"Athens vs. Sparta - the battle." Topic

This is the after action report on Tuesday's game, played here in the BigRedBatCave using the To the Strongest! rules.

First, the deployment and armies:

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The first half of the battle:

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And finally the second half:

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Best, Simon

That's seriously impressive. 8-)

Stuart.

very cool

Beautiful figures and an exciting game. What more could you ask.

I like the Hoplites in three ranks, looks just right. Great looking game

Thanks chaps!

Three ranks seems like a good compromise, Barry. However it takes quite a while to paint or base 36 hoplites, though and 24 is more sensible in 3 ranks on a smaller grid.

Best, Simon

Sensible? Where does it say that wargamers need to be sensible? I've heard other terms used to describe wargamers and sensible never came up.

Yes Simon, impressive once again.

Looks good.

Very nice looking battle and a well written report. I have TtS but haven't tried playing them yet. Some how the account in the this battle doesn't give a feel for what historical accounts of hoplite battles feel like. While using hoplite drift to out flank an opposing line of hoplites may well have been an intentional tactic, especially for the Thebans, the primary objective in these battles still seems to have been the opposing hoplites rather than just marching past them to capture and enemy camp and to chase off or defeat opposing supporting troops doesn't seem to have been an objective in hoplite values. I find the way that the battle was resolved in this account at least to not feel write for a historical hoplite engagement.

Chris

Simon, great looking game. I have my hoplites in 24 man units. It makes them easier to use and maneuver on the table. My pike are 32 man units for the same reasons. Also my Romans are 24 man units. Cheers Mike Adams

Hi Chris, as a battle it was very much like Mantinea 418 BC.

The Spartan manoeuvre was as much about flanking the Athenians so as to roll up the phalanx as capturing the camp. The camp was only worth 3 victory points and they needed to take 11 or 12 to win – most of these came from the destroyed Athenian phalanx units.

Because of the flanking moves, gaps opened in the Spartan line (as they did at Mantinea) which could have been fatal if the Athenian player had been luckier.

The Spartan player overdid the outflanking; we agreed afterwards that one unit could have done this pretty much as effectively as the two he used.

One could leave out the camps, which didn't tend to get captured during a hoplite battle. However their presence makes it essential to hold on to the centre of the battlefield and maintain a continuous line so they are, I think, useful.

Overall considering that TtS! is a set of generic ancient and medieval rules, I felt it bore quite a strong resemblance to a hoplite battle.

Best,

Those Greeks are packed in tight, love it!

Great looking figures, serious numbers!
The AAR is good as well.
I have 14 units of 18 figures each based for Amati, all Old Glory. Looks like all of yours are Foundry?

Hi wrgmr1, yes they are almost all Foundry; just one or two from other ranges. Noss, I do love to see them shoulder-to-shoulder. Sometimes it requires creative basing…

FANTASTIC GAME !!!! Appears to be in the only style I will game.
regards
Russ Dunaway

Excellent!

James

Thanks for the AARs Simon, thoroughly enjoyed the account. The armies look great – nothing like masses of hoplites (or phalangites for that matter).

I do like the way you have based the light troops.

Garry

Thanks chaps! :-)

Simon

Very inspiring! There's something about a wall of hoplons and pointy sticks.

Fantastic, Simon!

Well done Simon! I love the era too. :)