Thursday, 26 July 2012

The Ancient Wargame

It has been a busy couple of days including a visit to meet that very nice Mr Ian Drury at his offices in order to collect the ton of Command and Colours Ancients kit recently acquired off Mr Gow. More of the meeting in a later post (for reasons that will become obvious).

Lugging the collection around Central London in 30 degree sunshine was an interesting experience but it is all at home now and awaiting the great labelling fest.

My copy of the base game arrived yesterday so I shall be able to undertake ancient battles either as per the rules or, as is more likely, using a cardless version on a solo basis. Either way it will enable me to indulge in several hundred years of history at the drop of a hat for which I am very pleased indeed. Command and Colours Ancients has a very good website full of useful stuff such as rules, variants, FAQs, scenarios and tactics and is well worth a look if you are interested - the link is as follows: C and C Ancients

Aside from the expected use with this collection I also plan to use the blocks for DBA (so will need some bases) and also for use with the rules and scenarios contained in Phil Sabin's book - Lost Battles.

Lost Battles: Reconstructing the Great Clashes of the Ancient World

I have been waiting for the chance to dabble with this book for an age!

I forgot to mention that also included within the transaction with Mr Gow was the complete set of blocks and labels (not to mention the terrain tiles and mapboard) for the Napoleonic version of the Command and Colours game for which I have a number of very special ideas....;-)

Of course a by product of this Ancients collection is that I will need to, shall we say, enhance the appropriate section of my library although probably not by as much as would usually be the case!

Once again for many thanks to Tim Gow for the trade and to Ian Drury for supplying the logistical element of getting the collection in my hands without the use of a delivery lorry or two!
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8 comments:

  1. Unknown26 July 2012 at 18:31

    I was looking at this book yesterday. Please let me know if it's any good. Also I am trying to find The Military History of Ancient Israel as well by; Richard A. Gabriel.
    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Crook26 July 2012 at 19:41

    Hi Jeff,

    It is very much a 'grown up' war games book and repays careful reading. The design model used for the rules/battles is a sound one and the rules work very nicely by all accounts. In fact, I believe a version of them used to be available from the Society of Ancients.

    Have you tried Abebooks for your title?

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown27 July 2012 at 19:46

    I will go with an inter-library loan for the titles as I want to keep my personal library pruned. The Wargames Research Group have similiar rules and I'm using them with Napoleon's Triumph to fight a biblical ancients campaign. Just started writing the article for L.W.
    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  4. David Crook28 July 2012 at 14:52

    Hi Jeff,

    That sounds like a good plan to follow for keeping the collection pruned. Happy to help with the article if you need anything.

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown28 July 2012 at 22:41

    Thanks and the one article I wrote and mentioned you and your blog is up on the Lone Warriors blog entitled Bursting the Mould ... Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  6. David Crook29 July 2012 at 08:58

    Hi Jeff,

    Many thanks old chap - I will swing past and take a look. Should you need any further 'gen' then I shall be more than happy to help.

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
  7. Geordie an Exiled FoG13 August 2012 at 23:51

    Sabin's Book is A+

    ReplyDelete
  8. David Crook14 August 2012 at 05:51

    Hi Geordie,

    It certainly is! I am looking forward to trying this out in due course although some DBA and C and C will probably feature first, just to get me up and running.

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete