Well, last Thursday I took on Tim's Syracusan army (with Nick taking a command) with my Achaian Hellenistic Greek army in a 400 point game.
My army was as follows:
Command 1
General as Reg Kn (F)
4 Reg Kn (F)
4 Reg LH (O)
4 Reg Ax (S)
8 Reg Ps (S)
4 Reg Ps (O)
2 Irr Bg (I)
Command 2
Sub as Reg Kn (F)
16 Reg Pk (O)
4 Reg Ps (O)
2 Irr Bg (I)
Command 3
Sub as Reg Kn (F)
2 Reg LH (O)
2 Irr LH (O)
12 Irr Ax (S)
8 Reg Ps (S)
4 Reg Ps (O)
2 Irr Bg (I)
Ambush
Scouts
I could have had a Brilliant general (Philopoemon) leading the army, but decided against it. Also, perhaps a little surprising for those who've read my previous battle accounts of games using Hellenistic Greeks, I didn't using the Incendiary Pigs!
A little against the odds, I was the invader, invading in summer. However, weather and time of day played no part in the game.
I selected a couple of gentle hills and a scrubby gentle hill for terrain, while Tim selected a couple of small difficult hills, a sea and a wood. The sea went down on my right flank; between our armies on my right was the scrubby hill; the two gentle hills went down in my deployment zone; the wood was in Tim's deployment zone, on his extreme right. The two small difficult hill went down in our deployment zones, a little to the right of my centre.
I chose to put Command 1 on the right, Command 2 in the centre and Command 3 on my left, and was pleased when Tim deployed his troops in such a way that I was able to make good match-ups almost all the way across the line. On my left, Command 3's Ps (S) faced Ps (O), while the Irr Ax (S) faced hoplites. In the centre, my Pk faced more hoplites. On my right, my Kn faced more hoplites, while the Ax and Ps (with LH in reserve) faced Ax (S). Tim also had a good number of Reg Cv (O) in reserve in all three commands, and his army was lead by the Brilliant Timoleon. I used the 4 Ps (O) in the C-in-C's command as scouts. They succeeded in their rolls, but Tim had nothing for them to uncover.
My plan was simply to advance across the line, with the hope that the infantry on my right would be able to reach the top of the scrubby hill before his Ax. I had a good number of reserves across the line to plug any gaps which the enemy might be able to make. I gave my highest PIP dice to Command 1, the second highest to Command 2 and the lowest to Command 3. Tim gave his highest PIP dice to his left wing, and averaged the PIPs of the other two commands. I knew Tim's army had Sp (S), (O) and (I), but I had no idea of knowing which was which - the fighting would determine that.
Well, my plan lasted until the end of Tim's first bound - the Syracusan Ax (S) seized the scrubby hill, and I wasn't about to send Ps (S) uphill against Ax (S). Instead, I decided to swap the positions of the Kn and LH in Command 1, intending to use the LH simply to support the Pk as they advanced, while keeping the Kn as a reserve in case Nick got interested (he was commanding Tim's left flank). However, I advanced aggressively on my left, a little less so in the centre.
The first contacts were on my left, where my Ps and LH overwhelmed 3 Ps on Tim's right. In my next bound, the Pk hit Sp in the centre. This included 6 Sp (S) from his centre and some Sp (I) from the Syracusan left wing. I managed to kill one of the Sp (S), and pushed the rest back. Unfortunately for me, the right flank of the Pk was unprotected, and Nick was able to counter-attack with some success. Things then went my way again when the Illyrians on my left struck the Sp (O) of Tim's right wing, and knocked over four elements in one bound. Suddenly that command was close to being disheartened. Still, Tim counter-attacked and managed to kill a couple of Illyrians too.
The fighting became fairly general among the infantry of my left and centre, with casualties mounting everywhere. Tim's right wing became disheartened, then broke. Nick then sent his Cv (including a general) forward, hitting a couple of my LH. But the LH survived long enough to let me bring some Kn forward. The Pk ground forward, almost always pushing the Sp (S) back, but never killing anything else. After a few bounds they were so far forward that Tim and Nick were able to hit both flanks of the phalanx. Meanwhile, the Pk's general charged the Sp (I) in the flank and killed a few elements in the next couple of bounds. He was then surrounded, and in the same turn that the Syracusan hoplites made a mess of the Pk phalanx, the sub-general was killed too, and my centre broke. Around this time my left wing also accumulated enough losses to become disheartened.
All then hung on the fight on my right flank. I was able to get the LH out of the combat with the Syracusan Cv, and replace them with the Kn. Nick's general survived a couple of bounds of combat with the prospect of sudden death. But finally I got the dice rolls I needed, and both the general and the Cv with him were quick killed. This was enough to break the Syracusan left wing, and thus the army.
My losses were about 38%, with one command broken and another disheartened: 17-8 to me, in a game which took under two hours. Thanks to Tim and Nick for a thoroughly enjoyable game.
