Hoplite Greeks v Early Achaemenid Persians Tactica 2

[simonw]

Hoplite Greeks v Early Achaemenid Persians 5th Century BCE

Last night's Tactica 2 game was the first of 3 games planned between early Achaemenid Persians and Hoplite Greeks. The armies were both about 2500pts each with both armies having Army Breakpoints set at 150 Massed Figures Routed.

The Terrain was potentially helpful for both sides; dependant upon how the game was actually fought. The Greeks benefited from their Flank Sectors having Terrain to inhibit the manoeuvrability of the Persian cavalry. On the Greek right there were two areas of Woods; impassable to Mounted Troops and on the Greek left was a Steep Hill which reduced Heavy Massed Troops to half-speed.

For the Persians, a slightly angled Low Ridge in the Central Sector of the table provided a potentially very strong defensive position for the pretty numerous Persian Infantry centre of 4 by 48 figure strong Sparabara units (Veteran FV 4-6 with Bow t and the additional unit of 48 Elite Immortals, also FV 4-6 with Bow) from from which their extensive bowfire could be (theoretically) delivered on any opponents attempting to attack. Unfortunately for the Persians however, the Greek Commanders had no intention of attacking this strong defensive, at least not until such time as the overall tactical situation was considered by them to be suitably propitious; should it ever be.

The Greek Commanders Billeonidas and Gordonnichos deployed their Hoplite line with the 36 Spartiates in the position of honour on the right with the 2 units of Peroikoi inside them. They positioned the 2 36 figure Veteran Athenian Hoplite units in the centre and the 3 48 figure strong Minor City State Hoplite units (Militia Grade, FV 5-6) formed the right of the Hoplite line. Despite being Militia Grade, Gordonnichos had plenty of confidence n their ability to enact an outflanking manoeuvre of the Persian centre by driving off any Persian Mounted Troops who they encountered IN FRONT of them. Similarly, on the Greek left, Billeonidas was confident that the Lakedaemonian contingent to defuse any attempts by the Persian Heavy Cavalry to turn that flank.

The Persian Commanders Hughrus the (nearly) Great and Grahamardonius determined to secure their centre by occupying the Low Ridge in the centre with their Sparabara and to attempt to outflank the Greek Hoplite line in both Flank Sectors using their 4 Heavy Cavalry Units (all FV 4-6; two armed with Bow and Spear, 2 armed only with Spear; one Militia Grade and one Elite). Additionally, they placed their two units of massed Light Infantry( 16 Takabara Fv 3-6, Veteran and 18 Militia Grade FV 3-6 with Bow) on their left Flank Sector to to dispute the Woods on the Greek right and prevent any Greek Peltasts their from interfering with the Persian Heavy Cavalry's attempt to win that on that Flank.

The possible 'flaw' in the Persian Command's thinking was that the Greek centre initially declined to advance to within archery range of the Persian Infantry centre positioned on the extended Low Ridge their but rather concentrated their offensive Hoplite manoeuvres on the right and left ends of their Hoplite battleline with their Lakedaemonian and Minor City State Hoplite contingents, respectively. This meant that the Persian Infantry Line was appeared rather passive and ineffectual in the early stages of the game.

This might not have been decisive IF the Persian cavalry had manage to outflank either or both of the Hoplite Flanks. However, poor Shooting Dice by Grahamardonius with the bow-armed Persian Mounted combined with a rather disastrous double failure to Retire and Reform half of his Heavy Cavalry from a position directly in front of a 48 figure Minor City State Hoplite Phalanx, resulted in the Heavy Cavalry being caught and quickly Destroyed by the Hoplites. Additionally, Grahamardonius' other Heavy Cavalry unit was countered and defeated by Gordonnichos'  Thracian Peltasts on the Steep Hill who were then able to drive off the supporting Persian Light Cavalry in reserve and so prevent them from 'pinning' the successful Hoplites and so prevent any manoeuvre. On the Persian right therefore, their attempt to turn the Greek left was resoundingly defeated.

This setback for the Persians was further exacerbated by the success of Militia Grade Greek Hoplites to maintain their good order and refuse to Pursue the defeated Persian Cavalry. They were then able to Wheel inwards into a position behind the right end of the Persian Infantry line and threaten a Rear Attack.  This eventually proved to be the battle-winning manoeuvre; albeit the result was not without a 'scare' for the Greeks elsewhere in the centre.

On the Persian left, their Massed light infantry tackled the Greek Peltasts in and around the wooded Terrain. Although the Persians lost this somewhat isolated, arboreal engagement, the outcome wasn't really critical to either side; being so far out wide in the Flank Sector. Much more importantly, the Persian Colonist Heavy Cavalry manage to break through and threaten to outflank the Greek Centre by defeating the less numerous Greek, Most unfortunately for Hughrus, they Failed their Control Test after defeating the Greek Hippeis opposing them (the sole Greek Mounted Unit, 12 figures strong,  FV 4-6 Veteran Heavy Cavalry). Most unfortunately for the Persians, the Colonsist Failed their Contol Test and engaged in an ill-disciplined Pursuit into a position well 'out of command' from their Wing Commander's radius control radius and so were so unable to exploit this local success.  Hughrus was however, successful in drawing the Spartans forward in this area of the field by implementing a successful Retire and Reform by his other, remaining bow-armed Persian Heavy Cavalry unit whilst gradually whittling the Spartans down with his archery. Ultimately, although the Spartans did catch the Persian cavalry up against the Persian rear table edge but this did mean that the Spartans were entirely unable to influence events in the Infantry clash in the centre.

As the Persian Commanders began to realise that their cavalry attacks were being driven off, they knew that they had to abandon their strong defensive position in the centre and attack the Hoplite with their Sparabara in a desperate race against time to break through before they could be attacked in the rear by the Minor City State Hoplites on their right.

The Persians almost succeeded in this 'desperate' attack; failing by a single casualty of get the innermost Minor City State Hoplite to unit Breakpoint and so force it to Test Fates (being Militia Grade it would have need a double six to survive). This occurred just before they were attacked in the rear by the successful and buoyant Minor City States Hoplite unit Wheeling inwards from the Greek left.

As the Persian Army approached its Army Breakpoint with the Greeks somewhat short of theirs, elsewhere in the centre, one of the 36 figure strong Athenian Hoplites was overwhelmed by 2 48 figure strong units of Sparabara and was Broken. This was also a potential crisis for the Greeks but it was defused as there was a failure for any Disorder to spread into adjacent units which passed their Routed past?nto Control tests and continued to resist stoically for sufficient time for the Greek Victory to unfold elsewhere.

So in the end, although the result was a seemingly, pretty comprehensive Victory for the Greeks,  actually it was a closer-run thing than it seemed. Of particular note were 2 critical moments:

a. The single 'kill' short of Unit Breakpoint that the Persians inflicted in Melee on the 48 figure Minor City States Hoplite unit in the Greek Centre during their last-ditch, desperate assault in the centre and
b. The earlier, ill-disciplined Pursuit of the Colonist Heavy Cavalry on the Persian left after defeating the Hippeis. This took them out of Control Radius and prevented any exploitation of their success.

Acknowledgements:
Billeonidas Basileus the Spartan King (Bill Robertson)
Strategos Gordonnichos the Greek (Gordon Crawford)
King Hughrus (the nearly) Great (Hugh Cameron)
Satrap Grahamardonius (Graham Bryson)
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[Jon Freitag]

Very colorful clash!

[simonw]

Cheers Jon.

[Jon Freitag]

If I may add, Simon, your photos of the (in)action shots of players with head in hand are classic!

[simonw]

Hoplite Greeks v Early Achaemenid Persians 5th Century BCE

Last night's Tactica 2 game was the second of 3 games planned between early Achaemenid Persians and Hoplite Greeks. The armies were both about 2500pts in Tactica 2 cost with both armies having Army Breakpoints set at 150 Massed Figures Routed.

The Terrain was less dense tan the previous game comprising only a single Woods in the Persian's Left Flank sector with an adjacent Low Hill and the Greeks had two Low Hills forming a a Low Ridge in teir left Centre and Flank Sector. The configuration seemed that it could be  potentially helpful for both sides although this would dependant upon how the game was actually fought.

The Greeks Strategoi Billtiades and Alexandros (the (future) Great retired to the kitchen to formulate their plan whilst the Persian Commanders Gordoxerxes and MarDonius deployed their troops.

The Persian battleplan was to attempt to turn at least one of the Greek flanks by splitting their Heavy Cavalry split evenly with 2 units in each Flank Sector. MarDonius on the left had the 18 Guard Cavalry (FV 4-6, Elite with Spear) deployed close to the left table edge with a view to skirting around the outside of the Woods in that Flank Sector supported by the  the Colonists in 3 ranks behind (FV 4-6, Militia Grade with Spear). Inside of them, MarDonius had his 16 Takabara (Massed Light Infantry, FV 3-6, Veterans with Javelins) and the 18 Babylonian Levies (Massed Light Infantry, FV 3-6,Militia Grade with Bow). These 2 units were obviously ordered to deny control of the Woods to Greek Peltasts that the Persians strongly believed Billtiades would attempt to infiltrate.  The 5 units of 48 Sparabara (FV4-6, Bow) were deployed in the Central Sector; slightly biased to the left with the Immortals placed in the most exposed 'position of honour' on the right end of the line. This provided space for Gordoxerxes to manoeuvres his 2 units of Heavy Cavalry (FV 4-6 Veterans with Bow) and supporting Light Horse (2 units of 8. FV 3-6,Veterans; one with Javelins and the Sakae with Bow).

The Greeks were well aware of their relative inferiority in support troops for the Hoplites. They did have numerous Skirmishers (60) as opposed to the Persians nil but only 36 Peltasts in 2 units of 18 and a single unit of 12 Hippeis (Heavy Cavalry, FV 4-6 Veterans) to counter the Persians 104 cavalry. Rather than splitting their support troops evenly between both Flank Sectors, Billtiades and Alexandros decided to place both units of Peltasts and the Hippeis in their left Flank Sector (NOWHERE NEAR the Woods) but to protect the flank of the left end of their Hoplite line with which they aimed to attack. To accommodate this, they compensated by slanting their Hoplite battleline with the right refused and Deployed close to (4" from) the baseline.  The Spartiates (36, Fv 5-6, Elite) were positioned, against convention, near to the left end of the Hoplite battleline to spearhead he attack.  Outside and further to the left of the Spartiates,  Alexandros had 2 of the 48 figure strong Minor City States Hoplites units (FV 5-6, Militia Grade), the 2 units of 18 peltasts (FV 3-6, Veterans with Javelins), the 12 Hippeis and a screen of Javelin-armed Skirmishers. This strong force was to prevent the angled Greek Phalanx attack from being outflanked.

So the game began with the Persians advancing  all along the line. The Greeks advanced on their feft But the right end of their Hoplite line remained halted.  Seeing this relative passivity, the Persians were encouraged and continued to advance quickly and with confidence.

In the Persians's Right Flank Sector, the Persian Heavy Cavalry were unable to circumvent the strong Greek forces opposing them and were eventually Broken and driven off. This wasn't disastrous for the Persians though, They still had confidence that after Shooting, their Sparabara could defeat enough of the 'refused' Greek Hoplite line to achieve Victory. Indeed, this seemed likely to happen eventually ;aided by the Persians' supporting Troops (Heavy Cavalry and Takabara) threatening to outflank even the refused (and passive) end of the Greek Hoplite line.

However, after the defeat of the Persian Cavalry in their right flank Sector,  line, the Immortals were left horribly exposed. Gordoxerxes though, through judicial use of his Light Horse managed to lure the Spartiates forward into a position of relative tactical irrelevance and also occupied and so delayed the Hippeis from being able to intervene in the centre. Similarly, the 2 48 figure strong units of Minor City States Hopltes in the Greeks Left Flank Sector were also rendered unable to intervene in the centre but were reduced to merely being able to celebrate their success in driving off the Persian Heavy Cavalry off in that area of the field.

Unfortunately for the Persians however, the Commander of the Immortals made a critical error. Gordoxerxes didn't recognise quickly enough that Immortals were were faced by 2 units of 36 Peroikoi (FV 5-6, Veterans) and so were considerably overmatched in Melee; preceeding Shooting Kills notwithstanding. Gordoxerxes pressed home the attack with the Immortals alongside the Sparabara on the inside. and despite stoic resistance, including passing a Fates Test, their Lakedaemonian opponents rolled exceeding good Melee Dice, killed the Persian C in C and Broke the Immortals after 4 rounds of Melee.  This result, combined with the Persians' Heavy Cavalry losses in their Right Flank Sector, rendered the Persian Army vulnerable to reaching the Army Breakpoint of 150 Massed figures Broken and consequently, when the next Sparabara unit in line was compromised by the victorious Peroikoi lapping round onto its exposed flank, the writing was on the wall.

Whilst all this was progressing, MarDonius was happily proceeding gradually to swing around the refused right end of the Greek battleline and in another couple of Turns would have been in a position to win the game for the Persians. However, with the Routing of the Immortals though, there just wasn't enough time for this plan to unfold to a conclusion and so Victory was delivered for the Greeks, again!

The Greeks are now 2 nil up in the sequence of 3 games. With Gordoxerxes dead, it will now be up to his successor Gordarius to assume command of the Persians next week and restore the honour of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.

It was a good game and again,  although the result was a seemingly, pretty comprehensive Victory for the Greeks,  actually it was a closer-run thing than it seemed. Of particular note was the single critical error of committing the Immortals, too soon,  into a combat where they were significantly disadvantaged. This single fact, combined with the merciless Melee Dice rolling of the Peroikoi opposing them, resulted in the Persian loss before their overall tactically advantageous position on their left could be resolved.

Acknowledgements:
Billeonidas Basileus the Spartan King (Bill Robertson)
Strategos Alexandros the (Future) Great (Alex MacFarlane)
Gordoxerxes (Gordon Crawford)
Satrap MarDonius (Donald Linn).


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[Imperial Dave]

A fistful of hoplites...whats not to like 

[Jon Freitag]

Great photo of the Persian Left Wing commander showing golden rays emanating from his head! He must be The Chosen One!

[simonw]

Cheers Jon and Dave.You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.