Blood in the Sand : it’s all about the Elephants

After lots of WW2 gaming I was hankering after something different and it has been far too long since we have seen any elephants fighting in the dungeon. So this week sees a return to my Blood in the Sand (imagination) Campaign.

The Kingdom of Lycaonia is a difficult and barren province leading to frequent border skirmishes and battles over the control of more productive agricultural areas. King Antiochus has sent an expeditionary force east against their constant enemy the Cappadocians. The two armies have tracked each others progress along the Halys River waiting for the other to make a mistake. As the sun rises in this remote and desolate area of Asia Minor the two army vanguards approach each other across the river. But their main armies are strung out on the line of march………

This shot is after turn one when the vanguards have arrived and deployed

Scenario setup, each army is split into three sections

A. Vanguard to arrive turn 1 D6 roll the Red numbers

B. Main army to arrive turn three D6 on pink numbers

C. Rear guard to arrive turn six D6 yellow numbers a roll of 5,6 delaying them for a turn

This creates just enough variation and ‘fog’ for the deployment and arrival of the armies which are strung out on the march.

All forces will get a double move the turn they arrive but can’t use this to charge into combat, this ensures we don’t spend all day marching across the sand. The river is crossable along its entire length but can be dangerous and is poorly mapped in this area. To represent this every crossing must be rolled for on a D6

1: A sudden flood the unit fails to cross is washed down stream 2xD6 taking D6 hits

2: River too deep unit fails to cross and stops (can attempt next turn)

3: Deep but crossable, the unit gets across but can’t move further or charge

4: no problem charging across incurs difficult terrain adjustment

5: as above

6: Fordable, the river causes no impact or slowing of movement.

(You wouldn’t believe how many 1’s we rolled 😂)

Finally I have enjoyed using the fate card system in V&F recently so created some similar card based ‘events’ which each army could draw and use to add some spice to the game, if any was needed 🤔

So onto the action…..and of course as the title of the post suggests really this battle is just about getting as many Elephants onto the table as possible, oh and camels as well.

The two Vanguards meet at the river and seek to prevent any crossing

In the river is unpredictable and everybody fails I. Their first attempt to cross so instead they exchange arrow fire

The exchange of fire continues awaiting the arrival of their respective main forces

The trumpet of elephants at last….

A range of spearmen and archers supporting yet more elephants

The Lyaconians are not holding back and their heavy elephants push ahead of the main army

The Cappadocians seek to control the high ground

Our elephants manage to cross the river

Where they crash into some Galatian mercenaries

These are despatched and the elephant is brought around to charge again

The Cappadocians are now in pretty strong defensive position holding the high ground

One of my elephants charges in but waivers causing it to panic and stampede, luckily to the left where there are more squishy enemy light troops

The enemy bolt throwers start to pick out the elephants at long range

My lead elephant is finally killed and the enemy start to push across the river

Pushing my infantry back and finishing off my wounded elephants 🙁

Late as usual my rear guard march towards the battle

The focus of the battle is now on our side of the river

…but both sides are nearly burnt out

After several more turns of combat the field of battle is thinning out

In the distance my left flank has crossed the river, and my cowardly light troops are hurling missiles at the enemy elephants to bring them down. We are now holding the high ground but lack enough troops to move onto the attack ? At this point we decided a ‘bloody’ draw as a fair result, neither of us felt we were really winning the battle at any point and as befits this campaign a lot of blood was spilt in the sand, both forces would now attempt to withdraw and regroup.

Despite lots of wet weather the odd day has been nice so I have taken the opportunity when it arises to get out in the hills and as I know a few people like the landscape shots 🙂

Looking NW towards the Kentmere Horseshoe

North towards Highstreet

Longsledale Valley

That’s it for now, another game planned for tomorrow which I need to set up and hopefully some more painting to share but we have been away again in London for a few days enjoying some ‘culture’ so not much has been finished.

Matt ♥️