The sun slid down behind the distant ranges, casting a golden hue in olive glades and on the crumbling white marble of a Temple of Zeus high on the slopes of Mount Erymanthos, where Achaea disappears into the high wilderness of Arcadia. Among the stones, ancient even in the time of great Sparta, a rank of hoplites formed up upon the crumbling steps, bronze swords bathing the light. Behind them, a small band of shepherds whirled their small but powerful slings.
Not far away, darkling forces stalked the land - and the thump of hooves and glimpses of whispering green spirits in the trees suggested the arrival of the denizens of the forest-tangled plateau to reclaim this lonely, sacred space for their own licentious rituals….
*********
My first ever OGAM game, played at the Perth miniature Gamers' Group, last night, went off with a bang (and some flashes of lightning!) The table was scattered ruins among hills clad in olive groves and cypress trees.
A Force of Spartan Hoplites, drawn to this wild place by the hero Herakles, and giving homage to Zeus, took on a host of Arcadia, lead by Pan himself. Herakles had brought with him the captive Cerberus from his twelfth Labour.
Pan had assembled a band of drunken Centaurs, led by Chiron, and the forest whispered and chuckled with the sweet, mocking laughter of Dryads like tinkling mountain stream. A Minotaur, freed from some hellish mountain labyrinth, lumbered along, dragging his chains across the rocks and bellowing in rage.
Cerberus soon subdued the Minotaur, sending the tortured beast on it’s way to Hades, and Zeus struck with lightning, enraged at the violation of this sacred place…a centaur vanished in this burst of energy called from the echoing storms of the mountains themselves.
Pan danced onto the scene, piping an infernal tune to attempt to Transfix the shepherd-boys, but they were solid, practical folk, and were not easily swayed by the music. Eventually, however, they succumbed to his charms, standing Awed and Transfixed as the Great God approached with his mighty spear, skewering and spiking them even as they listened enchanted...
Meanwhile Herakles waded into battle, swinging his colossal club, felling Dryads like lumber, and sent them reeling back into the woods, but not before they had entangled Cerberus, grappling and strangling the slavering beast in a fatal nest of leaves and twigs.
As the centaurs swirled around, their breath heavy with the sickly scent of mountain wine and their hooves throwing up dust into the golden evening sky, Zeus confronted Pan on the very steps of the Temple. There was a clash of lightning, a peel of thunder which turned to an unearthly laughter, the rending of ancient stones, and Zeus was gone, leaving behind a shattered statue where once a God had strode.
From atop the weed-choked steps Pan turn his smiling visage upon the hoplites, who were formed up in ranks, their swords dripping with blood, having repelled the first centaur onslaught. Was it doom for the horse-people, trapped between the Spartan shield-wall and the club of Herakles?
No! The centaurs pushed back in a tide of drunken desperation, and Herakles disappeared beneath their hooves in a frenzy of stabbing spears…The Spartans, uttered increasingly desperate invocations to summon back their God, but Zeus was smarting on Olympus, and left them to their fate in utter silence...
That night the forest echoed to the obscene cavorting of the Host of Arcadia with the singing of songs and empty darkness staring out from the blood-stained helmets of fallen warriors.
Some pics.
1) Zeus and his followers prepare to receive the charge:
2) A God defends his sacred ground:
3) Cerberus
4) Wildling forces close in:
5) Shepherd boys sling stones as Chiron leads the charge. From the glades behind, the Dryads emerge...
6) The Hoplite shieldwall tries to invoke their banished God as Herakles makes his last stand. Pan looks on.
7) With victory assured, the wild rumpus can begin...
********
Excellent game - hopefully the first of many. It see-sawed back and forth, at one moment it seemed as if Zeus’ force had the upper hand, the next Pan’s host held sway. I've had the rules for a while and it was a long wait to get the figures onto the table and the dice rolling. I painted up both forces (at moment can field a maximum of 2 x 800 points forces which got us going). It's the first of the 'Ganesha engined' games I've played and I liked it a lot. Plenty of colour and flavour, and great narrative result.
Next is to paint up my Celtic force.
Graham
Welcome, Guest. Please 
April 19, 2024, 08:57:41 PM
June 23, 2013, 09:27:50 AM
