Monday 27 July 2020

Thebans vs Early Achaemenid Persian - posted by Josh Barton, 25 July 2020

I know I said they'd retired, but when Dirk reminded me of his Persians, how could I not bring back the Greeks? As usual I brought a heavy phalanx of Thebans, a pile of psiloi (s) and (o), and a flank attack of cavalry. Meanwhile the Persians brought a mixed and multicultural list, but being a good Greek I just heard 'barbarians with bows', 'barbarians with spear', 'horse barbarians' and so on (sorry Dirk I did pay attention, but it's a pretty complex list!)
The Greeks were the invader, but really it was clearly a preemptive strike against the next Persian invasion, definitely not Greek aggression. Dirk correctly predicted my flank attack but threw his light horse around in an attempt to get to the Greek's rear before the cavalry arrived. Unfortunately for him the attack arrived on cue and half of the fleeing light horse were caught by psiloi(S) in rough going! Not ideal for the Persians. Things went better for Dirk on the far flank, where a Greek detatchment of psiloi(s) flank attacked some (Libyan?) psiloi(i) and were crushed for their troubles.
With the flank attack arriving the hoplites advanced and began pushing first into the disordered cavalry who had attempted to hard flank the phalanx, but had failed. Meanwhile the Persian cavalry and bowmen turned to face the arriving Greeks.
The Greek cavalry, outnumbered and outmatched were quickly beaten. However, they were able to take a number of Persians with them and broke up the Persian lines. Things were looking rough for the Greeks, especially as the psiloi sent into the village to defend the right flank of the phalanx began to loose badly against the Persian psiloi, and the remaining light horse captured the Greek baggage.
In the middle, the phalanx showed their superiority against the sparabara and immortals but weren't able to kill any, just pushing them back repeatedly. In desperation the sacred band led by Epimonandas hit the immortals and sparabara, and broke through!
The loss of their spear contingent caused the Persian cavalry to break and in the center the citizen hoplites of boetia also broke the Persian lines and exploited the gaps.
The rapid and complete collapse of the sparabara was enough to break the Persian army but they gave one last go at taking the Greeks with them, coming within 0.7ME of a draw. However the game ended with a fittingly tragic Greek victory.
With the Persian invasion defeated before it even left Asia Minor the Greeks could return home and fight the real enemy, other Greeks!


Russell Briant King of kings. Minor rebellion in Asia Minor. Ionia will be Persian again.

The initial deployment. You've got to look how a big block of spear looks. Pity it doesn't really work!

Traitors!
Dirk Heinsius Loyal troops of the Empire
  • Josh Barton so loyal that they didn't move... actually thinking about it, that was all as planned. Yes. Definitely a Greek plan, very clever, Odysseus would be proud
Philip Gates More likely they are effeminate Asiatics pretending to be Greeks.
The Persian immortals, who I still think should be sp(s), but there you go

The Persians have repositioned their cavalry and bow, while the phalanx begins to move forward

Early moves of the light troops around the town. The Greek mercenaries and the Theban hoplites wouldn't do anything more than trade insults

Light horse flanking around, if the flank attack had arrived one turn later...

The Greeks reach the BUA filled with Persians

The Greek psiloi S are unable to show their superiority against the Libyans

The flank attack arrives!

All of the pieces on the table, the phalanx splits up slightly to protect its flanks from the Persian cavalry. This would delay the Greek attack for a couple of bounds

Psiloi S supported by O, a brutal fight

The Persian cavalry is in disarray as the Greeks arrive

Thankfully for Dirk they are able to reposition themselves to meet the oncoming threat

The Persian general ponders the situation over lunch

Russell Briant Blow on your pie, blow on your pie... 💨🥧💨🥧
Allen Yaxley Ambrosia pie ?
Looted from the Greeks.
Kelly Gay The King of Kings....eating a pie.....

The victorious sacred band and Epimonandas. Not pictured: immortals

The Persian C-in-C attempts to shore up the lines, but its not enough to stop the sparabara from breaking
Dirk Heinsius Just to refresh your memory my army consisted of
Persians, Medians, Bactrians, Kaspians, Lydians, Assyrians, Sargatians, Indians, Mylians, Aetheopians, Lybians, Paphlagonians, Egyptians, and Chaladeans.
How could you not be clear in your report 😁

















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