PARADE GROUND 20mm: Strength & Honour First Blood

When I first heard of Strength & Honour, before its release, it immediately appealed to me. Being both grid based, focussed on large scale battles and set in the Roman era it hit just about everything I look for. Leading to its release there were quite a few promotional videos on YouTube including a play through of the rules, which all presented extremely well how the rules work. So I ended up buying the hardcopy not long after its release but with gaming time being hard come by its taken until now to learn them for myself!

SET UP

After knocking up some basic "Setback" and "Disaster" cards along with a few unit labels I was ready to set it up and get my head round the rules. I divided the table into 9cm squares 16x10, which had every other corner marked with my round terrained washers. I had already chosen the armies; Rome had 4 x Legions of varying quality, 2 x Cavalry and 2 x Skirmishers to be distributed to the Legions. The Greeks had 2 x Pike Phalanxes flanked by Thureophoroi on one side and Imitation Legionaries on the other, the flanks were covered by Cataphracts on their right and Cavalry on their left lead by a general. I also had 2 x Open Order Warbands which were left in reserve due to the constriction of the battlefield and not wanting to provide a mass of troops to be pushed back into. In hindsight skirmishers would have been more useful, but this was more of an exercise in learning the rules. With the low number of units I gave each unit 4 bases to give them a bit more mass.

THE BATTLE

The Greeks started the battle with 6 command points and the Romans 4.

The Greeks started and used a movement command point to advance as a group moving 2 squares, Rome mirrored this movement.

Greek cataphracts fail to activate, while on the other flank the Greek cavalry charged the Roman Cavalry but the combat was a stand. The infantry move as a group once again expending another movement command. With all Greeks activated the Romans now activate.

The left most Legion charges the Thurephoroi, the Legion rolls a crunch, this is negated by the Thureophoroi's defence roll. However one of the Roman skirmish lines were dispersed. The next Legion facing the Phalanx manages to advance pushing the pikes back but the Romans stay put to maintain the integrity of the battle line. Next the Veteran Legion facing the Veteran Phalanx have a similar outcome save for a lost line of skirmishers.

Next up was the Raw Legion, who after failing to activate for a charge mistakenly used a movement command point to reroll! The Raw Legion's officers were merely improvising and adjusting the commanders original plan! The Imitation Legionaries were pushed back 2 squares, again the Romans stand firm to maintain the battle line but losing a skirmish line.

Roman success continues and the Roman Cavalry push back the Greek Cavalry 2 squares and then peruses them. The Roman Cavalry facing the Cataphracts inflict a crunch on them, however the extra defence dice crucially manage to negate the crunch.

It was all for nought as the first activation for the Greeks, the Cataphracts were repulsed by the Romans. Falling back 3 squares and failing the discipline test, a defence command was used to reroll and pass but it was the beginning of the end for the Greeks.

Rome now began their next phase much like their previous one and began to systematically to thrash the Greeks. The left Legion crunch the Thureophoroi who were unable to defend this time, Roman skirmish line lost again. The next Legion advances pushing back the Phalanx, losing a skirmish line in the process.

Despite having an advantage over the Veteran Phalanx the Veteran Legion had a bad combat roll, however the attached general spurred them on with a reroll which ended with another Roman advance pushing the pikes back 2 squares. Again the Roman skirmish line was expended. The Raw Legion pushed back the Imitation Legionaries losing their skirmishers in the process.

The final attack against the Cataphracts pushed them off the field inflicting a disaster against the Greeks. The Roman allied cavalry did not purse, ready to start turning the Greek flank at their next activation. At this point Homunculus Est! was called, 9 set back cards and 1 disaster card totalling 20, breaking the Greek army.

POST BATTLE THOUGHTS

It was decidedly a one sided affair, the Greeks when about to make their combat activations were robbed by the very early reversal of fortune, with Fortuna being firmly on the side of Rome who breezed through all their combats and despite the Greeks keeping good order by passing all their discipline checks. The Greeks foolishly were too defensive pooling too many commands in preparation for discipline checks, while neglecting attack rolls depending entirely on the cruel fates. The Cataphracts being the poorest performing unit on the field was exacerbated by the Roman Allied Cavalry being the best performing! Those two full and very successful phases against the Greeks who were unable to respond in kind made it a quick battle.

I very much liked how the game flows, there are not too many modifiers to learn or check for and I feel like I was picking up the game quite easily. The flow of the game feels like a narrative of battle the various activations show the battle unfolding event by event. Also plays great solo and didn't take too long to play despite the checking of rules on this first play through!

I'm looking forward to playing Strength & Honour again. I need to get the QRS printed and make some better labels for the units. I can quite easily accommodate a larger battle fields by making 1 base 1 unit and making the squares smaller. When I get more familiar with the rules I think it would be good to try larger battles.