Painting Challenge Report #2

This is long overdue post, as the original entry published in the Painting Challenge blog was dated January 7th 2024. My second contribution to the Challenge this year is a unit of Late Roman mounted light archers.

The unit is part of the project that slowly is taking shape to have an 8 points Saga Late Roman warband: more cavalry will arrive soon and I have the Heavy Cavakry and Light Infantry boxes already at home. 

The models are part of the multi-pose Gripping Beast plastic range (Late Roman Light Cavalry) offering two different options (armed with bows or with javelins). These are vey well designed minis and the box offer (in my humble opinion) one of the best quality for price combos in the market.   

The unit together with some bonus points add 100 points to my Challenge score, to a total of 140 points. I'm now at 35% of my Challenge target of 400 points by March 31st, and I'm confident that will reach the target on time with the pipeline of models currently sitting on my desk.

Painting Challenge Report #6

 January is gone and I'm happy with my progress so far in the Painting Challenge. Usually, by this time in the competition my painting mojo suffers; but not this year. I think the Saga project is keeping me engaged and committed.

The past week I finished a second unit of 8 warriors (1 Saga Warband point equivalent). The minis are from the Gripping Beast plastic Dark Age Warriors box, straight from the sprues. Shileds as usual from the superb Little Big Men Studios range.

 

The unit is generic enough to play a rol in any Dark Age warband and even later periods, like for example acting as light infantry for an El Cid/Reconquista army. I'm now close to conclude a 4-point starter warband: I already painted one levies (1 point) and the two warriors (2 points) units. I only need now to paint the Guards, which hopefully should be ready next week.

 

I have also started looking for a suitable warband leader.For a cavalry-free army, I have already prepared this chief standing on a boulder. Happy with the final work but I may add in the future a stardard bearer. I'm planning in any case to paint some other warband leaders, and at least one riding a horse.

 

Following this week's submission my accumulated scoring has reached 442 points, representing 63% of my 700 points target for this year's Challenge.

 

Painting Challenge Report #4

As expected, the end of the Christmas holidays has reduced my total paint time and slowed the output. In any case I have been able to produce one new 12-men levy unit for my Saga Late Roman Army warband.

Being levies I wanted the unit to lack uniformity. So instead of using the Gripping Beast Late Roman Infantry box, I decided to scavange different pieces from the Dark Age Warriors box and spare heads with helmets from other different boxes.

My idea was that likely they were supplied with helmets,  Roman army tunics and shields when called for service. But being conscripted, some may be have been arriving late or the army's depot may have been depleted, and therefore they had to provide their own clothing and weapons.

 

Another example of the flexibility allowed by the Gripping Beast plastic boxes, many of whose parts can be interchanged, providing endless configuration options. The shields are transfers from Little Big Men studios. I went for a similar pattern to give the unit some uniformity.

With this entry, my scoring stands now at 310 points, representing 44% of my Challenge's 700 points target this year. 

 

Why SPQR? Dissecting of the Ancient-era Wargame

In previous posts, I commented my growing interest in board wargaming. In fact, this is a return to my origins, as I seriously started  playing wargames with Panzerblitz, a Christmas present from my father to both, my broher and me in 1980.

The shift to tabletop games with minis came later around 1983-84, when we founded Club Dragon in Madrid and got in contact with that world. Fast forward to early 2019:  I approached a group of boardgamers in the club playing Simonitch's Holland 44: being a Market Garden related game, I couldn't resist giving it a try. The lockdown in 2020 and  VASSAL (an Internet based application to play boardgames live) explains the rest.

 

What is SPQR

SPQR is one of the titles in which I'm investing more playing time (and money) since early last year. The game is part of a series called The Great Battles of History (GBoH) produced by GMT Games,  focused in the Ancient period (from Late Bronze to the early Dark Age). The series was designed by two heavyweights of the industry: Mark Hermann and the late Richard Berg. I currently own four titles of this series (SPQR, Caesar Deluxe, Cataphract and Chariots of Fire) but there's a fifth title looming in the horizon for me in 2023 (Great Battles of Alexander Deluxe currently in P500 "made to cut" phase) 

SPQR is the module focused in the emergence of the Roman Republic. The game covers the Punic Wars and the wars with other Macedonian-style armies, until Mario's reforms. SPQR enable players to fight two classical tactical visions: the Roman flexible manipular armies vs. the combined-arms phalanx-based used by Carthage and Greek peoples in the Mediterranean.

Content

SPQR was initially launched in 1992. The SPQR Deluxe is the latest release (2018), including a an in-depth revision of the original rules (4th edition updtaed in october 2022) and a large number of the scenarios published since 1990 in different publications (mostly in C3i magazine issues) 

SPQR cames in a HUGE heavy box, that contains 3 scenario booklets, 6 two-sided large unmounted maps, two sets of 3 player-aid cards, five and a half counter sheets with units and different playing-aid counters, and two 10-sided dice (note: there are several "unboxing" videos in YouTube, should you be interested in taking a closer look to the materials).

The Playing System Described

Armies have two type of counters: commanders and fighting unit (see illustration below). Commanders are critical to the game as they enable activation of units, either in groups ("line commands") or in a case-by-case basis ("individual orders"). 

Armies have army commanders ("overall commanders"), the most experienced and with better attributes; and "subordinated commanders",  leading groups of units on differents parts of the battlefield line. Within a range, the commanders have the ability to active units. The number of possible sequential activations with the same commander is variable, depending on his level of seniority, and the ability to react of the enemy commanders, that can potentially interfere in thise subsequent activations, stealing the initiative to the enemy.

Units are of many different types: slingers, light/medium/heavy infantry and cavalry, elephants and phalanxes, with also different abilities and attributes aligned with their hisorical roles in the battlefield.

The sequence of play of a typical game is organized in turns that are subdivided in phases. 

In each phase, a commander is activated (based on their rating, first the lowest rated and then sequentially from low to the highest rated leader) enabling them to order troops to move, fire and finally undertake the close combat fighting. 

As a result of fire or melee, units accumulate "cohesion points" equivalent to shocks; when these cohesion points equal or exceed the unit's cohesion level (= moral), that unit breaks. When all the melees are over, broken units retreat 2 hexes and the winners move forward to ocuppy the position. 

In their activation phase, commanders can also attempt to rally broken units or to reduce the cohesion or shock points accumulated of good-order units but in risk of breaking in subsequent turns. 

Once all  commanders have been activated, the turn moves in another phase where non-rallied routed units must expend their full movement allowance towards their tactical edge. If leaving the board, then they are considered destroyed. 

This is followed by an administrative phase in which units low on missiles (archers, slingers or javeliniers) can resupply; commander counters are returned to their active side and some markerts ("moved" for example) are also removed. Victory points are accounted, and if both sides remain undefeated, a new turn is played.

This is a basic explanation of how the game develops. There is a lot of additional aspects to consider in each phase of a turn that exceeds the scope of this post: for example missile units can use harrassment and dispersal tactics instead of clashing in close combat; routing elephants can create havoc both among friends and foes; light units can refuse combat and retreat when heavier units approach; cavalry winning melees can go out of control, etc 

Games are won by forcing the enemy to withdraw from the battlefield. This is achieved by causing the enemy enough "cohesion points" to erode the overall army's morale. It is possible that both sides reach their own break point levels simultaneously, in which case the game is a draw.

What I Like the Most of SPQR

First and more important, it's an Ancients era game which is a period I love. Each unit has its own features and arguably you can (and actually must!) use historical tactics in order to have a chance to win. 

For example: Cartaghinian tactics should rely on the mobility and quality of its cavalry to outflank the Romans and to disorganize their lines, while the phlanxes in the centre should be used to fix the Roman front. The cavalry and the light infantry are the hammer, the phalanxes are the anvil in the Carthaginian tactics book.

Romans on the other hand. must attempt to move fast into close combat along all the line to avoid the outflanking of the cavalry, to leverage on their superior close combat ability.

 

Second, the importance of command in this game. In this sense the game is not just line your troops, activate leaders and ordering charge forward, losing control of the battle, but significantly more subtle: through the command mechanics, players can shift reserves between flanks, take advantage of gaps in the enemy line to explot a penetration, control the cavalry, assess the best timing and place to hit the enemy, arrange a tactical retreat to reorganize your lines, etc

In this sense, it draws paralells with the approach to design of Too Fat Lardies rulesets, that stresses the importance of command in the battle and how to make the best use of the available assets, over the pure technical aspects of the hardware (weapons) or software (men) in combat. 

Two important notes: 

1. The players do not have infinite command resources. A general plan for the battle must be drawn before the game begins; but players will need to make decisions, assess alternatives and decide between different options at each turn, based on the prevailing conditions in the battlefield. 

2. Friction is fully embedded in the game mechanics, of course through the combat and moral checking resolution die rolls; but also on the fact that leaders activations not always succed and enemy leaders have the option to "trump" (literal rules terminology) your own activation, but also with risks if failing to do so. The leader activation phases create a very dynamic game environment, distancing SPQR from the old traditional IGYG designs. 

Again, this draws significant paralells with the design philosophy of Richard Clarke and Nick Skinner at Too Fat Lardies.

Finally, the importance of morale in the games.  As explained above, units have morale levels (called "Troop Quality"), accumulate "Cohesion Hits" (equivalent to shock points) and when are equal or higher than its TQ, the units break and rout.

In each game, armies are assigned an overall force morale level or "army withdrawal" threshold. When the sum of accumulated cohesion hits (from individual units routed out of the map or destroyed in combat) reach this threshold, the army is considered demoralized and must abandon the battlefield.

This has important implications for players. Commanders have the ability to rally units,  therefore stopping them from routing out of the table and enabling returning to fight, albeit with a lower combat efficiency. As the battle progresses, casualties mount and the number of broken units increases. 

There's a point in which commanders must take decisions: should they keep control of the battle front to cause cohesion hits and break the enemy's army morale? Or alternatively, should they move to the rearguard, to regroup and rally fleeing units to avoid their own army collapsing? 

Again, remember you have finite command resources, and decisions are not easy. The calculus should be based on the likelihood to cause more cohesion hits to the enemy relative to your own potential casualties; and if these will be enough to reach the army withdrawal threshold.

This is another paralell design development to that used by Too Fat Lardies with the concepts of "shock" and "Force Moral", introduced in many of their more recent rulesets, like Chain of Command, Sharp Practice, Infamy! Infamy! or O'Group (the latter authored by Dave Brown).

The goal to win a game is not the physical destruction of the enemy forces, but to cause enough erosion in their overall morale level, as to force abandoning the battlefield.

Conclusions  

A well designed game recreating the environment of the Ancient 300-200 BC period battles in a very efficient way. The games are very dynamic, and as commented above, introduced a series of design elements  (command control, morale, friction) particularly nice to my taste after many years playing with Too Fat Lardies rulesets.

It is not a very complex set of rules at all, but I won't use SPQR to introduce someone new to the hobby. The reason is the amount of small details (like special rules for specific units or exceptions) that you need to be aware of and need to learn to play the scenarios.  

Another positive aspect is that, although the GBoH system covers a wide historical period,  each volume of the series focuses on a subperiod. All games share the general mechanics but with significant changes and adaptations to the specific aspects of the covered subperiod.

Many may wonder if I did not find any negative aspects in the rules. I'd say that the main "con" is the structure and writing of the manual, not a best-practice at all. It's gone throiugh several updates (the 4th edition is the latest release) but the potential to improve is still substantial. In any case, Mark Hermann and particularly the late Richard Berg both had a reputation among aficionados, so no surprise here.

 

Useful Resources    

The official GMT SPQR page where you can download the lastes revised version of the rules, tables and errata documents. It is also a gateway to other interesting links (articles, videos, etc)   

The C3i GOBH Center is a trove af articles on tactcis, scenarios and other related materials covering the whole GBOH series (not only SPQR)

The SPQR Boardgame Geek page is anogther must-have bookmark. Lots of videos, files to download, and critcial, a forum to clarify any type of questions curated by a lot of nice knowledgeable participants.

Finally, the site to download the VASSAL file if you fancy to play live online with international gamers. 

  

 

 

Saga Campaign in the Age of Invasions

We have started a new Saga campaign at Club Dragon using the mechanics described in the Age of Wolf supplement (a full self standing campaign book set in the Vikings period)  and the lists of the Age of Invasion book. We have enrolled six players using Picts, Late Romans, Saxons, Huns, Goths and Sassanids armies. 

Roman cataphracts guard unit

The campaign rules are easy to learn an fun to play.

The first step is deciding a motivation for your leader: do you want to be a land or a gold hoarder? Or you want to become a legend because of your heroic deeds?. Then create a Saga 4-points warband, acquire some distinctive features for your leader by rolling in a table... and finally go invading or raiding your neihghbours fiefdoms.

A campaign usually lasts 8 seasons (or turns) and the player with a higher victory point scoring at the end of the eighth season wins. When a season concludeds, you recover part of your losses in battles and can recruit new forces. A  table of special events (plagues, revolts...)  must be also rolled, potentially affecting your next season plans. 

As you can see, the campaign system is fully aligned with the Saga complex-free design policy, easy, fun and fast.

In this campiagn I'm using the Late Roman Army lists. My initial warband includes of course a leader, a unit of cataphracts (guards), two units of warriors on foot (regular infantry) armed with bows and hand weapons respectively, and a unit of levies armed with javelins.

Roman in line formation awating the beasty Huns

The Late Romans are basically oriented to defend rather than to attack, based on their table of characteristics; but they are not easy to play with. I have already played two seasons, defending against the Picts in Britain and against the Huns in the Danube or Rhin borders...  and have lost both games.

The Hun archers harassing  Roman cataphracts

So far lucky with the special events rolls, that facilitated recovering many of the losses inflicted in my units. But scoring zero victory points after two turns is not looking good at all. 

Next game would probably take place after New Year, as the main festivities are on the weekends this Christmas. I'll keep you posted about the progress but it looks like I'm going to face an "Edward Gibbonian" sort of campaign end this time.   

The Hun horde ready to attack

 

    

Thoughts About Saga Rules

 

In September this year I caught the Saga fever, which had previously infected many of my club's closest gaming buddies. To being now almost less fully dedicated to Saga will come as a surprise to readers of this blog, for two  reasons: it is not a set of rules from the TooFatLardies stable and I´ve  always pretended to be a historical wargamer (or so I say).

On the first, nothing to say; I´ve been more than once unfaithful to my beloved Richard Clarke ;-) 

The second may need more elaboration as arguably Saga design is only loosely based on history, but hardly anything remotely close to the "play the history, not the rules" experience. Actually this has been blocking me to take on the rules for a long time, until I conceded to the club's gaming group pressure after the summer.

 

Foedatari Visigoths defending the limes vs the invading Huns

Surprisingly though, I'm enjoying Saga a lot: the rules are very easy to learn; you need just 25-30 minis to put a warband on the table; many of the minis are interchangeable between warbands (Vikings, Saxons, Anglo Saxons, etc); games are fast (60 to 90 minutes) and perfect for a Sunday morning at the club; battles are bloody and fun; and game scnearios are highly replayable.

Saga's success secret sauce falls in my view on two main ingredients:

1. Streamlining the typical skirmish game mechanics,  avoiding the more complex issues like using formations, variable (dice driven) movement rates, or frontage/flak/rear rules.
2. On the other, the national (or better said, warbands) characteristic tables, enable each warband to use some special features singular to each, making them act different from each other and also allowing replayability.
   

The Saga books (all titled "The Age of___ Hannibal, Vikings, Invasions, etc) cover  between the Hellenistic Alexander's battles (circa 320 BC) and The Crusades and The Reconquista (circa 1000+ AD). In addition a Fantasy battles book was also issued.

 

 

 Some of my Saga books collection

Do all lists work fine with the rules? Yes ... but only if you are not a  picky historical player. My take is that typical warbands not trained to fight in formations are probably a better match for Saga. 

To clarify: a typical unit of warriors comprises 8 models and a guards unit just 4 models. A unit of Roman legionaries (or a Maecedonian pike phalanx) with such few models does not feel right at all. However a group or irregular Vikings, Saxons, Gauls or Iberians raiding neighbouring villages or ambushing other units will do the trick.

 

Sample of Army Lists

In addition to period books, Saga has also released a specific campaign book in the Age of Vikings and a battles supplement with several types of scenarios, including rules to setup a table, objectives and alternative schemes to deploy troops.  

All the books are printed as high quality hardbacks, nicely edited and lavishly illustrated with beautiful colour photos of the correspoding armies (useful also as painting guides for your units). The national characteristic lists are printed in thick board sheets and are worth laminating or protecting with a plastic cover.

The Saga Dice

Summarizing, an easy, fun, and well crafted set of rules, offering a with a wide array of army lists, highly replayable thanks to the national characteristics tables. Perfect to introduce new players directly into historical gaming (or indirectly using the fantasy battles book); or for the seasoned gamer to play a casual afternoon game in your club.

 

 

Clock's ticking to the 10th Painting Challenge

Madrid Puerta del Sol Tower Clock

I can hardly believe that 8 months have passed, and the new edition of the Painting Challenge is looming now sooooo close in time (it will start as usual on Dec 21^st and hopefully it will be announced over the next days).

This year I entered into the planning phase at a very early stage (late September) and by now I have most of my core project for this Challenge almost ready (assembling, basing and priming).

As many of you may know, my strategy is to concentrate my efforts in one single project or army (Fallschirmjagers, Napoleonic Austrians or British Red Devils as in 2018/19…) and then complement with some leftovers from other projects.

This year I decided to focus my effort in building an early II World War German Army for the Blitzkrieg period. The reason for this is twofold: on the one hand, TooFatLardies released this year the first major supplement for Chain of Command centred around the France 40 campaign. The follow up videos uploaded to its YouTube official channel with Richard Clarke and Nick Skinner playing a few of the campaign games only light my desire.