Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[lilroblis]

Leonidas looked at the late morning sun and then dropped his gaze to the north as he and Xenophon viewed the cohorts forming for battle.
“Marcellus has outfoxed us again.” Xenophon quipped.
“ Who would have thought he could have advanced so quickly south.” Remarked Leonidas. “ You are right. This Marcellus bares our watchfulness and attention”
Suddenly, they turned to quickly to see Memnon trotting up to meet them.
Sliding from his mount, Memnon lamented,” Forget the river defense, we will have to meet him face on. The hill on the right with the rough on it will have to be taken, as well as that bushy rough area on the left.”
“Gloom as usual , Memnon?” added Leonidas.
“Not gloom, but observant. “ replied Memnon.
“But you are correct, my friend.” Turning ,he shouted to his officers,” Start forming our taxises!”
Skillfully remounting his horse, Memnon leaned down gravely,” It will be up to you, my friends, to crack his cohorts in the center.” Then turned and galloped away to the left.
Leonidas turning, quipped, “Well, lets not keep Marcellus waiting. It would be uncourteous of us to delay our meeting.”
Xenophon pushed his helmet down and replied smiling, “ See you tonite .”
Laying his hand on Xenophon’s shoulder, “Yes, gods willing , victory will be on our spears. Take care, my friend.”
They separated and strode off to their taxis .

<<Matt W and I used the new deployment rules. Our scouting pts were very close. I had 36pt and he had 33pt. He had two commands and I had 3(obviously).
The game lasted a long time about 4.5 hours, which was mostly because we kept referring to the rules. We had a lot of questions. I am VERY rusty and he is a new player; however, I was very impressed with his grasp of the rules. In many ways he knew more than I did. I think that his trip to Bill’s was very profitable.
As I want this to be a Hoplite theme army, I used the Spanish HTW minus 2. I also did not go with Gauls, due to the advise of my list editors: Matt K and Robert T

Here is my list:
CNC(Memnon) HC jls + 1El HC Reg C jls,sh
4El LC RegC jls, sh
4El LC Reg C, jls,sh
8El Syracusans Hoplites Reg D, 1/2HI, 1/2MI
8El Allied Hoplites Reg C, ½ HI, ½ MI
4El LI Javelmen RegC , jls,sh
2El LI Javelmen RegC , jls,sh

Xenphon (Sub) +7El Ex-Cyreans(10000), Reg B 1/2HI, 1/2MI hoplites, lts,sh
4El Spanish Irreg C, LMI, HTW,jls,sh
4El Peltast Reg C LMI, jls,Lts,sh
8El Javelmen , Irreg C, jls,sh

Leonidas(Sub) + 7El Lakedomians Reg B, ½ HI, ½ MI
6El Spartaits Reg A, ½ HI, ½ MI
4El Peltasts, Reg C LMI, jls,lts,sh
4El Spanish Irreg C ,LMI, HTW,jls,sh
6El Cretans Reg C, LI, B

I will try to give you a picture of the board. All from my view of the board
A hill on my right with rough area on top
A rough area on the left
Both were basically forward center, more on my side .
There was one woods ,right flank in the corner on his side of the board.

I don’t have his list, but as I give the starting set up I will give what I remember(my gosh Kollmer, you have trouble remembering your grandkids names )

Original deployment:
Again from my right:
Cretans on the extreme right (right of the hill)
Spanish heading toward toward the hill
Peltast (just left of the hill)
Lakedamian(Leonidas, 3ranks deep (thanks Robert)
Spartiates
Spanish
10000(Xenophon)
Peltast
Allied Hoplites
LC(right of the rough area on the edge )
LI (next to LC but in the rough)
Gap
LI (in the rough but on the left edge of it)
LC (on the left edge of the rough, next to LI)
Memnon HC
Syracusans in column on edge of board)
< A LI unit in front of the 10000>

Matt W’s deployment( excuse if I forget something)

Again from my view of the board:
HC on the right heading toward Cretans
LHI toward the Hill
Cohort HTW toward Peltast/Lakedamian
Cohort HTW toward Spartaites
Cohort LTS toward Spanish(Leonidas command)
< Velites in front of the two HTW cohorts>
Cohort HTW toward 10000
Cohort HTW toward Peltast
Cohort LTS toward Allied
<Velites in front of HTW cohorts>
gap
HC in front of rough area
Velites in front of rough and toward board edge

The first major action was on the right. The Roman HC attacked the Cretans. The Cretans shot them down 2 but lost in the combat and routed.
The Spanish moved to the hill and over it but were met by the LHI.
Xenophon sent the 8El LI unit to the right to cover the Roman HC
The Spanish and the Roman LHI met and locked.

The Hoplite center kept moving forward and the peltasts kept pushing the velites back.

Memnon pushed the both LC ahead along with the 2El LI toward the roman HC. He also pushed the Syracusans and the 4El LI toward the Velites in front on them.

The next action was the HC on the right against the 8El LI. The heroic LI passed the waver test and rolled well to drive back the roman HC.
The Spanish and roman LHI continued to lock. But eventually were pushed back.

All continued til about the 4th(somewhere around there) maybe 5th bound when the Roman Spanish LC (flank march ) arrived on my right. They headed over the hill toward the Spanish/Roman LHI combat.

The next major action was on the left as the LC and LI were bottling up the roman HC. The Syracusan and LI was pushing the Velites back. Memnon supporting the Syracusansl

Back to the right, the roman HC finally destroyed the 8El LI unit and the roman LHI and roman Spanish LC destroyed the Leonidas Spanish and took the hill.

Leonidas/Xenophon met the cohorts. Leonidas’s Peltast and Lakedamian hit the Cohort HtW(Pincipes ??)
The Spartiates hit the CohortHTW(Hastasdi??)
Xenophon’s Spanish hit the Cohort(LTS)(Triariii??)
10000 hit the otherHTWCohort(Principes???)
Peltast(Xenophon command) hit the Cohort(HTW)(Hastati???)
Allied Hoplites hit the cohort(lts)(triarii???)

Leonidas routed his cohort and the cohort against the Spartiates shook because of the rout.
The Spanish(Xenophon) locked in their combat
10000 pushed back their cohort
Peltast(Xenophon) lost their combat and recoiled disordered
Allied locked with the Cohort LTS(triarii??)

At this point , it got late and we ended here, but it was a GREAT game. And both Matt W and I learned a lot. For me that was the purpose of the game.


“HOLD, Leonidas!!!! “roared Memnon as he galloped up to Leonidas. “HOLD, LOOK TO THE HILL! PULL BACK!!” Pointing to the hill.
“WHAT!!!!!” cried Leonidas.
“Roman Cavalry on the hill ,on the flank” retorted Memnon.
Leonidas lifted his helmet and turned his gaze to the left. Squinting his eyes he could see cavalry rallying on the hill.
Turning, raising his spear quickly commanded,” RALLY TO ME, LAKEDOMIANS!! Cocking his head to the right ordered his officer.”Pass word to the spartaites.” “RALLY TO ME!!!!” shouting again.
Soon Xenophon came running sweating, tired and filthy ,”WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!, LET’S FOLLOW UP. Why pull back? He cried.
“Look to the hill, Roman Cavalry on our flank. Besides the day grows late. Let’s not lose our gains in the dark.” Turning to the retiring romans,” Let the romans lick their wounds. We have wounds enough ourselves.”
Sometime later, as the lines of weary hoplites returned to their camp. Xenophon turned to Memnon, “Well we have accomplished our mission. The roman has been turned away.”
“I think the Syracusan council might disagree with you.” Retorted Leonidas.
“Yes, as long as there is a roman soldier in Sicily, they would not be satisfied” added Memnon.
“What next then Leonidas?” questioned Xenophon.
“Well we cannot stay in Sicily forever. Besides, our absence from Sparta for any length of time can only brew trouble.”
“So we have accomplish as much as we can here?” queried Memnon.
“Yes.”
Turning and placing is hand on Leonidas’s shoulder,”Then let us get refreshed and thank the gods that we are still alive. GALON!!!!! WATER and clean tunics for us.”
Slowly, the three companions retire to the camp. The sun already set and dusk fast upon the light.

ONE MIGHT THINK AS THEY ALSO THINK THAT THEIR ADVENTURES AT AN END, BUT OUR THREE COMPANIONS UNKNOWINGLY HAVE ONLY BEGAN TO DRAW THE VEIL OF OLYMPUS ASIDE.

[lilroblis]

This was posted for ED the Byzantofile

[lilroblis]

It was a good game.

Ed's writeup is a fine summary of what happened, and puts a gracious spin on the end result.

My allied cavalry on the hill was nearly exhausted from getting shot up by the Cretans. The Spanish Light cavalry was in fine shape, but it is only light cav. Slamming into the side of a phalanx would be an annoyance at best, and since the cohorts closest to the hill broke and shook those phalanxes would be waiting for me with bristling spears as I came off the hill.

On the right Ed did a fine job of tying up my best cavalry unit with small LC forces.

Hopefully we can continue the saga and continue picking up the finer points of the game.


Matt W.