Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I ran a scenario of Thermopylae over the weekend at a local convention (Gamex, for those in southern California) as support for our chapter of HMGS-PSW. I’ve written up the whole scenario below for those interested, just look at the post before this appropriately titled Thermopylae (sneaky I know).

I ran the scenario a couple times throughout the day as it is a relatively short game (a little over 2 hours once things get going) and had a load of fun doing it. Here are the pictures I managed to take during the event.

Click on pictures to make them bigger!

The Spartans and allies defend the pass while the Phocians face the Immortals on the mountain trail above.

The Greeks start in their position defending the Phocian wall facing the advancing Persian horde in the pass.



Brave Phocians defending the trail against the elite of the Persian Empire.



The Greeks quickly tired of the Persian arrows and attacked in both the pass and the mountain trail. You can see the remnants of the Greek army withdrawing to the left. They had to get off the board before the Immortals flanked them.



The Greeks driving forward pushing the Persians back. The basic Persian infantry just couldn't hold them off for long although their arrows did serious damage when they had the chance.


The Greeks in the pass have pushed all the way to the Persian board edge. They were soon sorrounded and killed but they bought their retreating allies time to get away.


It's a foot race between the withdrawing Greeks in the pass and the Immortals on the mountain trail.


A wide shot of the board built for the scenario.


Scenario cards made for the battle. This allowed me to throw in some random elements to both sides such as Thebans deserting.

As always, comments and questions are welcome.

-Brinton

Thermopylae – 480 BC

Thermopylae – 480 BC

Spartans and allies vs. Persians

A Warhammer Ancient Battles Scenario

Strategic situation

In 480 B.C. Xerxes, mighty king of the Persian Empire was marching south into Greece attempting to conquer the city states that had caused his father trouble in the past. While some cities did submit and give the token of earth and water to the Persian king, there were those that determined to fight the vast army invading their land. The two most powerful city states of the era, Athens and Sparta refused the great kings demands and chose to fight.

Plans were made, but like on most issues, the city states were divided on which course of action to pursue. Many of the southern cities preferred to defend the Isthmus of Corinth while cities farther north felt that they were being abandoned. The gifted Athenian Themistocles felt the war would be won at sea and did his best to keep a concentrated fleet together to defeat the Persians there. More and more Greek cities were thinking of joining the Persian Empire in order to avoid ruin at the hands of the vast conquering army.

Leonidas of Sparta led a small force of Spartans to the hot gates at Thermopylae where the terrain made a strong defensive position where few could hold many. His intentions cannot be known for sure, but many believe he went there to martyr himself in order to prompt the rest of the Greek city states into action. Whatever his final goals where, his immediate desire was to hold the Persian army at the pass and therefore give the rest of the Greek mainland time to prepare. The fabled 300 Spartans were joined by about 7,000 other hoplites from city states around Greece determined to hold the pass for as long as possible.

The forces

I’ve attempted to represent the battle in about 1 figure = 10 soldiers scale. This is not an exact number but more of a general feeling.

Greeks

24 Spartan Hoplites w/ light armor

This is Leonidas and his elite bodyguard of Spartan hoplites. I’ve only used 24 both for game balance and because they would have suffered some casualties by this point in the battle.

24 Allied Hoplites w/ light armor

These are the Thebans and Thespians who stayed with Leonidas to hold the pass. The Thebans were less willing participants and Herodotus reports they might have defected to the Persians during the battle.

20 Allied Hoplites w/ light armor

These represent the Phocians holding the mountain trail that the Immortals took to outflank the Greeks. These hoplites gain +1 leadership as they are defending their homes.

And a smattering of skirmishers

Also include a few extra hoplites from your collection to represent the withdrawing Greek army.

Persians

Just grab every Persian figure you’ve got and it should work fine.

I used…

24 Immortals with large shield, light armor, spears and bows.

5x 24 Persian infantry

Front rank – Spara, Shield, Bow

Back 3 ranks – Bow

A smattering of skirmishers

The battle as a game

This scenario takes place on the third day of the battle with the majority of the Greek force withdrawing. I’ve played around with time and history a little to allow the Phocians a chance at defending the mountain pass the Immortals take to flank the Greek position.

Special Rules

Greeks start the game with no Oracles.

An event card is drawn at the beginning of each turn after the second.

There are 3 groups of retreating Greek hoplites, they represent the withdrawing Greek army. At the beginning of each Greek turn during compulsory moves, the withdrawing Greek hoplites move d6”s towards there table edge. Roll separately for each group. These troops should start no closer than 36”s to the friendly board edge at the beginning. They move as a loose mob and are not required to hold formation or wheel. Once they reach their friendly board edge they are removed. If contacted by an enemy unit they are destroyed.

Any Persian unit on the mountain trail, who reaches the Greek board edge, is removed from the table and placed on the Greek board edge in the pass in the following turn.

Any Persian unit (except the immortals) destroyed or routed off a table edge can be placed on the friendly Persian players board edge starting next turn.

Terrain

Terrain should represent a narrow pass between a cliff and the sea. This is the setup I used.

The Historical Battle

The Greeks held the Persian troops for two days causing heavy casualties to Xerxes men. During the night after the second day, a local led the Persian immortals around the Greek position on a mountain trail. The Phocians who were guarding the trail could not stop the immortals (depending on the source, they retreated to a good position or fled) and the Greeks in the pass were now surrounded. Leonidas sent most of the Greek army away and made his final stand with a small force of allied Thespians and Thebans. The Spartans and allied Greeks fought the Persians to the death and killed a great number of them before eventually being overrun.

This heroic sacrifice helped galvanize the other city states into defending their homeland. After Themistocles brilliant defeat of the Persian fleet at Salamis, the Greek city states got their revenge at the battle of Plataea and the Persian Empire never again contested mainland Greece.

Mantinea – 418 BC

Spartans vs. Argives (and Athenians)

A scenario for Warhammer Ancient Battles.

Strategic situation

In 421 B.C. Athens and Sparta (along with their allies) had been fighting the second phase of the Peloponnesian War for 10 years. They had both suffered disasters in this phase of the war. Athens was ravaged by plague and eventually lost one of its most gifted leaders, Pericles, to the disease. Sparta had over 100 of its elite Spartiates surrender at Sphacteria and held captive by Athens as trophies. This had a great psychological impact on the supposedly fearless Spartans. Both Athens and Sparta had recently lost dynamic and successful generals in Cleon and Brasidas. All of these events helped lead to the peace of Nicias which was supposed to last 50 years between Athens and Sparta, but was never observed by their allies, and was quickly broken.

Open hostilities began again in 419 as Argos came to the end of a peace treaty with Sparta, and with Athenian help, began attacking Spartan allies. Sparta along with its allies such as Boiotia and Corinth opposed these attacks and a series of almost battles and a lot of maneuvering took place. The young King Agis of Sparta was severely criticized for not bringing the Argives to battle when he had the chance and was given a 10 man board of advisors.

In 418, the Argives and there allies turned the city of Orchomenos to their side and moved farther south to Mantinea. The Spartans had no choice but respond to these aggressive moves against their valued allies the Tegeans who were now being threatened.

When the allied Spartan army arrived at Mantinea the Argive army deployed on a steep hill in a superior defensive position. King Agis, desperate to avoid the criticism he received early for failing to fight the Argives, charged his army up the hill. Luckily he was convinced to halt the attack, possibly by one of his 10 advisors (just in time, they are said to have gotten within a stones throw of the Argive line) and just narrowly avoided a military disaster. The Spartans moved south, hoping to use nature in an effort to force the Argives into battle. The Tegeans, fighting on the side of the Spartans, explained that they could divert water flows in the area and this would flood their enemy’s land during the rainy season.

Meanwhile, the Argives were actually seeking a fight with the Spartans and had come down from their defensive position on the hillside. As the Spartans marched north again they ran into the Argive army, drawn up and ready for battle, which caught the Spartans by surprise. It is a strong testament to the organization of the army fighting for King Agis that he was able to deploy them into a battle line quickly and efficiently with the enemy so near.

The forces

The forces below are meant to be representative of the two armies that met on the field for the battle of Mantinea. I was working roughly off of a 1 figure = 35 soldiers scale, but again, it was a very rough ratio. In reality, the Spartan army should outnumber the Argives, but I felt that could lead to a very poor game within Warhammer Ancient Battles (since the Spartans are represented as such dominant hoplites). I’ve chosen to represent only an elite core of king Agis’s army as “Spartan” hoplites while leaving the rest of the Laconians as generic hoplites. Again, this was to try and keep the scenario balanced.

The Argive alliance has larger phalanxes but is lacking the punch of the Spartan hoplites. The elite Argive 1,000 are given veteran hoplite stats and are stubborn. The Argives are also outclassed in cavalry (one of the few times Spartan cavalry had the advantage) and must be wary of their flanks.

[#’s] pertain to the corresponding deployment map.

Spartans and allies

(From the Armies of Antiquity Ancient Greek list)

King Agis of Sparta – Placed with [6] or [7]

1 Army General

Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; General; Spartan General

Sciritae – [2]

20 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Freed Helots (Brasdians etc…) – [3]

24 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Laconian Hoplites – [4]

24 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Laconian Hoplites – [5]

24 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Spartiates – [6]

24 Spartans

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Drilled; Stubborn; Greek Phalanx

Hippeis – [7]

24 Spartans

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Drilled; Stubborn; Greek Phalanx

Arcadians – [8]

32 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Tegeans – [9]

32 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Spartan Cavalry – [1]

8 Greek Heavy Cavalry

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Heavy Armor

Spartan Cavalry – [2]

8 Greek Heavy Cavalry

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Heavy Armor

Light Troops

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Javelins; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Javelins; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Javelins; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Sling; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Sling; Skirmishers

Argives and allies

(From the Armies of Antiquity Ancient Greek list)

Leader of the allied Argive alliance

1 Army General

Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; General

Mantineans – [11]

32 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Arcadians – [12]

32 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Elite Argives – [13]

28 Hoplites (+1 WS, +1 I, +1 LD)

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx, Stubborn

Argives – [14]

32 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Argives – [15]

32 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Orneaens – [16]

24 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Cleonaens – [17]

24 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Athenians – [18]

28 Hoplites

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear; Light Armor; Large Shield; Greek Phalanx

Athenian Cavalry – [19]

8 Greek Heavy Cavalry

Leader; Musician; Hand Weapon; Thrusting Spear

Light Troops

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Javelins; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Javelins; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Javelins; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Composite Bow; Skirmishers

12 Skirmishers

Hand Weapon; Sling; Skirmishers

The battle as a game

Use the pitched battle scenario and the setup detailed in the map above. Light troops can be deployed along the front line as well as the flanks. The Argive side gets first turn representing the Spartans still deploying into their battle line. Can be played to army break point or 7-8 turns, whichever you decide (it is a game after all). You don’t have to play with a turn limit and can slug it out to your hearts content if you prefer.

Terrain

Terrain should be relatively flat with possible two small hills on the sides of the battlefield. There should be forest behind the Spartan deployment zone (since they had just emerged from it when they spotted the Argives).

The Historical Battle

King Agis, in an attempt to combat the natural movement of a hoplite combat overlapping on the right and being overlapped on the left, shifted a portion of his line to the left. This opened up a substantial gap in the Spartan line which he attempted to fill by ordering Spartan commanders from the right to move into the gap from their positions. The Spartan commanders refused (most likely due to the proximity of the enemy, as well as the inexperience of their king) and when the two lines met, the elite Argives swarmed into the gap.

The Spartan army was cut into two, with the Scirtae and Brasdians on the left surrounded and routed back to the baggage. At the same time, the Spartan center and right, pushed back and surrounded their opposition and isolated the Athenians. The battle had now broken into two separate parts, with the Spartan left being pursued by the Argive right, and the Spartan right pursuing the Argive left. King Agis, realizing the trouble his left wing was in turned a large portion of his forces to help, allowing much of the Argive left to escape, but encircling the and defeating the previously victorious Argive right.

Meanwhile the Mantineans and their allies and the picked body of the Argives ceased to press the enemy, and seeing their friends defeated and the Lacedaemonians in full advance upon them, took to flight. Many of the Mantineans perished; but the bulk of the picked body of the Argives made good their escape. The flight and retreat, however, were neither hurried nor long; the Lacedaemonians fighting long and stubbornly until the rout of their enemy, but that once effected, pursuing for a short time and not far.

-Thucydides

In the end, the Argives side lost about 1,100 men while the Spartans are said to have lost about 300. Winning such a large land battle helped restore the Spartans reputation in that respect (some of which had been lost due to Sphacteria). The battle also once again settled the rivalry between Argos and Sparta for control of the Peloponnese.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and comments are always welcome. Look through the rest of the blog for additional battles as well as pictures of my growing Greek army.

The bulk of the force

(Sorry for the dark picture)

This is the bulk of the current Greek force.

2 Phalanxes of Spartans

3 Allied phalanxes

2 units of skirmishers (not in these pictures)

2 big units of Thracians (you can see them hiding in the back)

There are two more units of hoplites not pictured. One wasn’t based yet when the photo was taken…the other are some Vendel hoplites that didn’t quite fit in as well. The Vendel figures were the first hoplites I had painted and are classed in the learning category…so they only come out when necessary.

The army is being bulked out still as I am currently painting light troops (slingers and more javelins are on the painting table). My eventual goal is to be able to do some of the larger hoplite battles such as Mantinea at 1/50 scale. That means I’ll need a core of about 200 hoplites per side. With around 160 hoplites completed I’m less than halfway there…but I’ll keep plugging away. At the same time I’ll be working on Persians as well to try and complete the period.

Detail of the two Spartan phalanxes and one of the allied ones. You can see the Thracian (peltast) unit way in the back corner sulking.


Allied hoplite phalanx.


The two other allied hoplite phalanxes.

The building in the background is from Crescent Root (lovingly purchased by my Girlfriend) and will be used for Xenophon’s march as well as the campaigns of king Agesilaus of Sparta.

Comments, questions or random blathering is highly encouraged.

Thanks,
Brinton

Bring on the skirmishers!

These represent the camp followers, youths, servants and anyone else who wanted to fight but couldn’t afford the full hoplite panoply.

I’ve added additional javelins to some of the figures for a little extra ammo.

Figures are all Wargames Foundry. I’ll need to be painting a whole lot more of these guys over the next few weeks to bulk out the available number. I’m currently painting up some slingers to help ease the burden these poor javelin throwers face.

How goes the Greeks?

I’ve finished roughly 160 hoplites (and far too few light troops) for the current ancient Greek army. The plan is to make a large enough force that it can be split and fight many of the battles of the Peloponnesian War era as well as be combined (like Voltron) into one large force for Greek and Persian war games. The main scope of the project will be the late 5^th Century B.C. mainly focusing on the Peloponnesian War and act as Xenophon’s famous 10,000.

A selection of generic Greek hoplites that could fill in as Athenians, Corinthians or even Argives.

Another angle of these ferocious beasts. The phalanxes themselves can be arranged easily as either 24 figures or 32 although only 16 are shown here (the most photogenic # for my camera).

Here is a 24 man phalanx of Spartan hoplites. I apologize for the blurry picture as I (like most of the wargaming community it seems) still am not the best at photographing tiny lead men. I based most of the unit on 40x40mm bases with 4 hoplites on each, this makes ranking them up much easier (I also just like the look of it).

A single Spartan from the above unit looking suitably tough.

A smattering of archers. Proportionally I’ve painted a small number of pure light troops (only about 30) so I’ve been using Thracian mercenary peltasts (of which I’ve painted plenty) whenever I can. I need to jump back in and get a bunch more slingers and javelin armed skirmishers done.

The rest of the blog should be filled with notable Greek personalities, battle scenarios and general comments and information about this period in WAB.

Comments encouraged, welcomed and begged for.

Thanks,

Militiades - Athenian Badass

c. 555-489 B.C.
Famous for commanding Athenian forces at Marathon.

Militiades (the younger) was one of ten (one for each tribe) generals leading the Athenian forces at Marathon. He is said to have argued passionately for the attack and is said by some to have come up with the plan for weakening the middle and therefore strengthening and lengthening the wings. This formation adopted by the Athenians created (whether intentionally we do not quite know) a double envelopment which helped rout the Persian forces.

Militiades had been the ruler of Chersonese and had quarreled with the Scythians (and even joined in a Persian expedition against them) and joined supported the Ionian revolt. As the Persians put down the revolt, Militiades fled to Athens although his son Metiochus was captured and taken to Persia. Things weren’t all bad for Metiochus as the Persians often time treated their important prisoners as royalty and this seems to be no exception. Militiades stayed in Athens and ended up fighting the Persian punitive expedition sent in response to that cities part in the Ionian revolt.

I’ve chosen to model Militiades as an Athenian commander on foot in a muscled cuirass, sporty bronze greaves and a simple cloak. He would be a commander who fought in the main battle line taking a position of honor but I’ve pictured him here in the planning/leading stage, ready to give a rousing speech to lead the phalanx into battle. He is pictured without his hoplon and still wearing the cloak (which he most likely sheds for battle).