Well, it is over! After weeks of preparing the scenario, painting miniatures and building scenery (the last stroke on my Germanic warlord was made on Friday at 23:30 h!) I drove to Hamburg TACTICA on Saturday morning.
This it what our table looked like at the show. Sire G. designed the beautiful display stand. A lot of equipment was done by me, but sold to other people and kindly lent to me for the show. The boards are Alex’s (of LAF fame), made by my friend Grimm. Scenario and adaptation of the Triumph & Tragedy rules into “Triumphus et Tragoedia” were written by the keen hands of Niko (thanks again, mate, bloody good job!). Here is a synopsis of the story behind the game:
The year 400: Germania Secunda is suffering under the charge of pagan barbarians. Local dux Titus Sempronius Flavus is trying to grab some quick money before the retreat – dangerous gambling, since Hæthelmar and his men are already at the gates. And he still has an axe to grind with Titus…
In short: The Romans had to escort a cart, ladden with gold, to the opposing table edge. It would take too long to explain the setting in detail, I will write an article for Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy magazine, so you will have to wait until it is finished. Now, one day after the show, I can say that I am very pleased with our game. We had four games, two won by the Romans and two won by the Germans. The participants were great, they played in a very enthusiastic yet non-competitive manner. Thanks to all of you! I really enjoyed umpiring the games, and Niko also loved it!
Some in-game pics to tease you:
Roman scolae cavalry entering the fray
The Romans’ initial deployment
Aunt Olivia watching the spectacle
The Germans emerging from the woods
Will the cavalrymen save the cart?
Another reason why I like TACTICA so much is the reunion with all my gaming lads spread all over Germany (and one from the Netherlands, the crazy Dutchman GeBoom), and of course the traders! This year I stuck to my budget, and only spent money on stuff I really “need” (well, I will more likely ever paint). I now have a whole jungle made by Grimm for a very reasonable price for a little project I plan for this year – I am not very sure about it, so decided to make up a table FIRST before I buy any miniatures.
The other major investement were AWI related stuff. Perry and Foundry miniatures, Pegasus’ superb loghouse kits and the Muskets & Tomahawks rulebook. This is a project I am really looking forward to, because it is a joint venture of many cool gamers I like.
I will now show some teaser pics and then give you some links to more pics, as I did not take many photos.
More photos will appear on the TACTICA homepage soon, at Moiterei’s bunte Welt, at Reaktor Miniatures and over at Sweetwater. There are lots of more pics to come, I will update the links soon.
That is it for now, I will get some good night’s rest now,
Bye
Jan
At the Mountains of Lead 
Thank you Jan and Nico. Chris and me enjoyed our game a lot and even on the highway on our way back home we still debated the quite cinematic scene when Tribunus Titus attacked the Goth riders on his own and the ‘Gladiator’ like fight that followed. Maybe you should rename him Russelus Corvus 😉 Looking forward to our next get together. May I assume you’ll come to Partizan Con in November?
Yes, it was a great game with cinematic events! You two are great gamers, I hope we will get to arrange our Late Antiquity meeting soon, but as with Partizan
I can not make any promises, because my second child will be born in April. Time will be an even rarer good I fear…
Exelent looking demo game you run Jan !
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Best regards Michael
Thank you Michael, I am really happy you and many others like the set up! Due to my bad time management it nearly drove me crazy this little project!
Fantastic work, Gentlemen!! This looks like a wonderful game, with great scenery, fine figures and some wonderful information and handouts for the players. Top notch stuff!!! Well done indeed!
Sidney, you really have to come over to Hamburg with the other Lardies next year! It would be an honour having you gaming with our figures!
It was a fantastic looking table Jan and a great game! Your hospitality was 1st class and like Nick said we enjoyed ourselves immensely!
Drop me an e-mail about an AWI group project you mentioned to me.
Christopher
I will contact you as soon as I recover from the Tactica blues! I also enjoyed the Game, and to talk to two Late antiquity lunatics like me was very inspiering.
Jan
Excellent looking pictures!!
Thanks mate!
Great pics and nice report from the TACTICA, thanks Jan! You guys did a superb job with this presentation and miniatures 🙂 I am glad that the results were so balanced. After our game I wondered if it was a little too tricky for the Romans to get the cart off the table!
See you
Felix
Yes it is a tough scenario for the Romans. But we adjusted it a little bit to make it achiveable for the Romans. Very fast moving was the key to succes. Or godlike dice rolling, but that always helps I guess! See you on Thursday mate!
Spitzen mäßige Präsentation und wunderbare Bemalung!!!
Danke Michel! Hat auch außerordentlich Spaß gemacht!
Gruß
Jan