Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a game of Hail, Agrippa! at the Dogs of War shop. The Hail, Agrippa! rules are a modification of Hail Caesar published in Issue 66 of ‘Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy’ magazine. [Hail Agrippa! rules link]
The scenario was loosely based on the Battle of Cos, 258 BCE (or 261, or whenever; nobody knows) fought between an Antigonid fleet and a Ptolemaic fleet. The order of battle was determined by the miniatures available, and included ships as large as deceres (or dekeres) which are probably heavier than any at the real battle. Fleets of this period might be 100-200 ships, so the units (4 models on a base) might represent 9-18 ships.
Miniatures are primarily Langton 1:1200 and Navwar 1:1200, with a few Valiant 1:900 and scratch-built ships.
The six players each had a division of 3 or 4 units. The southern shore of Cos Island is in the background.
The seaward division of the Antigonid (blue) fleet consisted of trieres only. One unit engages Ptolemaic penteres while the division tries for an outflanking move.
One unit of trieres is destroyed, but the others use their speed (and very good command rolls) to escape.
The center Antigonid division has lost two units to lighter opponents. We did not use the ‘broken division’ Hail Caesar rules, so the remaining unit fights on. The victorious Ptolemaic units blunder and continue to the right. Bad command rolls make it difficult for the Ptolemaic division in the foreground to reform and give chase. In the distance, the Antigonid division backs water to avoid heavier opponents.
The seaward Ptolemaic division has left 2 units behind in order to get back in the battle. Antigonid trieres race to the opposite end of the line to threaten the rear of the heavy Ptolemaic units.
The landward divisions engage. The Ptolemaic ships are heavier, but the Gods favor the Antigonid ships.
With the Antigonid fleet having lost 4 of 10 units and the Ptolemaic fleet 2 of 11, we called the game at this point.
ncc1717.com 