Action at Chaeronea: the background

Now that I have my Companions and Thessalians painted up I thought that I would celebrate by getting Alexander to the table. I don't have enough Greeks or Persians ready to give him battle yet, but I thought I could cheat a little, and a quick browse through the Lost Battles scenarios gave me just what I needed.

We present, therefore, an action at Chaeronea, in which the old lion, Philip of Macedon, using his army from Chaeronea 338 BC, challenges the army of P. Decius Mus and P. Sulpicius Saverrio - plucked from the battlefield of Asculum, 279 BC, and deposited in place of the Chaeroniac Greek coalition - to a fight for possession of the field and the glory that accompanies it.

Allow me then to introduce the Macedonian army.

Philip himself will lead the Agema as an inspired leader commanding veteran heavy infantry. He also has two other veteran infantry units in the hypaspists. My figures are sarissa-armed, but for this encounter they will be classed as heavy infantry, not phalangites. These veterans will normally hit Romans with a 9 on 2d6, but under favourable conditions can reduce the required to-hit score to an 8. Under exceptional circumstances they can hit on as little as 6. In addition, their narrow frontage is a big advantage: they only take up half the frontage of a normal unit, so it becomes possible to get more attacks in as well.

Very handy!

The main body of the army consists of ten units of average quality phalangites (the foot companions). They will normally hit legionaries on a 9, but can pair units together to make an attack that will hit on an 8. If given a combat bonus by a general, they can bring that down to a 7.

They are formidable infantry to face on the tabletop.

In support are two units of average heavy infantry and two units of average light infantry. The light infantry will be used to blunt the enemy's initial attacks and then fall back behind the main line, thereafter popping up occasionally to take pot-shots from a suitable distance. The heavy infantry will be used to protect the phalangites and allow them to concentrate on attacking in depth.

Both types will generally hit on a 9.

Last, but most deadly of all, are a young Alexander and his cavalry Companions. Two units of veterans and one unit of average cavalry (Thessalians) give the army real punch. With Alexander (classed as an average leader) leading from the front, the cavalry will hit enemy horse on a 4, and score a double hit on an 8. They are less effective against foot frontally, but attacking from flank or rear they will carve up legionaries as well.

There are not many of them, however, so the decision to commit them to the charge will be a key moment in the battle.

The Macedonians have a very solid core of foot, with strike power in their veteran infantry and cavalry. They have various options for deployment, but will be at their best formed in depth. I would feel more comfortable if they had a unit of light cavalry, but they should still give the Romans plenty to think about.

Turning now to those Romans, we introduce the army as it was at Asculum.

We start with six units of Latin Allies, classed as average legionaries, with supporting light infantry of levy quality. Also shown is Sulpicius, an uninspired Roman commander.

Legionary class troops are stubborn. Not only do they refuse to rout until the situation is extremely dire, but they are pretty good at blunting frontal attacks by enemy infantry as well.

The commander is poor quality, however. An honest trier no doubt, but poor.

Next up are seven units of Roman legionaries, again classed as average, again with supporting light infantry rated levy.

There is no real difference between the Roman citizens and the Latin allies. They are also stubborn, and, like the Latins, will hit enemy infantry on a 9.

We come then to the cavalry. The Romans, surprisingly enough, have nominal cavalry superiority here. Four units worth 12 points against 3 units worth 11. They do not have an Alexander leading them though - just a Publius Decius Mus.

Under perfect conditions they will hit enemy cavalry on a 5, and may well prove a tough nut to crack.

The Roman legionaries will put up a hard fight, but in a straight up slugging match they will likely be worn down by the Macedonians who will get in more attacks per turn. If however they can prevent Alexander getting in behind them and can get into their stride early against the phalanx, their superior morale might just see them do all right.

****

And so we have the armies. To conclude, it's worth noting for the record that the Macedonians have a total fighting value of 83, of which 18 points are tied up in their commanders. The Romans have a total FV of 77, only 6 points of which are in commanders. It will be a tough fight. A lot will depend on how the Macedonians use their strike troops, and much will also depend on the battlefield terrain.

Speaking of which, here the battlefield is. Looking from the northwest, with the town of Chaeronea on the hill in the foreground, the Macedonians will be deploying on the left and the Romans on the right. The hills, watercourses and marsh will make this tricky terrain to fight over, and it will be challenging to both armies to best use their strengths and attack enemy weaknesses.

With the preliminaries out of the way, it is now time to go and fight the actual battle (see here for the report).

Game on, as the kids say these days!

Thanks for reading so far.

Painted and based. Huzzah!

Well, finally have some fully finished figures to check in.

Xyston companions and Thessalians. There was a bit of an issue with the original matte varnish, but a gloss coat sorted it out (phew!). They are still a bit shiny as I've been somewhat leery of subjecting them to the matte again after that incident!

Xyston hypaspists with spear.

(Hmm, have been sloppy above a greave or two here!)

Xyston Spartans (done a long time ago, but only just flocked).

Refurbished arty got as a bonus part of a buy from TMP. Not sure of the maker, but quite a lot shorter than the Xyston figs, that's for sure!

Nice to be able to adjust the painting tallies upwards, anyway.

On the painting table

After a (welcome!) interruption or two, the paints are back out, this time to finish off some Xyston Macedonian / Successor cavalry.

Not too much left to do now: highlight the bronze, do horse the markings, tidy up the odd thing here and there and then it's onto the dip/wash and varnish.

These are lovely figures, but the xystophoroi are noticeably larger than the companions and Thessalians, so I'm going to have to be creative when it comes to basing time.

These were done (as anyone can see!) with a brown undercoat instead of my usual gray. I think they've come out reasonably well and I'll certainly consider using it again for future batches of horse.

And that's a wash!

Had a pleasant surprise finding these at the local stationary store the other day. As I have some Greeks with pesky linen armour on the go I thought I would use them to experiment with a custom wash.

I used Future/Klear and water in a roughly 2:1 mix, and added in peat brown and black - also at about 2:1 - topping up with Klear/Water in the same ratios until the mix looked good to the eye.

Here it is slapped on a Xyston Theban. Figure on the left was undercoated gray with white drybrushed over that; figure on the right shows how it looks after the wash and before any further highlighting has been done.

It's a little bit grainy on close inspection, but a highlight and varnish should sort that out, I'd think.

Not too bad, but I might try to go thinner to see if I can keep the need for highlighting to a minimum, and in future I'll use more Future and less water to see if that will reduce the graininess.

Decorative Buildings

We went to the furniture store yesterday to pick up a new chest of drawers, and wouldn't you know it but they had some decorations in that looked quite passable for buildings.

15mm with church.

1/72 with house / store.

28mm fantasy with house.

I picked up three packs, and at $5 for the above three buildings each I thought they were a bargain!

AMW unit roster card

As a follow up to a recent experiment with Ancient and Medieval Wargaming, I decided to make a quick unit roster card template to cut down on the need for on-table markers.

The plan (obviously!) is to print these out on blank business cards, place them behind the table edge, and use them to keep track of hits, special rules, etc.

Eagle eyed viewers will note that this is very plain. I would like to pretend this was planned to save on printing ink, but the gruesome truth is that I'm very bad at getting things like this to look nice...

AMW Dark Ages Bash

I've had a bit of a hankering to get some figures on the table so I decided to give Neil Thomas's Ancient and Medieval Wargaming another crack.

The rules have a big failing when playing a standard ancients type affair in that elephants are far too powerful and that there's no easy fix for this (so far that I've seen, anyway).

Partly for this reason and partly because I've been distracted by other things, I haven't played the rules as much as I'd intended to when I first bought them.

But they had something about them, and like the magic item beloved of fantasy novels, whose true purpose is fortuitously revealed at just the right moment, or the unopened letter from a deceased acquaintance that, finally read, gives vital plot direction to the heretofore wayward strivings of a hero or heroine, it seemed they might one day come in useful.

And so it has proved.

On browsing the shelf the eye alighted on AMW, and the timing seemed just about right.

The Saxons.

The Saxons, who would be defending a small hill, are made up of three different troop types. In the front we have the nobles. Classed as infantry with medium armour (5-6 saving throw), they get an integral missile bonus in the first round of any combat, and can form shieldwall. They are rated elite, so pass morale tests on a 3-6.

The middle row is made up of peasants (fyrd?), who are classed as infantry with light armour. They too can form shieldwall and get an integral missile bonus. Peasants (despite the name!) are average quality, and pass morale on a 4-6.

The back row is made up of archers. They are levy troops with light armour and bows and pass morale tests on a 5 or 6.

The Vikings.

The Vikings are a mirror image of the Saxons, except that they are warband infantry instead of shieldwall infantry.

In front are the huscarls, who have medium armour and are elite for morale purposes. Being warband, they get extra dice in the first round of combat.

The units in the middle row are bondi. They are also warband class, but have light armour, are average quality, and have the ability of fire off up to two arrow attacks on turns in which they are not engaged in melee. This is actually a pretty handy ability to have, especially against shieldwall infantry.

In the back is a unit of thralls; these being levy light infantry with javelins.

The Battlefield.

Stylised battlefield:
Unit key: 1s = nobles/huscarls; 3s = peasants/bondi; 6s = light infantry.

As mentioned, the Saxons set up on the hill to make good use of their shieldwall. The Vikings intersperse huscarls and bondi along their line to give themselves the best chance to turn the enemy's left flank while wearing down the centre and right with missile fire before engaging in melee.

Moving first, the Vikings move in as fast they can. On the far right they close the distance to the archers and aim to charge in against the light infantrymen to prevent their arrows from doing too much damage.

Archers picking off the bondi as they approach.

This plan is not completely successful - the archers score three hits early, and at the time of the above photo, they still had another volley to come. The archers would not be laughing when the bondi got into contact with them on the following turn, however!

As the Vikings come into bow range, they halt to let the bondi - with 'integral archers' of their own, if you recall - attempt to get some early hits on the shieldwall.

But if the northmen think these worthy fellows are going to be disconcerted by a few arrows, they are wrong...

While the left and centre holds back to fire off their speculative arrows, the bondi and huscarls on the Viking right immediately charge home. The defending archer light infantry is no match for the bondi warband, and they are soon destroyed, allowing the bondi to turn and outflank the endmost unit of peasants who are already in melee with the huscarls.

Observing this, the Saxons come under pressure to take action of their own. After some consideration they send forward the right to engage the Viking light infantry and leftmost bondi unit.

The picture below, using our previous scheme, shows a representation of the situation around turn eight. Note that the archers have been defeated and the Saxon left is outflanked.

The Saxon right engages; unfortunately, failed morale tests for coming out of shieldwall are catastrophic. This allows the Viking light infantry to gain an unforeseen advantage over the peasants on the far right.

Now that both wings are under threat, the centre of the Saxon line comes forward to attack the bondi and prevent any more losses to missile fire. But they wait to engage the huscarls.

The centres engage.

Surprisingly, the Saxon advance is a great success. They get the better of their opponents, and over the next couple of turns force morale checks which the Vikings fail.

But this does not yet make up for the situation on the wings, for the Viking left has now swept the enemy away there as well.

The Vikings break through on the left.

It is turning into an interesting inside-out battle: the Saxons are endeavouring to break the enemy centre while the Vikings are working their way inwards from the wings. The Vikings have got a significant advantage in unit numbers though, which in AMW can be hard to overcome.

This is what our scheme looks like after about fourteen turns. The three units of nobles in the centre are putting genuine pressure on the Viking line, but their wings have vanished, and they are running out of time to win.

As a quick rules aside, in AMW, if a 'heavy' unit (i.e., a non-light unit) exits the battlefield off the enemy's board edge, it eliminates the exiting unit but also forces the enemy to remove two units from the game. Once a side is reduced to two units, it has lost.

The obvious threat then to the Saxons is that the Vikings can send one of their units to exit the board and win the game, and the only way to stop them is to destroy four units themselves in the two or three turns it will take to get a Viking unit off the board.

The picture below shows how the Saxons have split the Viking centre and the fight has devolved into three fierce contests.

Returning to our scheme, it can be seen that the Saxons have expanded the opening they've made in the centre...

But in the end, they can only destroy two of the four units they need to claim victory.

A triumph then for Viking determination and guile as they exit a unit off the field and claim the win.

It was interesting to see how close it was in the end, and it was a really enjoyable game.

I did make a couple of errors. As one example, the Saxons did not need to go into shieldwall formation until they were under attack by the enemy. To go into shieldwall is automatic, but to come out causes a morale test, and a failure there causes significant damage. A number of units were obliged to charge out of a shieldwall formation they should not have been in, and this was costly in terms of Saxon resilience.

The upshot of such mistakes is I have seen there are more tactics to use here than in, say, Thomas's other popular set, One Hour Wargames, and I am satisfied that there is something here worth pursuing, for Dark Age warfare, at least. The rules have an old school feel which is close enough to other dicefest games such as WHFB that some extra ideas to add interest could be incorporated without too much trouble.

Anyway, if anyone has made it this far through, thank you for reading, and I hope it was worthwhile!