The Trojan War demos went over just great. I was very pleased by the energy, interest and good humor of the players. I was busier than ever before, hosting three demos and playing in the AW tournament. Little time did I have for the best part of the ‘Con, schmoozing with friends new and old, but I managed to catch-up here and there.

Thursday, 2PM

The premier of a new Trojan War (forthcoming from Saga Publications) scenario was slated for Thursday afternoon. In the "Battle for the Ships", the Trojans appeared to be stymied by the Greek defenses, and alas brave Hektor was put out of the battle in the first turn! But eventually a section of the wall went down to a unit of Trojan household guard that went frenzied. It singlehandedly blitzed it's way through the camp, routed two units, fired two ships, and won the day for the Trojans (they broke 5 out of 12 Greek units). The demo won a Game Master’s award for best game in it’s time slot on Thursday (this was one of the ten such awards handed out over the four days of Historicon).

Thank you Pete Panzeri and the Gamemasters support group! I had help testing the game prior to the convention from two old professionals from the board-gaming world, Kevin Boylan (one-time developer for a host of companies, including Avalon Hill, Victory, West End and GMT) and John Prados (the designer of a closet-full of great games, including Decline and Fall of the Third Reich, Monty’s D-Day and the Campaigns of Robert E Lee to name a few I love dearly). Their help was much appreciated and their input very much improved the final product.

Friday, dawn till dusk

The AW tournament was a lot of fun. Alex Aimette had inspired me to finally table a Trojan War vintage Danaan army, which was an interesting combination of UI longspear and HI warband (and heroes) mounted on LCh. The army has a lot of potential, but it takes some skill to coordinate the pieces. Since I have been so wrapped up in the Trojan War for forever, I have been reluctant to table an army from that period (don’t ask why, just because). But it was great fun.

It definitely was a challenge matching up with Paul Schneider's Bosphoran Greeks (lots of cavalry, hoplites and multi-armed peltasts), a 2-2 tie in round one, and Norbert Brunhuber's Seleucids (heavy and armored lancers and pike), a 5-5 tie in round 2. The chariot-borne warbands really wreaked havoc on the Seleucid cavalry, but oh, brother! did the Seleucid pikes toast the unarmored, morale-challenged Danaan spearblocks – whatever similarity they may bear to a hoplite phalanx is strictly illusionary. Against the Bosphoran peltasts, the warband/chariot combination rolled down and essentially bounced off, leaving Paul’s cavalry and my Danaan spearmen eyeing each other warily as the game ended.

Saturday Morning, 10AM

In "Patroclus' Assault on Troy" the fight was intense and either side could have won up until the final, decisive melee in the heart of the "lower city". This game was really a replay of the “Battle for the Ships”, in which the roles of attacker and defender were reversed, and the huts of the lower city were at risk instead of the Greek ships.

Greeks won by breaking 4 of 12 Trojan units, but the Trojans took consolation in the fact that the garrison of the upper city -- Pergamos -- crushed the assault on the Skaean gate, and at the time breakpoint was reached, the Greeks were down three units with at least two more fragmented in losing fights. And damned if Hektor didn't get wounded and put out of the battle in the first turn of this fight as well.

Saturday, Mid afternoon

Finally, I managed to get into the Dealers Hall. Let me at those new Old Glory Trojan war figures! I agree with Alex Aimette about the Old Glory Trojan War stuff. I have lots of Foundry and Redoubt figures already (and I love the little dears to death), but there is plenty of room for figures of the quality of Old Glory, so I cashed in on a 6 bags for the cost 5 deal (I now have so many figures that I could fight that war on a 1:1 scale, but who’s counting).

Saturday Evening, 8PM

Cynoscephalae also went very well in a tightly balanced, seesaw fight over the ridgeline. The game was very exciting and very close, providing a good simulation of the actual battle, allowing for the new and interesting events generated by the players. The Macedonians won by breaking 5 Roman units first, although the Roman player also managed to break 5 or 6 Macedonian units by the end of the turn (we played to the end of the turn just to see what would happen). The Macedonian player controlled 2 of the three ‘Heads, sealing the win.

The vagaries of the initial set-up dicing placed the Macedonian vanguard somewhat closer to the objective than the Roman, but the Macedonian first line was significantly farther away than the Roman right. All of the initial deployment was performed behind a large screen, so it was no surprise that the players were surprised at how close the vanguards ended up when the screen was removed. The vanguards were deployed heavily towards the pass, dictating the battle would be most intense there.

The most experienced Macedonian player (Aleion Kapleion) commanded the right vanguard, and he really jumped on the least experienced Roman player, the commander of the Roman left vanguard, capturing the Prefect Equitum and crushing his command. The situation was reversed towards the center, where the very capable commander-in-chief, Larrius Ironicus, used his cavalry very effectively to drive the Macedonian left van off of the ridge.

In the process, the Macedonian general Athenagoras routed; he ran back through the deploying right phalanx, causing morale checks that rapidly turned that exercise into the proverbial Chinese fire drill, as two out of four phalangite units failed their mandatory morale checks for seeing a general rout in close proximity. One unit halted in place disordered and the other retreated in a disordered state.

This may well have been the decisive point of the battle, because the right phalanx never did re-form effectively, and the Macedonian center wavered on the brink of disaster for the rest of the game, as the Romans piled on the pressure, with the elephants and most of the auxiliaries massing against this sector. However, the crushed Roman left gave the Macedonians enough leverage to force a decision in their favor, by breaking the fifth and final Roman breakpoint unit, before their center collapsed.

Meanwhile, the Macedonian left phalanx was unchallenged, and won the race to control the left end of the ridge and the decisive third Dogs’ Head. It appeared the commander of the Roman right legio, another inexperienced player, was a little slow pushing his command towards the ridge. At games’ end, left phalanx and right legio were squaring off for a go, but the Macedonians held the higher ground and the issue looked doubtful for the Romans.

This play through, and the two tests Jeff Ball and I ran prior to Historicon, illustrated the importance of the initial skirmishing for control of the ridgeline. Historically, the deck was stacked against the Romans on the Macedonian right, where the force imbalance favored Philip. I may have handicapped the Roman side by starting the right legio too far from the ridge – this I will experiment with in the future. Regardless, the Romans won the historical fight by the narrowest of margins, and they just missed winning this game. Had the Roman side won the initiative die roll on what turned out to be the last turn, melees would have been resolved in an order of their choosing, and they may very well have broken the Macedonian center before the final, fatal blow landed on their left.

Sunday, after breakfast

One last sprint, er, stagger, through the dealer hall then back to Herndon, Virginia. And it’s a long waaayyy to Timonium…