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News from a wargamer with a special interest in the military history of the Balkans. It mainly covers my current reading and wargaming projects. For more detail you can visit the web sites I edit - Balkan Military History and Glasgow & District Wargaming Society. Or follow me on Twitter @Balkan_Dave
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Monday 13 January 2014

Dacian Wars

I got one of my recent projects onto the tabletop yesterday at the club - Dacian Wars.

Two 300 point Hail Caesar armies organised into two divisions on either side. I haven't played a lot of Hail Caesar recently, so it was good to get back to the system that I think works really well for ancient battles. Unlike FoG and some other systems you rarely get individual units charging around the table, or even some of the Napoleonic style manoeuvring. You do what I suspect actual ancient commanders did. Devise your battle plan, hope your subordinates stick to it and possibly intervene personally with a reserve or at a critical moment.

Hail Caesar rules mechanisms largely force that with the proximity rule in particular. There is still a fun element with the order system that delivers the uncertainty of subordinates not doing what you want.

In this game, the Roman left division charged across the table while his left flank blundered and almost marched off the table. Sadly for my Dacian's, they recovered before I could take advantage, largely because one of my units blundered as well. The key with any warrior army like the Dacian's is to burst through in the first round. Fighting against tough veteran legionaires you are going to come unstuck if it becomes a slugging match, and so it proved.

Good game and gets me in the mood to start the research into the Bannockburn project, not to mention the growing pile of metal Scots spearmen!



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