ADLG - Game Report 84

Thessalian Greeks (60) vs Assyrian and Sargonid Empire (9)

The final game beckoned, against Peter’s Assyrians. Having fought Assyrian armies before with my Egyptian’s I was relatively confident. How wrong can one be! Again we went with the cavalry heavy command on the left wing.

We advanced in the attack, while the Assyrian’s decided to use the plantation as a secure right flank for their line. I was still pretty confident at this stage.

The Assyrian bows are starting to attrit my units. We sprung the ambush in the plantation, I was confident that my Peltasts could deal with that.

As the lines get closer the attrition builds on two of my hoplites. Meanwhile the Peltasts in the plantation are making heavy weather of the battle against the enemy light troops.

The Peltasts failed in their mission! In the centre, as we say, that round of combats could have gone a lot better. Again, in spite of the benefits of armour all along the line the Assyrian’s out muscled and out fought the hoplites.

Outcome

A crushing defeat in which I only managed to inflict 12 cohesion points on the enemy!

ADLG - Game Report 83

Thessalian Greeks (60) vs Philistines (25)

Game 4, and the first on Sunday morning. This time against a very different army. Iain’s Philistines, complete with appropriate temple. Iain managed to deploy with his flanks well protected by terrain, while for myself the gully on the left rather cramped the deployment of my cavalry.

Attacking we boldly advanced into the gap, while the cavalry went left flanking around the plantation.

Lack of command points from my right wing commander, meant that to preserve the line he had to delay the advance of the peltasts and cavalry.

Contact is made along the line. And the right wing has finally managed to play catch up. The hoplites are engaging Iain’s first echelon troops and seem to be winning the contact battle. Meanwhile Iain is positioning his reserves to plug holes and counter-attack.

Although we have broken through in the centre Iain’s reserves have fought me to a standstill. On the right the hoplites have reached red and are looking very fragile. It should be soon that my overlap on the right should start to have an impact.

The weakened hoplites on the right have fought back valiantly and are now turning the tide. The right looks healthier and on the left we are pushing forward.

Outcome

A narrow win for the Thessalian’s over the Philistines.

ADLG - Game Report 82

Thessalian Greeks (60) vs Greek (60)

The next game was another Greek Tragedy against Pete’s Greeks. I must have started a trend when I suggested that I would be taking my Greeks to Beachhead! A reasonably traditional deployment from both of us. In my case my cavalry are on my right.

Exploiting the benefits of attacking I opted to try and get my cavalry as far forward as I could to try and out manoeuvre Pete’s right flank.

Consequently I pushed forward my left to make contact as soon as possible. As with the battle against Kevin it wasn’t as straightforward as I would like. Even though all my Hoplites are armoured I still suffered more than I inflicted.

The Greek right flank is starting to be turned, but Pete is well positioned to attack my cavalry. Meanwhile my right is not looking good. Although I am already one hoplite unit down I am starting to score hits on the opposing hoplites.

The camera shake comes from the amount of losses I am taking as several of my unis move into the red!

In the end the game deteriorates into what the a fighter pilot would call a “hairball” or we would call perhaps a brawl. The issue now became not a matter of who one a combat, but who would have the better command dice to cause some damage, or rally some hits off!

Outcome

Time ran out to allow both of us to claim a creditable draw.

ADLG - Game Report 81

Thessalian Greeks (60) vs Spartans (60)

The next game was a little unfortunate as I was playing Kevin’s Spartans. He knew all about my playing style and Army from helping me trial the army! His army had some Thessalian turncoats as allies.

In this deployment I placed the cavalry on the right and one of my goals was to get the Peltasts on the left onto the hill and around the flank.

By advancing in the attack I activated the turncoat Thessalian general. At this stage I wasn’t too concerned about that.

However, I should have perhaps paid more attention to the Kevin’s cavalry moving through the wood as he now was able to overwhelm the Peltasts. In the centre the clash of arms, hoplite against hoplite was about to begin.

Now it is all about the weight of numbers and who flinches first. Already the centre of my line has taken significant damage. Moreover, my right flank of the line looks particularly vulnerable.

Oh calamity, my centre has disappeared under the weight of the Spartan advance. My left flank is trying to roll down the line, but is unlikely to be as successful with the weight of numbers against it. My cavalry has broken through much, much too late to try and take the camp.

Outcome

A win for the Spartans, but I did manage to take 19 cohesion points of them