Dominion of the Spear

I picked these rules up last year when they were getting quite a few nods of appreciation around the traps, and while I haven't done them to death I have played a few games, mainly using scenarios from the 36 Battles for Dominion of the Spear expansion.   

Last time I played I scribbled down some notes for a future blog post but lost them in a fit of organisational ineptitude. 

Monday last week I pulled the rules out again and decided to run through Marathon. I have only the beginnings of an Achaemenid army painted, but there are enough for these rules, so I set the figures up. 

Then it was all over in 14 dice rolls.

I left the figures out and started writing up a post about why I probably won't play these rules enough to warrant getting all the various iterations. The battles, I wrote, are simply over too soon.

But I couldn't get the post to where I was happy with it. I had a couple of goes over a couple of nights without it working so I let it be. 

Tonight I went down to the den to pack the figures up, but decided I would play Marathon again, and then have a go at Plataea. Why? Well, I have a day off work on Friday. Why not?

Marathon. The Athenian army is composed of four units of armoured spearmen for the Greeks. The Persians have four units of ordinary archers and one unit of elite armoured archers. The Athenians have the initiative.  

Start - Persians at the top

Turn 1: the Persian archers take out a unit of the Athenian hoplites, but the hoplites drive off the archers on the other flank leaving things even after the first three rounds of battle.

After the first turn

Turn 2: The Persian archers strike twice to leave the Athenians with just one unit on the board, meaning they will be running home to announce a defeat, not a victory. 

Marathon at game end - a Persian triumph in 9 dice rolls

Plataea. The Persians have the initiative, and an army made up of two units of ordinary archers, one of elite archers, a unit of cavalry, and a unit of armoured spearmen (mercenary hoplites). The Greeks have a unit of elite armoured spearmen (Spartans), two units of armoured spearmen, and one of ordinary spearmen.

Plataea start. Greeks to the top. 

Turn 1: the Greeks beat the archers in the centre but lose the Spartans to Mardonius's cavalry. Talk about doing home on your shield. 

After the first turn

Turn 2: the Persian archers destroy another unit of hoplites and open a gap to be exploited.

After the second turn

Turn 3: Mardonius and his cavalry win again.

At game end - another triumph for the Achaemenids, this time in 14 dice rolls.

By this time I am having fun, and am about to go to Gaugamela, but what is this, a scenario for Thymbra? I go back in time to the battle between Cyrus the Great and Croesus of Lydia.

Thymbra. The Lydians have the initiative and an army made up of two units of armoured cavalry, a unit of elite armoured spearmen, and a unit of ordinary spearmen. Cyrus's Achaemenids are comprised of two units of armoured archers, one of ordinary archers, one of scythed chariots, and one of cavalry. 

Set up with Lydians at the top. The field is fuller!

Turn 1: Cyrus's archers are effective against one of the cavalry units but Croesus's archers deal with the scythed chariots without breaking a sweat.

In war things can get blurred...

After the first turn

Turn 2: Cyrus's archers are unstoppable. The Lydian cavalry drives off one unit in its own turn but it cannot avoid defeat for the army. 

At game end - a Persian triumph in 9 dice rolls.

For the fourth and last Achaemenid battle in the scenario book we go to Gaugamela. Three battles, three wins for the men of the fertile crescent. Can Alexander reverse the trend?

Gaugamela. Alexander and his Macedonians have the initiative and an army as follows: a unit of elite armoured cavalry, a unit of ordinary cavalry, a unit of elite armoured spearmen (the phalanx) and a unit of ordinary spearmen. Darius III has three units of cavalry, a unit of horse archers, a unit of scythed chariots, and a unit of archers.

At game start. Who could ever tell which army is which?

Turn 1: the Companions and phalanx strike immediately to knock off the horse archers and the chariots. The Persian cavalry pulls one back for the team by defeating the Thessalian cavalry at the other end of the field.

After the first turn

Turn 2: the Companions and the foot companions are again victorious. Darius's men have no answer.

After the second turn

Turn 3: the Companions are deadly once more, and the phalanx turn into the flank of the remaining Persian cavalry and drive them off as well. 

The field is clear - a Macedonian triumph in 12 rolls

The Companions have three rolls and produce three sixes. Perfection!

And so I am glad that I did not publish my half-formed negative take on Dominion of the Spear. As a one-off game with miniatures, it seemed to be a waste of time. As a four game exploration of Achaemenid battles on a week night with no work the next day it was a something entirely different.

Going back to my original thoughts:

"Part of the issue is that I'd got figures out for it. The figures probably took about fifteen minutes to find and to set up. The game itself was over in about two minutes, or as long as it took to make 14 dice rolls."

But this was the wrong way to look at the game. 

Will I buy the other games in the series? I'm not sure. I have the ACW version and that will certainly lend itself well to a themed evening of gaming like the one tonight. I think I might look at the horse and musket ones. I will see. I don't think there is any need to worry either way: I've had my money's worth in games from this series tonight already, and anything that helps to inspire a blog post is doing well given my recent output! 

In other news, I got to see a band play this week in Nelson, and they were brilliant. New Zealand's efforts in the arts can often lead to a sort of cultural cringe: you take a peek and want to slink out the door. Not so with Auckland's The Beths. 

Here's a solo acoustic version of their song Mosquitoes. They are a four piece and all excellent musicians but Liz Stokes is the songwriter in the band. She is quite a talent. If you get a chance to see them, take it!