Artaxerxes Triumphant, Midgard in the Ancient World

 

 

in a fabulous display of cunning cunningness Artaxerxes directs his troops to victory

         Having presented The Housemartin with his new commander we decided to put him to use directly. Basing our armies on the venerable WRG army lists we both drew up forces to reflect our understanding of the historical armies. Housemartin chose Later Imperial Persian while I went with Later Hoplite Greek. A die roll decided that the Greeks would be the aggressors so the Persians deployed first. Below you will find a photo of the armies deployment.

 

you will notice a tiny hillock under the Persian Emperor,

 this has no tactical value but is there simply to grant him the proper level of grandeur

        The Greek force consisted of the following:

          A. Heavy Riders Javelins, Marksman

          B. Peltasts (this is a troop-type that we created to reflect looser order combat troops*)

          C. Cretan Archers, Shooter, Bow, Marksman

          D. Slingers, Shooters, Sling

          E. Heavy Infantry, Spears as Tribute, Armor 4

       The Persian Army was formed thusly:

          1. Guard Foot

          2. Kardakes Archers

          3. Carian Hoplites

          4. Skirmishers, Light Infantry, Marksmen

          5. Skythian Horde Archers, Light Riders, Mounted Bow, Marksman

          6. Persian Cavalry, Heavy Riders

          7. Persian Guard Cavalry, Heavy Riders, Knights

          8. Arachosians, Noble Light Riders, Marksman

          9. Persian Cavalry, Heavy Riders

 

Turn 1A, Greek Moves, The Greek force started with all of its troops in the marked deployment zone arranged such that all of the units were within two Spear Throws of the CinC. Before the beginning of movement he invoked Omens, they were poor and cost me two Reputation Points. Undeterred he then used With Me which caused all of his troops to automatically pass their movement tests for the turn. This allowed the entire Greek force to conduct a double move. I was planning on rapidly closing with the enemy for two reasons; first to constrict the battle-space to counter his superiority in cavalry and second to get to melee as rapidly as possible to avoid the endless dribble of missile casualties.

 

Turn 1B, Persian Moves, Close-up of the left flank,  The Persian cavalry moved forward after considerable coaxing from their general

 

 

Turn 1B, Persian Moves, (or lack thereof) the Persian archers were content to watch the Greeks walk across the dusty field that lay before them, on the far right some light infantry lurked forward in the woods

 

Turn 1B, Persian Moves,  an overview of the field

 

Turn 2A, Greek Moves, The Greek troops press forward on the right and center and rather less aggressively on the left, the Greek light troops open fire on the Persian archers with little effect

 

Turn 2B, Persian Moves,  This turn the cavalry were more willing to advance but were constricted by terrain and the "kill zone" of the Peltasts hiding in the woods, this caused a bit of a traffic-jam as they moved into position. The Carian Hoplites advanced to support the horse. Frustrated by the Peltasts lurking in the woods The Housemartin decided to charge them with two units of Arachosians

 

Turn 2B, Persian Moves, the center, not much movement

 

Turn 3A, Greek Moves, the Greek Cavalry in the center of the picture charged the annoying Skythian Light Horse destroying them (but embarrassingly are routed themselves!)

 

Turn 3A, Greek Moves, in the center the Greek line oozes forward while on the right the Peltasts plunge into the woods to run down the opposing lights and outflank the Persian line

 

 

Turn 3A, Greek Moves, far left, the Greek horse seeing themselves being surrounded decided to die with wounds on the front of their bodies and charged the opposing Persian heavy cavalry, this resulted in a standoff with both units causing one Stamina hit, not pictured but in the center of the picture the other Greek heavy cavalry charged the Persian heavy cavalry (7) and both units were destroyed! At the top-center of the photo Greek Hoplites charged the Carian Hoplites, rolled terribly and were thrown back by the Persian subjects. This turn wasn't going well at all for the Greeks. The entire left wing obliterated except for the Peltasts their general joined them looking for an heroic death

 

 

Turn 3A, Greek Moves, on the far right there was a glimmer of hope as the Peltasts slammed into the skirmishing Persian light troops

 

 

Turn 3B, Persian Moves, The Skythian horse slammed into the rear of the Greek heavy cavalry causing enough casualties to finish them off while the low-intensity fight continued in the woods (at this point the Greek general represented half the fighting power of the Greeks in the woods!), at the same time the Carian Hoplites were eliminated 

 

Turn 3B, Persian Moves, on the far right the Peltasts continued to push the Persian skirmishers out of the woods, the Persian Hoplites on their left recoiled slightly to refuse the flank while the Persian archers began to take a toll on the advancing Greek Hoplites

 

Turn 3B, Persian Moves,  having eliminated the Greek Horse the Persian cavalry both declined to move and stood as onlookers to the struggle in the woods, their general had better things to do than worry about their lack of enthusiasm 

 

Turn 3, End of Turn, The left wing of both armies have been successful in turning their opponents flank, The Greeks are finally close enough to charge into contact but have taken some hits.

 

 

Turn  4A, Greek Moves, At long last the Greek Hoplites are close enough to charge into contact, on the right the Peltasts not only eliminate the skirmishers but also destroy the unit of Carian Hoplites covering the Persian left. In the center (through use of Today We Fight To Win and Inspiring) the Persian Guard repel the onslaught of the Greeks but elsewhere along the line the Persian archers find the impact of the Greek infantry to much and recoil from the clash. While that is happening the light troops and the battered Hoplite unit on the extreme left have become cognizant of the threat posed by the Persian cavalry and begin to turn to face them.

Turn 4A, Greek Moves, But leading troops into combat is a dangerous business and the Greek King falls in battle as does his noble opponent the Persian General

 

 

Turn 4A, Greek Moves, meanwhile, in the Woods of No Consequence, the "almost a melee" continues without a discernible outcome 

 

 

Turn 4B, Persian Moves, The long-delayed coup-de-gras is delivered by the Persian Guard Cavalry, lead by their general as they charge into the battered unit of Hoplites guarding the left end of the Greek line, this will prove decisive. In the woods the melee continues but the Peltasts finally roll well and repulse the light cavalry as the rest of the Persian cavalry watch in bemusement 

 

 

Turn 4B, Persian Moves/End of Game, the charge of the Persian Guard Cavalry (Heavy Riders Knights) destroyed the weakened Hoplite unit which put the Greek Reputation in the negative by two, the Persian tally stood at minus one and thus they gain the victory! The loss of two reputation points at the beginning of the game to a bad Omens roll cost me the battle!

       A truly fun game between to well balanced (but decidedly different) armies. 

* On Peltasts. There seems to be a gap in the possible forces in the rules as they stand. The troops type called Peltasts by the Greeks existed to fill the gap between the heavy infantry formations and the cavalry wings. They were expected to be able to stand in battle-line if needed but also to nimble enough to handle bad terrain and operated in much denser formations than true skirmishers. Our answer was to create a new troop type. 

Cost 19 points, Combat Dice 12, Shooting 0, Armor 3, Stamina 3

Special Rules, Agile

Options; Upgrade/downgrade armor +/- 5, equip with javelins +2