I don't know if anyone at BG is interested in Historical Ancients minis, but the BG table was featured in a game we held there recently which I wrote up for the Field of Glory message forum.
This was a somewhat unusual encounter, not exactly Caesar vs Alexander, as we explored what might have happened if Hannibal had come up against a force of Mayans in the Central American jungle...
Like a 40K writeup, this is written for people who know the rules and troops, so may be a little hard to follow, but it gives the idea.
If anyone has an interest in trying this sort of thing, we do have an active group in the Boston/RI area and loaner armies, from Sumer to Agincourt, are available.
==My opponent brought a fairly stock Carthaginian force - 3 Numidian LH, Numidian LI plus Balearic slingers, 1 unit Armoured horse, 1 unit Gallic protected Cav, 2 units armoured superior off spear, 1 unit average spear, 2 units Gauls, IC and 2 TCs.
For the Mayans I brought 8 units of 6 each Sup Imp/Swd Jav MI, 3 units of 8 each Bow/LS, protected MI, 2 units of 6 slingers, IC, 2 TCs, Ally TC.
Terrain was interesting - 2 forests in the right center of the board with a unit sized gap in between, plus crud to guard the extreme flanks from LH adventures.
Hannibal deployed his attack wing on my left- his heavy cav plus a unit of Sup Spear. His average spear were a hinge, and in the woods he put the Gauls, with the other Sup spear in the gap. Two units of Numidian LH were on my right.
I put my ally on the left- one archer unit on the flank, the bulk in line with a reserve unit, and 2 archer units on my R .
I advanced in line and Hannibal advanced aggresively on his right and more cautiously in the center. Initial contact came when my warriors hit the Sup spear unit holding the shoulder of his cavalry attack. It did not go well for us, as the impact foot not only lost the impact combat, but lost a stand. (Groan). They did however hold on gamely until autobreak, somewhat inconveniencing his attack. The cav attack itself was a total fiasco. Two rounds of javelins fragmented the Gallic cav, and when the Superior Cartho cav hit it was unsupported- warriors withstood the initial charge, the numbers and a general won the day. As they broke off, the flanking archers arrived on one side, and the warriors who had javved the Gauls smashed the previously victorious Sup armoured spear on the other shoulder. The Carthaginain left flank was gone.
On my right the archers, being aided in maneuver by a gen and supported by LI slingers, strove mightily but eventually in vain to keep the Numidian cav at bay. After several turns of feinting and dancing, one managed to slip past the flank, rout the slingers and press toward the camp.
Thus the day came down to the center- and the fight in the woods. What a mess.
Fighting in the woods with everybody disordered greatly increased the random factor, and was a great equalizer. With, say, only 3 combat dice at impact, things are less likely to 'even out' and quality less likely to prevail. After much furious die rolling, 2 units of Mayan warriors routed, as did one unit of Gauls. The Superior spear in the gap was fragged, but, like the Gallic cav, was desperately rallied.
At this point, though the game seemed still in the air with routers flying all over the place in both directions, a tally showed the Mayans were pretty spent. Having lost both slinger units and 3 warrior units, with our camp in jeapordy, we were very near our break point, while, after his rallies, Hannibal was only down 3 routed units. Hence we conceded the field.
Still, it seemed a promising first outing. I got to say 'They are charging, and they are charging, and them and them and them...' which is my idea of a good time. (I know, anyone can do a mindless 'bull-rush' strategy - the trick is to choose an army where you can actually get to do that and it might work )
We were far from helpless against cav, and the archers were serviceable.
The mayans look, at first blush, like a fun and serviceable army ==
