Defending Thracian Hearths

 

In the era after Alexander's conquests in the East the elusive idea of peace in Greece was threatened by more than competition for power among Alexander's successors.  Gallic invasions brought devastation in their wake but Macedon and Greece were not the only target of the Gallic attacks.  The tribes of Thrace lay close to the menace and faced an existential crisis. 

To give my Thracian forces an outing in their own right, rather than just as allies of others, and to serve as a further trial of my ARES rules, a few months back I set up a game based on a Gallic attack against a Thracian force defending its homeland.  One of the main objectives of the test was to see whether adjustments to the effect of missile fire were about right. My Thracians and Gauls have a lot of missile armed troops between them so a fight between them would give a good exercise in using javelins, bows and slings.

Both armies were infantry heavy, the Thracians having only a small detachment of light cavalry and the Gauls just one of medium horse.  The Gauls had three war bands, the first some 3000 strong, the other two about 2000 strong, the Thracians one large band of 3000 and one of 2000, armed with Rhomphaia and javelins.  The war bands on both sides were rated ferocious, so could spend ardour to gain attack bonuses.  

On the lighter armed skirmishing front, the Thracians had a preponderance of javelin armed men covering the entirety of their front line with an additional group on their left wing beside their light cavalry.  These aimed either to envelope the enemy flank or pour such a sustained volume of javelins into the end of the Gallic line that the numerical advantage of the Gallic war bands would be offset.  One group of Thracian archers were placed on the right wing to cover that flank.  The Gauls covered their front with archers on the right and javelins in the centre.  Slingers formed the left of the line, together with the Gallic cavalry which were positioned to swing wide and attack the Thracian right.

The battle was set up on an 8' by 4' table.  My son drew the Gallic army, my usual opponent Gareth getting the Thracians while I assumed the Thracian/Gallic equivalent of an Olympian umpire.  The Gauls observed before starting that despite their slight advantage in heavier infantry, the hordes of Thracian peltasts were going to make things pretty sticky for them, but if that was what was needed for the test of the modified rules, so be it.

Gallic archers and Right Wing Warband face across to a horde of Thracian peltasts with cavalry support 

Gallic Left Wing cavalry to swing wide and attack Thracian flank, slingers to advance to wooded hill and engage Thracian peltasts, to try to draw them off the war bands a bit

Opening movement from the Thracian Left, cavalry advancing through the open woodland, front line peltasts moving forward and second line shaking out into a line ready to move forward in support. Beyond, both Thracian war bands advance.  All Gallic forces advance.

Opening move from the Gallic left, slingers moving quickly onto the wooded hill while cavalry move more slowly over the rough in the foreground

Both armies moved forward in the first turn, the cavalry from each side aiming to place themselves on the flanks of the enemy.  Both moved slowly, the Thracians through open woodland, the Gauls over rough ground.  Only the Gallic archers were in position to shoot after movement.  They made no impression on the peltasts to their front, but the end group fired on the Thracian horse and, despite the light cover of the woodland, inflicted a point of stress on them which they failed to rally off.

The second turn brought light troops into action all along the line.  On the Gallic left, both slinger bands engaged a group of Thracian peltasts advancing towards them, inflicting a point of stress.  The peltasts failed to do any damage in return, nor did their supporting archers.  In the centre, the Gauls had a shock.  One of their two javelin groups wilted under a hail of enemy javelins and fled the field.  The other Gallic javelin group managed to inflict some stress but took some as well.

Thracian peltasts being troubled by Gallic slingers but beyond them half the Gallic javelins have fled from the fight.

On the Gallic right, the Thracian cavalry worked their way through the woodland onto the flank of the archers but failed to do any damage with their javelins.  In return, the archers inflicted another point of stress on the horsemen, which would force them to take a stress test.  The Thracian peltasts had not yet got close enough to the archers to threaten them but the second group of Gallic archers again failed to do any damage.  Behind the peltasts, the second Thracian war band extended itself into line to advance against the Gallic right once the peltasts had done their thing.  The Thracian commander was confident that with his cavalry now round the enemy flank and some of his peltasts likely to be there soon, an all out attack on this flank was the way to go.

Thracian cavalry threaten the Gallic right but take stress.  Two lines of peltasts advance while a war band deploys behind them.

The Thracian cavalry rolled for their stress test, failed and fell into disorder.  The Gauls gave praise to Toutatis for having dodged a javelin but things were still looking dire for them on this flank.

Turn 3 was a time for the Thracian peltasts to prove their mettle.  Closing with the Gallic archers they drove both groups back, that at the right of the line taking two more stress points and being forced to take a stress test.  The remaining Gallic javelin men were also forced back, leaving the entire line of Gallic war bands open to the Thracian peltasts for the following turn.  Only on the Thracian right did something unexpected happen as the peltasts there closed with the Gallic slingers.  Stunningly the Gauls won the fight and forced the peltasts to fall back in disorder!  In consolation, the Thracian archers started to make their mark on the other group of slingers while the Gallic cavalry was not making much progress in its outflanking movement.  In the rally phase, the Thracian cavalry failed to recover order but managed to summon up the nerve to stay on the field.  The Gallic archers did much better, shaking off their stress.  The remaining javelins and the slingers at the far left of the line failed to shake off stress but remained on the field and able to fight.

Thracian peltasts about to lose their fight with the Gallic slingers.  Above them the Gallic war band will be able to outflank the Thracian war band if it can get past the peltasts but the Gallic cavalry, almost out of frame at the bottom, are not making their presence felt while the Thracian archers are making their mark on Gallic slingers.

A clash of the war bands looming in the centre, the Thracians benefitting from their peltasts having driven back the Gallic light troops.

On the Thracian left their cavalry are disordered but the peltasts have driven back the Gallic archers and can now threaten the flank of the Gallic war band line.

Turn 4 saw the Thracians press their attack on the left with vigour.  Peltasts raced around the flank to do the job the cavalry had failed to do while the smaller war band crashed into the end of the Gallic line.  In the first round of melée, the Thracians gained a significant advantage from the flanking javelin fire and the Rhomphaia wielded by the war band.  The Gallic band was disordered.

Gauls buckling under pressure

Scenting victory the Thracian commander sent in his men for a follow up attack and was rewarded with the complete destruction of the Gallic war band to his front, which allowed him to swing part of his war band round to threaten the flank of the next Gallic band in the following turn.  One of the groups of Gallic archers broke and fled at the sight.  

Things did not go quite so well for the larger Thracian war band, fighting at a disadvantage against two Gallic bands.  They managed to halt the smaller band in the centre, but the larger band on the end overlapped the Thracian line and in two rounds of grim melée it first stopped the Thracian rush and then pushed them back, inflicting enough stress points to force a stress test.  The only other action was from the Gallic slingers who managed to inflict some more stress on the peltasts facing them also forcing a test, by the Gallic archers who fired ineffectually on the peltasts and war bands sweeping around the broken Gallic flank, and by the Gallic horse who finally got themselves in position to charge against the Thracian archers in the next turn.

A pile of white stress markers indicate where a Gallic war band once was, cut down like wheat before the sickle.

The Gallic commander who had been fairly certain of a poor outcome from the start sat back while the Thracians rolled for their rallying.  They began with the peltasts facing the slingers.  They rolled a 1 for the rally test, so failed, and then rolled another 1 for the effect, which had the group break and run!

A pile of black stress markers show where a group of Thracian peltasts are no longer present for duty.  Beyond that, the markers indicate the war band still to make its rally test.  Beyond them, the other war band, backed by peltasts, prepares to fall on the Gaul's open flank

Next the Thracians rolled to recover order for their cavalry.  They rolled another 1!  For effect, they again rolled a 1, more than enough to have the miserable cavalry rout from the field.

More than a little apprehensive by now, the Thracian General rolled for his war band.  Yet another 1!  What had the poor man done to offend Bendis and Zis!  Could he salvage anything?  He rolled again.  Once more the single dot winked at him!  What a performance.  Six ones in a row!  The only drawback to this achievement was that half his army had been swallowed up.  

It took a little while for both generals and the umpire to take stock of what had happened.  For the cup of victory to be snatched so cruelly from the Thracian hand by his own dice rolls seemed the height of tragedy and we could not summon the spirit to take the game any further.

Summing up afterwards, we thought that the probability of what had happened was indeed extremely low but not impossible, so no adjustment to the rally rules seemed necessary.  Missile fire had been more effective than under the previous edition. It had made a contribution to the outcome without becoming overwhelming.  We will try some more games with different combinations of troops to see if the balance still holds.  Beyond that, the area that has not yet had a proper test is command during battle, for which a larger field with room for more forces and more manoeuvre will be needed.