Field of Glory Wargaming at Burton Doubles, (Badcon) 2009
The snow was falling thickly all week, and the prospect of a journey into the Frozen North in early February was not really one to warm the cockles of a Wargamers heart, but then again, this was Burton, home of many past spectacular triumphs (last time I'd gone I'd managed to pick up a placing using Sung Chinese in DBM!!). So, after making an early start on Friday, we arrived nice and early after one of the easiest drives to Burton in history.
Despite the entertainment of massed cavalry lancers, for Burton me and my new Doubles partner Mr Mackay had worked our way through the various lists allowed in this Rise of Rome, Immortal Fire and Legions Triumphant period and plumped for an Early Hoplite Greek Spartan army. The list is Our Classical Greek Spartan list is available on my FoG Wiki here.
The theory behind the list was that we wanted to have an many armoured foot as possible so we could go one rank deep across part of the width of the board against massed Parthian light horse or similar, pushing them off the table whilst contracting to 2 ranks deep to fight anything tough - ideally with our 4 units of Spartiates.
The undrilled foot were mostly in 8's, and the drilled (and Spartiates) were in 6's, with one unit of Thracians to pretend to contest rough terrain whilst really sitting behind the mine providing rear support. We also planned to withdraw our 3 units of light foot as soon as possible, maybe using them to get an extra march move but not risking them in any sort of combat.
Game 1 saw us facing .... an early Achaemenid Persian Army who's list is available here
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The Persians had been modeled and painted to be the army from film 300
(now on sale here in the UK as a 2 Disc Special Edition DVD for well under a
tenner)
The Persians had stacked their left flank against our lack of troops, but with a surprisingly large number of Sparabara and little terrain to hide in, we were still cautiously optimistic.
With a big gap on our right to fill, we started the slow process of wheeling our lines - but with no terrain and the Persians looking for a defensive "come and get us" strategy we found ourselves with ample time to execute the maneuver.
The "300-inspired" Immortals and their pet Stone Giant waited patiently for our advance to reach them !
Dilios: "Immortals... we put their name to the test."
Our center was stacked with Spartiates, but with the slower moving and maneuvering undrilled Irregular C, HI, LTS, Sh hoplites nearer the camera struggling to keep pace with the maneuver of the Reg A, LTS, Sh HI Spartiates boys we started to open up a gap in our line. The Persian cavalry were probing forward to try and sneak round our undefended flank.
Dilios: "The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one, good odds for any Greek. This day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine."
Over on my side, the Greeks were contemptuously sneering at the Persian skirmish screen which only marginally slowed their advance towards the cowering deserting Greek hoplites on the Persian flank.
Statesman:
My good king! My good king! The oracle has spoken.
Second Statesman: The Ephors have spoken. There must be no march!
Theron: It is the law,
my lord. The Spartan army must not go to war.
King Leonidas: Nor
shall it. I've issued no such orders. I'm here, just taking a stroll, stretching
my legs. These, uh, 300 men are my personal bodyguard.
Having withdrawn the Irregular D LI JLS, (no shield) they snuck across to an area of the board where they might possibly be of use as the line of Greeks marched both majestically and disjointedly forward.
The skies over the battlefield darkened to a terrible black as the Greeks advanced towards the Immortals.
Persian:
A thousand nations of the Persian empire descend upon you. Our arrows will blot
out the sun!
Stelios: Then we will fight in
the shade.
With little if any opposition to our advance, we started to redress our lines - almost sidestepping the Immortals as we sensed a sniff at the far less competent Sparabara infantry (Irreg C LMI, JLS, Bw, Pavise front rank, Bw only back rank). The Persian cavalry were however coming up to try and slow our remorseless advance.
As the sneaky Persians tried to nip round our flank, the Spartans closed up quickly, pinning them and cutting off the route to the baggage and our rear.
The Persian cavalry closed up to shoot, and formed single line allowing them to skirmish away as well - but our armoured hoplite shrugged off their shooting with impunity. The Persians were forced into a humiliating retreat!
Seeing how things were going, the two mighty Battle Rhino's turned tail and retreated !
Spartan King Leonidas: Unless I miss my guess, we're in for one wild night.
As our line crashed into the hapless Sparabara we also moved menacingly towards the Immortals in the center.
Dilios: They have served the dark will of Persian kings for five hundred years. Eyes as dark as night... teeth filed to fangs... soulless. The personal guard to King Xerxes himself; the Persian warrior elite. The deadliest fighting force in all of Asia... the Immortals.
The Persian cavalry were reforming a battle line together with the Sparabara, ready for a brave stand. But Spartans vs Sparabara wasn't looking likely to be a fight they would win...
[Dilios is putting a patch over
his eye]
King Leonidas: Dilios, I trust
that "scratch" hasn't made you useless.
Dilios: Hardly, my lord, it's
just an eye. The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare.
First up on the menu were the traitorous Greeks - being tempted into a rash charge they found themselves being matched against 6 Spartiates and 8 armoured hoplites - not a good start!
Back to the right, and the Rhino Charioteers returned to try and halt the wave of Red crashing against the Persian line.
It was a near simultaneous attack across nearly 4 feet of table!
Wave after wave of Greek spearmen charged home with devastating results
Even the Battle Rhino's could only dent the Spartan's armour. The boys in red pushed onwards, and hammered into the expectant Immortals
The elite of the Persian army put up a heroic resistance, thinning out the Greek lines as both sides committed generals to help shore up the lines of men slugging it out toe to toe in an epic battle of East meets West.
With the Persian cavalry being unable to remain in contact (ie breaking off) the Persian line was totally overwhelmed and their army collapsed in a flurry of dice.
The Spartans caused havoc among the hapless Sparabara...
Sparabara soon became Ancient Persian for Speed Bump as they collapsed. A total and complete victory for the Spartans!
King
Leonidas: This is where we hold them! This is where we fight! This is
where they die!
Captain: On these
shields, boys!
[Spartans cheer]
King Leonidas: Remember
this day, men, for it will be yours for all time.
Post Match Summary
As
Leonidas, King of the Spartans I felt this battle showed us in our best light.
We were able to dictate the terrain and ended up with a largely open field which
played to our strengths and hampered the enemy severely - in what was already a
bad matchup for them.
The simple fact was that Armoured Hoplites are almost invulnerable to shooting, and as this was the main tactic of the Persians, history repeated itself and we gave them a right pasting.
The Persians were somewhat half-hearted in their attempts to get round our initially open flank with their cavalry, and a more concerted effort may have given us some pause for thought.
For us, the ability to echelon on base to the side made a material difference in our ability to close up the gap in our line as we advanced against light opposition, and was worth remembering for the future.
At 900 points however, our army was just too big and too hard for the Persians to beat,.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
You
may have a shiny helmet, but that buys you no favors in the bath-house with me
sunshine.
Your enemy obligingly stood there in a line with troops that were consistently worse than yours, but you still nearly doofed it up by deploying badly.
You should have realised by now, even at 900 AP most people are tempted to take expensive good troops, and so they end up deploying only in half or 2/3 of the table. Starting deployment at one side telegraphs this so clearly that the Persians could have been led by a real genuine live Rhino and still managed to deploy elsewhere.
This time you do seem to have put together a fairly good army list. Its one dimensional, but that seems to be the way to be successful in FoG as having lots of interrelating elements simply doesn't cut it. The best bit was having nearly everything armoured is a great help as that POA counts almost all the time.
Anyway, I'm sure your next opponent won't be so obliging.
NEXT!!!
Following a quick shopping trip to Spirit Games and a nice pint of inappropriate Summer Ale at one of Burtons many Gay-friendly real ale establishments (go figure...?)..
... we returned for the next round
The Ancient Army List Index
The Rise of Rome (280 BC to 25 BC) Mid Republican Roman ; Late Republican Roman ; Gallic ; Pyrrhic ; Later Carthaginian ; Ancient Spanish ; Later Macedonian ; Later Seleucid ; Later Ptolemaic ; Attalid Pergamene ; Numidian or early Moorish ; Pontic ; Early Armenian ; Parthian ; Later Jewish ; Illyrian ; Spartacus Slave Revolt ; Bosporan ;
Storm of Arrows - Western Europe in the Later Middle Ages (1300 AD to 1500 AD) Medieval French ; 100-yrs War English (Continental) ; 100-yrs War English (Britain) ; Later Medieval Scots ( Britain) ; Later Medieval Scots (Continental) ; Later Scots Isles & Highlands ; Medieval Welsh ; Later Anglo-Irish ; Medieval Irish ; Low Countries ; Later Medieval German ; Italian Condotta ; Swiss ; Free Company ; Medieval Burgundian ; Medieval Danish ; Medieval Swedish ; Medieval Castilian ; Medieval Crown of Aragon ; Medieval Portugese ; Later Granadine ; Navarrese ; Ordonnance French ; Wars of the Roses English ; Ordonnance Burgundian ; Santa Hermandad Nueva Castilian
Immortal Fire - The Greek, Persian & Macedonian Wars (550 BC - 146 BC)
Classical Greek ;
Early Achaemenid Persian ;
Lydian ;
Thracian ;
Syracusan ;
Early Carthaginian ;
Skythian or Saka ;
Kyrenean Greek ;
Late Dynastic Egyptian ;
Alexandrian Macedonian ;
Later Achaemenid Persian ;
Classical Indian ;
Early Successor ;
Early Sarmatian ;
Galatian ;
Hellenistic Greek ;
Graeco-Bactrian ;
Graeco-Indian ;
Indo-Greek :
Legions Triumphant - Imperial Rome (25 BC to 493 AD) Dominate Roman ; Principate Roman ; Foederate Roman ; Later Sarmatian ; Early German ; Dacian or Carpi ; Ancient British ; Caledonian ; Early Alan ; Jewish Revolt ; Sassanid Persian ; Kushan or Indo-Skythian ; Palmyran ; Early Frankish, Alamanni, Burgundi, Limigantes, Rugian, Suevi or Turcilingi ; Western Hunnic ; Early Visigothic & Early Vandal ; Early Ostrogothic, Herul, Sciri or Taifali ; Early Anglo-Saxon, Bavarian, Frisian, Old Saxon or Thuringian ; Gepid or Early Lombard ; Early Scots Irish ; Early Pictish ; Hephthalite Hunnic ;
Swords & Scimitars - The Crusades (1096 AD to 1311 AD) Early Crusader ; Later Crusader ; Fatimid Egyptian ; Georgian ; Seljuk Turk ; Cuman ; Komnenan Byzantine ; Post Latin Conquest Byzantine ; Ilkhanid Mongol ; Mamluk Egyptian ; Cilician Armenian ; Syrian States ; Khwarazmian ; Ayyubid Egyptian ; Middle Serbian ; Middle Bulgarian ; Medieval Cypriot ; Latin Greece ; Pecheneg ;
Eternal Empire - Eastern Europe and the Rise of the Ottomans (1300 AD to 1500 AD) Early Ottoman Turkish ; Later Ottoman Turkish ; Tatar ; Later Russian ; Later Serbian Empire ; Later Bulgarian ; Later Lithuanian ; Later Polish ; Later Teutonic Knights ; Catalan Company ; Middle Hungarian ; Moldavian or Wallachian ; Albanian ; Timurid, White Sheep Turcoman or Black Sheep Turcoman ; Later Hungarian ; Hussite ;
Decline & Fall - Byzantium and Islam (493 AD to 1071 AD) Early Byzantine; Maurikian Byzantine ; Thematic Byzantine ; Nikephorian Byzantine ; Later Moorish ; Later Visigothic ; African Vandal ; Italian Ostrogothic ; Early South Slav ; Lombard ; Avar ; Arab Conquest ; Early Bulgar ; Ummayad Arab ; Abbasid Arab ; Early North African Dynasties ; Khurasanian Dynasties ; Bedouin Dynasties ; Dailami Dynasties ; Pecheneg ; Ghaznavid ; Western Turkish (includes Khazar);
Wolves From The Sea - The Hairy European Dark Ages Post Roman British ; Early Welsh ; Later Scots Irish ; Merovingian Frankish ; Later Pictish ; Early Slavic ; Middle Anglo Saxon ; Astur Leonese ; Andalusian ; Early Navarrese ; Carolingian Frankish ; Viking ; Magyar ; Great Moravian ; Early Scots ; Rus ; Norse Irish ; Early Medieval French ; Early Medieval German ; Norman ; Early Polish ; Anglo Danish ;
Swifter Than Eagles - The Biblical Book Nubian ; Early Libyan ; Later Sumerian or Akkadian ; Early Nomad Allies ; Old or Middle Kingdom Egyptian ; Hyksos ; Mitanni ; Syro-Canaanite ; New Kingdom Egyptian ; Later Minoan or Early Mycenaean ; Hittite Empire ; ; Middle or Early Neo-Assyrian ; Later Mycenaean or Trojan ; Sea Peoples ; Philistine ; Phoenician Allies ; Neo-Hittite And Aramaean ; Later Hebrew ; Mannaean Allies ; Libyan Egyptian ; Urartian ; Median ; Neo-Elamite ; Proto-Arab Allies ; Cimmerian or Early Skythian ; Neo-Assyrian Empire ; Phrygian Allies ; Kushite Egyptian ; Neo-Babylonian Empire ;
Oaf of Fealty - Early Medieval Europe Feudal Catalan and Early Crown Of Aragon ; Early Hungarian ; Taifa Andalusian ; Feudal Navarrese and Aragonese ; Feudal Castilian Leonese or Portuguese ; Fanatic Berber ; Italo-Norman ; Feudal French ; Imperial German ; Feudal German ; Communal Italian ; Papal Italian ; Early Scots Isles And Highlands ; Feudal Scots ; Early Russian ; Feudal Polish ; Anglo-Norman ; Later Welsh ; Early Lithuanian or Samogitian ; Wendish Prussian or Estonian ; Early Medieval Frisia and Other Free Cantons ; Post-Viking Scandinavian ; Early Plantagenet English ; Later Sicilian ; Early Medieval Irish ; Early Anglo-Irish ; Early Teutonic Knights ; Mongol Invasion ; Early Granadine ; Middle Plantagenet English ;
Empires of The Dragon - China, Korea and Japan Erlitou-Shang Chinese ; Early Northern Barbarian Allies ; Early Zhou Chinese ; Yayoi Japanese ; Early Horse Nomad ; Ko Choson Korean ; Warring States To Western Han Chinese ; Qiang And Di ; Three Kingdoms Korean ; Eastern Han Chinese? ; Three Kingdoms W Jin And S Dynasties Chinese ; Kofun Nara Japanese ; Northern Dynasties Chinese ; Later Hindu North Indian ; Later Hindu South Indian ; Central Asian City States ; Western Wei To Early Tang Chinese ; ; Later Horse Nomad ; Tibetan ; Nepalese Allies ; Parhae Korean ; Late Tang To Five Dynasties Chinese ; Khmer Or Champa ; Thai Allies ; Nanzhao ; Pyu Burmese Allies ; Koryo Korean ; Early Heian Japanese ; Pagan Burmese ; Liao ; Song Chinese ; Xi Xia ; Ghurid Afghan ; Jin ; Late Heian To Muromachi Japanese ; Japanese Warrior Monk Allies ; Mongol Conquest ; Moslem Indian Sultanates ; Medieval Indonesian Or Malay ; Yuan Chinese ; Medieval Burmese ; Ming Chinese ; Yi Korean
Blood and Gold - The Americas Olmec ; Teotihuacan ; West Mexican ; Zapotec or Mixtec ; Toltec ; Chinantec ; Aztec ; Tarascan ; Tlaxcalan Confederacy ; Mayan ; Mochica ; Chanca ; Chimu ; Hatun-Colla ; Canari ; Inca ; Mapuche or Araucanian ; Amazonian Forest Tribes ; Tupi ; Chichimec ; Pueblo Culture ; Mound-Builder Culture ; South-Eastern Woodland Culture ; Timucuan ; Eastern Woodland Culture ; Plains Culture ; Pacific North-West Culture
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