Saturday, February 21, 2015

Hail Antony! Actium Playtest Success!

Thanks to my fellow-Hawaiian expat, Kimo, a great playtest for the Actium game was just concluded. Kimo brought over a few nicely painted ships which were added as armed escorts for Cleopatra's squadron. The victory conditions for Antony's fleet was allowing Cleopatra to break out with her cargo ships intact enroute to Egypt. This and either destroying or capturing Octavian. The scenario has Octavian's placement unknown to Antony's forces - just as it was historically. Octavian's victory conditions would be the capture of Cleopatra and/or the destruction of Antony. Antony's command ship being known to Octavian. An alternative victory condition was the overall number of ships destroyed. This was the case for our game after six turns. Antony's forces run by Kimo destroyed far more of Octavian's ships and was declared the winner of the game. This despite Cleopatra being unsuccessful in her bid to escape. The rules are based loosely on Hail Caesar - mainly the command activation rolls at the top of the turn. All of Octavian's commanders had rating of 9 (this due to Antony's plans being known to them), and all of Antony's commanders having a rating of 8. Antony himself retained a 9 rating due to his force of personality. Here are some images of the game.
Octavian's right squadron, run by me, in a line-abreast formation having to make a 90 degree bend to keep unit cohesion and also avoiding contact with an adjacent squadron. This squadron later was decimated by both missile fire and close combat action
Another view of Octavian's right squadron - he was actually in this squadron and his command vessel destroyed.
Kimo actually destroyed the command vessel that Octavian was in - here on the right flank. A subordinate took over the command with a lowered command rating. This actually should've ended the game, but in the heat of battle we continued with the game. One thing Kimo pointed out later, after another of Octavian's command was destroyed was that the replacement command vessel should not occupy the area the previous one was destroyed in. That made sense and will be incorporated in future games.
A view of the center of the battle - Cleopatra's squadron behind Octavius' squadron.
To keep the game simple enough for convention play, only Cleopatra's and Antony's ships were classed as Deceres, and command ships on both sides classed as Quadriremes. All covered deck ships (painted in either red or blue) classed also as Quadriremes. Open decked ships classed as Triremes. The few open decked ships with fancy prows and tails were classed as Liburnians - and these only in the center squadron of Octavian's fleet.
Antony's squadron getting the better of Agrippa - which was not the historical case, of course!
 Another thing we discovered was that although missile fire can cause some damage, it was best to engage in close combat, and ram if possible. To successfully ram required a separate activation score.
The beach of captured or destroyed ships - note they are mostly red ones formerly from Octavian's fleet. Behind them are the recently painted Irregular minis legionaries and marching camp. I've ordered a few more to beef up the look.
Action in the center - Cleopatra's ship still behind Octavius' squadron.
Here's an updated QRS from notes taken during the play test.

Besides resuming painting on the Ii Naomasa figure, I'll be trying out the Gladiatorial Combat rules for the other game I am committed to host at Enfilade! in May.

17 comments:

  1. That looks fabulous, Dean. Good luck on game day when it comes!

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    1. Thanks, Monty. Appreciate the kind words. I'm sure it'll be fine - particularly as the two game periods it's scheduled in are low-keys one. The first one- on Friday afternoon - usually has folks still trickling in and getting settled in. The second time period is the next morning - folks probably still groggy from the night before. Regards, Dean

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  2. Great looking Actium Dean! Sounds like it played really well.

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    1. Thanks, Mike. It certainly played very nicely and l look forward to hosting it at Enfilade! with more players. Regards, Dean

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  3. Fantastic and impressive pictures Dean, the beach is fabulous...

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    1. Thanks, Phil! Appreciate the kind words. Glad I added the shoreline - the beach is great to store destroyed/damaged vessels. Makes it easy to see the scoring. Best, Dean

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  4. Very impressive looking game Dean. The table all looks really good.

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    1. Thank you very much, Simon. It's great to be able to have a game with all the mini fitting into one small box, and the playing area rolled up nicely. Best, Dean

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    1. Thank you for visiting and your nice comment, Bartek. Much appreciated. Warm regards, Dean

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  6. Great looking game Dean, it's quite an impressive and complete collection - especially now when you've added costal terrain and legions. I think you've made a good choice in basing the rules on HC. These are easy to get into, and at conventions with gamers moving between many participation games, you'd want something that is easy to explain, so people can start rolling dice. We had a great experience using Black Powder at our participation game in Copenhagen. Backed by the wonderful and visually attractive collection you've got, I'm sure you'll have a great time with games flowing along nicely and people enjoying the minis and their time at your table.

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    1. Thank you much, Soren. Seeing a lot of naval games at cons, it seems the ones with more aesthetics seem more inviting to play, IMO. And at this small scale, terrain really isn't much of an issue for transport, storage, etc. So, figured go for it. One of the coolest games I've had the pleasure of seeing in-person was Eric Hotz' Roman Seas game with a full coastal display - all in 1/300th scale - very impressive.

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  7. Nicely done, Dean. The ships look terrific. The game sounds like a lot of fun. I'll keep my eye out for it at Enfilade!

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    1. Thanks, David. It'll be in the first period on Friday and Saturday morning. Dean

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  8. Awesome looking ships! Looks like you had a great play test. I wish I could attend this year's Enfilade and sign up for your game.

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  9. I was thinking of putting on a Battle of Actium game at Enfilade 2016. Will see. Your game looks very nice. You lucked out with the ship models. Don't think CinC still makes these.

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    1. Thanks Eric! Been a long time. I know your game would be very welcomed. I still regret selling the Roman Seas ships to a guy out of state. Warm regards, Dean

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