One Hour Wargames : Flank Attack (Played twice)

With some time to spare the other night after band practice before retiring for the evening, I opted to play a game of One Hour Wargames Ancients rules. I had wanted to try Peter's rules, but with limited time, I stuck with the rules I already know.

For the scenario, I chose Flank Attack (scenario 6) from OHW. It's not one I have played much and thought it would be nice to try my hand at it again.

• Bokrug Confederacy (lizards) : 4 infantry, 1 skirmisher unit, and 1 cavalry (a feathered raptor thing).
• Tanitia (orange and black Carthaginians) : 4 infantry and 2 skirmisher units (it was supposed to be one skirmisher and one archer but because they don't have bows, my brain sees skirmisher and that's how I treated them).

Both sides were aggressive in their battle plans:

The Bokrug Confederacy planned to strike first, gain that advantage and win the battle of attrition before marching off the table. The Tanitian planned to engage the lizards early,  hold up the advance while inflicting losses, and cause them to run out of units and momentum (i.e fail to get three units off the road by turn 15).

I missed taking pics of the first few turns because I was caught up in playing. However, I wanted to document the game, so we pick up around turn 3 or 4.

The cavalry in action!

 

 

By turn 9, the defenders had been eliminated at the cost of a unit of Bokrug skrimishers.

A resounding victory for the Confederacy. Their die rolling wasn't particularly poor, but by running into the threat, they had exposed themselves to flank attacks which did not help their cause.

Since,  I still had some time before bed, I reset the table and decided to try playing the defense more conservatively. The Tanitians would avoid contact for a bit, to force the Confederacy to use up their turns with movement, rather than in combat - the idea was to have the Tanitians stay stronger longer. I also chose to start a Tanitian infantry unit on the hill - giving them one quarter damage if attacked. Mostly though the Tanitians would avoid advancing until the last minute.

I do love the advancing column of lizard warriors.

 

The Tanitian skirmishers peppered the lizards but the infantry kept their distance until the opportunity to gain some decent advantage presented itself (a minor tweak to the plan). Eventually came the inevitable contact.

 

The Tanitian infantry on the hill were forced to abandon their position to protect the flank of the skirmishers on their right - so much for quarter damage. However, this time the Confederacy exposed their flanks and suffered for it - not one but two units found themselves facing an attacker to the front and one to the right.

 

The defensive plan worked - the turns spent drawing the attackers out, chewed up the turn counter. The melees had largely gone in the Confederacy's favor, but it was no steamroll like the previous game. Here is what it looked like on turn 14:

On turn 15, the Bokrug infantry finally eliminated the Tanitian infantry blocking the road.

 

However, that left them with no turns to actually get three units off the board via the road. I declared it a tactical victory for the Bokrug Confederacy, but a strategic Tanitian victory.