This Sunday I got to play a game of Sword & Spear against Torben, one of my regular opponents. This was our 4th game this year. My 6mm collection consists of Ancient Spanish, Early Imperial Romans and Pontic, which I believe can easily be mixed to form various armies. We played 500 pts., and I made a Pontic army and Torben made an Early Imperial Roman.
My army:
1 General and 2 Captains - 105 pts.
2 Phalanx, heavy foot(L) - 84 pts.
2 Thureophoroi, medium foot - 36 pts.
1 Slingers, light foot - 9 pts.
3 Javelinmen, light foot - 27 pts.
4 Imitation Legionaries, heavy foot(D5) - 72 pts.
2 Archers, medium foot - 24 pts.
2 Heavy Cavalry, armoured - 64 pts.
1 Light Cavalry - 15 pts.
1 Scythian Horse Archers - 18 pts.
1 Sarmatian Cavalry - 40 pts.
1 Camp - 0 pts.
I alt 494 pts., 67 army value (23/34)
Torben’s army (from my memory):
1 General and 2 Captains
1 Veteran Legionaries
3 Legionaries
3 Auxilia, medium foot
2 Cavalry (D3)
2 Allied Archers
1 Slingers
2 Light Cavalry
1 Allied Horse Archers
1 Bolt Shooters
1 Camp
In Sword & Spear there is a terrain system where the players try to place the terrain most advantageous. There is, however, some randomness involved, so it will always be different. This time we ended up with a very open battlefield with only a little rough ground on the Roman right flank. That resulted in a very classic deployment in on long line with the heavy foot in the center and cavalry on both flanks.
I decided to try and attack on my left flank and get through to the Roman camp using my Sarmatian Cavalry. I was hesitant to advance in the center because of the Bolt Shooters Torben had deployed there. On my right flank I ended up advancing forward to keep the Roman cavalry away. Torben took a rather defensive position, so I ended doing most of the attacking.
My idea was that my Sarmatian cavalry would punch through on the left flank, but due to some poor deployment and advancing, it was one of my other cavalry units that did most of the fighting. However, they performed excellently and managed to kill off a unit of Roman Cavalry, light cavalry and auxiliary medium foot, and almost also caught the unguarded camp.
I was outnumbered on my right flank, but my 2 mounted units and a unit of Thureophoroi medium foot managed to hold out long enough for me to secure the victory elsewhere.
My to large formations of Pike phalanxes started advancing mid-through the battle, after my archers killed of the Roman Bolt Shooters. They tried to attack the Roman legionaries, who wisely decided to withdraw as they had no immediately support. The battle ended before my pikemen could engage the Romans.
End of the game. My right flank has disintegrated, but they held out long enough and took a few units down so that combined with my victorious left flank attack I won the day.
It was another great game between Torben and I. Sword & Spear is one of my favourite games, and all of our games are close and fun. The rules are rather straight forward, but since we often play with months in between, we do use extra time to look up rules. Our relatively inexperience also impact our tactics, which could be better, but I feel we are improving. We do feel that sometimes actions and movements that seem tactical sound, does not pay off as well as expected. Perhaps that will change with further games and understanding of the rules and tactics of the period.
I have several other ancients rulesets but for now Sword & Spear remains my preferred. However, we may try some of the others at some point, so we better can compare them.
