Saturday 28 September 2013

Titanic Struggle in Greece

The Romans and Macedonians go hard at it again in Greece.  The Macedonians, led by Philip V in person, attack the Achaean League, and the Romans send an expeditionary force to help their allies, consisting of a proconsular army of four understrength legions.  The last time this happened, the Macedonians won because the Greeks all ran away; who knows what the outcome will be this time...
Above is a shot of the Macedonian right, as seen from my perspective behind the Roman lines.  Two waves of light horse, some heavies, and a load of Thureophoroi types.  Skirmishers out front.
The Macedonian centre: a large heavy phalanx, with their guards held back.  Note the celestial radiator behind them...
Their left: more phalanxes, with heavy cavalry and skirmishers.
The left of the allied army is mostly the Achaeans, with me in charge.  Light and heavy horse, and Thureophoroi.  Just at the right of this command are the Latin Triarii, deployed wide instead of in support of the other legionaries.  This is a new-fangled formation devised by some guy named Scipio...
Romans, looking like Romans.  The middle of our array.
Our right: Roman Triarii, Achaean thureophoi and the amalgamated Roman and Latin equites.  Some more peltasts are ready to go into the rough.
A full table shot of the army deployments from off to the Roman right.  Whatever the outcome, this is going to be nasty...
The one above is an angled shot of the enemy phalanx.  Deadly impressive.
A closer shot of the legions from the same perspective.  Damned well drilled, these barbarians.
Final photo from this end of the field: the armies advance.  It's a bit blurry to see details, but it does give an idea of the sweep of the game.
The same moment, this time from beside my command of Greeks.
I'm first into combat as my light cavalry takes on theirs.  Right in the middle of the photo you might be able to make out the enemy guardsmen.  They have moved out to this end of their phalanx to face off against the Latin Triarii.  This will be the point of decision, because if the guards do not hold out, the flank of the phalanx will be turned before its weight crushes the legions.
The aerial shot should give some idea of what I'm on about.  In the immediate foreground the Latin hastati have already engaged the guard pikemen.  Just off to the bottom of the photo the Triarii are crunching enemy Thureophoroi.  Once that's done, they can join in here, but the timing is going to be tight.
This is the action right at the extreme edge of my flank, with the battle stretching off into the distance.
A terrible struggle ensues on my flank.
The Macedonian foot guards have disposed of the Latin hastati, and not the Principes go in.  The remainder of the Romans are having a bad time in the centre of the army.
The wight of the phalanx is beginning to tell at the far end of our army.
Above is a close up of the Roman right having a bad time.
The enemy right wing collapses and the Latin Triarii are free to hit the Foot Guards.

But it is too little too late, as the phalanx grinds it way through the middle, despite King Philip getting himself killed right in the middle of the line.  Another expensive victory for Macedon.  But it is a short-lived one; the Romans counterattack with a full consular army and crush the Macedonians.  I have no photos of this one, because I forgot my camera, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because we were in a different part of the hall and the lighting was crud.

Next up: at the start of the penultimate turn of the Empire campaign, Gallia Narbonensis rises in revolt against the might of Rome, so that should be fun...

7 comments:

  1. Great looking mashup! And sorry to hear about poor King Philip. What a bad break!

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  2. Great looking and sounding game!

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  3. Looking very nice , two beautiful armies!

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  4. Looks fantastic and sounds a great deal of fun. As far as the 'crud' lighting goes I've a portable super bright halogen light the club can have if you want it but it gets rather hot and is a little bulky.

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  5. Hi Simon, thanks for the offer. I have something similar, but I'm hoping that it won't be necessary. Having said that, Cathy is in for a job and if she gets it I won't be at the club for the foreseeable. But I should have my own games room from this weekend. Need to get you up for a game!

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