The Battle for Stylos : Blood in the Sand

The desire for empire and wealth runs strong in the blood of the King of the Medes Cambyses, with his previous incursion into Lydia turned back at the Kizil Valley he immediately looked for other lands to bring under his dominion. The Island of Crete would be a powerful staging point for his future plans across the Aegean. A small exploratory invasion force has been dispatched to test the resilience of the inhabitants before a full scale effort is made. Unfortunately for the Medes, Crete lies close to the small but powerful military state of Lakonia, who on hearing of their trading partners need have despatched a small but powerful force of Lakonian warriors to supplement the local Cretian army. The two armies having manoeuvred for several days have now clashed on the coastal plains near Stylos.

The plains of Stylos

Mercenary Horse archers and hill tribesmen fighting on the side of the Medes

The core of the Median army archers and spearmen

The Lakonians holding the centre of their line

Both generals are looking for a decisive win so advance into combat

Arrows turn the sky black but still the Lakonians march forward 

You can hear the crash as the phalanx crash into each other

Median cavalry attempt to flank to combats

The better trained and more heavily armed Lakonian Hoplites are getting the advantage

You can almost smell the sweat and hear the crash of spears on shields

Gradually the Lakonians are getting the upper hand but the cavalry might just get a flank charge

Desperate hand to hand fighting at the other end of the field, the Medes are more used to long range fighting with bows

The ferocious hill tribesmen charge in against some of the weaker Cretan hoplites

Having brushed aside the Median spearmen the Lakonian Royal Guard brace for the charge

..and the Medes are forced to flee

The battle is over as the final Median infantry pulls back only to be surrounded on the high ground, history has not recorded what epic last stand was or wasn’t made here or how many of the Medes were captured into servitude, suffice to say the Lakonians have secured the western end of the island for themselves.

We played this battle back in January I think but it was a shame not to share the photos. 😀