After a break of over six months I finally played a game at the club last night!
Actually I turned up just to be sociable, but there was a spare place in a game, so I took it.
Anyway, Peter took on the task of teaching five of us how to play L'Art De La Guerre (ADLG). The Sassanid vs Roman setup we had looked great, but as starter armies they had a lot of little special abilities that I think made the game harder to learn. We managed a few turns, though, and I think we all got the gist of the game even if we'd only really just got started when we had to pack up.
Here's my command - some bow-armed cavalry. I got to shoot up some Roman cavalry and evade being charged.
The centre. We did get some melee action here.
My cavalry intimidating the Romans. A lot of the Sassanids were15mm plastics from the Plastic Soldier Company. And very nice they were too.
I did find the game a little fiddly, but them my ancients gaming has been restricted to DBA for so long that anything would seem fiddly. In terms of mechanisms I didn't really see what the gain was, but it was pointed out to me that the extra chrome and granularity in the troop-types makes some matchups a lot more interesting that they would be in DBA - hoplites for example, where they are all simply Spears in DBA, but have armour and morale gradations in ADLG that makes for a more interesting game.
Anyway, it was good to try a new game, especially one that seems to be flavour of the month locally. And, of course, it adds another entry to my 52 Games project.
The ‘game count’ is racking up nicely, Kaptain !!
ReplyDeleteIt’s a tough one comparing rule sets….I also veer towards DBA, rather than more complex versions, but a lot may depend how much ‘chrome’ (/clutter) a gamer wants. The abstraction of DBA and recently DPW Ancients still gives a good game without reverting to the 80’s, and all the factor-counting one encountered. (Bought a copy of ADLG, but found it too much like a reworked DBM or upgraded DBA to be worth the effort of relearning the ropes. I guess that’s the bonus of a club, where someone will have a deeper understanding of the rule set and be able to pass on the info).
Enjoying the reports, and the variety of games in your 52 challenge 👍🏼👍🏼
I mean I'll certainly give ADLG another look, if only because it's an 'in' game at the club, so worth learning how to play if I want to just turn up and sit in on a game.
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