MORE HAIL CAESAR

We played another Hail Caesar game on Thursday night. Ian and I were on one side, Steve and Ric were on the other. I used all my Vikings and Normans as well as Steve's Normans and Lord of the Rings heavy infantry. Ian fielded some very old Minifgs and Lamming Minis he has had for 40 years and has never before put them on a table. Steve was outnumbered in infantry but we agreed to make all of Steve's infantry heavy infantry while all of ours were medium infantry. Both sides fielded Norman type knights - Steve four units with two units of mine. The game started with light infantry exchanging bow and sling missiles. This caused a bit of discomfit to the opposite sides light infantry but did not bother the closer order troops who managed to save any hits that occurred. Our first move saw our infantry line move forward slowly while my knights rolled triple distance and rushed ahead to end just in front of Steve's knights. In the next turn the bow and sling shooting continued and Steve charged with half his knights - the rest refused to move. My knights counter charged. In the fight my knights beat Steve's and forced them back, I followed up and beat him again at which his knights fled the field. This let me follow up into his halted knights and they were also routed. My own knights had pretty much worn themselves out by then, but still posed a danger to the flank of Steve and Ric's army. In the center Ian charged his infantry into Ric's line and in a number of fights Ric first beat Ian destroying two units of Ian's, but also lost with some of his other units after a long winded fight in which his warriors were pushed back until they fled. Ian had followed up, but it did not really help that much as he now had an exhausted bunch of warriors on the enemy base line, without much hope of doing anything else. Meanwhile Steve turned a bunch of his infantry to face my knights but in so doing exposed his flanks to my infantry. He was hoping, I think, that my infantry would not be able to cover the distance to his own lads, but the Gods of dice were kind to me and I rolled triple distance which put me into his men on the flank. Steve's infantry collapsed and with that he conceded the game.

The game took about two hours - probably a touch less. It flowed along smoothly. We only played the basic game as we wanted to give Ric a taste of the rules. In future we will make use of the special characteristics of different troop types to add some extra flavor to the games. One really good thing about Hail Caesar is that it is encouraging us all to pull out figures that have sat unused and unseen for decades and put them on the table. Ian used some 40 year old minis in this game while Ric announced that he will get his Byzantine army back on the table after a 25 year Hiatus.

Just to prove that we played Hail Caesar.

L-R: Ian, Ric and Steve looking over the armies prior to battle commencing.

Ian and my lads advancing against the foe singing hymns to the dice Gods in hope of victory.

My knights join battle - a great deal of nasty work lay ahead of them as they cut their way through Steve's knights. The Bishop got right into it and added his dice to the fray.

Ric gets his lads moving as battle is joined in the center of the line.

Ric and Steve deep into the game.

Some of Steve's brave lads.

Ian's 40 Year old Minifigs and Lamming minis on the table in their first battle.

The closing moments of the battle with Steve's infantry having turned to face my knights being hit in the flank by my infantry.