ordonnance)

Hi All

Even though I wanted I could not make it to the LGT to play MEG.

So I had a game of MEG Maximus with a good friend.

My Later Northern Song vs French Ordonnance.

My opponent had 4 units of 6 superior knights that could dismount if needed, he also had about 5 units of archers (4 units Longbow with stakes)

I had my usual mix of foot with some cavalry and artillery.

He won the PBS roll and I won the scouting.

I put my cavalry on my left (in some bad going) and then my infantry. My opponent had all his foot on my right while most of his cavalry (knights) was on my left.

Turn 1

I used the more cards I had to make my opponent move first. Then I double move my cavalry as to threaten the exposed side of the knights.

Turn 2

We had some shooting with only minor wounds.

Again I used my cards to make the opponent move first and then I moved my units in the positions I wanted. One of my cavalry was in place for a flank charge by now

Turn 3

I charged in with my cavalry while 2 units of my opponent’s knights charged into my infantry line. I actually caused some wound with my shooting (black dice).

The battle that followed was in favor of the knights but it was a slow process.

The rest of the armies shoot at each other with little effect.
In the maneuvering phase I moved units into position to be able to charge the side of the knights that were fighting the infantry.

My cavalry broke off from the battle with the knights

Turn 4

I charged the side of the knights fighting my infantry just in time as I was close to breaking.

The shooting again was not very good but one enemy unit was taking some wounds.

In the battles that followed 1 unit of knights broke from the flank charge, and the second knight was about to break as well.

Turn 5

The enemy knights in the far right charged my cavalry (which stood to fight).

While I concentrated my shooting on enemy foot units one wound from breaking

By the end of the shooting and fighting of round 5 I had lost 2 units of cavalry while my enemy had lost a further 4 units (2 foot and 2 knights).

With him loosing 5 units his army broke and I won the game.

The knights with the armored horses proved a formidable opponent and had my friend protected their flanks they would have surly broke through my foot.

The Longbow men with stakes is another very good option although it makes no difference vs the Song which are foot shooty heavy as well.

I have actually made a later 100Y war English army (5 units of longbow men) and will start to test them out shortly