Roman Line Swap - Quincunx - for To the Strongest

Hi,

I have recently started using To the Strongest (TtS) for my 2nd Punic War armies (WoFun) and I didn't care for the line swapping rules that are in Even Stronger (errata, etc for TtS).

I have come up with the following rules to use in my Punic War games and thought I would share.

• Each unit (Hastati, Principes, Triarii) is a REGULAR unit with 2 hits. (Not Deep)
• Hastati Save on 7+, while Principes\ and Triarri save on 6+.
• Hastati and Principes have Shock Missiles (single shot, no resupply)
• Line Swap may be done in enemy Zone of Control.
• This is a Special Rally attempt (not an activation) once per turn to swap units with a Rally Action on a 6+. If failed Special Rally, nothing happens. Play continues as normal.
• 1st Successful Attempt - Principes replace the Hastati, then Triarii move to where the Principes were, then the Hastati move to the rear where the Triarii used to be located.
• 2nd Successful Attempt – Triarii replace the Principes, then Hastati move to where the Triarii were, then the Principes move to the rear where the Hastati used to be located.
• In addition, Velites may interpenetrate per normal TtS rules, but may also move for one activation from the front to completely behind the Triarii (or whichever unit is in the rear)

Here are some PowerPoint graphics illustrating what I mean by the Line Swap. These are all valid deployments in TtS for the Roman\Latin allied legions.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

Thanks for looking

Eric

Painting the 3D Printed Roman Marching Camp

 As promised, here is the "how I painted my new fort" blog post.

Prior post: Din of Battle: 3D Printed Roman Marching Fort from CentrionStudio on Etsy

Direct link to CentrionStudio (they have a TON of other buildings and periods so if you are not into Romans, you can choose from a huge variety of terrain)

As usual, click on photos for larger views.

Tools

• Paint brush that is large and can spread liquid well. Another for dry brushing and one last one for detailed painting.
• Hardware File(s)
• Exacto knife
• Stedi Nippers - great for trimming flash and residue from models
• Spray Paint - Krylon Camouflage Paint, Ultra Flat, Sand color, 11 oz. - K04295000 (took the entire can of paint to cover the entire fort)
• Citadel Colour Shade (Agrax Earthshade)

One bottle got me through the entire process.

Prepping the Fort

First, wash in warm water and use a soft brush to "scrub" lightly the pieces to remove any residue.

Use nippers, exacto, and file to remove as much extra flash\filament as possible.

In addition, I snipped the tops of logs off the models so that I could fit my WoFun (30mm x 20mm) bases on the fort walkways. (Prior post discussed this).

I wanted to have the weapon's platform section have no log "tops" so that it was flat for whatever size weapon stand I put on it. I like how it turned out.

Before (just primed with spray paint)

After (log tops removed so the platform is flat)

I also snipped the middle poll support for the large entrance, as I wasn't able to put a stand in the tower section without removing it. Glad I did that before I glued on the top tower section.

Lastly, I primed the entire model\sections with the Sand color spray paint. This allows the Shade to be washed on and pop out the details. You can see the grey un-primed tower parts to the top right.

Painting\Washing

I have never used the Shade from Citadel before but had bought it about a year ago to edge my WoFun figures, which I never got around to do. So, this was my first experiment and I LOVED using this product.

I did one wash across the entire set. 

Then I did a second wash on just the logs and wood poles, doors, and towers. This turned out perfect as I was struggling to find a color I would like for the logs. This photo gives you an idea of the color process.

1 = primed, 2 = one wash, 3 = second wash on just the wooden bits.

Main large entrance with some Roman guards. (Gate is missing as I try to figure out how best to attach them)

Adding Paint Details

At this point, the fort is completely usable, but I wanted to cap each cut log with lighter shades of tan\brown and dry brush some worn paths on the battlements and towers. This also allowed me to go back and snip out the fibers that I missed in the first go around.

For the cut log color, I used FolkArt 419 "Teddy Bear Tan" as the color. It pops well, especially when dried. For the tread worn paths I dry-brushed with Americana "Antique White". I like how it turned out.

Lastly, I dry brushed a neutral grey (American Neutral Grey) to blend in the logs and add more contrast then used Krylon Matte Finish to coat the fortress.

Finished product with Legions and Gallic Warriors

Here is the final product with the Romans manning the fort while the nasty Gauls are thundering around the outside ready for their assault! I chose to only add one tower to the corner sections instead of two levels high. This is because my fort will be used for battles rather than skirmishes and allows me to store it all in one box easier.

I have tiny rare earth magnets arriving soon which I intend to embed into each section, so they snap together and hopefully stay together during game play.

Now I need a Gallic Hill fort, and villages. I have an idea for villages, but still searching for a good Hill fort in 15mm. May just have to make one as they are quite simple in design.

Have a fantastic day!

Eric

PS - A little inspiration arrived this week too! The Landmark Julius Caesar which I didn't even know existed until last week!

Psuedo-Trebia Battle with To the Strongest and WoFun 18mm miniatures

Good day folks!

I introduced 6 new players to TO THE STRONGEST over the weekend with my 18mm WoFun 2nd Punic Wars collection. We refought Trebia minus Elephants and Mago's ambush force. Roughly 10 units per side were missing. This was still a LARGE battle and was more than plenty for all the players involved. The mat is from Cigar Box and it is their Sicily mat with hand applied brown dots to make the 4" grid. 

The game and rules were warmly received, and everybody wants to play again. This was my first stab at the Punic Wars and there are a lot more troop types and different special rules than my prior games of Greeks vs Persians. I think I have finally come up with a good rule for Roman line swapping as the ones that come with the rules I don't care for, including the Even Stronger version. (I'll likely blog about that)

I'll likely run this at Historicon 2025 too.

Because I was on the side of the battlefield, I don't have a lot of great "in action" photos. As usual, click for larger images and filmstrip style viewing (if you don't want to read the text)

Pre-battle deployment from Roman vantage point (four Roman\Latin legions):

Getting Ready

Well, I had the WoFun 18mm Punic War collection for a year or two now and wanted to up my game with some movement tray sabots and labels.

My friend helped make the correct size sabots for the 3 stand units (90mm wide x 20mm deep). It took several test runs to get the base sized to fit the three bases plus have room at the rear to put a nice large font label. We are getting older and need larger fonts these days. I added a color-coded boxed command group number so players could easily find and identify the commands.

The format is Command Group # (colorized), Nationality, unit type, TtS unit characteristics or weapons in italics. If it is a ranged weapon it would have (ammo) in parenthesis. Lastly the save value is listed. This labeling worked so well the players never referred to the rosters I gave them. 

Here are some examples of the sabots and labels before the game.

Also, the Gauls were DEEP characteristic, so I have Steve make a base twice as deep as the others to give them that look I wanted. 

To make the labels be reusable I used a special glue called Aleene's 29-2 Tack-It Over & Over Liquid Glue 4oz, Clear. Watch some of the customer videos on how they use it. Recommend the 24 hour drying period before attaching the tables to anything. Also, I laminated the labels and cut them out before applying the glue. I found glue drops worked better than a thin bead of glue.

Amazon Link to the glue: Amazon.com : Aleene's 29-2 Tack-It Over & Over Liquid Glue 4oz, Clear : General Purpose Glues : Arts, Crafts & Sewing

Lastly, I've been using Chits rather than card desks for Activation and Hits\Saves with To the Strongest. I think they look much better, especially with 15mm figures and 4" grid. Playing cards just dwarf the minis and take away from the atmosphere. I made 320 new chits in four different colors. I'll make two more sets and then I should never need to do this tedious task again. :-)

THE BATTLE

First, we will get an overview of the forces, and then I'll add some in game combat photos.

Center of the Carthaginian lines filled with Gallic Warriors. Brown cubes indicate unused Javelin ammo. After a unit fires the ammo is removed.

Latin Legion on the left (Command Group 3) and Roman Legion (Command Group 1) on the right.  Pilums indicate unused Pilums (Shock Missiles in TtS)

On the right you can see Iberians and African Spearmen. Slingers on the far right have three ammo tokens.

As mentioned, I was located at the end of the table so I couldn't take many in game photos. Here are a few showing the action mainly in the infantry commands.

Light units initiate the battle with mostly ineffective javelin fire. Here you can see my new chits in action. 

Latin Allied Legion pressing the left-wing African Spearmen and Iberians.

This HEROIC Gallic Noble Warrior unit outlasted a half dozen attacks from the front and flanks by the Romans and eventually drove the Hastati and Principes back. They earned their laurels!!

Latin Allies attempting to crush the Carthaginian left with frontal and flank attacks.

Clash of swords and shields in the center. From the Gallic commander's perspective.

Rare photo from the Carthaginian right flank as the Romans destroyed 4 of 5 Carthage cavalry units on that flank and exposed the entire Carthaginian army to potential rout. Hannibal had to be moved to this sector of the battle to try to hold.

Good view of the Carthaginian Iberian\Africa right center command.

Here is the situation at the end of the battle. Another hour of gaming would have settled this.

View of the battle from Carthage perspective at the end of the day.

Due to time constraints we had to call the game after 4 hours. The first thirty minutes was rules review, and we took a 15-20 lunch break too. So likely 3 solid hours of gaming. 

At this point the Carthage forces were pushing hard in the center with most casualties among the true Roman legions (see below). What was unusual, was that both cavalry wings were won by the Romans even though they were heavily outnumbered. So, I believe the Carthaginians were about to really make things happen in the center. However, this could still go either way due to the flank situations.

Casualties

So, I took follow-up photos and reviewed the casualties from the battle.

Each side lost 9 Victory Metals (Carthage started with 24 and Romans had 23)

Romans Casualties

• 3 x Hastati
• 1 x Principes
• 1 x Velites (Lights)
• 8 x Active units disordered

Carthage Casualties

• 1 x African Spearmen
• 1 x Iberian Cavalry
• 1 x Libyan Lt Infantry
• 2 x Numidian Lt Cavalry
• 1 x Gallic Cavalry
• 4 x Active units disordered

 

No commanders were lost for either side.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and I look forward to running this again in November and at Historicon. 

Eric