Wednesday 17 October 2012

One hundred Spartans (and some Greeks)

Last night we had another play test of the ancient rule set I've been working on.  We pitted Wabby George's newly restored Thessalian army, against my own Spartans, generalled by Ian as King Agis.  All the below pictures are clickable.


Above, Wabby George, the Thessalian Hegemon, looks rather nervously across the table towards the elite Spartiates on the right wing of the Spartan host (as well he might!).  Below is the Spartan army, with 3 mora of allies in the foreground and two of Spartans, beyond them.



The Spartans and their allies advanced quickly (above).  The allied hoplites, left foreground, suffered heavy losses from accurate (lucky!) fire from the Thessalian psiloi.  The Spartan hoplites inclined to the right in an attempt to run down the Thessalian cavalry, and a gap opened in the line, between the Spartans and allies, through which a unit of Thessalian psiloi penetrated.  The psiloi outflanked the rightmost mora of allied hoplites, and peppered it from two sides with slingshot and javelins, until it was on the very edge of disintegration (below).



The Spartan situation, above, became desperate as a succession of melees went badly, and all 3 of the allied units were on the verge of flight. 

On the Spartan right, however, things were going better.  Rather than tackle the Spartiates frontally, the Thessalian cavalry fled from the table.  The right hand Spartan unit had a good deal of trouble passing a movement test to turn through 90 degrees...



...but eventually they, and the neighbouring unit, managed to re-align and they were able to start to roll up the enemy line (as in the battle of Coronea), enabling the Spartans to snatch a (rather expensive) victory from the jaws of defeat.

The game was good natured and very enjoyable.  I took away a few actions to adjust the rules, which I've done, and I hope to be able to play another test game in a week or so.  It was great to see George's new troops, and I'm now resisting the impulse to add a bunch of hoplites to the burgeoning painting queue...

11 comments:

Dalauppror said...

Greate AAR and stunning pictures of very nice looking minis !!!

Best regards Michael

fireymonkeyboy said...

Lovely figs on both sides. What make are they, if you don't mind me asking.

BigRedBat said...

Hi FMB, almost all of the figures are from the classic Foundry World of the Greeks range, sculpted by Steve Saleh.

Thanks Michael! Am enjoying your recent posts.

Simon

Cyrus said...

Great looking game Simon.

Tarty said...

Excellent Simon, nice looking game.....figs are superb.

Ray Rousell said...

Great report!

Wargame News and Terrain Blog said...

Great battlereport and what an amount of finely painted miniatures!

BigRedBat said...

Thanks all. Most of my miniatures were painted by my friend Nick Speller. My Greeks don't get out much, becuase there aren't quite enough of them for a decent game. Yet.

Cheers, SImon

Paulalba said...

Nice!!!

legatus hedlius said...

Lovely looking game! Ooh hoplites! Must resist!

BigRedBat said...

I failed my save, Legatus, am painting some more...