Remote Wargame in the Sumer(ian) time.

 

Yesterday evening I took part in a wargame hosted remotely by Jonathan Freitag of  https://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/  along with three other members of the Virtual Wargames Group (set up using Zoom during Covid so numerous wargamers across the globe could catch up, chat, do show and tells and so forth). The group is still going strong and we ‘meet’ every Saturday at 16:30 BST for a chinwag. Jon has also taken to offering to run games remotely using Zoom, and I was fortunate enough to be invited to take part. Jon is in Spokane WA, I am on Teesside, and the other players were Stephen in E Yorkshire and Doug and Alan a bit north of Edinburgh or thereabouts.

The game this week was a battle between two Sumerian armies, using Basic Impetus on a hex cloth for ease of movement ent and reference. Once I was into the game the hexes were unobtrusive and certainly were a great help in keeping the game going. Even better for keeping it going was Jon, who as umpire applied his seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the rules in order to keep us on the straight and narrow. I’d never used Basic Impetus but have used Impetus Baroque (which worked well and provided an enjoyable game but gave me a headache).

Here a few photos I took off my monitor. Doug and I are at the bottom of the screen. Before anyone asks the cotton wool denotes a war cart in motion. Important as they take time to start and get up to full speed and to slow down and stop again. 

Doug and I faced Stephen and Alan. Very briefly, our side went storming forward. My sub-commander got stuck in and drove his mule-power war cart pedestrianaly fast through a couple of enemy units before coming a cropper when a flank attack against some enemy spearmen failed and he was destroyed. A similar fate lay in wait for Doug’s sub-commander, enough for our CinC to be heard to mutter that ‘there’s something wrong with our bloody battle carts today!’

It all got very messy and the fortunes of battle ebbed and flowed all evening with much cheerful sledging going on, until the enemy army gave way. We won, but I’m not totally sure how. Our dice rolling was probably not quite as bad as the enemy’s. This was a great game and a splendid way to spend a Tuesday evening ( or I guess morning for Jonathan?) and I look forward to the opportunity of taking part in another game soon. It may be even something I can take part in when I am next in India.

Again, a very big thanks to Jonathan for running the game. It was great!