The Battle of the Xanthos Valley : Blood in the Sand

Also known locally as the battle of ‘five elephants’. Having marched north up the valley Khergia of Xanthos has deployed his forces at the eastern end of the pass through the mountains. The fertile valley here is cut by small streams, farms and undulating hills covered by olive trees. The clamour and dust of the ‘Roman’ army give away their advance, what Khergia doesn’t know is the Roman general has used local scouts to deploy a flanking force which will arrive at some time later. (I would like to apologise for the photos I seem to have a problem with google photos which I am struggling to fix, the originals photos are much clearer but the colour contrast in GP keeps being auto-changed 😱)

Anyway on with the battle we played Kings of war again.

The initial set up, the flanking force of mainly Numidians will arrive randomly after 2 or 3 turns 

Khergia oversees the core of his Lycian army spearmen and elite Sparabara 

The Lycians also have The Royal elephants, a strong contingent of cavalry and a single bolt thrower, Khergia is particularly keen on the newly developed ‘artillery’ and puts great faith in their ability to cause terror in the enemy 🤔

The Lycian left flank consists of light mountain troops

And the right wing is formed of mercenary heavy spearmen Khergia has placed these across the stream the less that remain at the end of the battle the less he will have to pay !

The ‘Romans’ arrive of the field, disciplined and hardened warriors armed with pilum

their right wing immediately advances to take Olive Hill on the flank of the battlefield

The Lycian trumpets sound a general advance

The Royal elephants out in front are not slowed by the small stream, all three are armed with bowmen

But the Romans have taken the high ground and defensive positions in the fields in the valley

Khergia spots an opportunity as the Romans advance a gap opens in their centre he orders the bulk of his cavalry to charge directly at the gap (a technique taken up many years later by future Macedonian general!)

A period shot of the Lycian advance

On Olive tree hill Lycian light troops are being pushed back by well armoured and disciplined infantry

Median cavalry has now charged across the stream to try and capitalise on the forming gap

Whilst on the right flank the mercenary spearmen are already under pressure

Tusk on tusk combat as the two behemoths attempt to gouge each other, unluckily for the Romans the infantry unit whilst trying to avoid the fighting elephants hadn’t noticed the advance of a second and are devastatingly caught in the flank, they flee

Suddenly in the distance another trumpet sounds, led by local tribesmen whose pockets are now full of gold the Roman flanking force arrives on the field  a host of fast moving Numidian warriors and cavalry !😬

A sense of the titanic struggle across the battlefield

The second Roman elephant has charged through onto the lightly armed archers they are unlikely to last long

The imperial Lycian infantry gradually march forward the battle may be over before they arrive !

The first wave of cavalry have been forced back but Khergia is urging the second wave forward

The elephant dual continues......

Whilst another is turned back to attack the Roman left flank

Things are looking increasingly ominous on Olive tree hill with the Roman heavy infantry in full command

An eagle eye view of the whole battlefield at this point, the Romans have forced the first cavalry charge back, their flank reserves have come on with plenty of time to make a difference, the Lycian right flank is all but broken.......

One might even sense a confident sneer on the Consuls’ face !...and then

One of the Roman elephants wavers and panics, charging headlong into the rear of the second animal ! Being charged by an elephant is never good being charged from behind is really, really bad......

The panicked animal triples its attacks with the rear charge (we had to take a shot of this ridiculous 54 attack dice) needless to say the second animal is killed outright

Back to the centre the Lycian heavy cavalry have charged in as well

Supported by the other two elephants

The panicked elephant still can’t be controlled and charges through the wipe out the remaining archers

The other mountain troops are now also charged behind their wall

At the other side of the field the mercenaries are close to breaking but the heavy cavalry has forced its way across the stream

The other Lycian cavalry has regrouped and is desperately thrown forward to hold back the Numidian who are in danger of completely over running the Lycian line from the left

Still the royal guard march slowly forward

The heavy Romans find themselves surrounded and pelted by javelins and spears, they won’t break but they can’t quite get to grips with the enemy

The remaining Roman elephant is brought under control 

Only to be pelted with sling shot and sent back into a panic it now runs for the trees

Finally the rest of the Lycian spearmen get into the battle, supported by the Immortals

Unbelievable the elephant is again brought under control...but not for long as it is hit in the rear by more javelins ouch !

The Roman infantry whilst disciplined and under good order have now become isolated and can’t co-ordinate their advance

The final Lycian Infantry is pushed into the valley to hold the enemy back

Although almost exhausted the elephant supports this last advance

Where did all our mates go an isolated roman unit wavering before committing to the charge

Finally it is too much for the Numidian mercenaries, having seen the bulk of the Roman infantry ground down they are chased off by the Lycian ‘heavies’ they have no stomach for the fight knowing they are unlikely to be paid.

The victory is ours ! Khergia of Xanthos supervises the construction of a trophy on the field of battle, Lycia is once more safe, and the bolt thrower never got to fire ! The Roman army in full retreat will make its way back to the coast. Consul Martinus having escaped with his life is dreading the prospect of returning  home without his army and with nothing to show for it. 

Well another good day gaming in the dungeon, this was the first large L shaped Battle we have had in the dungeon and it worked well, giving plenty of space but reasonable access. Who knows what is next for my Blood in the Sand campaign but I am sure we will be back soon. 😀