What I love and adore about this channel is that the wargames are always set against the historical context. It never feels like "look at the fun little soldiers" but as a true exploration of history.
I love their summarizing that keeps the tabletop battle to only a few minutes. Instead of other channel's "battle reports" that spend an hour showing every excruciating piece move and dice roll.
Boys please never take such a long hiatus again. It’s been too long and u guys single-handedly push the hobby into the mainstream. Many other channels are great but yours is the best and closer to my heart the first. I’ve had the great pleasure of meaning many of you at hmgs events in PA. I can’t wait to get home just in time for fall in
Really love the Rome Total War music being used. Adds to the feel of an ancient battle. One account I can really picture of a Naval Commander using a rowboat to go from one ship to another was the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812 where Oliver Hazard Perry abandoned the USS Lawrence and transferred his flag to the USS Niagara to continue the fight.
The more I learn about Cleopatra and Antony, the more I think Antony was an idiot, and by extension Cleopatra was an idiot for trusting that he knew what he was doing. I read that in their time in Egypt waiting to face down Octavian, Cleopatra was considering leaving for some of her relatives in the east to both put some distance from Romes area of influence, get some familial financial support, as well as recruit from areas that still had recruits worthy of the effort. And apparently she stuck around because Antony was so certain he could fend off Octavian easily when he arrived in Egypt, and he refused to come with because he was so certain of his victory. And then the army he was so certain would fend off or even defeat Octavian essentially disintegrated.
I think my favorite part of ancient naval battles, in history and in terms of tabletop playability, is that the ships are small enough and their draft shallow enough that fights can happen close enough to shore for terrain to matter.
I don't know if comments are considered, but I'd love a recreation of the battle of Alesia by LittleWarsTV, as it could have a very interesting dynamic on the board
They're ba - ack! Great batrep and lots of interesting history. I like the pre-game strategic decisions, and the rules sound very cool. And the miniatures look wonderful. Well done.
It's great to see you all back in the saddle with videos. The game looked great, and the narration was superb. Thanks for doing what you do to grow the hobby.
Genuinely very excited by this, and having Dr Goldsworthy on the channel, who has written some of the best books on the Hellenistic and Republican Roman period
I had the pleasure to play this game at historicon it was a great experience. I was not as found of the rule set as not being able to play from command roles can be un fun but it does add a realistic flavor
Great game and glad the fellas are back. Was rooting for Chalgrippa and OctDAVian lol. Zack attack almost pulled it off. Remember though you can't have Antony without TONY lol
I need a Roman Civil War Campaign from you guys like the Epirus one, that would be great. A lot to choose from: you could do Caesar vs Pompey, the 2nd Triumvirate vs Caesar’s Assassins, or Antony vs Octavian
Great video! Love the historical context! Leaving on the modern day town on the gulf entrance where the battle took place this video was of particular interest to me!
Your doctor at the outset is very good. Gonna get one of his books may start with the one advertised. The attached history makes your videos great. Very much enjoy these thanks for posting.
Awesome choice and a nice fight. One thing to consider doubt the Ceasarian side knew that Anthony and the Egyptians were gonna attempt to escape and sacrifice there army and navy in order to do so. Sort of changes how both sides fight this scenario. Very neat to see it though.
This seems like a really dynamic and fun system. As much as i enjoy a good competitive game where skill and cunning are 90% likely to win the day, im more for dice driven results (not to say generalship doesn't matter here) for the majority of my casual, at-home games these days. Thanks for the free rules!
Actium is very challenging battle for the player of Marc Antony if we take everything in account. It would be even more interesting if he could win it in one way or another if Cleopatra is not leaving the battlefield with her ships. Following the historical events it is very obvious which is Marc Antony's plan to escape the outcome of the fighting with his queen... Nice to see you gaming the battle. I'm not a friend of rolling so many dice, but I see the benefit of it for these rules. Great video!
Excellent video as always! I was playing Rome: TW (House Julii ftw) when I pressed play on this video. I was really confused at first when I started hearing the game soundtrack because I had my PC muted so I could watch/listen to this video on another device😂
LEPANTO - Another LARGE FLEET GALLEY BATTLE with about 100 gallies per side would do well with this Battle-System of a unit of ships representing lots-of-ships (in a single stand of ships) ! :-)
It's always puzzled me how involved Cleopatra VII was with the battles that ended up signaling the fall of Egypt. She'd have been much more valuable maintaining morale and cohesion within Egypt, and letting Antony plan the battles. Then again, as Dr. Goldworthy points out, Antony wasn't really the right guy for the job anyway, so maybe it was doomed either way.
It was mostly Aggripa's genius of naval strategy that allowed such an easy victory. The egyptian navy power was strong, and powerful, as was Anthony's army. The problem was that they weren't able to counter Aggripa's convoy raids as cherry picked supply postings (defensive resupply depots and minor fortifications) that slowly wittled Anthony's ability to supply his men. I would go so far as to say no one was more than conventionally competent, with Anthony being bellow par. But without Agrippa's efforts in directing his fleets (one which was very outnumbered before this battle as they lost the mojority of the fleet to a storm) , there would not have been a second successful landing in Greece.
I believe he was also featured in the History Channel series “Decisive Battles” back in 2004 that used Rome Total War to showcase ancient battles. Loved that show.
@@michaelstein7510 i may have to have a look for that too! i know they were also in the more recent 2016 series of TC which is very hard to find as BBC seem to have hidden it away in their vaults!!
By Caesar's ghost that was an awesome episode. Very interesting, I got a little better understanding and feel for this epic battle. I could literally smell the blood and salt in the air. Always a treat to see and hear DR Goldsworthy, I could listen to him for hours. Also I was shocked to see a Roman commander wearing a pro Hannibal shirt, but I am interested in purchasing one. Wondering where you got it from ? Well keep up the excellent work gentlemen and keep rolling 6's.
Yes! Welcome back. My inner-strategy-child is happy. Seeing the clips/images from Rome just reminds me of 1) How much I loved that series and 2) how much I wished that series had a bigger budget to show that battle... Great battle, glad to see Antony and Cleopatra get away.
Shakespear's Anthony has rizz. Me: Yeah that's cool , I guess. Real Life Anthony is all posturing but is incompetent. Me: MY SPIRIT ANIMAL! I wonder if he had imposter syndrome.
He seems to have been a good subordinate commander under Caesar, but not a great campaign strategist. He also had a disastrous campaign against the Parthians. He and Cleopatra probably would have been better off hunkering down in the East instead of engaging Octavian’s forces in Greece.
I had the pleasure of playing this game at Historicon with Greg. Both sides made the same pre-game decisions, I was Marc Antony but Cleo and I decided to take a more Roman approach than history and fight it out while trying to slip Cleopatra away - very similar to what Zach was doing but our main battle was further to the west (Zach's right). I got pummeled for my efforts, but it looked like Cleopatra might have had an easier flight away when we timed out (the player with her fleets had the same problem with activations). The VP outcome was about the same as here, not good for me. Great fun though, and great players at the convention and fun to play and meet with Greg. Lovely little ships too!
You guys definitely had a much clearer shot to get Cleopatras entire division-with the treasure-off table. And that would likely have won you the game with a decent die roll for the treasure VP value!
Good to see you back! Another greay video, I have only one gripe, there is a lot of audio noise during the gameplay scenes I hope it will get better in newer videos.
Good use of Rome: Total War music! I wish you explained a bit more of the scenario proper, for those less familiar with scenario. How the Antonian forces ended up with the loads of treasure they’re escorting away, and such. Great stuff regardless!
I am glad you mentioned a future video on prep-painting, building etc the miniatures. If you could add this in with game play that would be most beneficial. Given the upcoming big 210th anniversaries of War of 1812 battles around DC, Baltimore, and New Orleans do you have plans to cover that period? Thanks.
HOW TO MAKE FIRE COTTON - After seeing the columns of Black Smoke with red paint on the bottom to represent FIRE I remembered HOW TO MAKE FIRE COTTON pieces with YELLOW, ORANGE, and RED yarn - cut short pieces of EACH COLOR then tear into FIBERS then COMBINE (twisting, pulling) the 3 colors of these FIBERS into NEW Rough Strands of FIRE COTTON BALLS ! They looks Really Nice on SHIPS, TANKS, BUILDINGS on the tabletop - some of the guys around here (K.C. Mo.) actually SELL PIECES of IT at local conventions for those that don't want to make their own ( the time involved ) ! Try it ? :-)
Ever think of shrimp, or a plate of shrimp, and someone says something about "A plate of shrimp?" It's the great universal unconscience. But really, I was thinking about the Battle of Actium today, searched Little Wars TV, and behold--this very day, there this was. Don't drive, though. Driving makes you stupid.
Love little wars it's better than the rest of them i would love to see you guys do Gettysburg again with a different twist have the union launch a counter attack after Pickets charge to see if the union could really have defeated Lee for good on that day hope little was T.V sees this
One of the greatest “what ifs” of the war. Meade was widely criticized for not doing so, though most historians agree he was prudent not to do so. The Army of the Potomac was itself badly bloodied and missing several corps commanders by July 4. Would be a wonderful scenario
You know... It would be funny if you guys played dungeons and dragons I mean you have all the terrian and a bunch of Viking minis, you just need like mythical creatures. Love the channel its come so far, I think I have been watching sense the D-Day episode, its been a fantastic journey. I hope to meet you guys at a convention one day, keep it up!
Done right: voice overs, explanation rules, screen shots. Need improvent, turns of game time, ie how many left, what ends the battle. What is destroyed ie sunk, units/ships. Details on victory cond, not just "its x points". Overall gg, and velcome back.
