Hunters' Ridge - Turn II: Attack Phase

My archers will shoot at the forward warriors in the shallow pond

Archers shooting at warriors need 8+, but there is a -1 modifier for being on higher ground. However, I roll 4.

Hunters' Ridge - Turn II

Crossing the shallow pond is probably not a good option for either sides as there is a +2 modifier for attacking from water

The start-of-turn-event die is a 5, but that only applies to Roman cavalry adjacent to an enemy unit.

My archers stay where they are, but two of the Dacian bow units on their right flank advance.

My cavalry also hold their positions, but both Dacian cavalry units advance, with the the left-flank horsemen approaching within three hexes of the ridge.

My Praetorians stand firm, but the Dacian swordsmen enter the big wood.

The falxmen stay still.

The Dacian warriors in the trees roll a 6, which entitles them to throw javelins at a range of two hexes, but they are just too far away from my men on the ridge. The other three units of warriors advance straight ahead.

My archers are again the only unit able to activate in the attack phase

Hunters' Ridge - Turn I: Attack Phase

Only my archers can attack this turn

I choose to shoot at the warriors in the water (a pond?), needing 8+, but with a -1 modifier for attacking from higher ground. I roll exactly the 7 needed for a hit, sending the warriors retreating two hexes.

A cautious start by the Dacians, not yet trusting to their greater numbers

Hunters' Ridge - Turn I

Starting positions

The start-of-turn-event die lands as a 1, which would let Dacian archers launch a surprise volley, but no bow unit is in range of my men.

My archers have the initiative number of 1, and so activate first, but I leave them where they are; the only Dacian archers to advance are the ones on the Dacian left flank.

I leave my cavalry where they are, and neither of the Dacian mounted units moves either.

I also pass with my three units of Praetorians, but the Dacian swordsmen advance, although both units of falxmen bide their time.

Finally, the left-flank Dacian warriors advance straight ahead, and two of the other warrior units advance diagonally left to be nearer them.

At some point I suspect at least some of my troops will have to relinquish the high ground to intercept Dacians before they get too close to the ridge

Hunters' Ridge - Roman Dispositions

Here is my setup - a veritable thin red line

Perhaps I would be better off trying the same setup, but moving the whole force one hex to the left.

But that would leave my right vulnerable to a rush by the Dacian cavalry, who on that flank are just four hexes - two moves - from the ridge.

In any event, stopping any of the enemy getting onto the ridge at any point in the 12 turns of the battle, looks a tall order.

Hunters' Ridge

THE fourth scenario in Mike Lambo's Commander - Romans v Dacians is Hunters' Ridge.

The human leads a Roman force that must occupy a ridge and prevent any Dacians getting onto the ridge at any point in the 12 turns of the battle

The AI receives tribesmen costing 38 points, chosen as usual by rolling dice.

Die Unit             Cost   Total

5     Warriors      2pts    2pts

5     Warriors      2pts    4pts

1     Archers       3pts     7pts

1     Archers       3pts     10pts

6     Warriors      2pts     12pts

4     Falxmen      3pts     15pts

1     Archers       3pts     18pts

2     Cavalry       5pts     23pts

3     Swordsmen 3pts     26pts

1     Archers       3pts     29pts

4     Falxmen      3pts     32pts

6     Warriors      2pts     34pts

1     Archers       3pts     37pts

2     Cavalry       5pts     42pts

The AI has exceeded its minimum force by four points, or the cost of two units of warriors.

Dice determine where the Dacians start.

The Dacian army is nothing if not numerous

The human, in addition to a commander costing five points, receives troops worth a further 29 points,

Die   Unit              Cost   Total

N/A  Commander 5pts     5pts

2       Cavalry        6pts    11pts

3       Praetorians   5pts   16pts

3       Praetorians   5pts    21pts

2       Cavalry        6pts     27pts

3       Praetorians   5pts    32pts

1       Archers        3pts     35pts

An elite force, if ever there were one, with no ordinary legionaries or spearmen.

Why I Read

RECENTLY, while scouring the shelves of a bookshop for something to read as a back-up on a trip I was planning, I came across a thin booklet (120 small pages) entitled: Why I Write.

As it was by George Orwell, and I loved Animal Farm, Homage To Catalonia, Down And Out In Paris And London, and 1984, I thought it was worth buying, despite the £7.99 price tag.

The book turned out to contain four essays, of which the title one, Why I Write, is perhaps the least interesting, but that is at because The Lion And The Unicorn, Politics And The English Language, and even, to a certain extent, A Hanging, are such riveting reads.

Why I Write is part of Penguin's Great Ideas series, that also includes pieces by Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf, Marcus Aurelius and Machiavelli

A little background for those unaware: Orwell was a social revolutionary - a Trotskyist, more-or-less - who spoke out against Stalin's version of communism at a time when most on the Left could see nothing wrong with the monster.

In The Lion And The Unicorn, published in the dark days of February 1941, he complained that Britain was not a true democracy, as the only true democracy was a Socialist Democracy.

"We know very well that with its present social structure England cannot survive. We cannot win the war without introducing Socialism."

On India: "It is a mistake to imagine that if the Indians were free to cut themselves adrift they would immediately do so. When a British government offers them unconditional independence, they will refuse it."

On his dream government: "An English Socialist government will transform the nation from top to bottom ... but it will not be doctrinaire. It will shoot traitors, but it will give them a solemn trial beforehand and occasionally it will acquit them. It will crush any open revolt promptly and cruelly, but it will interfere very little with the spoken and written word."

Orwell was clearly no Mystic Meg, and perhaps it as well many of his dreams never came true, but he was closer to the mark on how the war abroad might pan out.

"In truth there is no reason to think anyone will do our fighting for us yet awhile, except the Chinese, who have been doing it for three years already. The Russians may be driven to fight on our side by the fact of a direct attack, but they have made it clear enough that they will not stand up to the German army if there is any way of avoiding it. The subject peoples of Europe will rebel when Hitler begins to totter, but not before. Our potential allies are not the Europeans but on the one hand the Americans, who will need to mobilize their resources even if Big Business can be brought to heel, and on the other hand the coloured peoples, who cannot be even sentimentally on our side till our own revolution has started."

On a lighter note, in Politics And The English Language, he criticises longwindedness among writers.

"If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out."

Good advice, most of the time, but it could have been written: "If it is possible to cut a word, cut it."

But do not cut on reading Orwell - his works are well worth it.

A Little Bit Of Shropshire History

DURING a recent walking holiday in Shropshire, I was able to visit two sites of great historical interest - a medieval castle and an Iron Age hillfort.

Approaching Clun Castle, a Norman fortification that in the 1100s was an important frontline defence against Welsh attacks

The Great Tower is the best-preserved part, although that was built around 1300 to accommodate hunting parties, rather than as a defensive addition

Fine views across the border into Wales

Today the castle is perhaps most viewed as a picturesque backdrop for the local crown-green bowling club

Imagination is needed to make much of Norton Camp hillfort

But you do get some idea of how imposing the ramparts must have been

And an artist's impression helps where imagination fails

Bible Truths

MY latest charity-shop find is Werner Keller's The Bible As History - Archaeology Confirms The Book Of Books.

First published in West Germany in the mid-1950s, it was quickly translated into many languages, becoming an unlikely international bestseller.

The book is a real eye-opener for anyone who has not read the Bible (the vast majority of the world's population, even in nominally Christian countries) and who is not well-versed in ancient history.

Keller was not a theologian, nor a historian, but rather a civil servant and journalist, as well as a former anti-Nazi resistance fighter (yes, there were some in Germany).

In The Bible As History he collates the growing body of archaeological evidence, much of it uncovered in the pre-WW2 and immediate post-WW2 periods, that confirmed stories in what are generally regarded as the Old and New Testaments, as well as the arguably non-canonical Books of Maccabees.

These finds include the Merenptah Stele (the name of ancient Egyptian pharaoh is now more normally rendered as Merneptah), a granite slab dating from about 1205 BC, which contains the first known mention outside of the Bible of Israel.

Inevitably archaeology has moved on a great deal in the last 70 years, and much of what was new and exciting in the 1950s is now old and, in some cases, superseded by more up-to-date information.

Keller does not concern himself with parts of the Bible he clearly regards as fairytales, but he explains how matters long regarded as, at best, far-fetched, such as manna from Heaven, and the parting of the River Jordan and the 'Red Sea', could easily have happened in nature, without divine intervention.

I bought the book for £2.99 - as usual, I cannot recall where - believing it to be different from a book I already owned on the same theme.

A hardback bargain

However, I have been unable to locate the earlier book, and I now suspect it was another edition of the same work, that perhaps I had only borrowed from a library.

Whatever the case, it is a great read, although I confess to not having gone through the New Testament section as I was mainly interested in the military and military-related details of the Old Testament.

Summing Up Hill Of Watchfires

MY score against the AI is now 3-0, and this third scenario was the easiest victory of the lot, although it felt far from inevitable in the early going.

Indeed, my Romans were the first to lose a unit, but my plan of exploiting the Dacians' faulty setup (their centre and left were strong, but they neglected their right), meant I was able to turn the enemy's flank and sweep their men off the hill.

Attacks from the flank and rear are especially strong, thanks to the rule that units unable to make a mandatory retreat are routed and removed from the battlefield.

This has proved a great buy