Play Testing Clash Of Empires (CoE)

 This weekend a friend and I finally sat down to play a wargame. This has been a sore subject for many years as my busy life hasn't allowed many free gaming days off, so when I finally got one, we both jumped at the chance to throw some dice at each other.

My friend and I have always been big WABites but after Forge World assassinated the game we gravitated towards CoE. The two rule sets are not too dissimilar and CoE has ascended to fill the void left by the great but doomed WAB.

We have a good wargaming dynamic, my friend and I, he learns the rules whereas I paint the scenery and figures.This works well to a point until I get carried away painting Romans and can't paint anything else for six years. They are great though, aren't they, and so addictive to paint.

Well the day came at last but as it turned out, I was looking after the baby as well as commanding thousands of screaming angry Celts, this I thought could be done...I was wrong. After years of painting and waiting, painting and waiting when the day came, my friend and I were totally out of our depth.

The resulting game was one of bad dice blunders and mistakes in using the rules. However I did get to use my Celtic army for the first time and roll hundreds of dice and take lots of photos! Still a cracking day.

 My Celtic force turned up and lined the valley. The Roman general couldn't believe his luck when the Celtic horde finished getting into position. The infantry had completely filled the open ground to the centre of the valley, pushing the large contingents of horse into the woodland on the skirts of the hills. Well, there was much sword waving and shield banging going on and once everyone was in place they weren't moving unless it was straight toward the enemy.

 All the figures were so dusty from their time in the cabinet it was quite heartbreaking. Keeping them in shallow airtight boxes is definitely the way forward.

 I actually got to use some slingers for the first time, these single mounted figures were bought off eBay a few years back. They proved to be very nasty against armour...If only I got better dice rolls.

The trouble stirring druid Gealoc and his elite band of headhunters prepared themselves for battle with the usual anti-Roman chants.