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| Pikes all over the place |
The battle fought between Seleucid and Antigonid armies over two sessions earlier this week may best be approached as an object lesson in how not to set up and fight a wargame.
The basic idea, to pit two fairly equal armies centred around pike phalanxes against each other, was sound. Things began to go downhill from there.
Instead of simply taking a Seleucid and an Antigonid army from the lists provided in the rule book - Three Ages of Rome & its supplement for the Age of Alexander - I got a bit carried away working out just how many units of pikes, theureophoroi, cavalry and elephants I could field. Although some measure of sanity returned when I found that there were enough cavalry painted to field around a dozen units a side and put most of those away again, I still ended up with forces that were about 50% larger than those suggested in the book. These were described at the end of the last post. To help each side control the larger numbers of units, I felt I should give each side four generals rather than the recommended three. As there would be four players at the game, each would have two generals to handle.
Next came terrain. The rules have a handy generator for terrain features, but placement depends on the players. As the table needed to be ready before the other players arrived, given the constraints of time, I added a simple die roll system to determine which 6th of the table each feature would be placed in. The generator rolls coughed up two short streams, two hills, two woods and one area of rough ground. The allocator rolls put one stream coming from the centre on one long edge, splitting that side of the table in half, with both hills to the left of that stream. The other stream ran out from a corner on the other side. Both woods ended up in the centre section of the other side (thankfully they were quite small woods) and the patch of rough ground sat in the middle of the area opposite the two hills. So, one side was going to get all the uphill advantages that were on offer but with a stream acting as an impediment to any movement from one flank to the other while the opposition would be having to deploy around three areas of difficult ground, which pike phalanxes do not like.
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| Woods may not be good for pikemen but can be handy for keeping elephants away from archers if needs must! |
Then the other players arrived. We drew for armies and sides. Gareth and my son ended up in joint command of the Seleucid force while I paired up with Gareth's son to command the Antigonids. As the Antigonids had an advantage in light troops we had a better chance of winning the scouting test, which we duly did, only to discover that this was not a good thing. Rather than allowing us to choose which side to come in on, it required the other side to place one of their commands on the table first, which gave them the choice of entry point. We could only transfer a random number of units between commands after all enemy commands had been placed. Not surprisingly, we found ourselves trying to work out how to place our massive phalanx around the woods and rough ground while the enemy set up shop on the hills and smiled at us. And we then had a poor roll for transfers!Undaunted, we used the evidence of the Seleucid's early placements that they were going for a conventional deployment across the width of the table with a cavalry strike force on their right to come up with a cunning plan. We would put an absolutely massive strike force on our own right, beyond the rough ground and simply seek to delay his centre and right with light troops while our heavies did a number on his left. Brilliant, what!
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| Seleucid cavalry, clearly accustomed to working with elephants, look across an empty field, as does the command of light troops and Theureophoroi straddling the stream. The Phalanx on the hill can see rather more of the enemy off to its flank than it is happy with. |
What cannot be seen in the photograph above is that the Seleucid fourth command, consisting of light cavalry, light infantry and a single unit of Theureophoroi, had been placed right against the left hand end of the table, rather than alongside the left end of the phalanx, owing to some lack of understanding between the generals. This meant that there was a big hole in their line. The Antigonid strike force was aimed right at it! What is not clear, but can probably be deduced, is that the Antigonid generals had realised too late that there really wasn't enough space to deploy their masses of pikemen and cavalry properly. They had compromised, without thinking things through, by placing the cavalry behind the pikemen. This would have consequences.
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| Initial moves by the Antigonid phalanx, proving a perfect impediment to the deployment of the cavalry wing |
The first card for movement in the first turn was that for the Antigonid cavalry wing. At this point the Generals realised that they had a problem. The cavalry could move through the infantry but the infantry would then not be able to move in the same turn. Since it was imperative to get the slow moving phalanx going as far as it could, to reduce the enemy reaction time, that meant that the cavalry couldn't move until the angled advance of the phalanx opened up enough room on the right for the cavalry to get past them. Sounds of Seleucid generals chuckling filled the air. The next command card to come up was for the Seleucid phalanx. The chuckling stopped.
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| When the general commanding the Seleucid phalanx revealed the orders for his force, a slight failure in communications became apparent. It was the green 'withdraw' token, not the red 'advance' token. To be fair, the graphic on the token - a pair of sandals - could be interpreted as "get a move on!" |
After a little consultation to work out what to do about the Seleucid's main body having been ordered to march backwards, we agreed to let the phalanx stay where it was on the hill rather than retreat directly off the table. Given what was to follow, we might have been wiser to have ended the game there and then and gone down to the pub, but wisdom was not much in evidence that night.
The Seleucid's isolated flank command was found to have been ordered to hold, so duly did so, leaving the heavy lifting to the two commands on the right. The infantry advanced and began to turn to march over to the left as swiftly as they could, only some slingers and javelin men being held up by having to cross the stream but they would be able to catch up easily. When it came to the cavalry, it was the turn of the Seleucid commander to realise he might have a problem, too. Units can only move if they remain within command radius of their general. If the Companion cavalry and lancers had set off at their best rate to join the fight on the far side of the table, the elephants would soon be out of command! So, the cavalry were condemned to plod across the plain at the pace of the pachyderms. Time for the Antigonids to have a chuckle.
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| Hang on boys! Let the elephants catch up. |
With the threat of the Seleucid striking force reduced to a faint cloud on the horizon, there seemed to be ample time for the Antigonids to make mincemeat of the disjointed enemy in front of them before having to worry about nasty things happening to their own flanks. Forwards!
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| First to fight. The end of the Antigonid light infantry line gets jumped by 3 units of Kappadokian archers and javelin men in Seleucid pay. These get three hits. The Antigonids fail to save any one of them. Will this be an omen for what is to come? |
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| Nope! The Seleucid Light cavalry moves boldly forward and is bounced back by the Antigonid cavalry. It should be easy to finish them off and then turn to sweep up the Seleucid flank and rear. |
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| In the foreground, the Antigonid light cavalry has moved off to the side to chuck javelins at the Seleucid unit in yellow cloaks and to give the heavies a clear run at the rattled Seleucid lights. Further along, two of the Seleucid light infantry have obligingly evaded but one failed to do so. It disordered the Antigonid pike block with its missiles, then, rolling 1 die against 3 for the pikes in the melée, it got a draw, halting the pikes in their tracks!!! |
As the Seleucid light infantry started taking their evasion tests, the woolly minded Antigonid General (me) remembered that he had meant to set down a house rule to deal with the problem encountered in previous actions of little units of light infantry proving a large impediment to movement of massed infantry, requiring them to evade automatically when threatened with contact by massed infantry. But, whatever his intentions, he had failed to make these known before play began, so we were stuck with the rules as they stand in the book. He could only gnash his teeth as his phalanx line began to get ragged. Furthermore, he didn't have the consolation of just being able to blame the rules. Another block of the phalanx had failed to assess its movement carefully and had run into a traffic jam with a unit from another command being turned to face the Seleucid movements towards the Antigonid flank. |
| Crash! Seleucid Theureophoroi that have raced across from the right try to show the phalanx how to do things, hitting a unit of Thorakitai. The dice are rolled and its a draw! |
Immediately behind the Antigonid's Thorakitai as they defend against the Seleucid attack is the pike block that got tangled with them in the last move. Its commander cannot work out what to do with it, so has turned it to align with the Thorakitai, not that this is a help to anyone. Still, as it is a raw unit it is probably safer there than trying to attack anyone. Beyond it, another block of Antigonid pikes is still blocked by the Kappadokian light infantry after another drawn melée. Strewth! At least now one of the Antigonid light units is doing the same thing to one of the Seleucid phalanx units, allowing the veteran pikemen behind to take on the block in the centre of the Seleucid phalanx one to one rather than fighting at a 2:1 disadvantage. To the right of that, the two remaining Antigonid pike units have each charged a single unit of Theureophoroi while the heavy cavalry have charged in against the Seleucid light horse. All those fights favour the Antigonids. |
| The veteran pikemen fail to get a single hit in their fight. The compensation is that they manage to save the only enemy hit on them, so their melée is a draw. The light infantry in front also draw with the raw pikes that they face. |
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| A turn later, not much has changed. One Antigonid pike block has routed the yellow cloaked Seleucid Theureophoroi, but then made an undisciplined pursuit, taking it away from anywhere of immediate use. The Antigonid cavalry has pushed back but still not finished off the light horse facing it. For their part, the Seleucids have pushed back one Antigonid light unit in the centre, giving a chance of a flank attack on an Antigonid pike block in the next turn. Everything else remains drawn. The Seleucid cavalry and elephants are finally lumbering into view. |
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| And a turn later, looking from the other direction, Antigonid horse remain in inconclusive combat with the Seleucids - their general having decided to send his lancers off to see if they could do something useful elsewhere, only to realise that they would be out of command if they went any further. Beyond them to the left, Antigonid pikemen remain in an undeadly draw with the Kappadokian light infantry, to the right the pikemen victorious over the Theureophoroi are looking to return to the fray. In the mess in the centre, another unit of Antigonid light infantry has managed to interpose itself between the Seleucid pike block threatening the flank of the Antigonid phalanx but the Antigonid veterans have failed to capitalise on this to beat their opponents. |
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| In the next turn, suddenly things start to move. In the foreground, Antigonid pikemen finally get stuck in a drive off the Kappadokian light infantry. No change next to them as their friends fail yet again to do anything to the Seleucid Theureophoroi, but next to that, wow! Antigonid light infantry beat up one Seleucid phalanx block, forcing it to recoil while the Antigonid veteran pikes win their fight and push back another Seleucid pike block. The icing on the cake is that Antigonid light troops continue to stand off the third Seleucid phalanx unit. On the left, the melée between Seleucid Theureophoroi and Antigonid Thorakitai remains deadlocked, but finally the Antigonid general has thought about his own Theureophoroi who have been standing around doing nothing for a long time. Now seems to be a good time to turn one of these to join the melée in the middle doesn't it? What could possibly go wrong with only a few Seleucid heavy cavalry bearing down on the flank that is being presented to them by this move? |
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| As it turned out, the Antigonid Theureophoroi made contact with a unit of Seleucid slingers before they could hit the flank of their Seleucid counterparts, lost the melée and had to fall back again. I'm sure I heard the Seleucid horses snickering along with their generals at this extraordinary feat. |
At this point, having been at it for over three hours the assembled generals decided to call it a day, suggesting that the two of their number who could meet the next day might draw things to a conclusion. I am still trying to make sense of what happened then, so end here with "to be continued..." hoping that the spirits will see me through.
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