Akhaia - India

Akhaian view:
The Indians attacked along a river. I sent Menelaos to march from the right flank and Akhilles from the left. This so angered Akhilles that he stayed unreliable for the whole game.
    My camp was again protected by a hill to my right, Nestor's pike guarding the baggage, a gully protected the center of the field, and Agamemnon himself refused the left flank.
    The Indian wall of bowmen was on my right and the smaller command to my left, elephants and the Rajah in the center.
    Menelaos soon arrived, and so did Akhilles, who glared furiously over the river towards the Indian camp and polo team supporters.
    The Indian polo team on inferior mounts rode towards Menelaos' chariots, and several bowmen advanced in support. Menelaos soon found that two deep Cv(I) is more than match to chariots.
    In the center the Akhaian wall of naked men with long pointy sticks and enourmous hide shields advanced with total confidence towars the Indian Bw(X/S), the Indians feeling very insecure about the whole thing... The Indian elephants advancing slowly and cautiously towards Akhilles' lightly armed spear- and javelinmen.
    Soon the battle turned ugly as the Akhaians came within range of the Indian bow. Regardless of wealth or status the Akhaian warriors fell, pierced with innumerable arrows. Without heed I pushed on, trying to engage the barbarian Indians in heroic combat, but gods sided with the enemy, who withdrew from danger with ease, shooting with unrelenting fury and accuracy. In the end this was too much and my army broke causing only 4 EE of losses to the Indians.
    Afterthoughts An intense game I enjoyed a lot. I pushed on aggressively, and had my pikemen (S vs shooting) rolled a bit better I might have turned the table on the pesky Indian bowmen. Akhilles' unreliability was a great hinder to my plan, it might have been wiser to have him on-table, as myrmidons might have been quite effective against the Indians.		 Indian view:
Not yet available

Egypt - Carthago

Egyptian view:
Not yet available 		Carthaginian view:
Deployment I took all the difficult terrain I could but battlefield was a pool table as all the terrain features touched the table edges.
    Again I placed my cavalry on the left and center in the right. Nearly all of my Flank command were in an ambush in a forest touching the left table edge. They were there in case Egyptians were able to deploy their Bw(O) against my cavalry.
    Game As it turned out Egyptian bow were lined up against my cavalry. This forced me to rapidly redeploy my cavalry and move in with psiloi and auxilia against the bow.
   On the right there were Egyptian Wb(F) and I moved quickly all of my LH(O) against them. In the center Egyptians had Cv(S) and Bd(F).
    The lines drew nearer and first my Cv(O) clashed against his Cv(S). I lost one Cv and then realeased my Wb(F) to plug the caps. That stabilized the situation and I was able to kill off one of his Cv(S).
    On the right my LH(O) clashed with his Wb(F) and Ax(O). I killed an Ax(O) but Egyptians forced recoils and flees which put my reserve line of Sp(O) in disarray.
   I deployd some of my spear against Egyptian Bd(F) which were advancing in the center. On the left my light troops were skirmishing against Bw(O) nicely. I lost one psiloi and one cavalry(foolishly) but kept the Bw(O) in check.
    Things started to go badly for me as I lost two Wb(F) in the center. Next thing I know the Bd(F) annihilated three Sp(O) and they did that with no flank contacts. Things were pretty desperate at this point. I noticed a break as I was able to contact and flank a general on the right with LH(O). In the ensuing battle I lost that LH(O) plus two more Wb(F). That was it, my center broke and whole army joined the reatreat. Score was 0-10.
    Afterthoughts I had to use too many pips to get my cavalry out of harms way in the beginning. Other pips I had were insufficient to able me to manouver into better position.
    I didn’t make any glaring mistakes but my opponent played well using his better pips to full advantage. I lost the manouver battle which lost me the whole battle.
     General observations Including Wb(F) in my army was a mistake. I wanted to have some quick kill troops but I was unable to use them effectively. I was hestiant to use them because my overall dem.lvl. was so low compared to other armies.
    Instead I should have had more Scutarii (Ax(S)) and Ps(S). Skillfully played Carthaginian army has a chance against all th armies there was in the tournament.
    I was able to break only one command in this tournament, so there is some room for improvement (a major understatement ;-) ) Luckily this is only a game and I don’t get my head chopped off, like failed generals had in ancient Carthago.
    All in all I had a great time and all the games I played were good natured and fair. Thanks for everybody for a great tournament. Until next time.....

Hittite - Gaul

Hittite view:
Not yet available		 Gaul view:
Gauls invaded and set up some steep hills with a road through the middle of battlefield. Most of the hills ended up in the Hittite side of the table, giving an excellent defensive terrain for the numerous Ax and Ps they had.
    The largest warband command was deployed a bit left from the centre of the deployment area, poised to strike into a gap between some steep hills where the Hittite camp was located. On the right were the gallic cavalry, with the javelinmen taking control of the only hill on the gallic side of the table. Their allies were sent to flank march into the Hittite right.
    Hittites deployed their chariots in the gap, facing the warband. There were also many Hittite spearmen, some archers and lots of psiloi. A small detachment was deployed so that they would try to attack the unprotected left flank of the warband. On the far Hittite left were the Syrian allies, with some chariots, spearmen, archers and psiloi.
    Gauls lunged forward, running towards the Hittites, hoping to be able to engage them before they could get their lines into order. Cavalry started to wheel more to the right, hoping to engage the less numerous chariots and drive them from the field. Two elements of cavalry were left to protect the flank of the warband. Javelinmen were sent towards some archers, in hopes of protecting the cavalry from them.
    Hittites were caught with their troops in disorder. The gallic cavalry were stupidly sent between the armies to eliminate some equid-mounted scouts, which they destroyed and which was driven into an element of auxilia. But as the result, the cavalry were caught between the lines with nowhere to run and with no support at all. One element was flanked and eliminated, the other had to be withdrawn slowly, which gave the Hittites enough time to get their lines into order and bring up troops into the open flank of the warband.
    Still, the flank march was not arriving. I was getting desperate. Few psiloi were sent to certain death against the flanking troops in order to buy time.
    Gallic cavalry fought the chariots, but neither side could do anything decisive.
    The bowmen were rapidly destroyed by psiloi, who, in turn had to retreat before the spearmen who were advancing to avenge the archer's destruction.
    Some psiloi also flanked the Syrian commander, but the combat ended as a stalemate for several bounds. The gallic doctrine worked again, as the warband first sent some psiloi to disrupt the charge of the knights and then charged them, pushing them back. Hittite C-in-C was killed at first contact, as a chariot which was flanked. Elsewhere the chariots were pushed back.
    Suppiluliumas's command fled from the field, demoralised by the loss of their commander, so the troops threatening the warbands flank fled. Warband surged forward, crashing into the Hittite spearmen and crushing them utterly.
    The second Hittite commander Pijassili was also eliminated, as some chariots were forced to recoil into him. Pijassilis command had lost almost half of its men in a single bound and it fled from the field.
    Gauls were victorious, with minimal losses. The flank march arrived much later and took no part in the fighting.
    This time I dealt with the knights much more wisely, although it was totally stupid to send the ally command on a flank march, when I faced a mobile army with lots of troops. Had the C-in-C stayed alive, things might have looked totally different indeed.
    Leaving two elements of cavalry between the lines was idiotic and complete waste of men, not mentioning that it gave Hittites more than enough time to get their troops into order and flank my warband when I could have ran over them while they were still deploying.
    Another idiotic choice was not to send any troops to attack the hill between the warband and my cavalry. Now I had to guard it with cavalry, which did me no good in the combat against hittite chariots. 3 javelinmen could have taken that hill or at least keep the occupying psiloi busy while I'd get rid of the Syrians.
    Even though I made more than a few mistakes, I won. Probably the best game I played in the tourney, with lots of troops on the table and much happening everywhere at once.
    I might conclude, that in all the games I played, I made so many mistakes, that by all rights I should have lost all my battles. Maybe the goddess of luck was gallic this weekend?

Britain - Macedonia

British view:
Not yet available 		Macedonian view:
Not yet available

Burgundy - Rome

Burgundian view:
This game I blundered badly. I misdid the setup, and the Polybians got the upper hand. Pk(I) is no match against Bd(O) - never bring them in the battle two deep.
    Although my light horse slew his light horse and bowmen held the Velites at bay, the Romans managed to get my largest command demoralized at leisure. with my Bw(X/S) getting in deadlock with his infantry.
    The game seemed to be over, but the ducal gendarmes managed to slew the Roman C-in-C. The Romans held, but we had to terminate the game early at a very exciting situation after 3 hours of gametime.
    I had 2.5 elements to lose and the Romans 3.5 elements to lose to decide the game, IMO it was a very even and interesting game after all.
    Mustard at 4-6, but the game could have ended up any way, either 0-10 or 9-1 - it was just a question of time we didn't have. 		Roman view:
Not yet available