6mm Trojan Wars: Partizan 2024 Show Preview #1

The Partizan show in May at Newark Showground is one of the gaming highlights of my year, and we usually get the Morris & Chums group together to put on a game or two.

Tom WD got us onto the cunning/ unhinged idea of displaying in two scales at once back in 2017 (where we ran the WW1 Battle of Oppy Wood in both 12mm and glorious 54mm), and it resurfaced last year when I put together a Midgard double-header of 28mm Norse Myth (The Rainbow Bridge) and 15mm Early Medieval (The Battle of Degsastan 603).

As the forthcoming Midgard Heroic Battles* is very flexible on figure scale and setting, it’s nice to be able to demonstrate it with two different periods and sizes on the same table. This year’s ‘smaller’ game is the Trojan War in 6mm, featuring Hector and Achilles duking it out in front of the walls of Troy on a 3 x 4′ layout.

*early caveat: the rules are still in layout and I’m waiting for news about release dates. Hopefully I’ll know more by Partizan.

This game is run with two 300 point Forces (the recommended starting size for a game of Midgard – you can read more about Force sizes and composition here).

These were as follows:

GREEK FORCE

Diomedes (Level 3 Major Hero, Army Commander)

Achilles (Level 4 Legendary Hero)

Patroclus (Level 2 Minor Hero)

5 Units of Spearmen (Warriors)

2 Units of Myrmidons (Warriors)

2 Units of Archers/ Slingers (Skirmishers)

2 Units of Chariots (Light Riders)

TROJAN FORCE

Hector (Level 3 Major Hero, Army Commander)

Aeneas (Level 2 Minor Hero)

Sarpedon (Level 2 Minor Hero)

Polydamas (Level 1 Champion)

4 Units of Spearmen (Warriors)

2 Units of Lycians (Warriors)

3 Units of Archers (Skirmishers)

2 Units of Chariots (Light Riders)

Heroes in Midgard Heroic Battles need Mighty Deed markers. For 28mm gaming, we place these by the side of the Hero miniatures on the table, but for smaller scales, it works well to have them recorded on a card at the side.

For our play test game, the Greeks (played by chum Martin) decided to go aggressive and sent everyone forward.

Achilles threw an early charge with his chariots at their Trojan opposite numbers; his momentum carried the Trojans away, but in a twist of fate, he was wounded by a javelin in the melee.

Trojan Hero Polydamas, son of Panthous, boldly led the remaining Trojan chariots into Achilles and found himself being challenged to single combat by the greatest warrior of them all. Polydamas didn’t wish to lose Reputation by turning down such an opportunity, despite the fact that it was likely to be a fatal honour!

However, the Gods were most certainly not with Achilles; cautiously holding back a couple of his Mighty Deeds for a future turn, the Greek Hero fluffed his (numerous) combat dice. With a mighty flourish – and some more fortunate dice – Polydamas dispatched the wounded Achilles with a sword thrust to the heel. This sent tremors through the Greek Force as the goblet of Reputation suddenly emptied – but was it half empty, or half full?

The Trojan right flank was crumbling – Sarpedon’s unit broke and ran, leaving the Lycian Hero high and dry! He was lucky to survive the attentions of the Achaean slingers…

Having lucked out and dodged the sling stones, Sarpedon did what any Homeric Hero would do and charged Patroclus’s spearmen. Naturally, a challenge was issued and accepted. The Heroes clashed shields before Sarpedon dispatched the luckless Patroclus with a spear thrust to the neck…’and darkness engulfed his eyes’, as Homer would have put it.

With this loss, the Greek goblet of Reputation was empty, and the game was over. The Achaeans began to flee back to their black ships, hotly pursued by the victorious Trojans.

We both enjoyed the game which could have gone either way, although the fateful loss of Achilles early in the battle paved the way for the Trojan chariots to encirlcle the Greek right flank.

We look forward to replaying the battle at Partizan!