Persian Cavalry and destroyed Bus ?

An odd combination but I am cracking on with various hobby projects helped by the fairly wet weather. Enthused by the recent Persian game I have pulled my finger out and completed another unit of Persian light cavalry (truth is they were part painted ages ago).

This is my fourth and probably final unit of  Wargames Factory cavalry, not the best but they look ok as a unit. I may seek some more Persian cavalry but will look for alternatives. I may look at some of the Victrix figures but will have to replace all the javelins etc as the break too easily ! Some nice Wargames Foundry would be nice perhaps secondhand ? If I’m lucky

After our last Sealion game I remembered I had a couple of spare buses and thought as a fun interlude I would turn one into a crash/blown version of an East Kent Bus. I also fixed up the two large craters I picked up a while ago in York. The craters just needed to be fixed onto round bases and blended in with some quick drying filler. The bus got hit several times with a hammer ! Then painted as it was originally white🤓

Thanks as always for popping by 😀

What do Panzer Grenadiers and Persian cavalry have in common

You guessed it nothing that I can think of except I have managed to get some painting done. Following on from the heavy machine gun unit as a test unit a couple of weeks ago I waded, and it did feel hard work, through two platoons of Panzer Grenadiers. It took a lot to prep and paint so many figures in one go, but now they are done.

Two full platoons which could play as three smaller units

At the same time I painted up a whole range of command bases, some with and some without antitank weapons. A sniper team and an independent antitank unit, I just need to do some artillery and possibly some transport and I have workable German force to take on my Americans.

I am planning a Marathon game later in the year so I have been bulking out my Persian forces. Here is another medium cavalry unit….shields or not shields that is the question ?some debate and I am sure I have seen a picture of  them with. Anyway it is done now and if anybody can show me a photograph from the time I will change them.

Another unit is being stuck together this evening 

Thanks for popping by 

Matt

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 😀

The Battle of Tanagra 457 BC : First Peloponnesian War

The Battle of Tanagra was fought in 457 BC between Sparta and Athens during the First Peloponnesian War. There isn’t a lot of information on the battle but from the various sources the following is a very brief summary.

When the Phocians made war on the cities of Doris the traditional homeland of Doric Greeks—Sparta sent a relief force under the command of Nicomedes with an army of 1,500 Spartan hoplites and 10,000 of their allies.

Athens, already contemptuous of Spartan treatment and now suspecting her of negotiating with factions within Athens to undermine their democracy, manoeuvred to cut off the Spartan army isolated in Boeotia.

Meeting the Spartans on the plains outside Tanagra in 457 BC Athens under the command of Myronides fielded most of her land army, supported by troops from Argos and by contingents from their other allies, making up altogether a force of 14,000 men. Although both sides sustained "great losses," the Spartans were victorious.

A great opportunity to get (nearly) all my greeks on the battlefield 😀

The initial setup, Athenians and Spartans would have taken the far right end of their respective lines, the place of honour, with less deserving allies towards the left. The Homoioi are the true spartan citizens. The Spartans true to history have very limited light troops although their alllies the Boeotians have some light cavalry. The Athenians are supported on the right by some Thessalian cavalry but in the historical battle they swopped sides so we created a special rule whereby a failed nerve test would see them change sides.

A closer look at the Athenian citizen Hoplites 

The spartan perioikoi looking to impress their commander Nicomedes

The two battlelines start to break up slightly as they advance

The Athenians have a small contingent of Athenian archers

As the battlelines close the skirmishers trade slingshot and arrows but apart from getting in the way they have little effect

The Spartans beat their shields and adavance to the sound of twin flutes

The Argive Hoplites tremble and wish they hadn’t allied with the Athenians !

The Athenians can’t wait to get to grips with the Boeotians but can’t get the skirmishers out the way to charge

The first big clash as the Spartan crash into the Argive phalanx

At the other end of the battlefield the lines have been broken

The skirmishers continue to jostle in the centre

A huge melee in the centre (the white dice marking casualties show that each phalanx is gradually being worn down and will enventually break) the battle will turn on who can hold the longest

After several turns of to and fro the Athenians get the advantage and are able to start to turn the spartan flank

The last Boeotian phalanx is also close to breaking

The Athenians can sense victory but are already very tired

Flipping history on it heads the Thessalian cavalry never fails a nerve test and holds true to their Athenian allies

The remaining Spartans unbroken gather around their commander before withdrawing from the field in good order

The final shot of the battlefield the exhausted Athenians have won, but don’t have the energy to chase down the Spartans

Well we tricked history with this one, the Spartans can always find more allies and they can march home claiming a draw but we know different.

A very fun battle, true greek battles can feel a little static as the push of hoplite on hoplite turns the fortune of each city state but this was fun. For those with a need to know such details the battlefield is 6x4, we played with Kings of War with some house modifications and some specific house stats for certain units. This is nearly all of my Hoplites, and there is only one in the lead pile awaiting production. I do need some more greek light cavalry though 😀

Mercenary Hoplites march to battle

Sat on my to do list was the completion of these three units of mercenary hoplites. One of my mates was looking to shift some stuff so we did a deal ages ago, he is now painting a Roman army and I have these 😀 it has taken a bit of time to do some tidying up of the bases and I have done some work to make the shields more colourful and give greater variety. They will play as mercenaries for any number of despot pic city states. They are a rea mix of Warlord, Victrix and a few Gorgon minatures I think but that adds to their variety.

Hopefully we will see them on the battlefield soon 😀

Thracian Peltasts

These guys were base painted by a mate allowing me to base them, highlight and finish off the shields, details on the cloaks etc.... this took way longer than I have expected and they have languished on the edge of the painting table for ages and ages. They appeared in their first battle last weekend even though they hadn't been finished 😟 But I have finished them off this week.

As Thracians they are a very versatile unit, and will appear as skirmishers or a larger mixed infantry Warband unit. They fought for themselves and several different masters, including the Persians 😀 Crusader figures, half were picked up cheap off ebay and then the rest bulked out.

Mantinea 418 BC : Kings of War Historical

The final battle in the Dungeon before Christmas as nothing planned today, and I was keen to get the newly painted Spartan unit on the battlefield. I have just enough (yes you can always have more) Greeks to stage the battle. My main source for the battle is Fred Eugene's 5th Century Land Battles book which is a great start point for all the Peloponnesian Wars. Ps I apologise for the spellchecker which keeps changing words 😡

Anyway a bit of background.....Agis the Spartan king had set forth in August 418 B.C. with one of the largest Spartan armies ever. His intention to link up with Corinthian allies at Mantinea. Recognising the potential overwhelming threat the Argives sought to intercept the force before it linked up. After an initial false start where both armies faced off but pulled back, as history would have it almost at spear point! The Spartans moved into Tegea and sought to mess about with the countries water and drainage system (not sure this bit would be much fun to do on the tabletop ?) the Argives seeing the risk this would pose in the winter moved rapidly to attack the Spartan force. According to the sources Agis was caught slightly by surprise as they moved out of wooded foothills onto the plain where they were faced by the Argive and Allied army.

I have roughly labelled the forces as they are set out in the picture above. The key bits to note are the Athenian cavalry all on one flank, the gap left between the main Spartan force and their left wing, who are in danger of being isolated. Agis is in a central position and has his own elite troops and the King's bodyguard in the line. The Argive force is predominately Hoplites.

Agis the Spartan king surveys his battleline ordering a general advance.

Mantinea 418 BC Spartans on the left, Argive army on the right.

To the sound of Spartan flute music Agis moves his entire force forward. The gap left by the hurried deployment is an immediate issue forcing his left wing to turn inwards dangerously exposing its left. The usual skirmish exchange takes place with stones and short range arrow fire, but this has limited impact on the advancing hoplites.

The two battle lines clash with the Argives getting the charge in first. This shouldn't be an issue for the Spartan forces surely 😬

In the foreground the Athenian light cavalry attempts to disturb the Spartan right wing and although this holds the lighter peltast troops back the elites ignore the javelins and push through the line rarrrrrrr.... or some such Spartan exclaim ! In the distance though the Sciritae are unnerved by the opening gap (as I understand it these are periocoecian troops from northern Sparta) they take a massive hit from the Tegean Hoplite phalanx and flee the battlefield. Suddenly the Spartan left flank looks dangerously weak ☹️️

Worse is to come for the Spartans as the elite troops protecting the king have wildly thrown themselves in the fray. They have been charged by some of the best Argive Hoplites and despite the close proximity of their king they rout (I like to think they were cut down to a man protecting Agis himself...they can't have routed! ). This leaves a huge gap in the Spartan centre with the King himself exposed. Luckily in this rule set the Spartan king is in effect a mini unit on its own so he can take a few knocks.

Agis the king in the middle of the hottest part of the battle rarrrrrrrr.......cheer the Spartans again !

The centre is now clearly the crux of the battle and who wind here will take the field. After several rounds of combat the Spartan unit closest to the king is dangerous weakened..........

But just in time the second unit of Argive Hoplites fails its nerve and runs from the battle, this leaves the the other Spartan phalanx to move to attack from the flank. This was the turning point and you can see the Spartans are wavering, only maintaining their nerve with the close support of the king.

In the foreground the Spartan light troops have finally got the better of the Athenian light cavalry and chased it off.

Agis in true Spartan king style still close to the action urges the remaining Hoplites to push forward.

The central battle seen from the right flank (ignore the troops on the far hill...they are dead or fleeing back home)

Finally the last Argive phalanx in the centre was forced to withdraw, allowing the King to turn all his remaining troops, some very weakened form the battle towards the far left flank....at this point the Argive General knew the game was up.

A really fun game, with no intention our game reflected the historical events where the Spartan battle line turned to the left to come to the aid of the left wing of the army. This was our first run out with the official KoW historical rules, they are easy to pick up and give a reasonable battle.......but they do lack something for me. I'll use then again when introducing other players to ancients, but we have decided to use WAB for our next game. It was great after lots of skirmish type games to get a 'bigger' battle in the dungeon and we will hopefully see a few more of these in the new year.