Our first go at Warmaster Historical

John Mclennan is a bit of a fan of Games Workshop and I’m looking for an alternative to DBM for large games so we gave Using DBx Armies for Warmaster Historical (in this case Warmaster Ancients) a go. We settled on Punic Wars – John taking the Romans and me the Carthaginians. Chris Harrod hosted us and provided morale support from the sofa.

John Mclennan the Fan

Brief Battle Report

Beer and pizza. Setup.
Initial cavalry battle on the Roman right (Carthaginian left) left the Romans with an open flank – but with severe losses making exploitation difficult.
Roman left exposed but poor command initiative from the Carthaginians did not allow them to exploit this.
Heavy fighting in the centre left the Carthaginians and Romans both smarting. Elephants defeated by Maniples – but at heavy losses.
Roman reserve available but time called the battle to a halt.

Photos

Here are a sample of the photos I took.

The figures were mainly from my existing Punic Wars armies (John provided a sole command stand painted by himself – very nice it was too). All were 15mm scale. My figures are from Essex, Chariot, and Donnington. Painters were Roland Davis, Ross Pirie, Wayne Turner, Ian Galley, and Nigel Fun-nell.

The photos were constrained by my own ineptitude … I couldn’t quite get the lighting right, both with and without the flash.

Battle Lines

Roman Maniples

Roman Maniples – with Flash

Italian Infantry

Roman Infantry – Rear

Carthaginian Elephants – Rear

Carthaginian Elephants – Rear – With Flash

Carthaginian Elephants

Carthaginian Infantry
African Spear and Iberian Warriors

Carthaginian Cavalry – Gauls

Carthaginian Cavalry – Numidians

Carthaginian Cavalry – Liby-phonecians

Carthaginian Cavalry – Liby-phonecians and Gauls

The Armies

Carthaginians

Troop Type Att Range Hits Arm Com Unit Size Min
/Max
Pts Note Units Total
Pts
Veterans Infantry 3 3 5+ 3 -/2 60 1 60
Infantry (Poeni, Mercenaries, Spanish, Italians) Infantry 3 3 6+ 3 2/8 45 5 225
Gallic Allies Infantry 3 3 3 -/- 25 1,2 0
Skirmishers Infantry 1 15 3 3 2/8 30 3 2 60
Heavy Cavalry (Poeni) Cavalry 3 3 5+ 3 -/2 110 4 1 110
Light Cavalry (Spanish, Celtic or Italian) Cavalry 2 15 3 6+ 3 -/4 60 3 1 60
Numidians (Numidian, Spanish, Celtic or Italian) Cavalry 1 15 3 3 2/8 40 3 3 120
Elephant Elephant 4 15 3 5+ 3 -/1 150 4,5 1 150
General General +2 9 1 1 125 1 125
Leader Leader +1 8 1 -/2 80 1 80
Sub-Total 16 990
Options
Hannibal General +2 9/10 1 -/1 25 6 0
Sub-Total 0 0
Total 16 990

Romans

Troop Type Att Range Hits Arm Com Unit Size Min
/Max
Points Note Units Total
PiSs
Triari Infantry 4 3 5+ 3 -/2 75 1,2 2 150
Legion Infantry 3 3 5+ 3 4/- 65 2 4 260
Allies Infantry 3 3 6+ 3 -/6 35 3 3 105
Skirmishers Infantry 1 15 3 3 -/4 30 4 2 60
Heavy Cavalry Cavalry 3 3 5+ 3 -/1 80 1 80
Light Cavalry Cavalry 2 15 3 6+ 3 -/4 60 4 2 120
Mounted Skirmishers Cavalry 1 15 3 3 -/2 40 4 0
General General +2 9 1 1 125 1 125
Tribune Leader +1 8 1 -/2 80 1 80
Sub-Total 16 980
Options
Scipio General +2 9 1 -/1 25 5 0
Sub-Total 0 0
Total 16 980

Conclusions:

Great rules – we will try to read them before the next game.
Multiple combats can be messy.
John needs to paint faster.
Chris is a very gracious and generous host.

🙂

2 thoughts on “Our first go at Warmaster Historical”

  1. Thanks for posting about this.

    I was wondering where can one find the NOTES information? Triari have Notes 1 and 2 for example.

    Reply

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