>Deprocrastinating... 3... 2... 1
What follows are the sparse records of a battle between Greeks and Celts contained within a manuscript that is missing some passages and seems unreliable at the best of times. At least the text came with some illustrations that give us an impression of the situation.
Somewhere east of Massilia...
A Greek expeditionary force is sent out to secure a fabled "Pool of Rejuvenation" from the local long-pants-wearing (imagine that!) barbarians, the "keltoi". The natives are somehow averse to the idea.
As I'm playing solo, I simplified the setup with a randomised terrain layout:
9 sectors, roll 1d6 per sector:
1-3: open terrain
4: difficult terrain
5: hill
6: woods
Here you can see some of the resulting layout. I pushed the terrain to the sides, it was still a bit much for my 80x80cm board. The pool was placed in the centre.
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| Greeks with Scythian support on the left, Athena in contact with Celt warriors on the right |
The Greek side finds divine support in
Athena
[Q2 C4]
Prophecy, Shapeshift (Owl), Protection
the Celts in the thunder god
Taranis
[Q2 C4]
Weather Control, Lightning
Legend units:
Theseus
[Q3 C3]
Combat Master
Perseus
[Q3 C3]
Turn to Stone, Long Move
and two nondescript "
Wild Men" on the barbarians side
(I wasn't that fond of the selection in the rule book which was mostly picked from Irish myths, so I fell back on those hairy giants that live a hermit life in the wilderness -- those pop up all over continental myths and fables)
[Q3 C3]
Forester, Big
My mythical units are made of paper -- which seems fitting for the products of human imagination. The real reason was, that at the time I didn't want to spend that much money on figures I found rather uninspiring.
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| https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2427611/gods-and-mortals?size=large | | (You need to log in to BGG to get original size) |
The human force is Zvezda and Italeri, mostly painted when I started out with minis a few years back -- didn't even use my gesso primer then.
Forces were not balanced - I recently painted a couple of Zvezda Scythian horse archers, and wanted to see them as Greek cavalry support, so the Greeks ended up with a higher point total.
TURN 0
Before the game Athena rolls her Prophecy dice - those dice are set aside and each can be used in lieu of any die result during the game.
TURN 1
Taranis decides to test his Lightning strike ability and nonchalantly strikes down young Praxites of Athens, one of the Hoplites.
His comrades reach the fabled pool in this opening turn of the game, taking his body with them, in the hope of bringing him back from the dead with the help of the miracle water.
...
(Did they succeed? The manuscript misses a chunk of information here, but the pictorial evidence from a later turn would suggest that they failed to revive him)
...
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| Turn 2? Scythians already reduced, in the back Theseus in contact with Wild Man |
TURN 3
Hoplites engage the Celtic Noble cavalry, and despite of losing the melee, they manage to throw back the horse. (In Close Order vs. Open Order clashes it's always the OO that recoil.)
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| Turn 4 |
TURN 4
Athena moves into contact with the Warrior unit and with the help of a Prophecy die and some invocation from the rear (units with 4 or more figures may give prayer support to their god i.e. extra dice) single handedly wipes out the Celtic cavalry.
Whereas in another section of the battle field Theseus has little trouble in dealing with one or both of the Wild Men
(the source text is impossible to decipher) - defeating him or them. Alas, he won't celebrate his victory for long, as:
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| Turn 5 |
TURN 5
At the beginning of the turn Taranis fires another lightning bolt and fells Theseus - who stays down. (Legends get a save on 3+)
Bolstered by the prayers of his remaining devotees, he intends to destroy the Greek Psiloi unit next, but underestimates the agility of the weasel boys and only manages to take down one of them. This is characteristic of the performance of the Celtic thunder god in this game - apart from the two lucky lightning strikes, he' ll fail to make much of an impact.
A Reaction allows Athena to move into contact with the Warriors who had planned to scoop some water from the pool, pinning them in place (they won't risk a Free Hack from the Goddess triggered by a disengage)
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| Turn 6 |
TURN 6
Taranis directs his attention to the Hoplites. First, the Noble infantry is moved into contact with the Greeks
(a stupid move, considering Taranis on his own would have gotten the outnumbering bonus and they could have provided an invocation die instead)
Activation failure gives Athena the chance for a reaction attack against the Warriors, who lose one of theirs and get pushed deeper into the woods.
In the Greek turn the Scythian riders, now in contact with the pool, take the chance to bring back a lost comrade from the dead.
Meanwhile Spartans on the right flank have resigned themselves to the role of onlookers and are happy to pray a bit to their Protectress. Hoplites on the left do the same, and so Athena ends up rolling five dice, netting her a +3 DRM, for a terrible and final blow against the remaining Warriors: 14 vs. 4 eliminates the unit. This massacre is something the divine maiden had foreseen. (The final Prophecy die did play its part).
With only two units of Mortals remaining, the Keltoi now need to roll for Morale - surprisingly they both decide to stick around. (Well, in the case of the Fanatics, less of a surprise.)
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| Turn7 or 8? |
TURN 7
Taranis pushes the Hoplite phalanx back towards the board edge and Athena chases the Celtic Nobility into the hills.
In trying to move away from the edge of the world, the Hoplites hesitate too long, giving the Celtic God of thunder the chance to cut off their way. (A reaction)
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| Turn 8 Athena gives a stern talking to the last surviving Fan |
TURN 8
Taranis finally chases the Hoplites over the board edge. Unfortunately for the Celts this does not lead to a Greek Morale test as the one revived Scythian rider keeps the Greeks over the threshold.
Athena meanwhile goes after the pious Fanatics who with their monotonous invocations were beginning to get on her nerves. A 14 vs. 3 wipes out all but one of the topless cheerleaders.
TURN 9
At this moment I could just as well have ended the game, but I decided I wanted to see the effect of a Greek morale roll ...however, Taranis, the bumbling fool failed yet again to cause a single casualty.
- FIN -
Result:
Decisive Celtic defeat with one incompetent thunder god and three dumbfounded Nobles surviving.
Lesson for my next game: Less terrain to allow for more manoeuvering and make sure to have balanced forces. This time, with their points deficit, the Celts really never had a chance.
I remember in my first game of OGAM I had a lot of pushing units back and forth -- units that were wedged between two enemies. That didn't really happen this time -- an enjoyable game!
