Showing posts with label Chaeronea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chaeronea. Show all posts

Friday, 28 February 2014

Chaeronea 86BC dress rehearsal

I'm putting on weekend at the Wargames Holiday Centre, in late June, and have been rehearsing some of the games I intend to run there.  Chareronea 86BC is one of my favourite battles, and last night Dr. Simon, Ian, Jay and a new visitor, Steve, fought it to a bloody (and somewhat unexpected) conclusion, using the rules I am developing.

Below are the Pontic host; General Archelaus leads his xystophoroi bodyguard and Scythian heavies forward, whilst scythed chariots and archers screen the Brazen Shields and Slave phalanx.


Below, the Roman lne is drawn up, below the acropolis of Chaeronea.


Both sides advanced and battle was joined along the length of the line.  The greek allied cavalry on the Roman left did a sterling job throughout the game, resisting and eventually defeating twice their number of superior-quality Pontic cavalry.


Below, the pert buttocks of the Galatian garrison of Mons Thurium; these were surprised and destroyed by an attack from the rear!


The Romans advanced quickly, but were pushed back by the enemy phalanx.  On the Pontic left, their horse archers and thureophoroi, units which have never previously so much as scratched a Latin, managed to kill several cohorts and the course of the battle began to turn against the Romans. 


Eventually Pontic pressure all along the line told, and the Romans broke.  It was a close-run thing, though, as by this time, much of the Pontic phalanx was, itself, ready to break.  A little more Roman luck might have seen an entirely different result.  This re-fight was the best ever showing for the Pontics, who have previously been very roughly handled by the Romans.

If you'd like a chance to play this game (amongst others), please drop Mark Freeth at the Wargames Holiday Centre a line.

Friday, 8 November 2013

Chaeronea 86BC at the Wargames Holiday Centre

Yesterday the Mark at the Wargames Holiday Centre very kindly hosted a re-fight the battle of Chaeronea 86BC (i.e. not the better known earlier battle with Alexander and Phillip). This later battle fought between the forces of Mithridates' Pontic army, and Sulla's veteran Roman legions, in Greece in 86 BC.

I won't go into too many details, as the piece will hopefully shortly feature in a wargames magazine, along with some other photos I took, but I can't resist posting a few (clickable) snaps...

View from behind the Pontic left.  Chaeronea is on the skyline, and the smaller temple is on Mount Thurium
The Roman army was much smaller than the Pontic, but largely composed of bloodthirsty veterans.  The Pontic army included scythed chariots and a phalanx of freed Roman slaves; more than likely the last phalanx ever deployed on an ancient battlefield.

Scythed chariots charge...
Harry, eldest scion of the Miller family, and I led the Pontics against Mark and Paul's Romans.  The flow of the game was all-too historical, as the Roman veterans first routed our flank detachment, and then smashed our phalanx with a combination of frontal and flank attacks.  It was very entertaining though.  We used my "To the Strongest!" card-driven rules; the card play was very entertaining, especially when units got to make multiple attacks (as with Sulla below).

Sulla and his cavalry bodyguard got on my flank, turned, and rode down one phalanx after another
The last-surviving Pontic slave phalanx, completely surrounded by the Romans...
Eventually the final phalanx succumbed (above), and our army routed.  As a small compensation, though, it had bought time for my Scythian light cavalry to loot the Roman camp!

Mark was a very kind host and I hope to visit the Wargames Holiday Centre again, next year...

Friday, 27 November 2009

Chaeronea Refight- Part III

This is our third and final visit to the Chaeronea refight (if you missed part I and II, you might like to read them first).

You'll recall the Romans have pushed forward very aggressively, and have the Pontic's pinned to their baseline.  In my Pontic turn I counterattacked with my heavy units; the two Bronze shields, with their commander Taxiles (just visible on the left of the frame below), and the two units of slave phalanx.  These achieved considerable success and killed several units of legionaries, although suffering serious casualties themselves. 


The Romans, in their turn, pressed forward but the dice gods were less favourableto them. Some Pontic units managed to hang on by a thread, such as the archers (central, below).  If they had been killed, the Roman CinC might have been able to deliver a nasty momentum attack on the unit behind.


Although many of my Pontic units had taken a pasting, I still had the advantage of numbers in terms of units because of the mass of Thureophoroi in my second line (the Pontics outnumbered the Romans several times over at Chaeonea).  I threw these, and my sole unit of heavy cavalry, into the fray.  In a spate of lucky dice rolling I managed to destroy or drive back the Roman units involved attack.


The Romans regrouped (above) into a line, but now look very badly outnumbered!


Recognising how badly they were outnumbered, the Romans fell back towards their reserves...


The Roman Right wing hadn't been engaged (nor the Pontic left).  Ian and Barry regrouped their forces on the right for one last try...


Attacked...


But the dice and their earlier heavy casualties were against them and the Pontics prevailed (they reached the 9 units lost limit we had determined at the start of the battle).

It was a very enjoyable battle, and I hope it gave Barry a good idea of how the rules work!  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get some of our other players together and refight it next week as part of our Roman campaign... if we do I'll make the Romans a little tougher to help counter the Pontic advantage of numbers (perhaps reducing the number of units by 1, but giving each remaining unit 5 hits instead of 4).

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Chaeronea Refiight; Part II- Advance to Contact

So here's part 2 (of 3) of our refight of Chaeronea 86BC. 

 

Above is the situation at the end of the first Pontic turn.   I was worried that the Romans would try to rout my own Scythed chariots back through my lines (using an optional rule we play), and decided to play a "mounted charge" in order to get them a safe distance from my phalanx!  This same card also enabled me to use my cavalry to attack the Chaeronean Roman allies who had appeared, behind my light troops, on Mount Thibron (more anon).  The mounted charge also gave my troops a +1 in combat.  One of the chariots was destroyed, and the other routed, but they did manage to inflict heavy casualties on the units on the end of the Roman line.

 

Above is the charge of my cavalry against the plucky but isolated Chaeronean patriots.  My charge killed two stands, and the remainer were killed when they unsuccessfully counter-attacked my cavalry in the next Roman turn.  I was delighted with this success (since uphill mounted charges are generally a poor bet!).  On the downside, my cavalry were somewhat out of position (too far over to the right) and Archelaus, my general, played little part in the rest of the battle.


Above is the second and final charge of my surviving scythed chariot; it almost managed to wipe out a unit of Romans before it was destroyed.


Ian and Barry decided to ignore my cavalry wing and pressed forward in the centre.  They played a second Line Command to move their entire centre forward; against which I played "Counter-attack", which  enabled me to retreat my entire line one hex; right against the table edge.  I was playing for time...

 

And here, in the final shot in today's post; the Romans have doubled forward using  (I think) an Inspired General card, and the Marius' legion rule which enables them to move 2 hexes.   My light infantry are looking very uncomfortable as they have no retreat path...

I'll post the conclusion of the battle, tomorrow.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Charonea 86BC Part I

Last night we staged  a refight of the battle of Charonea 86BC where the Roman General Sulla comprehensively defeated Mithridates' General, Archelaus.  We used the Command and Colors rules.  For deployment, I amended and scaled up some scenarios I found on the net.  The plains of Charonea are Hotz Hexmats.


Above is the initial (clickable) deployment.  The Pontics are on the left, deployed in some depth, with scythed chariots to the fore, a strong cavalry right wing and a detatched group of light infantry on the hill in the foreground.  The unit at the top of the hill in the forground is, in fact, a unit of Roman Charonean allies, who have sneaked around the back of the hill to ambush the Pontic light infantry on the lower slopes.


Above is a closeup of the Pontic right wing, which, at the start of the battle, is in the act of deploying to try to flank the Roman line.  The General leading the Thessalians at the rear is the Pontic CinC, Archelaus.


Above is the Pontic centre.  The pikes are representing the famous slave phalanx, and the second Pontic general Taxiles is leading some hoplites who are standing in as Bronze shields.  Some of the Thureophoroi are in fact similar-looking Carthaginian levy.  The scythed chariots are revving up for the charge!


Above is the "thin red line" of the Roman army, after their first turn of advance (using the first of two line command cards).  Ian and Barry, playing the Romans, launched a very aggressive attack that eventually led their leading cohort to within a very few inches of my Pontic baseline....  I'll post some shots of the battle, tomorrow, if I have time.

This was the first time I've had the bulk of my Hellenistic armies on the table; I was pleased with how they looked!  Next year I will definitely need more pikemen, though...