Introduction to 30 games in 30 days 2023 (fast play historical ancient games)

Introduction

I have tried to do something special for Solo Wargaming in November every year for the last 10 years or so.  Haven’t managed it for the last few years but my motivation is back and I am testing out some new(-ish) rules I have written.  I have also a long list of user written scenarios for Bill Banks Ancients that I have had for a while that I would like to play.  So why not playtest my rules via some of the battles I have not played before?  I have done 30 games in 30 days before and should be achievable.  Games with my new rules are on a 40cmx40cm table with 5-10 units a side and take about 15-20 minutes to play.  All I had to do in October was convert 30 of the scenarios to my rules.  Luckily the troop types match nearly 1:1 between Bill Bank’s Ancients and mine.  I still had to reduce the number of units and ensure the battlefield terrain was correct.  And read up on the battles, interesting in their own right.   It should only take about 15-20 minutes extra to write up the battle and take a few pictures of the action.

Work and family life got in the way and I still had 5 scenarios to write on 1 November.  It was only on 3 Nov I managed to finish the scenarios.  I did not start to play until 4 November and finished 29 games by the 30 November and the last one on the 1 December.  Still managed it in under 30 days even if I did go over November by one day.

I took 3-5 pictures per battle.  I will not post the battles individually but will group them into about 4-6 posts.  It may take awhile to tidy up the notes and include the photos.

Scenarios

I am also playing through Peter Sides’ scenarios chronologically and was not certain I wanted to play out battles beyond the date I was up to there.  The last battle I played from that sequence was Mons Graupius in 84AD so all but the last scenario is before that date.  I selected ones that seemed interesting.  All I have not played before, except Marathon, Sentinium and Heraclea that I enjoy playing so included them.

The original 200 or so scenarios for Bill Bank’s Ancients is here: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12211/ancients-ii/files

The 30 I selected:

1. NIHRIYA, 1230 BC, Assyrians vs Hittites
2. Great BITTER LAKE, 925 BC, Egyptians vs Bedouins
3. LACHISH, 701 BC, Assyrians vs Citizens of Lachish
4. ULAI River, 652 BC, Assyrians vs Elamites
5. Second MEGIDDO, 609 BC, Egyptians vs Judean
6. CARCHEMISH, 605 BC, Babylonians under Nebuchadrezzar II vs Egyptians under Necho
7. PASARGADAE, 550 BC, Persia Cyrus and Harpagus vs Medes Astyages
8. PELUSIUM, 525 BC, Persians (Cambyses II) vs Egyptians (Psamtik III)
9. Lake REGILLUS, 496 BC, Romans vs Etruscans
10. MARATHON, 490 BC, Callimachus, war Archon of Athens vs Datis, general of Persia
11. ALLIA River, 390 BC, Gauls vs Romans
12. CRANNON, 322 BC, Antipater and Craterus (Macedonia) vs Antiphilus, (Greeks)
13. THATES, 310 BC, Satyros (Scythia) vs Eumelos (Scythia)
14. SENTINIUM, 295 BC, Samnites/Gauls vs Romans
15. HERACLEA, 280 BC, Pyrrhus, King of Epirus vs L. Laevinius, Consul of Rome
16. GALATHIA, 273 BC, Antiochus I (Seleucids) vs Galatians (Gauls)
17. ADYS, 256 BC, Romans (Regulus) vs Carthaginians (Hamilcar)
18. PANION, 200 BC, Ptolemaics vs Seleucids
19. TRIBOLA, 147 BC, Lusitani/Viriathus vs Romans/Vetilius
20. MUTHUL River, 108 BC, Jugurtha (Numidians) vs Metellus (Romans)
21. VERCELLAE, 101 BC, Roman (Catalus) vs Cimbri
22. SILARUS River, 71 BC, Spartacists (Spartacus) vs Romans (Crassus)
23. PISTORIA, 61 BC, Catilines (Rebels) vs Senatorial Army of Gaius Antonius
24. ADMAGETOBRIGA, 61 BC, Gauls vs Germans
25. MUHLHAUSEN, 58 BC, Julius Caesar (Rome) vs Ariovistus, Chief of Sequani (Germans)
26. ZELA, 47 BC, Pontines vs Romans
27. MEDWAY, 43 AD, Britons vs Romans
28. BRENTWOOD, 44 AD, Roman (Claudius) vs Britons (Caractacus)
29. SAUMIZEGETUSA, 105 AD , Dacians vs Romans (Trajan)
30. ARMENIA, 114 AD , Armenians vs Romans (Trajan)

Scenario Notes

·        The scenarios are all modified for 40cmx40cm board.

·        Deployment is normally in a line 16cm (4 heavy infantry moves) apart.  Deployment is normally in 3 groups.  If this is not the case then that is noted in the scenario deployment notes.

Rules

Here is a link to the final version of the rules, When Warriors Collide V3.0e, used for the games.  I did not change them much during the month except a rule change for melee in difficult applies to both sides rather than one, some reformatting and some minor rewording for clarity.

Troop types are equivalent to Bill Banks Ancients and the rules are similar although movement distances are roughly half that in Bill Banks Ancients.

Links to battle reports

Games 01 to 05

Games 06 to 10

Games 11 to 15

Games 16 to 20

Games 21 to 25

Games 26 to 30

Final Verdict after the 30 games

I was surprised how little I needed to change the rules.  I guess they are an evolution of existing rules I have used for hundreds of games, and also I had played 10-15 games with these rules prior, ironing out the weird bits. 

Did I enjoy it though?  Absolutely.  I got into a bit of a rhythm with reading a scenario or two ahead, deploying and thinking of tactics and then played later than day or the next.  It was interesting to reread about battles I did not know much about.  I did think I might flake halfway through but while they took up a bit of time, it was not really too much – maybe 30-60 minutes per game to deploy, play and write up some notes.    Occasionally I managed two games a game which was handy for the days I did not find time to play at all.  The rules are well suited to 6-9 units a side on the 40cmx40cm table.  They would scale easily to 60cmx60 and 8-12 units (what I used to play) and possible larger.  I think I will be using these rules for a while. This is great for me as I have been struggling for the last 3-4 years to find rules that suit what I am looking for in solo ancients wargaming.