Battle of Actium

I took a brief digression from my aviation kick, thanks to Little Wars TV.

I decided to do my own MicroBattle version.

Set Up

In their version, LWTV put multiple ships on a base and called it a squadron. Multiple squadrons formed a division. They ended up with 16 and 24 squadrons for the 2 fleets.

I don't have that many bases so I scaled down. Each base represented approximately 4 squadrons.

I classified the squadrons thusly:

• Octavian's Caesarian fleet - 2 light galleys, 4 medium galleys
• Marc Antony and Cleopatra's fleet - 1 heavy galley, 3 medium galleys, 1 merchant

I represent the different types of galleys this way.

• Light galleys - 6 ships per base
• Medium galleys - 4 ships per base
• Heavy galleys - 3 ships per base.

I was short a base of medium galleys for the Caesarians so I used a heavy galley base. However, I treated it as medium galleys.

The Battle

Marc Antony (with yellow marker) and a fleet of quinqueremes (medium galleys) sally forth from the harbor, shielding Cleopatra (with dark green marker) and her treasure ships (off board). The Caesarian fleet approaches.

Note: Due to the restricted size of the board, I started the treasure ships and half the Caesarian fleet off the board.

The Eastern fleet takes up blocking positions while Antony and Cleopatra make a break for the open sea. The Caesarian biremes (light galleys) pursue Cleopatra.

And overhaul her. But Cleopatra's big galleys wreak havoc among the lighter biremes.. On the left, the Caesarians drive off the defenders and make a beeline for Antony.

The Caesarians block Antony while pushing back on the right.

Antony and Cleopatra under heavy attack.

Then disaster. The Caesarians wipe out 3 of their opponent's divisions, capturing Antony and Cleopatra!

A decisive victory for Octavian!

Game Notes

• Little Wars TV used a variant of Hail Caesar for their rules. This inspired me to use a variant of MicroBattle big battle rules.
• I used the big battle retreat rules. A lot of push backs occurred in the game. I wonder if that would be appropriate for galley battles. 
• The offset squares were a hassle. The counters did not fit inside them when facing diagonally. For fleet battles, I think a regular square grid will work better.
• I also wonder if I should use smaller counters. Maybe 20mm instead of 25mm?
• I need more medium sized ships!