Lost Battles

I have been a bit quiet on here because I have trying to learn how to play Lost Battles, designed by Prof. P. Sabin and published by Fifth Column Games

I am onto my second battle and I must admit it is a brilliant game to play.

The best way to describe this game is a cross-over wargame, as it has aspects found in tabletop wargaming, mixed with a bit of hex and counter wargames, with a splash of area movement, but it works really well.

The games comes with loads of 4" square terrain tiles (different terrain types) which are laid out in a 5x4 grid, using the correct terrain as per the scenario you are playing, along with the cardboard counters. (there are over 30 scenarios!)

Each army is limited in how many command points it gets at the start of their turn, which is dependent on how many units they have left on the field, and these can be used to do various actions with individual units or groups. Movement and attack are from tile to tile, and each scenario games last 9 turns, or 10 turns if using the deployment option.

At the end of the game, victory points are calculated, where they have a unique handicap formula so as not to make it impossible for a smaller army to lose all the time.

Although the game plays in a slightly abstract way, this allows the game to demonstrate the difficulties these armies had and the differences with fighting with different classes of soldiers (veteran, average or levy) and the different types (legion, hoplite, cavalry, elephants etc).

I really enjoyed playing this game. It has loads of replay value, games can be played in an evening, and gives me a good chance to really analyze these actual battles in detail, as the game has been designed to express a high degree of historical accuracy and feel (if you know what I mean). Although a 2 player game, it is well suited for solo play.

It also contains an additional game called Empire, which is more of a campaign game around the great clashes of the Ancient World, and is a reprint of the original which can still be bought from the Society of Ancients website.

If you like your ancient battles, this is a must (in my opinion), but they are hard to come buy and can be expensive to buy second hand.