Another Persian Sparabara Unit

Whilst waiting for the Arab/Israeli forces to arrive my painting mojo jumped backed to 500BC to complete another Persian Sparabara/Archer unit. These were a slight experiment as I used some light green army painter primer. This forms the colour of their main ‘tunic’ , which has then been washed, highlighted etc. Not sure it saved much time but quite happy with the effect. Again the photo isn’t great as they are a bit more colourful to the eye you can’t really see their red trousers in this shot☹️

Again for variety i gave the front row hand weapons working on the assumption they have already thrown their spears ? Gradually the Persian forces are building up they will still need some mercenary hoplites but are now a viable force 😀

Persian Sparabara

Lots of gaming recently so it has taken a while to get this unit finished. Actually they probably need a bit more work but with Persians the issue seems to be you can keep adding more and more detail. I'm going to class these as playable now but may come back to them at some stage to add a bit more detail.

They are Wargames factory figures.....not the best but a cheap option to build up numbers. I have a few more to make yet😀

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.

One down lots more to do : Persians that is 😀

So between turkey, walking dogs, presents and family stuff I have had plenty of time to get on and complete my first unit of Persians. I have started with some generic spearmen types in fairly plain colours who could easily find themselves as mercenaries in one or other armies. They are Wargames Factory persians with different shields and Aventine spears/Javelins. The colour scheme came straight from an illustration on the web.....but having looked about and checked out lots of sources it is pretty clear there are few limitations on what Persian troops and allies could/would look like. For the shields I have also kept them generic, I plan to add some more characteristic Kardakes later with Hoplites shields etc.

Next I will probably tackle the larger Spabara/archer unit ? Depending on how I feel I might add a bit more detail on these guys at a later date .......😀

Another one bites the dust.........

The 'one' being an Athenian Hoplite unit, the dust I guess being somewhere in Greece. These guys have been half painted on the painting table/tray for ages looking at me whilst I got side tracked onto other things. This weekend I finally got the mojo to get them done. Great feeling of achievement when you can get another full unit done and based.

Figures are victrix un armoured hoplites, you might notice I haven't used any of the spartan heads as the other 24 from the box are to be Spartans. I was expecting the way the spears are held at different heights was going to give problems aligning them, but they actually work quite well and make quite a dynamic looking unit. Shields are transfers with a few with added detail to add variety. I am still using my flexible basing system with these set for clash of empires but they can easily be rearranged to other Rules systems. Hope to get them on the battlefield soon. Not sure what to do next ?

Another macedonian captain ........

In the lull between Easter gaming, tidying up (and decorating a bedroom!) and planning the German invasion of Russia here is another Macedonian Captain can you have too many I wonder ?

Anapus River 415 BC

The Battle of Anapus River 415 BC took place on the Island of Sicily between the invading Athenians and the Syracusan forces. This is a new development in the dungeon as the growing Ancient/Greek collection has finally reached the point where a almost passable representation of real battles can be staged. So with the help of Steve's four units of hoplites playing as the local Syracusans the battle was set.

Initial deployment Athenians on the left

Athenians use initiative to push forward

It is worth outlining a couple of key points in the battle before running through what happened. The Athenians were generally regarded as a more professional army and therefore had better quality troops including mercenaries. The Syracusans were late for battle as they had expected to attack and the Athenians caught them on the hop, we represented this by two units being placed in the rear and with the limited manoeuvrability of the phalanx at this time it would be hard to get them into line in time. We also gave the Athenians first turn. The picture above shows the difference in depth of line as the Athenians were only 8 deep whilst the Syracusans were able to set up 16 deep. The sources say a key event in the battle occurred when a thunderstorm shook the morale of the Syracusans for fun we represented this by pulling tokens which meant that on one random turn the Syracusans would have to take all morale tests at minus one. As it turned out the storm came early in the battle so had little effect. Finally the river at this time (October) was easily crossable so we allowed it to be crossed at any point with only a DL test for each phalanx to check if they became disrupted. I have placed extra sand bars in the river to represent this

Skirmishers attempt to hold back the advance

As in the real battle the Athenians decided to push forward as quickly as possible under the strong leadership of their General Nicias. Their left flank is covered by skirmishers as their line advanced out of the cover provided by some low hills and cliffs. They had positioned themselves between the hills and the marshy area close to the sea (shown at the bottom of these pictures) to avoid any outflanking. The Syracusans pushed their skirmish line forward to delay the advance and give them time hopefully to deploy there late arriving units.

Athenians crossing the Anapus

 

This was only going to be at best a slowing tactic as the Athenian formed infantry pushed on. First contact was on the Athenian left flank where they had positioned some of their best Mercenary troops these can be seen in the distance clashing with Syracusan Citizen hoplites. Things began to hot up with each advancing phalanx picking a suitable target. (we played with Clash of Empires and one of the reasons I like the rule set is when infantry blocks get to grips they don't just crumble but push and shove before finally falling apart, this feels quite realistic ?) Pictures below and right show the two battle lines coming together in several places. As in the real battle it looked like the Athenian left would push the Syracusans out of the way but after an initial upset they rallied.



Athenians across the River

In the far distance the Geloan reserve cavalry can be seen attempting to force the flank but they are thrown back by Athenian archers positioned for just such an event. (the Athenians had no cavalry during this part of the invasion). Eventually the higher quality of the mercenary troops began to tell and the Syracusan right flank became seriously fragile. However, it certainly wasn't all going the Athenian way as Syracusan militia Hoplites can be seen pushing right through in the centre and across the Anapus itself. The whole battle began to break up into individual fights between opposing units.

 



Syracusan militia push through in the centre

The largest such battle can be seen here in the centre of the picture. This eventually broke up into two separate fights but only after Nicias had rushed to give the Athenians a boost from his leadership. The battle was pretty much balanced at this stage with the Syracusan reserves now getting into the action and the thin Athenian line starting to look very shaky !

In the balance ?

In this picture you can see the Athenian skirmishers running down from the hills to bolster the rear centre as the Syracusan militia break through. There were now really two  key fights one on each flank which would decide the day. If the Athenian mercenaries could hold on the left a second phalanx would have time to turn and come back into the fight and in the foreground the Argive and Mantinean troops(Athenian Allies) need to push through on the Athenian right flank. Despite heavy losses the mercenaries held, again only with the active support of Nicias himself to keep them steady.

The final picture shows pretty much the end of the battle. From the foreground backwards the Athenian Allies pushing the Syracusan left back. Some did rally after this but we judged the battle to be a marginal Athenian victory at this stage. In the middle ground the Syracusan militia who had pushed across the river are now being held by the rallied Athenians supported by their skirmishers who have attacked in the flank.



The Syracusans pull back

In the distance the remaining mercenaries hold their ground whilst the second mercenary phalanx turns back into the battle. (The troops in the far right corner are actually dead !)

A really great battle with two unequal armies providing a close fight surprisingly true to the real events. Well worth the effort and preparation. We are now looking forward to our next.

Athenians vs Spartans

This week saw another Greek on Greek battle in the dungeon. I would class this as a test run for future Peloponnesian battles in the future as we are still trying to get a bit slicker with the rules. Whilst the basics are great and give a good representation of the period it takes a bit of time to pick up the special rules.

Anyway somewhere around 2000 points of Athenians, mainly citizen hoplites with supporting cavalry and skirmishers were up against a slightly smaller forces of Spartans. In a pitched battle the Athenians took the initiative and brought two units of peltasts in on the flank hoping to split the Spartans and get the all important flank.

The picture shows the position where the peltasts have come on down the far track and are harassing the spartan left flank. The hoplites in the centre are just about to clash. The skirmish lines are fighting it out in the wooded area in the foreground.

This is where I sadly didn't get any decent photos ! And I'll try and do better next time. When the skirmishers had been pushed out the way and the hoplites clashed the battle drifted to the spartan right. With each phalanx overlapping. Ultimately this allowed the Athenian cavalry to get the flank of the state hoplites supporting the Spartans taking the centre.

A great test of the rules and probably a fair draw in the end although we ran out of time to complete. Can't wait to play more ancients.....