Ipsus at Partizan- the close-ups!

Chum Ian Notter shot some great images of our huge "To the Strongest!" Ipsus game at Partizan, which was a slightly extended version of the Saltue game. All the photos will enlarge if you click on them. Above the pike phalanxes clash; the Antigonids are in the foreground and to the right. One of my favourite image of the whole battle; almost abstract!

     

Above are some of the allied phalanxes. They are screened by Asiatic archers- I need a whole lot more of these. Below, Thracian light horse skirmishing. I need more of these, too. :-)

Above are some of Demetrius' cavalry squadrons. These performed well on the day, wiping out the opposing wing and turning onto the flank of the phalanx which was (fortunately) protected by elephants. Below is a shot of the remainder of the cavalry wing; you may be able to make out Demetrius in front, with his kontos.

Above is part of the Antigonid phalanx; most of these minis are new, this year. The argyraspides are on the left of the image. That's Antigonus and his litter beyond the phalanx. The elephant screens are deployed in the foreground- each side had one, 20' in all. Below is a better view of the "no man's land" between the two phalanxes. Most of the lights and elephants shown here were to perish during the course of the morning session.

Above, the phalanxes clash. To the rear can be seen part of the Allied elephant reserve and (below) in front of them some Thracians from Lysimachus'contingent.

 

Elephant screens were able to withdraw behind the phalanx (as above) by some mechanism that, alas, the ancient authors alas do not describe. Presumably intervals were left that were later closed up.

Below, hoplites advance to the fray, screened by lights. They did a pretty good gob of resisting the pike phalanxes- honours were broadly even.

Above, a late-in-game shot from behind Antigonid lines. The Antigonids did really well, wiping out both Allied wings and then breaking the centre of the Allied line, winning a convincing victory and reversing history!

Huge thanks to Ian for the photos, and for all his help with basing. I'd also like to thank all those who helped to run the game (particularly Andrew and Andy), played in it or helped with the set up and knock down, which were considerable exercises, as you can imagine! Partizan is a splendid event, very well organised and a whole lot of fun. the highlight of the gaming year, in fact.

In other news, I've put a number of products on sale for the next few days, including the To the Strongest! and For King and Parliament rules, the army lists (which I'm really proud of, there are hundreds and they represent great value), chits and lots of bases and basing products. Get them while they are hot!