More Claymore photos

Shots of the Magnesia game and others, courtesy of Phil Steele:

http://soawargamesteam.blogspot.com/2011/08/6th-august-edinburgh.html

This is something of a record for me - three posts in one day!

Magnesia at Claymore

A few shots courtesy of Alan:

Above: the army deployments, Seleucids on the left and Romans on the right as you look at the photo.  Taken from the flank with the bit of river (the Roman left).  In the foreground the best of the Seleucid mounted troops led in person by Antiochus face off against a Latin legion.

Above: this one shows the legionary deployment, from the perspective of the left rear of the Roman army.  Each legion has two waves of 12 Velites, followed by two 24-figure units of Hastati, two 24-figure Principes units, and finally two 12-figure Triarii units.

Photo number three shows the deployment of the elephants between components of the phalanx in the Seleucid centre.

The Seleucid centre left, from a Roman's perspective.  The phalanx has a bunch of Galatians to its flank (on the right as you look at it), then loads of light infantry.  It's nice to get some closer shots of the units.

A shot showing more of the phalanx plus elephants.

A full table shot plus gamers.  In the right foreground you can see the scythed chariots having some limited success, which is a lot more than they usually manage. 

A column of Seleucid cataphracts threatens to break through (figs by Essex).  Taken from the viewpoint of some Achaean thureophoroi who are about to have a bad time - they are quaking just off camera at this point.

A nice close-up of the successful unit of Argyraspides, as opposed to the rubbish who were wiped out to a man.  These belong to Donald.

And a big thanks is also due to Jonathan for "distressing" the mats to make them look a lot more varied.

Magnesia Part 2 and a post mortem

Picking up from where we left off:

The fight as the river bends.  Hastati take on (from the left as you look at it): the Agema, Cataphracts, more Cataphracts and some Galatian foot.  Dahae horse archers are still skulking, as the Velites encourage their friends.  Unfortunately for Antiochus, not even one of his three cavalry units performs at their peak.  No breakthrough here, then.

The infantry fight, taken from the same point as photo number one, and at the same time.  In the foreground the Argyraspides are actually doing quite well.  Further into the distance, the elephants are getting ready to charge while the Velites try to do some hits on them first.

Suddenly, it starts to go wrong for Antiochus.  The cataphracts are routed, leaving a large gap on the Seleucid right.

On the other side of the field: above is a view from behind the left rear of the Seleucid centre, looking along the lines to their right.  The Hastati have been wiped out, but the battered central units are now facing the fresh Principes.

The Cataphracts on the Seleucid left are beginning to make inroads.  They have already destroyed one unit of Achaeans, and the others are about to follow suit.  But will this developing threat to the right flank of the Roman centre come too late?

And on the other flank the Agema finally finish off the opposing Hastati.  At this point Antiochus tries to rein them in, realising that they are far too badly damaged to take on the waiting Principes.  He fails, and in they go gaily to their doom.

And then, suddenly, it is game over.  Up to this point the Seleucids are doing okay, having lost half of their army breakpoint and destroying the Hastati.  The Seleucid left wing horse is mostly at a stalemate against Eumenes, but some of the Cataphracts are getting into position to attack the legions.  However, there is a spectacular morale collapse starting on the Seleucid right wing.  In one turn, the Agema and the Galatian foot are destroyed; the Argyraspides fail morale and rout, taking another phalanx with them.  More centrally, one of the elephants routs, taking a phalanx out as well.  Something like seven units disintegrate in the most spectacular fashion.  Game over; Roman victory.  Even though there are fewer photos for the second half of the game, it took as long to play as the first half: more combat dice to roll!

Post mortem
Simon the Big Red Bat left an interesting comment on one of the earlier posts.  He noticed that in our game the armies are lined up evenly, when most other refights show Eumenes well outflanked.  I catered for this in my original deployment by having gaps between the Roman units and deploying Eumenes' horse in two ranks to match the enemy.  This meant that the tough Roman legions were still tough, but were up against a real mass in the centre.  It also left plenty of channels for the Velites to operate, and indeed they did manage to score a couple of hits on the elephants before they joined in.  At a couple of points in the line the Romans did lose Principes and were almost down to the Triarii, but then it was all over.  This "feels" right to me.

As to historical comparisons, Mark made an observation post-battle that he thinks Antiochus was attempting a double envelopment.  This would explain the massed cataphract charge on the right, which had some initial success.  It also explains what happened on the Seleucid left.  Here, the scythed chariots would have been intended to do as much damage as possible, which could then be exploited by the cavalry.  On one or both wings the horse would then be able to come into the flanks of the legions.  In the meantime, the phalanx effectively stayed put to try to absorb as much punishment as it could.  Of course, we know the plan failed.  Antiochus seems to have been rather carried away by his success on the right and failed to exploit it correctly.  On the other wing Eumenes prepared his counter to the chariots and swept the disordered enemy cavalry from the field.  And in the centre the velites targeted the elephants, which were finished off as effective units by the legions.  This spread panic amongst the phalanx, and it's game over here.

There are two issues for a game that attempts to recreate such a battle.  The first is how to reconstruct the armies and their deployment.  Our chosen ruleset, Tactica II (playtest version), is like most rules in that it contains a points system.  I was loathe to make the points values unbalanced in my scenario, because that might "break" the rules.  So I countered the Seleucid superiority by reducing their overall numbers somewhat, and increasing the quality of the Pergamenes, which I think is in fact warranted by their superlative performance anyway.  The second issue is whether to replay or refight.  I personally prefer the second option: start with the historical deployments as much as you can, but then play it the way you want.  This is what happened, especially on the Seleucid left, which I ran to start with until more of the players arrived.  Here, I kept the cavalry stationary, so that when the chariots routed they dispersed before causing any grief.  The pay off was that it allowed Eumenes to keep the cataphracts in particular out of the game long enough for a resolution to occur elsewhere.  I'm happy with this; again, it (subjectively) "feels" right.

Any changes?  Perhaps some.  No points system is perfect, as we all know.  But them Romans are damned tough.  I might add an extra rank to the Seleucid rightmost cataphract columns to give them a better chance of getting through the Hastati.  I also might increase the Galatian foot by a rank as well - they are very vulnerable as is.  But these are minor tweaks based on a single poor performance.  It has to be said that the Seleucid dice were dire.  Not one of their right wing cavalry managed a proper impetus effect, and there's a 50% chance per unit that they will.  Plus, their morale and disorder dice failed completely when it came to the point of decision.  You can't legislate for luck like that!

Having said all of this, twelve players had a good go at a very large game.  From start to finish, it only took three and a half hours.  Quite a few folks said it would make a great display game for the shows in 2011, which is a good idea.  We need a decent tabletop to complement the figures, though.

Magnesia: A Game of Two Halves (Part 1)

I think this should cover the way the first half of the game went, at least up to the point at which most troops were engaged:

A long view of pretty much the whole table as the battle begins; taken from the extreme right wing of the Roman army.  In the foreground, the scythed chariots are advancing on the Pergamene cavalry.  The Seleucid cavalry on this flank elects to stay put, hoping that any scythed chariots that rout back will not disrupt their own formation.  Stretching off into the distance you can see the Roman infantry advancing.

A shot from directly behind the scythed chariots.  I printed out details of the various commands and placed them behind the figures before the battle; I wasn't sure how many players we'd get, and whether or not they would all be familiar with the rules.

The Romans are coming!  The photo above is taken from behind the Seleucid left centre.

A shot of the phalanxes from the same position.  The elephants have dropped back somewhat to make it more difficult for the Velites to shoot them up before they get into combat.  In the far distance at the top right of the picture you can just about make out the massed Seleucid cavalry advancing.

The same position, a turn later.

Back on the Seleucid left, the charge of the chariots has broken up.  One of the five has made it through.  The two end units are already in rout due to shooting hits, and two others are stalled in disorder.

A side-on view on the central lines, taken from roughly the whereabouts of the chariots.  The infantry are about to meet.

The same point, from a slightly different perspective.  In the distance, the Seleucid right wing cavalry are going in.

A close-up of the leftmost phalanx in action against the Hastati.  The accompanying Galatians have held off a bit, at least until the pila are discharged.

One chariot remains.  The whole lot has broken by now, except for this one.  Its momentum gone, the Pergamenes charge it with their cavalry anyway, showing the chariots the contempt they deserve.

The Seleucid left wing cavalry begins to advance, now that the chariots are all but destroyed.

The action is now general across the rest of the field.

Magnesia: Deployment Plan

This is the map I initially came up with for the Magnesia scenario.  At the top in blue are the Seleucids.  Their extreme right wing facing the river loop is covered by Dahae skirmishing horse archers and some camelry.  Next to them are the Agema and a load of Cataphracts.  Then it's some Galatian foot and the Argyraspides.  The centre is a huge, deep phalanx interspersed with some elephants, with more Galatian infantry at their extreme left.  The left flank has Hillmen Light Infantry linking the main infantry centre with the cavalry on the wing: more Cataphracts, a load of Galatian horse, and some lights at the extreme end.  In front of this wing are the scythed chariots.  Skirmish infantry screen the centre.

The Romans have their usual four legions, with the left flank resting on the river.  Then it's the Pergamenes: excellent quality Achaeans; elite lancers; heavy cavalry and then some good quality light horse at the extreme flank.  This wing is held back to give the skirmishers up front a chance to deal with the scythed chariots.

Magnesia: Dramatis Personae (Romans)

Eumenes (figure by Essex) behind the cavalry on the right wing of the Roman army.  I used my Roman cavalry to represent standard heavies, as opposed to the Pergamene lancers (which are out of shot to the left).  The unit you can see on the left of the photo are old Minifigs Later Romans that were converted years ago by Gordon.  The central unit is my newly painted 1st Corps Republican Roman cavalry.  Off to the right you can see my old Essex Tarantines, doing duty as Pergamene light horse.  To the front left you can just about make out some Trallian slingers, deployed by Eumenes well in advance so as to take care of the Seleucid scythed chariots.

Legatus of the Dexter Latin legio in the midst of his command.

The Sinister Latin Legio with command base in the central foreground.

To give some variation, I used my circular bases of mounted command figures to represent the higher echelons.  This means that if there are enough players for the game, we could have not only commanders for the individual legions, but a general with oversight of a pair of legions.  This particular base represents Scipio Africanus, present at Magnesia to help out his younger brother.  Strangely enough, Hannibal was also at Magnesia, as a subsidiary adviser to Antiochus!

A Roman legionary commander, this time.  I painted my Romans with a lot of red; the Latins are in white.  This helps to differentiate them on the field.  I know that, technically, the lictor should have a red tunic as well, but I'm pretty sure that is the case for the lictors accompanying the Censor back in Rome.  I've used artistic license for the lictor of a legatus in the field - it's less boring after all those red tunics.



The Roman commanders were, in order from the left of their set up:

Sinister Latin Legio: Billy
Sinister Roman Legio: Michael
Dexter Roman Legio: Mark
Dexter Latin Legio: Dougie, in his first game
Eumenes: Simon

Magnesia: Dramatis Personae (Seleucids)

Here we have Antiochus "The Great" (played by Willie) parading safely in front of his cataphracts.  At the right of the picture you can see some Galatians, trying to pretend they are as fierce as their ancestors so long as Antiochus is looking.

Philip (Ian Kerr) leads the Argyraspides, supposed cream of the infantry.  They're really just a shadow of their glorious predecessors, but they are still of better quality than the deep mass of tremblers to the right of the photo.

And leading the first batch of trembling phalangites, above, we have Mendis, played by Dave in his first battle.  Antiochus has drawn up the phalanx even more deeply than usual, because he doesn't trust them against the legions.  Note the interspersed elephants, another attempt to shore up the infantry against the expected onslaught.

The second phalanx commander, Zeuxis (another Ian!).  The phalanx is so deep that they won't all be able to fight.  Antiochus expects this won't be a problem, because the Romans will crush the first few ranks anyway.  Slingers are out front.

Antiochus' nephew Seleucus leads the Cataphracts that are just to the left of the photo above.  I started playing them, and then Ewen took over.  The guys you can see in the centre are Galatian horse with some flanking lights off to the right of the photo.  In front are the expendable scythed chariots.  They are in exactly the right position to rout back into all those cavalry.  The general figure at the very top is Antipater (Gus), lurking as far out of the way as he possibly can.  Maybe he isn't too pleased with the deployment devised by Antiochus.

Magnesia: Deployment

Long distance shot looking from the Seleucid central area across the front of the legions towards Eumenes at the top left of the picture.  The Pergamene cavalry are deployed well behind their skirmishers.

The photo above is taken from behind the Roman centre, looking towards the Seleucid left flank at the top right of the picture  (which faces the Pergamenes from the first photo).  You can see the powerful cavalry forces on the Seleucid wing, behind the scythed chariots.  At the top centre of the picture are the light infantry hillmen, linking with some Galatians and then into the massed phalanx at the top left of the photograph.  Evil nasty Roman legionaries are in the foreground, growling grimly at all and sundry, especially their generals: "We want loot! We want loot!  We want loot!  And some slaves wouldn't go amiss either.  Did we mention loot?"  And some people think these guys were civilised...

Shot number three is taken from the same position as the one above, but this time looking towards the Seleucid right flank.  In the immediate foreground is the mass of the legionaries, flank resting on a loop of river.  The Velites are out front to do what they do best.

A view above of those nice neat legionaries, taken from the left hand corner of the Seleucid deployment.  You can't see much detail in this one, but I think it gives a good impression of the massed legions.  Pergamene skirmishers are in the immediate foreground and you can make out the Achaean auxiliaries linking the legions with the Pergamene cavalry to the left of the shot.

Magnesia Photos

Thanks are due to Michael for some fast work organising a selection of photos from yesterday's mammoth game:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46755253@N00/

I'm going to wade through my own pictures to pick out the best ones.  I'll then use them to illustrate a narrative of the battle as it played out, in my usual style.  The photos won't be as good as Michael's though.  Full report to follow when I get my act together...