The Armies of Antiquity [AOA] (a supplement for Warhammer Ancient Battles (WHAB)) from Warhammer have awakened my sleeping legions of ancients because I may finally get an ancient game at my local club, Wargamers of Ripon (WOR). That said it seems like I have had to drift back into 25mm to achieve my aim, which accounts for the title and my Samurai will have to be re-organised in order to comply with the lists. I am not a 'lists' fan in that I much prefer to do my own research, which is why a lot of my gaming is done solo. I'd rather play a game than argue with some self styled military 'expert' on the correct shield designs of a particular force. If you have never met any gamer fitting this description please feel to contact me and I will introduce you to one or two of them.
So why am I going on about AOA? Well on the first read they seemed a bit tongue in cheek and that appealed to me, so having enjoyed and agreed with the Samurai introduction I moved on to other armies in the list. I think the comment on the Ancient Chinese sums up the refreshing attitude these rules have to gaming; "It is highly unlikely that rockets were used during the period covered by the lists, but I've included them anyway because (to me at least) a Chinese army without some rockets in it just don't seem right! To compensate for this blatant romanticism, I've made the rockets almost as dangerous to their own side as they are for the enemy." [And that's a fact!]
So back to the Samurai and the list covers 400-1250 AD and gamers are allowed sashimonos, or back banners, which is very liberal because they did not really come into operation until the 16th century but who can see a Samurai army without them? My original 25mm Japanese collection were the Bushi range from Village Green and I must admit it was not long before I was fitting them out with sashimonos purely for identification purposes. Often feel that the original back banners were invented with gamers in mind, in that they look good and really do aid grouping.
Jervis Johnson's letter in Slingshot 201 was very interesting and it gives a good breakdown of the contents of AOA, so I won't repeat that information here. Peter Hall's article was excellent and I can't wait for the next part, partly because not at that time having a set of the Ancient Battles rules it explained the abbreviations for me.
A gaming pal, Keith Stockburn was round shortly after we obtained our copies of AOA and he had previously stated he would be building a 500 point army for our planned WHAB (head-to-head) games later this year. To which I replied that will give me 1 x Samurai General, 1 x Hero, 1 x Army Standard-bearer and a few of samurai on foot! Gave him a further look at the AOA and we have now decided to increase the points allowance for each force. Little did he know that at present I have 3,645 points and I still need more figures to finish off units! Gets out Dixon's and Village Green's catalogue. My 15mm armies are also cruising in the 3K+ region and growing!
For those that are so inclined, check out 'Army Builder' – "Suitable for use with most point-based miniature game systems" and "is compatible with Chronopia, Clan War, DBM, Trinity Battleground, Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Ancient Battles, Warzone, WRG and more!" I purchased a copy having seen the demo version and it was certainly money well spent in that it allows me to organise my AOA armies in a fraction of the time I had been doing previously. For full details go to www.wolflair.com and try it out for yourself.
WHAB and AOA have revitalised my flagging Ancient gaming and for that I am very grateful to Jervis and the rest. Irrespective of what others may say about the rules and lists, to me they are workable, give a feel for the army and period, are not too predictable and most important of all are FUN. Well back to the 2" paint brush there are a lot of Ancient Egyptians needing 'The Treatment' and I appear to have more chariots than Ramesses II had at Kadesh, there again a soloist needs two armies and I plan to fight Upper Eqypt against Lower Egypt one day.
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