Four Go To War - Turn Six (300-290 BC)

Situation at the end of turn five

The revolt dice land 5-3, meaning I lose control of Magna Graecia.

Reg is drawn first, conquering independent Pontus.

Andy's Persians take Macedonian-controlled Persia, and I recapture Numidia, but Richard's Romans fail to take Magna Graecia.

In the East the Persians are eating into the Macedonian empire, but in the West there is neutral territory between Rome and Carthage

Four Go To War - Turn Five (310-300 BC)

Situation at the end of turn four

The revolt dice land 1-6, meaning Numidia throws off Carthaginian control.

Andy is drawn first, and rolls a 6, regaining control of the Persians' homeland Parthia.

Richard's Romans conquer Cisaplina, and Reg's Macedonians successfully invade Persian-controlled Armenia, but I fail to reconquer Numidia.

The Persians have regained their homeland, and the Romans have started expanding, but perhaps Macedon is doing best, despite having failed to emulate its historical achievement of eliminating the Persian empire

Four Go To War - Turn Four (320-310 BC)

Situation at the end of turn three

The revolt dice land 4-5, meaning the Sicilians throw off Carthaginian rule.

I am drawn first. I would like to invade Sicilia from Magna Graecia, as that would not involve a naval crossing (at least not as defined in the rules), but campaigns can only be launched from provinces that include a homeland or four connected provinces. Accordingly I attack from AFRICA, but the army is lost at sea.

Andy narrowly fails to foment rebellion in his occupied homeland of Parthia (he rolls a 5, one short of the required score), and Richard's Romans, turning north, fail to conquer Cisalpina.

For this and the next four turns the Macedonians receive a +1 modifier for no longer having a great captain but having had one in the past five turns. Reg attacks Armenia, but a 3 is not quite enough, despite the +1, as there is a -1 for attacking a controlled province.

Independent Sicilia forms a glaring hole in the Carthaginian empire

Four Go To War - Turn Three (330-320 BC)

Situation at the end of turn two

The revolt dice land 3-5, meaning Pontus, apparently taking advantage of Persian setbacks at the hands of the Macedonians, becomes independent.

Reg uses Macedon's five campaigns to conquer Mesopotamia, Persia and the Persians' homeland Parthia (at the third attempt), splitting the Persian empire into two parts.

The Persians are up next. Since their homeland has been captured, and their two remaining provinces are not allowed to launch a campaign, Andy has to try to free his homeland, but rolls a miserable 1 (6 is needed).

Richard's Romans attack Carthage-controlled Magna Graecia, conquering it with a 5.

I could try to reconquer Magna Graecia, but would suffer -1 modifiers for attacking outside of Carthage's starting empire and for attacking a controlled province. However, the odds are no worse than attacking Gallia, as that too is outside of Carthage's starting empire and has a -1 modifier on the first 10 turns because of tribal unrest. I decide to attack Magna Graecia, and succeed against the odds by rolling a 6.

Carthage and Macedon continue to make the early running

Four Go To War - Turn Two (340-330 BC)

Situation at the end of turn one

The revolt dice land 3-4, and so have no effect as that combination pinpoints Ilyria, which is already independent.

This is the first of two turns in which Macedon has Alexander as a great captain, meaning it starts the turn by launching five campaigns instead of the usual one, and each with a die modifier of +2. Reg heads east, conquering independent Thracia, the Persian-controlled provinces of 'Asia' and Syria (the latter at the second attempt), and independent AEGYPTUS. The result is the east Mediterranean seaboard has effectively become a Macedonian lake.

I am drawn next, and I conquer Magna Graecia with a 6.

Andy's Persians attack Syria, but a 3 is nowhere near enough as there is a -1 modifier for attacking a controlled province.

Finally Richard rolls a 1, meaning he consolidates Roman control of ITALIA (shown by adding a second counter to the province). This is the earliest Rome can gain such control, but maybe the threat of a rampant Carthage helped concentrate minds.

Carthage and Macedon are early expanders, but Rome is ready to join them

Four Go To War - Turn One (350-340 BC)

350 BC

The revolt dice land 6-2, meaning Mesopotamia throws off the rule of Andy's Persians.

My Carthaginians are drawn first, and I attack Sicilia, succeeding with a naval-crossing throw of 5 (3+ is needed) and an attack throw of 6, which succeeds (4+ is needed) despite a -1 modifier for attacking outside of Carthage's starting empire.

Reg's Macedonians are drawn next, and he conquers Graecia with a 4, which is important for making the most of Alexander as a great captain in the next two turns.

Richard's Romans effectively miss a turn as they first have to consolidate their control of ITALIA, and that can only happen by rolling lower than the turn number.

Finally Andy's Persians retake Mesopotamia by rolling a 4.

Carthage and Macedon have expanded

Four Go To War

FOUR imperialists have come together again to play a sixth game of Philip Sabin's Empire.

The four are myself, my regular wargaming opponent ('Reg' - he does not want his real name used), security consultant Richard Johnson, and Andy, a serving officer in Britain's armed forces.

Here is how we prospered in the previous five games.

ME

Game One: 3pts (Carthaginians)
Game Two: 3.5pts (Romans)
Game Three: 4pts (Persians)
Game Four: 1pt (Macedonians)

Game Five: 4pts (Persians/Parthians)
Total: 15.5pts

ANDY
Game One: 4pts (Macedonians)
Game Two: 3.5pts (Persians/Parthians)
Game Three: 3pts (Romans)
Game Four: 2.5pts (Carthaginians)

Game Five: 2pts (Romans)
Total: 15pts

REG
Game One: 1pt (Persians/Parthians)
Game Two: 2pts (Carthaginians)
Game Three: 1pt (Macedonians)
Game Four: 4pts (Romans)

Game Five: 3pts (Carthaginians)
Total: 11pts

RICHARD JOHNSON
Game One: 2pts (Romans)
Game Two: 1pt (Macedonians)
Game Three: 2pts (Carthaginians)
Game Four: 2.5pts (Persians/Parthians)

Game Five: 1pt (Macedonians)
Total: 8.5pts

SCORES BY PEOPLES
Persians/Parthians: 15pts

Romans: 14.5pts
Carthaginians: 12.5pts
Macedonians: 8pts

We draw for peoples, the one proviso being no one can have the same nation as in game five.

I get Carthage, Andy draws Persia/Parthia, Reg has Macedon, and Richard gets Rome.

Starting position in 350 BC - as usual I will write up the game as it proceeds

Slingshot Issue 355

THE November/December edition of the Society of Ancients' magazine, Slingshot, arrived on Saturday.

Always welcome

The most interesting article for me is John Hogan's look at how Celtic warbands are represented in rulesets, and how they performed in real life.

In four-plus pages it is hard to cover the subject in depth, but I was entertained, and left with things to think about.

First Assyrians

Mixed unit of spearmen and archers - 10mm figures from Newline Designs

Brilliant Book

I WAS put on to E F Knight's Where Three Empires Meet by a passing reference to it in Peter Fleming's News From Tartary.

The book's subtitle, A Narrative Of Travel In Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit And Other Adjoining Countries, hints at the three empires in question, which are British, Russian and Chinese.

Great read

Knight was a barrister who gave up lawyering to become a journalist, specialising in wars and travel.

He toured Kashmir and neighbouring lands in the early 1890s, just in time to for a minor campaign on the Northwest Frontier, during which he was put in charge of a contingent of native troops.

Knight has views that even in his day were probably regarded as old-fashioned, as in the following description of a region where polyandry (the female version of polygamy) was the rule.

It was then that her miserable slave and magpa [dogsbody, ie minor husband] slouched up, and she proceeded to heap abuse on him in a shrill voice all the while we were at breakfast, as if the accident had been his fault, poor wretch. He wisely replied nothing to the scold who ruled him. He looked like a man whose spirit had been completely broken by much ill-usage. If I were he, I should try and summon up sufficient courage to beg her - since she evidently no longer loved her poor magpa - to give me the customary parting rupee or sheep, and discharge me. It was a sad sight, and set one thinking to what depths women's rights, as advanced by some extreme ladies at home, would drag down the hapless male. Unless we look to it we shall all be magpas some day.

But it soon becomes clear Knight is often writing tongue-in-cheek, as in the following passage two pages later.

At Bazgo I saw a praying-waterwheel for the first time, a cylinder full of rolls of prayers fixed across a stream upon an axle, and turned by the running water. It is indeed strange, if these people really believe in the efficacy of their praying-machinery, as they are said to do, that they put up so few of these waterwheels. The traveller in Ladak seldom comes across them, and yet, revolving day and night as they do unceasingly, it stands to reason that they must perform more work than the praying-flags and hand-wheels. An enormous amount of praying power is wasted in the rushing Indus, which, properly utilized, might be made to insure Nirvana on death to every soul in the country. Good missionaries from Lasa should see to this.

The book climaxes with a British-led campaign in the Gilgit area of north Kashmir, during which two VCs are won.

This is one of the most entertaining books I have read for a very long time.