Miniature wargaming in Hong Kong requires complex negotiations to organize due to the "revolving door" lifestyle of the people who live there. At any given moment, at least half of the membership of the Hong Kong Society of Wargamers would be off traveling, usually on business affairs, sometimes on holiday. As a result, when holidays loomed on the horizon, there would be a spate of telephone roulette amongst the membership to determine who would be staying on island during the break in routine business so that a game or two could be arranged.

About 5 years back, we made the wonderful discovery that no less than eight (!) biblical/chariot-period gamers, each with his own 15 mm army, would be available between X-mas and New Years Day. How could we capitalize on this marvelous occurrence? When the proverbial light bulb when on, Crescendo, a new, yet simple campaign was created. And, it worked like a charm, to everyone's satisfaction.

1200 Points of Light

Each player put together a 1200 points' Order of Battle (using the WRG style point count). At that time, our home-grown ancients rule system, Belorum, was very popular so the rules choice was no problem. (Belorum is a tactical level system, somewhat similar to Terry's Ancient Warfare - but, I freely state, NOT as good as AW.) Then we paired off for the first battle, putting geographical neighbors together where possible.

As a result, the Assyrians went head on with the Babylonians, the Scythians clashed with the Hittites, my Hebrews took on the Aramaeans, and the Egyptians tried to stave off an invasion by wandering Greeks who evidently had made a wrong turn at Cyprus. As you can see, Hong Kong gamers like to play with historical, or at least same period, combatants as much as possible.

Victory conditions were kept simple. Knock off the opponents' CiC, or when one-third of the total number of units in an army were destroyed and/or in rout, the CiC of that army had to surrender.

Then (here's the neat part), all units (except those routing), from both sides, that were remaining on the board were brought back up to full strength. The winner became the CiC for the next battle, and the loser became his Ally General with what remained of his forces.

In the second round, we found the Assyrians with Babylonian allies going up against the Hittites with Scythian allies. And, the Egyptians with Greek hoplites in tow standing up against the Aramaeans with Hebrew allies.

Yes, I got clobbered in the first round. It was very embarrassing. My opponent was new to wargaming, and it was only the second time he had his freshly painted Aramaeans out of the box. Despite his advantage with all those heavy chariots (my Hebrews having none), I had been holding my own. I even had started to push him back both in the center and on the right. And then, the Midianite camel archers in my left wing routed. Passing within 6" of two other units, my fleeing Arabs caused these others to rout also! The dice rolls continued to create anguish and dismay. When the havoc was finished, my entire left wing was gone! Even worse, that wing had been refused!!

Now I was to be an ally general to a CiC who was new to wargaming, barely knowing the rule system in play, and going up against the Egyptian CiC who was one our club's best generals. . . . I won't describe the carnage. . . .

With the same victory conditions in force, the second round ended with the Assyrians picking up Scythians and Hittites as additional allies, and the Egyptians adding the Aramaeans and my Hebrews to their command.

The big game was scheduled on New Years' Day. By this time, even our wives were caught up in the 'crescendo' of our gaming. This was especially nice for the players because the ladies decided that such a major event needed a big spread of food and drink, which they duly prepared to everyone's great satisfaction.

Last Round

For the last round, our Egyptian leader put the Aramaeans on the left with orders to "hold." The Greek hoplites were placed in the center with instructions to "pin," and the largest contingent, the Egyptians, took the right. Yes, the good ol' 'right oblique' was the order of the day.

Oh yes, my three remaining units of Hebrews, i.e., one unit of LMI bows, my gallant Gibborim (LHI), and one Medium Cavalry unit, were stuck in the junction between the hoplites and right wing - with orders to maintain the connection "at all costs." (Don't you just love that order?) Not much of a "command," but I was still in the game.

For most of the battle, my archers did what damage they could, but none of the pitiful remnant of my once glorious army managed to mix it up in melee. Then, the Assyrian CiC, whose left was beginning to crumble from the Egyptian onslaught, took a desperate gamble. He attached himself to some heavy chariots that had been slightly weakened by our archery, and charged the link between our right and our center, i.e., me. The only possible response was to fling my medium cavalry "reserve" directly at his thundering Aramaean chariots.

Heroes at last!

My happy horsemen not only stopped the charge. But also they knocked off the Assyrian CiC! End of game. . . .

Boy, was he mad!

Now, look at the tally of this simple campaign. We had 8 players, each player participating in each of three rounds, with a total of 7 battles played within a one week period. Each battle got bigger in terms of number of players present, but the armies in each battle stayed at almost 1200 (WRG) points throughout the campaign.

And, that's Crescendo.