Chaeronea 2013 - Battle.

Sorry, there is no excuse for not updating my blog earlier.
It's not that I've not done anything wargames- related, just, well maybe blog-tired. (did I just invent a new word???)

Anyway, here is a short report on what happened that friday evening, at the end of 2013. Or at least, what I remember of it...

Both armies started a bit cautious. the Greeks tried to get through the hills/mountains on their left with some skirmishers, where no formed units could pass. When the Macedonians tried to stop them with the Thracian peltasts, the Greeks charged them with their cavalry!

Bad luck for the Greeks, though. The dice were against them, and they only inflicted one casualty! The Thracians got better luck, and got the cavalry running away from them, killing several mounted Greeks.

In the mean time, skirmishers were exchanging missiles all over the table Not a lot of victims, but most skirmish units are very brittle, and don't need a lot of casualties to run strait of table. Not this time.

(This picture is actualy taken before the one above, hence the cavalry is yet to make contact)

it is now time for the Macedonians to advance . They try to attack on their left, Greeks right, where the heroic Theban Sacred Band is positioned. They don't wait for the Macedonians, and urge forward themselves, while the other Hoplites keep the line unbroken and also advance.

One of the Macedonians phalanx doesn't make the test after combat, and breaks!

Alas, no luck for the Greeks. In another combat, that same bound, the Greek generals gets killed, and the whole army must test. Most of the unit make the test, but in combat most of them have to test again, due to receiving more casualties then the Macedonians. In this second test many units take the battle for lost and start running away. With no general to boost moral, this is a disaster for the Greeks. The Macedonian Companions then surge forward, and, after only 5 turns battle is over.

Many thanks to Peter and Johan - the Greek generals, and Chris and Bert the Macedonian generals. They all told me the battle was great fun to play. 

As said before, we used Clash of Empires, and armies were around 4000 point a side, with +/- 700 miniatures on the table. Playing time was just over 3 hours.

Tomorrow I make a little trip, together with Peter and Johan to London. We booked a hotel there. The day after, it's Salute time!

For those who never heard of this (no, impossible!) that is the biggest one day wargames event in Europe.

I hope to meet some fellow-bloggers there. I will go search if I can find Simon (Bigredbat) who's figures will be used by the WSS team for their show game.

See you there! 

Or not...

Off to War! (part I)

Due to personal reasons, and a few minor relays, it has been a while since a new update was posted.
I hope to be more regular in the future, but you never knows what will happen...

Anyway, I have been painting ancient Greeks and Macedonians for several years now, and think it is time to play a big game. The battle I would like to play is Chaeronea, taking place somewere in the middle of Greece, between a greek Alliance and the Macedonian army of Philip, aided by his 18 year old son Alexander,  in 338BC.
The battle took place between the Kephissos River (nort-east) and Mount Petrachos (south-west), so it would be difficult to catch a flank.

The rules we will use are Clash of Empires, with around 5000 points a side. That is a couple of hunderd figures a side.
The set-up of troops will be at the players decision, but the battle field will be more or less historical.

The Greek Alliance was made of mostly Athenian and Theban hoplites. I'm not going to give away too much details now, as some of my gaming friends are probably reading this. But a few pictures won't hurt.

Here you see the allied Greek army marching by a hero's shrine, set up to honour Perseus, who took off Medusa's head.  A priests is offering a lamb for good fortune of the army while it marches along.
The officers are checking and discussing the troops and the way they wil try to overcome the Macedonians.

 



Apart from hoplites, there were of course also a few mounted troops, peltasts and skirmishers.

The most famous of Greek hoplites, the Theban Sacred band is leading the rather large column of hoplites.
There were only 300 of them, so a much smaller unit than the other phalanx units!

The Greek forces as seen trhough the eyes of an eagle passing over.

Two more units of skirmishers are to be added to the forces, making the total over 300 miniatures.

The Macedonian army will be shown here soon. (I hope)

The latest painted miniatures.

Hello again!
Here are a few pictures of my latest painting efforts.
I painted a unit of 15 Agrianians. They were ready by the end of august, but I still had to make a picture of them.

I wanted them to look very different from my other skirmishers, so they all have the same white shield with the Macedonian star on it. As they were a elite unit under Alexander the Great, I also used miniatures that had helmets on.  Nobody will take them for the usual javelin-armed skirmishers I think!

Next are some Greek Hoplites. I already have a lot of them, but reorganised them into 36 fig units. So I needed some extra. Most of them  are from Crusader Miniatures, but there are also a few from the old Vendel range. All have Vendel shields, as they will enlarge my Vendel units. I had to use some Crusader Miniatures because Vendel is not available anymore in Europe. The range was sold off to an American seller.

And some more Crusader Miniatures hoplites!
They will enlarge my Foundry hoplite units, and have been giving Foundry shields.

I still have to varnish the figures, which shows at the borders of the decals on the shields. This will be unvisible when varnished.
I now have 5 hoplite units of 36 miniatures and one 48 miniature unit of levy hoplites.
Oh, and a small unit of 20 Theban Sacred Band. (not counting the Spartan hoplites here!)
That wil be enough for a scenario I have planned: Chaeronnea!
For this I have to paint 1 more unit of Macedonian Phalanx and a few (10) light troops. I am currently working on the lights, and the phalanx will follow shortly.

Just one more picture to share.
A Macedonian foot commander.

It is a from the Foundry "World of the Greeks" range.
Lovely model, isn't it?

A look in the cabinet.

I made a few pictures of the miniatures who are now in my cabinet. All of my Greek and Spartan hoplites are there, as are my Macedonian/successor phalangites and some cavalry.
Everything is 28mm, as are most of my miniatures.

There are 3 blocks of 48 Greek hoplites made up of Foundry miniatures, and 1 of 48 Vendel miniatures.
Under them are my Spartan hoplites. 2 Blocks of 36 and 1 of 27, also mostly Foundry, with a few Gorgon and Vendel. Hidden in the left corner are my Theban Sacred Band of 18, all Foundry.

In the other cabinet are the Macedonian/successor phalanxes. A unit of 48 unarmoured Foundry on the right, followed by the famous Argyraspides. Currently consisting of 32 Foundry's but there are 16 more coming some day. In the middle are two big Vendel elephants, followed by two more units of 32 phalagites, made up of Old Glory. Underneat them are a unit of 12 cataphacts (old Newline), a command stand (Newline) and finaly 12 light Skythian horse archers.

Of course I also have Greek skirmishers, peltasts and a few horsemen. But as I see it, my Greek armies are big enough. For the moment.
The Macedonians/Successors are something else. I plan to build up the phalanxes to 48 figs each, and expand to at least 6 of them. Then I need more cavalry and light troops as there are thureophoros, thorakites and Thracians. And did I mention more elephants yet? The plan is to play all those big Successor battles, Raphia for example. And you can't play these with 100 figs a side, do you?

Any comments always welcome! (thanks Rudy)