The First In Holland? We Played Mortem & Gloriam, Ancients Wargaming

A short impression

Yesterday Maarten, Paul, Huub, new players Carlos& Ruben and me played a game of Mortem & Gloriam. We replayed Chareoneia, 338 BC, an antique battle between Filippus and his son the young Alexander the Great vs Allied Greek city states.

Paul introduced the game to us and was an excellent host, with Huub as his steward. I think that we’re the first gamers in Holland who have played this game. Haven’t seen battle reports from fellow Dutch wargamers so far. So this was a first.

The game was introduced in 2016. Recently writer Simon Hall struck a deal with the Plastic Soldier Company and a polished 2nd edition was published this year. As a ruleset it’s slowly gaining ground. The combination with PSC Ultracast 15mm cheap plastic miniatures from excellent Xyston and Corvus Belli white metal molds might make Ancients cheap and fashionable again.

I like ancients and play mostly De Bellis Antiquitatis so I’m interested in the more advanced variants. I have ambitious plans to compare M&G, DBA, FoG and AdlG some time. So I will probably write a full review. Not now. A first tryout is not enough for a serious review. I will share my first impressions.

The battle we played: Chareoneia

In our club archives we found a 2300 year old documentary, made by the great Macedonian kínematoon Quentintarantinotos, about this great battle. He enscribed stone tablets with pictures of the battle, 24 per minute, and by moving them quickly near a candle we were able to watch an incredible théatron. Check the live pictures!

Meeples & Miniatures reviewed the game. Writer Simon Hall was previously a co-author of the Field of Glory rules, which were published by Osprey Publishing. I regard Field of Glory as a descendant of Phil Barkers DBA. Hall writes in his preface that he is standing ‘on the shoulders of giants’, that he played every version of DBA and DBMM and he thanks Phil Barker. Of course – what would he Ancients hobby be without him?

Hall wants to bring to hobby to new generations – modernize it. In my opinion, M&G is a nicer, more modern version of DBx.

For those who don’t know DBA: DBA is an ancients wargame with 12 units per side. All units have a standard simple movement rate, measured in basewidths, and combat modifier. Units are (often) strong vs unit A (horse vs skirmish troops) but weak vs unit B, C or D (horse vs pike): very rock, paper, scissors. Combat is simple, a D6 + modifier + side or back supporting unit. A player moves 1-6 ‘groups’ each turn, depending on a dice roll. Games can be played in one hour on a small table and the game is very well suited for a competion or a tournament. Athough out of fashion I consider it a superior game, a kind of wargame chess, simple rules, fast, but subtle and complex.

Because players wanted larger, longer and more complex battles Barker designed DBM and DBMM as more ‘advanced’ variants. These games lost followers and fail to attract new gamers. In the past 15 years, Bodley-Scott, Hall and others developed FoG and French designer Caille wrote Art de la Guerre.

I regard all these new rules as Next Generation DBA. Old giant Barker and his wife Sue, both in their eighties, will not reach teenagers or twentysomethings with their rules. The twentyfirst century wargamer wants a hardcover bling-bling book and a phone app. Barker’s English is formal, not casual like many modern rule designers.

The basic Dbx system, a combat results table, a limited number of groups that can be moved per turn and a modifier for side/back support is still the core of the M&G-system. However Hall made some important changes:

  • he designed a pre-battle-game (that we didn’t use in our introductory game)
  • instead of a combat results table with higher/ lower modifiers, M&G has a system with coloured dice. Black dice are the worst and have many blank sides. Red dice are the best and have many instant kills. In combat, the unit with an advantage will use higher graded dice than the opponent.
  • instead of a fixed number of groups that a player can move, decided by a dice roll, a player draws command cards and can discard them, like poker. If he has bad cards he can only order a few or simple movements or less groups.

How we played the game

The game was phalanx like phalanx games should be. With a large phalanx. The Macedonians allowed themselves to be overlapped so their flanks were vulnerable. The Allied Greeks (my Allied Greeks) fought courageously. However, when we stopped (after 5 hours) the game was still a draw, but it was close and if we had played another 30 minutes one of the phalanxes had collapsed.

What I thought of this game

  • I liked it. Still I love the simplicity of DBA. Big Battle DBA (36 units, 3 players per side) will often meet my needs.
  • Rulebook looks good. Glamrock, the ancient way.
  • The coloured dice and cards might be ‘better’ than DBA. No need to check tables.
  • Instead, however, we often needed to check movement tables. Can my drilled pikes with these green cards wheel twice or just once?
  • Instead of a DBA combat modifier and quick calculations based on a combat results table we calculated the ‘better’ or the ‘worse’-graded dice. Not less simple or less complex than Barkers DBx-system, only different and more tangible.
  • The result was ‘historical’ and ‘believable’. I regard battles between a phalanx of riot police and hooligans as modern variants of these old Greek phalanx battles. Storm the line until one of the groups is exhausted.
  • The scenario was probably too slow and the rules too complex for Ancient-starters Carlos and Ruben. If you introduce new players, give them the quick and the dead, not the slow and the persistent.

In Amsterdam wargamen we weer as usual

Sinds juni is onze vaste stek, het buurthuis Pontania, weer open!

Omdat allerlei reguliere activiteiten zijn weggevallen, deels vanwege coronabeperkingen, deels vanwege zomer, hebben we zelfs de zaterdag én de zondag momenteel. We kunnen dus de spellen over het hele weekend verdelen. We kunnen (nog) niet met 20 man tegelijkertijd, maar wel 5 tafels, 8–10 personen (tegelijkertijd). Met passen en meten en goede afspraken is van alles mogelijk. Let wel (we herhalen het maar weer eens) op de websitereservering: die was er al en die blijft en we blijven er op hameren. Met de voorlopig wat meer beperkte capaciteit moeten we er echt streng op zijn. Kom je er niet uit, mail dan even.

We hopen snel terug naar normaal te gaan. Los van wat je als burger van deze corona-crisis vindt: als wargamer is een kwartaal zonder speeltafelgrappen, schuim op het bier en rollende dobbelstenen tamelijk saai: schilderen is leuk, gezelligheid nog meer.

Crisis Antwerpen gaat niet door jammer genoeg. Eltjo is echter bezig met Sharp Practice, Dino met 40K met zijn Battle Brothers-organisatie en misschien moeten we als club maar het voortouw nemen en een paar activiteiten organiseren, om weer wat leven in de Nederlandse wargame-brouwerij te brengen!

Verschillende nieuwe leden hebben zich aangemeld – we blijven groeien.

Hoe nuttig was de lockdown voor de plasticberg en hoe slecht voor de portemonnee? Ikzelf (uw webmeister) heb Mortem & Gloriam (Ancients) en Dark Horizon (SF) als nieuwe regelsets aangeschaft en 6mm Napoleontisch, 28mm Renaissance en 10mm SF geschilderd. Vandaag met Maarten met de speedpainted Renaissance-figuren een spel Donnybrook gedaan, een soort Blood & Plunder of Sharp Practice, musketiers, wuivende vederbossen, sabels en voor de gelegenheid wat spookachtige bokkenrijders, die ik uit een doosje fantasyclubfiguurtjes had gevist. Simpel en spannend tot de laatste dobbelsteen. Best herhaalbaar!

D-Day! A6S Wargame Club reopens in June!

Holland is slowly entering the lockdown-exit-phase. The Dutch government announced that under strict conditions small meetings inside buildings are allowed. Our club board conferred with the administration of the Pontania community club center where we have our meetings. This is our arrangement, for the next three months:

  • we can use the building during weekends, Saturday AND Sunday, IF we inform Pontania in advance. As club we will make a schedule, and contact players to open/close the building (YES! YOU TOO CAN BE A KEY MEMBER THIS SUMMER! :-))
  • we have a max of 4 tables and 12 players. Players keep distance.
  • only full club members are allowed in the building
  • you have to reserve in advance. Use the website. No booking? No entrance. Sorry for that, now.
  • we might introduce slots: 2hrs max and leave, so that others can use a table.
  • No food or drinks will be served, at least not in June and maybe until September. Pontania is not a bar or restaurant (with different sector rules). Strictly speaking, the building is the ‘sports canteen’ of the local leisure and walking club, and all sports canteens are officially closed until 1 September. We don’t want a 4000 euro fine for not strictly adhering. Hopefully the city council will relax the rules if Pontania can clarify to them that the building is in fact a community center with community activities.

We hope that we/Pontania can restart in full in September. The 1,5-meter rule might restrict operations for the moment, but the government is continuously reassessing the situation. No guarantees, but with more confidence, some day we’ll go back to normal. Old normal.

Post-Apoc Tips: Stay Healthy, Paint & Support Your Local Game Store!

What to do in times of corona?

First, thank God (or Buddha, Allah, Marx, Zeus, Elvis, Coincidence or whoever or whatever your favorite deity may be) that you’re healthy. Our very own Space Marine Dino K caught the infection and had a very tough time. But he was not the only one, Steven E also tested positive on corona and caught the flu and pneumonia, Steve appeared to recover first, but spent several days in the hospital. Read his FB story here. Dino and Steve are both back home again and we wish them a speedy full recovery!

All events are canceled, until, we think now, June.

Personally I must say that I miss the social side of gaming most. Fun, bad jokes, beer, rolling dice with friends, etc. True, painting and collecting rules and miniatures and reading books and blogs are important, but not very, for me it’s only a third of all the joy.

Anyway. Because optimism is the only antidote and people need distraction in crisis times, I share a few suggestions and links.

Free Wargames Rules

Wargamer.com publishes an index with links to free rules, link here.

Generic historical wargame rules

So you miss your buddies and your wife and kids are the only human beings around? Try the 1hr wargame rules. As easy as chess. Any opponent will understand the rules and I promise you a fun game. Link here, 12$ only. Found a free PDF on the web, btw, not sure about copyright.

HäT

The 1HW author recommends 1/72 miniatures that can be bought online in Holland from 1/72 specialist Miniatuurwereld (link), a company that also sells 28mm HäT and Victrix.

Ancients

The Plastic Soldier Company announced a 15mm kickstarter with the Mortem&Gloriam rules. The plastic models are remastered from quality metal miniatures, and cast in hardplastic Ultracast. The launch will be delayed, but Lurkio (the company from M&G-author Simon Hall) offered the hardcover rules with 50% discount for 20GBP, link here.

Dark Ages and Fantasy

No, we’re not sponsored by CCGwinkel, but during hard times, we think that small shopkeepers in Holland that work hard for their money need more support than big foreign companies. If you want to buy warriors for Saga, or fantasy miniatures, take a look at their new Wargames Atlantic range (link). Value for money – we Dutchmen like that.

Talking about fantasy: you can download the successful fantasy skirmish game Frostgrave for free.

Napoleonics

A free fastplay quick Napoleonic wargame that had positive reviews is 2×2 Napoleonics, available here. Game can be played with cards on a table, for example the free downloadable cards from Blücher. Or the cheap pewter 2mm units from Irregular, so far still in business.

WW2 and 40K

Again: Koopt Nederlandsche Waar! Tabletopper.nl sells a lot of stuff online, not only Bolt Action, Warlord Games, X-Wing but also 40K and the GW paints.

Tale of Painters

40K-fans: Tale of Painters is IMHO one of the best 40K-painting blogs.

Naval

League of Augsburg author/painter/manufacturer published a how-to-paint 1/2400 pewter sailships guide. Ships are from Tumbling Dice, 2,40 per model.

Board Games

Amsterdam Board Game specialist shop Friends & Foes is closed for visitors, but they deliver their stuff at home. F&F mostly sell quality board games. Miniature players might like their X-Wing stuff, their last Star Wars Legion stock and the miniature board games they sell.

And next year, when Amsterdam looks like the picture below, but worse – remember how beautiful 2019 was!

The Wibautstraat in 2021