The Battle of Plataea 479BC

With the recent painting of Persians I had hoped to have a full Battle of Plataea, but this didn’t happen before the weather went cold so this will have to wait till next spring. In the meantime and to get a better feel for the scale and complexity of the battle we played it as a remote hex based game.

This was significantly larger than our normal hex battles with a full 6x4 table and over 20 units per side. We were using Jon’s amended Impetus rules which  I am now becoming more familiar with speeding up play.

As per my usual lax approach I will only give a very brief overview of the history of the Battle, it is well described in this useful Osprey Publication for those wanting more or wiki

Plataea was one of the largest Greek/Persian battles and perhaps most significant as the Greek victory brought to a close the second major Persian invasion of Greece. For those that don’t know this is the battle right at the end of the ‘300’ Film where, having delayed Xerxes at Thermopylae, the main Spartan army has joined with the Athenians and other allied Greeks to turf out the Persians. Of course history is much more complex as many Greeks fought with the Persians as allies. After sacking Athens and the Sea battle at Salamis in 480BC Xerxes headed home leaving his General Mardonius to complete the subjugation of the troublesome Greek states. After resting during winter there was some chasing about the Peloponnese until the two armies came together, As usual the Spartans delayed joining the Athenians for quite a while. When they did the Spartan General Pausanias took over command of the allied army. However, neither General wanted to attack too early the Persians wanting more favourable ground for their cavalry, the Greeks not wanting favourable ground for the Persian cavalry. For about 2 weeks the two armies faced each other across the Asopus River and only skirmished. The Greeks then finally made a blunder becoming disorganised during a night movement and the three main elements of the Greek army becoming separated. The Persians seeing their opportunity attacked the isolated Spartans. The Stehnains ended up fighting the Theban and other Greeks supporting the Persians and a third phase of the battle took place when the Persian camp was eventually sacked.

The battle set up then translates onto the table, three distinct ‘blocks’ for both sides, the Spartans separated from the rest of their allies by the Asopus Ridge. Although I set up the battle without really thinking about specific balance between the two sides as it happens when the ‘points’ were calculated for both sides they were almost exactly equal. The Persian greater numbers matched by the more expensive Hoplites. We weren’t sure how long the game would take but as it happens it was about 3 hours. I will confess now I didn’t take that many photos the action was far to frenetic and exciting so I’m afraid not a blow by blow account. Jon may be able to add some flavour as the Persian General ?

The Persians had the initiative in the first turn, but in subsequent turns it was rolled for. Mardonius immediately advanced his main army towards the isolated Sparatans who edged forward to meet them. Despite the Sparatans getting the first charge the shear size of the Persian Sparabara infantry blocks including two blocks of Immortals immediately knocked the stuffing out of the Spartan line. And of course due to their isolation they weren’t going to get any support for a while

The central Greek units have started to move towards the Asopus ridge but already some of the Persian infantry has broken through to block any support having wiped out the weaker left wing of the Spartan line. 

Closer to Plataea the Athenians are advancing towards the Thebans.

In the centre the Greeks are now badly disorganised

Devastation on the Spartan wing. In a matter of two or three turns the Persians have effectively wiped out the Spartan army. The Greek army is already trailing far behind and things are not looking good

Finally the Athenians and the Thebans are closing to combat

and in an almost mirror image of the other end of the battle the Thebans simply crumble in the face of the Athenian hoplite attack

What Spartans ? Somehow the elite right wing has been wiped out, only Pausanias and his bodyguard remain !

So the battle at this stage is almost lost for the Greeks as the devastation of the elite Spartan troops equates to much higher victory points than the Thebans.

Unfortunately I have to admit the battle became incredibly engrossing at this point with very tense combats on both sides, I simply didn’t take photos of this section I think at this point the Greeks only had 5 remaining breakpoints to the Persian’s 12. It was almost lost………..

Somehow the Greeks won the initiative and the Athenians drove the remaining Thebans from the field and as casualties mounted we found ourselves in the tantalising position of both armies with only a single remaining breakpoint each. This was after three hours of gaming and with both sides starting with over 20 breakpoints each.

The Persians almost grasped victory in the centre but couldn’t grasp that last point

But in a desperate attempt to take the win the Persian (Greek) light cavalry attempted a charge, catching the Athenians in the flank but foolishly they had not realised they were charging an almost intact unit with one of the Greek generals Aristides attached. The cavalry are forced back and the Greeks take the win.

Exhausted and isolated it would take some time for news of the victory to reach Pausanias who was on the far side of the battlefield.

So there you have it, sorry for the lack of photos, but it was an extremely close and absorbing battle. After the Spartans were wiped out I gave them no chance but somehow they clawed it back. In our after battle discussion I did think the Persian could have won or at least given them selves a better chance as the light cavalry charge was a long shot. We will definitely be trying to play this one again sometime. Although I might have a go at Marathon if I can develop a balanced scenario ?

Thanks as always 👍

Matt