What's it Owl about?

[Ian61]

Looking for inspiration for battles Greeks v Carthaginians I came across this an odd ref in Wikipedia about the Battle of White Tunis that I then chased down in Diodorus

3 Seeing that his soldiers were frightened by the great numbers of barbarian cavalry and infantry, he let loose into the army in many places owls, which he had long since prepared as a means of relieving the discouragement of the common soldiers. 4 The owls, flying through the phalanx and settling on the shields and helmets, encouraged the soldiers, each man regarding this as an omen because the bird is held sacred to Athena.�26 5 Such things as this, although they might seem to some an inane device, have often been responsible for great successes.

Not something I would have thought of doing. Has anyone come across similar references?
Should I be looking for models of owls to field with my 10mm Greeks?   
(they might be a tad small to paint easily!

[Justin Swanton]

As an opponent, I would definitely call a fowl.

[Erpingham]

So, was this a wizarding army?

[Ian61]

So, was this a wizarding army?

Well it seems to have worked its magic as the Greeks won!

[Justin Swanton]

So, was this a wizarding army?

Well it seems to have worked its magic as the Greeks won!

Methinks the Carthaginians decided that warfare was for the birds.

Edit: the clincher was the Greeks who clearly made up their minds they were owl in.

[Keraunos]

My son has given me a 28mm figure of Athena bounding across the battlefield with an owl about to release from her raised hand.  I'll have to paint it up if owls are that potent!

[CarlL]

On a serious gaming note, I think Ian61 has hit upon an aspect of history that we neglect in our tabletop games: ie beliefs and the impact of omens.

So like Justin using his pre-battle mini campaign game to identify the battle terrain for our tabletop, perhaps we need a simple system to elicit the omens for each army and whose omens are most inspiring for our tin men. It could be a very simple pre-game action, perhaps like the game of 'scissors, stone, paper, dynamite' where there is a circular hierarchy of potency. The winning team gaining an advantage in the forthcoming battle. Given the story of the Owls it is perhaps a morale ascendency or edge to the more powerful omens.

How could this be played out? I can really only try to demonstrate this from thinking about rules I know well.

In Armati it might be to increase the winners army breakpoint value by 1.

In DBA straight the winner's army will only be beaten on losing 4+1 elements.

In DBMM it might mean giving the winner's army an improved total Morale Equivalent breakpoint?

I will leave you to suggest similar from your favoured or most played rulesets.

CarlL

[Mark G]

I'm wondering if Wisdom of Athena might ge better expressed as a plus 1 to initiative rolls, than to army BP, Carl

[CarlL]

Indeed Mark.
Although I was thinking the owl story shows the army being given more courage to fight on against overwhelming enemy odds so a BP +1 might better reflect this.
But either could work.
Just think of the fun aspect at a Glasgow Armati tourney of olde, you get your randomly allocated battlefield, and armies then find you have to play another mini game for bragging rights omen wise!!
CarlL

[Mark G]

Mate, we're all decamping to Rome at the end of May for the Giro de Armati week.

If you can blag a weeks holiday, PM me and I'll put you in the picture.

[CarlL]

Mark,
changes in the health needs at Casa Carl e Maggy mean I won't be jetting off or going far from home over next 12 months... but thank you for the offer
CarlL

[Nick Harbud]

In 'Alala! the Wisdom of Athena card increases the Leader's Command Points by 1.

 

[Ian61]

That's a great point Nick. And there are blank cards provided in the Alala! set. I suspect one will become a 'Release the Owls' card.

[Keraunos]

There will always be the owls of outrage when plans go pear-shaped.

[Mark G]

Stay safe Carl.