A Horror of Hoplites

A Headless Body Production
Venue: On Military Matters Book Store, Hopewell, NJ
Event: Preparation for Lou Con!*
Players: Phil Gardocki running Medes
               Lou Cardinale running Hoplite Greeks
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:
Hoplite Greeks
The names of the commanders is lost to history
16 Heavy Spearmen, some mediocre
3 Medium Infantry, at least 1 with 2HW
1 Medium Cavalry
2 Light Cavalry, Javelin
1 Light Infantry, Javelin
Breakpoint around 23

Medes. 2 Brilliant Commanders, and one Unreliable and Ordinary
6 Heavy Cavalry, Bow, Elite
6 Medium Cavalry, Bow
3 Light Cavalry, Bow
6 Heavy Spearmen, Missile Support, Mediocre
3 Light Infantry, Bow
Breakpoint of 24

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Ωχ!", "Ouch!", "Oi!" or "Ahi!", this implies a disorder from missiles. Letters in parenthesis represent some value change for the specific unit. For commanders it is s for strategist, b for Brilliant, c for Competent and o for Ordinary, u for unreliable. For troops it is e for Elite, and m for Mediocre. Other abbreviations, Hvy Heavy, XB Crossbow, LB, Longbow, Jav Javelin, 2HW 2 Handed Weapons, B Bow, Kn Knight, HKn Heavy Knight, HC Heavy Cavalry, Md Medium, Sgt Sergeants, LC Light Cavalry, Chr Chariot, Cat Cataphract, Pa Pavise, LI, Light Infantry, HG Hand Gun, FKn Foot Knight, Hvy Spear, Heavy Spearmen.

"XX" implies a unit killed in that location on that turn.

The Board: The Hoplites win the initiative and elect to attack.

The weather is good.

Dennis Shorthouse is the proprietor of On Military Matters book service. A delightful book store in Hopewell New Jersey that specializes in military books.

Deployment:

 Turn 1:

As the title implies, I brought a BB gun to a howitzer fight. Medium and Heavy cavalry against Heavy Spearmen. What was I thinking?

Lou got his water feature, coning the board down to 26 elements wide. On his far right 6 units of Hoplites.

In the middle, 3 Hoplites, 3 Medium foot, then more Hoplites.

On his left, a couple of horse and 6 more Hoplites.

One the Mede left, 6 horsemen with bow. Elite heavies interleaved with mediums.

The center has the Mede Heavy Spear. Mediocre, but with terrain advantages.

One the Mede right, 6 horsemen with bow. Elite heavies interleaved with mediums

Turn 1:

The Hoplites are on the attack, they advance swiftly across the field.

Without consideration for terrain or opposition.

Their line only disjointed a bit due to a lack of command points.

Mede cavalry advances and looses arrows, scoring a couple of hits.

A pair of troops approach to slow down the advance of the wall of pike.

The Median light horse shoots well.

Turn 2:

As a surprise to the Medes, the right flank Hoplites hold for rallying.

But their center pushes aggressively forward.

And why not? They have 3 medium sword, with bonuses as I recall.

The hoplites on the other side swerve around their damaged lights, providing cover for their commander to offer comforting words.

The Median light horse are on fire! Scoring hit after hit with their bows.

The coastal cavalry command is at a loss for what to do. They cannot charge, and they don't have much room to retreat.

The Median lights hold their ground and shoot. Disordering one of the mediums.

The Median lights squirt around the Hoplite line, The Median horse archers continue to throw volley after volley of arrows.

Turn 3:

The Hoplites by the shore continue to play the waiting game.

Their center forces have turned the Mede's flank.

Having a shortage of command points, the Hoplites on the right mostly hold up.

Their javelin armed light horse, newly restored by their commander, chases the Median lights.

Turn 4:

I missed taking pictures at the bottom of the 3rd. We'll have to go with it.

The coastline hoplites are nearly all disordered.

But the Mede left is really flanked.

Mede heavy spear, mediocre, missile support, are looking like they are about to get involved.

Hoplites charge!. On Mede is ZOC'd in the rear and cannot evade. The other stays just to provide support.

Hoplites charge on the right as well. Winning only one fight. One hoplite, amazingly is run down by medium horse.

The luck continues to favor the Medes as Light Horse Bow, destroys it's attacking Light Horse, Javelin.

With the Hoplite line totally disordered, the odds are not going to get any better than this. A massive charge of horse! But luck is fickle, and the Median horse win none of the battles.

The bravest of the brave! 3 light foot still hold the center.

Their cavalry defeated, the Mede heavy foot charges!

Another unit of hoplites is destroyed.

This game may be a race after all.

The Median light horse is racing for the hoplite camp.

Turn 5:

The collapse of the Mede left is both swift an brutal.

The hoplite center holds for rallies..

Bear in mind, that off of the bottom of this picture, is 4 heavy spear units, on a hill.

The Mede heavy foot are winning the melee, but are flanked.

A Median horse unit is destroyed. The Hoplites are flanked, but are otherwise intact.

The collapsed Mede coastal command is still holding.

The Mede heavies destroy a hoplite.

Two cavalry charges, but only causing 1 additional hit over mandatory flank hit.

Turn 6:

Finishing touches.

The final points. One on Median heavy spear.

And the last on the surround Median horse.

The final score was something like 24 (Medeian losses) to 13. A comfortable win for the Hoplites.

So what went wrong? Mainly it was the army design. A cavalry force that has bow as it's main weapon army needs room, and having an initiative of only 3, it wasn't enough to secure the the attack against the Hoplites initiative of 2. With out room to flee, they were forced to fight before the spearmen were suitably weakened.

Then we have Lou's tactics. He was patient. Securing flank positions and cutting off evade options before charging. Well played!

*It doesn't really have a name, but Lou Cardinale is organizing it so there we are.

To be held at the Maplewood Hobby Store, located at 1970 Springfield, Maplewood, NJ 07040

Armies must be between 600 and 400 BC (inclusive) and must field at least 4 heavy foot.