ADLG - Game Report 28

Early Achaemenid Persians(64) vs Athenian Greeks (60)

At the LGT I purchased a very nice wargaming mat; actually it was 4 by 6 so there was enough for me to have a mat and one for Adam. Therefore, when Dave proposed another Zoom game it was an excellent opportunity to 'blood' the mat.

We decided on a classical Athenians vs Persians battle, with him taking the Greeks and me with the Persians.

For terrain Dave chose the coastline (need to get one as the river doesn't quite make the grade). He had nice secure flanks. For my part I deployed my Infantry heavy Corps on the right and centre, leaving my cavalry on the left looking for an opening. I was attacking.

I decided that I need to get my shots in with my bows from my infantry and cavalry as soon as I could. 

In the first round of shooting I had clearly failed to issue any archers with any arrows, with negligible impact on the Greeks! Dave has deployed his hoplites in two ranks, this would turn out to be a fortuitous decision.

After evading from the hoplite advance, this time the Persian cavalry have forsaken their bows and accepted the combat when challenged by the hoplites moved into contact. On the right one of my Sparaba has managed to destroy a hoplite unit in contact where as my Immortals are not faring well, losing one and two of the others suffering damage.

In the centre the Persian cavalry have done well against the hoplites, being elite and armoured helped as did some better than average combat dice.

On the left there is some ineffective sparring going on between the light troops in the rough ground. While my cavalry are feeling out engaging the Thracian and Peltast flank guard.

Elements of the second line of hoplites are now in contact and the Persian infantry are a little worse for wear. However in the centre the elite Persian guard cavalry are braking through, and preparing to roll up the Greek line.

The Thracian flank guard is outperforming itself despite being outflanked, and attacked in the rear. In the rough ground the Persian light troops are losing ground against the Greek light cavalry.

Outcome

At that point Dave conceded as he could see the way the battle was going. We both felt that the infantry battle came out as we would have expected, albeit with slightly more hoplite losses than we would have expected. 

However, the Persian cavalry did rather better than we thought they should have done by receiving a charge. The hoplites do not have their +1 benefit from spears against cavalry when they charge, despite this being an appropriate tactic for the period. Something for the greater gods of the rules to consider. In this case the fact that the Persian Cavalry were elite and armoured also had some impact on the outcome. 

Lessons Learnt

• There is certainly a benefit in keeping troops in the second line as an immediate reserve.
• I guess at some point even bow armed troops, such as the Persian Cavalry, have to risk it and come into contact to try to win the battle.
• I think I will dispense with the Levy and go for a fortified camp in the future.