Ancient History

1/1200 Ancient Naval – Hexeres

Posted January 14, 2020

Here are a few 1/1200 scale Hexeres (or Hexareme) to add to my Navwar and Langton models. They are intended for Hail Agrippa! battles. [Hail Agrippa! rules link]

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

1/1200 Ancient Naval – Punic Wars

Posted June 26, 2019

The numbers of 1/1200 scale ancient naval ships most appropriate for the Punic Wars have been increased from 32 quadriremes (tetrere) and 12 quinqueremes (pentere) to 40 and 96, respectively. This will give enough Hail Agrippa! units for a reasonable sized battle. [Hail Agrippa! rules link]

96 quinqueremes. The old Navwar ships (more than 30 years old) are in the back rows.

40 quadriremes.

Onshape drawing of quinquereme CAD file.

Quinquereme models prior to cleanup and painting.

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

Actium, 31BC

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a game of Hail, Agrippa!. 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 based on the battle of Actium in 31 BC. The fleet of Marcus Antonius attempts to defeat, or failing that break through, the fleet of Octavius.

The fleet of Antonius advances with the heaviest units on the left. Agrippa has placed his heavy ships on his right and deploys the lighter and faster units on his left.

Antonius’ heavy ships make some progress on the left, but the out-numbered right wing is being outflanked.

The loss of units was surprisingly even throughout the game. Octavius is killed when his unit is destroyed.

Alternating close combat victories leave the forces in the center mixed.

Each side’s right flank is all but destroyed.

Antonius and Cleopatra have a possible escape route.

Each side lost seven units and the fleet of Octavius was left with more un-shaken units. There was an opening for Antonius and Cleopatra to make their historic escape, but with Octavius dead, Antonius might have gone back to his army and attempted to continue the campaign or negotiate with whoever emerged as the leader of his opposition.

Rhodes, 305 BC

The scenario was a hypothetical battle set during the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius son of Antigonus. Ptolemy has sent a fleet to lift the siege. It is met by the Antigonid fleet in the narrows between Evlimnia (Alimia) island and the mainland of Rhodes.

View from the island of Rhodes toward Makry (Makri) island with Evlimnia (Alimia) and Chalki in the distance.

Good command rolls allow the Antigonid divisions to race forward to support their isolated ships near Evlimnia.

One Antigonid division continues to advance while another balks. Blunders in the Ptolemaic center delay the advance.

Casualties accumulate for both sides in the center. The Ptolemaic division near Makry blunders several times and never gets into action.

The flank attack by the Antigonid heavy ships from Evlimnia finally goes in, but does little damage initially.

The flank attack becomes effective, but losses are still about even.

We quit at this point due to the time. With the battle a draw, the siege of Rhodes can continue.

Battle of Chios, 201 BC

The scenario was based on the Battle of Chios, 201 BCE. Philip V of Macedon has given up his siege of Chios and is attacked by an allied fleet primarily from Rhodes and Pergamum. The primary source is Polybius.

The players were allowed a free setup, done secretly and without knowledge of the composition of the opposing fleet. There were five players. The Macedonian fleet had three divisions (one for each player) and the Rhodian fleet had four divisions (two for each player). The Macedonian fleet was larger, but of lower quality than the Rhodian fleet.

The rules were modified in three ways:
(1) The command rolls used a D10 [1to3=1 move, 4to6=2 moves, 7to9=3 moves, 10=blunder].
(2) The unit values were specific to each fleet. The Rhodians were generally faster and had better morale values.
(3) Break results did not eliminate full size units. Stands were replaced with half-size stands (two ship models) with combat and stamina values halved.

The poor quality photos are the result of my forgetting my camera and having to use a cell phone.

The Rhodians advance rapidly to attack the Macedonian left and center.

The light ships of the Macedonian left wing lose units, but occupy half of the Rhodian fleet for most of the game.

The fight in the center results in units pushed back on both sides. A series of blunder command rolls prevents the Macedonian right wing from getting into battle.

The Macedonian right wing commander rolled 5 blunders, mostly in the early turns. This effectively kept about a third of the fleet out of the battle.

The Macedonian left is finally destroyed. The Rhodians redeploy to face the new threat from the west.

View from the south at the end. The Macedonian right wing and the Rhodian reserve are still intact.

After about 4 hours of play we had to quit. The battle was still close at the end, with about equal numbers of undamaged units.