Battle of Lyncestis : 423 BC

The Archidamian War 431-422 BC named after the prominent Spartan King of the period was the central part of the Greater Pelopennesian War between Athens and Sparta. Interspersed with periods of peace these did little other than allow the two sides to reorganise and rebuild the resources to continue prosecuting their war aims. All conflict however, didn’t stop during these periods.

In 423 the Spartan General Brasidas supporting Perdiccas II of Macedonia sought to quell internal Macedonian conflict which as so often occurred pitted lowland loyalists against highland Macedonians under Commander/Warlord Arrhabeus seeking greater autonomy. The battle of Lyncestis took place to the North of Thessaly. Much of the Highland force would have been made up of Skirmishers and Peltasts but according to the sources Arrhabeus has started to convert some of his units to more heavily armoured hoplites (they are loosely called Lyncestians here but in reality were a mix of highland tribes and forces in a loose rebel coalition). F E Ray Jr gives his estimate of the forces in his excellent book Land Battles in Fifth Century BC Greece.

The two armies faced off against each other across a flat valley ideal for hoplite combat. Our set up is based broadly on the Command and Colors scenario, which gives a simple and roughly equal starting point. I didn’t take quite as many photos as usual 😀

The initial set up Macedonians on the left, Lyncestian Rebels on the right

Using their advantage in light troops the rebel Lyncestians surge forward sending a hail of stones and arrows towards the Macedonians

Both armies have cavalry on the flanks

Brasidas, his helots and the rest of the Macedonians weather the storm but then in a cloud of dust begin to march forward

Arrhabeus is close to the right wing of his army

Suddenly on the right wing things have become disorganised this could be an important break through for the rebels

Along the rest of the battle line the Hoplite Phalanx have engaged

But things have turned again on the right flank a couple of poor morale rolls and the rebel Lyncestians have been caught by heavy Macedonian cavalry as the Macedonian infantry turns to crush the right wing, Arrhabeus has to charge in to hold them back

The Rebel left wing is folding back on itself

Somehow the whole line has broken up into individual combats

The weaker and less well trained rebels get crushed on the left wing by more Macedonian cavalry

Brasidas watches on as the final combat reaches an inevitable end !

With the rebel forces fleeing into the hills Brasidas meets Perdiccas but they disagree on any pursuit, this would prove fatal historically as the rebel forces would regroup and when Illyrian allies swopped to supporting Arrhabeus, Perdiccas fled with his army leaving Brasidas to fight a difficult withdrawal.

A fun battle, some very poor morale tests early on meant the rebels weren’t able to make the most of their early charges and soon fell behind meaning inevitably the better trained loyalist Hoplites and their spartan mercenaries would win out in the end. History once again repeated on the table top battlefield 😀