Ian has been away ‘down-under’ over the festive period and
this was our first opportunity to play a game of Sword and Spear. Ian provided
the armies, both beautifully painted, and I simply had to turn up. We diced to
see who played what; I got the Late Achaemenid Persians whilst Ian had the
Classical Indians. The terrain was open, but Ian reduced the potential frontage
by choosing a river on one flank.
I deployed my mercenary Hoplites near the river and thought
these would vanquish the opposing large body of Indian foot, maybe suffering
damage from the bow fire on the way in. On the other flank I was convinced my
better cavalry would prevail against the supposed poorer Indian mounted troops.
My major concern was in the centre where the enemy Elephants and chariots were
located. I was unclear about how to counter this threat, so I planned for my
lighter Persian troops to slow the Indians and avoid direct conflict.
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| View from the Persian side of the table |
In many ways my hopes for the Hoplite flank were proved
correct; they cut through the Indians like a ‘hot knife-though-butter’ with
little damage, but it took so long to get them into action that they could not
exploit their success fully. On the other flank my plans went astray and
essentially lost me the battle. I’m not entirely sure why my cavalry failed. I
think I could have strengthen the flank with another unit; I feel I made one
poor decision by opting for a tempting flank attack rather than engaging
another unit; and I had not accounted for the intervention of an Indian light
chariot unit. Whatever the reason, the losses on this flank mounted at a rapid
rate. In the centre my plans to counter the Elephants went well for most of the
game, but I finally made a simple error and they got me!
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| Indian elephants keep trundling forward! |
So, victory went to Ian in a close fought battle. This was a
game I really enjoyed and it reminded me of how good Sword and Spear is. The
rules keep both players constantly engaged, and tough decisions need to be made
when allocating dice. The luck element is not overpowering but you can never
take things for granted. I think Sword and Spear is my favourite Ancient rule set
for club games that are time-limited. Impetus is a close second (plan to get v2
soon), and To the Strongest in third place. I look forward to many more games
in the future.
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