Saturday, June 30, 2012

Hail Caesar Playtest - The Sack of Troy VII

I finally got to playtest a Hail Caesar game using troops I specifically wanted to use with these rules. Thanks to Pat Lowinger and Mike Butcher - two veteran WAB types, the game went off quite smoothly and enjoyably. Mike has been working on Fort Lewis for a few weeks while supporting the annual ROTC camp. He actually drove out here all the way from Wisconsin! It's been tough on him since the government is only paying him enough money to eat chow in the mess hall!  Anyway, on to the game - Mike has never played Hail Caesar before and Pat has played it before but always tries to include rules from all the other game he's played. Still, I had a great time GMing the game with these two seasoned gamers. Here are a few shots I managed to snap as I was living up to the Iliad and partaking of wine. In fact, I only started to take pictures midway through the game when Pat reminded me about it.
The rules are close enough to Black Powder for familiarity, but there are many nuances to make them different. For one, shooting isn't as big a deal as it is in Black Powder. Supporting units for Hand to Hand Combat are very important in Hail Caesar. In fact, even small units of skirmishers made significant impact on some rounds of combat as supports. As with Black Powder, the flow of the game is not only fast, but very smooth. We called the game after enough troops had been broken off the table. I think it was a Greek victory, but I'm not really too sure. Anyway, here are the two generals, Pat on the left who ran the Trojans and Mike on the right who ran the Greeks.

17 comments:

  1. Hey, I never said I was the master of Hail Caesar! It was a lot of fun. I wish Mike Butcher was going to be out for the entire Summer. We would all have a blast...in wargaming! Thanks for hosting the game Dean!

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  2. My pleasure, Pat. It is always great gaming with folks with a lot of experience with all kinds of rules like you and Mike. I'm glad you guys had a good time. Hopefully Mike will be able to make it on Tuesday night. See you then. Best, Dean

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  3. Hi Dean,
    Wonderful pictures, and fantastic chariots, really great AAR!
    Zeus can be proud of your work...
    Best,
    Phil.

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  4. Thanks for the report, I am trying not to buy any more rules as I am happy with Impetus, but this does sound interesting.

    Also inspiring pictures that means the next unit on the painting table will be from Redoubt Trojan War range.

    Cheers
    Ross

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  5. Great report and photos Dean. yet to try HC but it is only a matter of time.

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  6. Wow! Great battle report! Great pictures! Great armies! Fantastic!

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  7. Excellent stuff, glad you guys enjoyed it, and you gave us a good looking report.

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  8. Great looking game and super AAR!

    I haven't had a chance to play HC or BP, but 90% of what I hear is positive and your no exception. I really can't wait for the day I get to try them out!

    Christopher

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  9. Great to you all liked the report and look of the game. The rules are perfect for an evening's game play - along with small talk and refreshments. Fast, simple, yet with enough detail to not make it boring. It is basically just another rules option for playing with toy soldiers - which is good! Now I want to replay the game using WAB, LOL! Best, Dean

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  10. Again, great looking armies and battle pics. Good stuff!

    Jason

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  11. Some great shots of a n excellent looking game Dean!! Well done!

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  12. Good to see my buddy having fun while out of state.

    Shawn

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  13. Great looking game Dean! I'm sorry I missed it.

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  14. Thank you very much all. And welcome Dezmond. Best, Dean

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