Confrontations in the Dodecanese

At the Society of Ancients Convention in a few days time there will be four separate naval games.  The first will be a refight of Salamis, using rules adapted from 'To The Strongest'.  Adrian Naylor, author of the 'Blood Red Roses' medieval battle rules, will be testing out his 'Wooden Walls' rules.  A third game will be run using the 'Oi Navarcoi!' rules and I will be trialling my 'Aegaeon' rules.

To help check that everything is ready for the trial I have just played through the scenario that I have prepared.  It is set in some unspecified area in the Dodecanese where a few small islands and a couple of stretches of coastline will nudge the players towards deeper formations rather than extended lines while providing both protection for flanks and some side channels that could be exploited for wider outflanking manoeuvres.

An overview of the battle area, 15 squares wide by 12 deep.  Deployment will be in the rear 3 rows on each side, leaving a gap of 6 rows between the opposing fleets at the start.

Each side will have up to 12 squadrons, each represented by a single base, but the size and effectiveness of each squadron can vary greatly.  With 2 or more players a side, the full 12 squadrons will be used.  If there is only 1 player a side I may reduce the number as keeping track of a full dozen once combat gets going may be a bit daunting on first acquaintance with the system as it involves simultaneous movement.

Bases and record cards for two full fleets for each side have been prepared.  One pair is for a battle set around 470 BC between an Athenian and allied fleet against a Persian and subject fleet.  All the ships on both sides will be trieres.  The Athenians and their Samian and Chian allies will have 122 ships in all, against 130 in the Persian, Tyrian and Egyptian fleet.  The Persians will have a more substantial complement of marines, the Athenians will have an advantage in more agile squadrons.

The second pair of fleets is for a battle set around 260 BC between a Seleucid fleet and a Ptolemaic fleet supported by Pergamene and Rhodian allies. Each side will have four heavy squadrons, with an assortment of Deceres, Octeres and Hexeres, supported by some lighter ships.  These will be backed up by six squadrons of assorted penteres, tetreres and trieres, together with two squadrons of much lighter vessels.  The Seleucids have 126 ships in total, carrying about 15% more marines than the Ptolemaic fleet of 135 ships.  The heavy ships of both sides carry missile engines that will cause damage whenever they are engaged.  To offset the greater numbers of Seleucid marines, the Ptolemaic fleet has more fast squadrons and their Rhodian allies have a squadron equipped with fire pots.

In the play through, I used the Athenian vs Persian fleets, seen in their initial positions in the photograph above.  The Athenian squadrons are at the top right, all in column (or line astern).  The allied contingents from Samos and Chios, each of three squadrons, are at the top right, again all in column.  The Persians and their allies are deployed in two divisions, each in two lines at the bottom.

Opening moves.  The Persian lines advance and as they clear the island dividing their forces, a squadron from each of the rear lines moves inwards to fill the gap.  The Athenian squadrons at the top right move directly forwards.  Their allies turn to move towards the centre after clearing the island beside which they had started.

Turn 2.  The Athenians and their allies start to spread out.  The Persians hold their front line while the rear extends to fill gaps.

Turn 3.  Athenian plans become clear.  One squadron has moved out into the channel between the islands and the coast where it can move round to the Persian rear.  The Samian squadrons have moved into the centre while the Chian squadrons hang back on the left.  The Persians have settled into a defensive line with their centre squadrons adopting an angled deployment that denies the enemy any means of making a flank attack.

Turn 4.  First contact.  As a lone Athenian squadron races down the channel on the right, the main Athenian body launches an attack along the Persian right.  The Samian squadrons advance into the centre to obstruct any attempt by the Persians to shift forces from the left to the right, while the Chians advance more slowly towards the Persian left.

The Persian squadrons, in line with secure flanks, held an advantage over the attacking Athenian columns.  In the two attacks on the left, both Athenian squadrons managed to ram one enemy ship but this was not enough to force them back, leaving them stuck in continuing engagements where the Persians would be able to grapple more easily and bring their advantage in marines to bear.  In the next clash, the Athenian squadron enjoyed a +2 advantage from the quality of its helmsmen, rolled well and forced the enemy to fall back, leaving 2 of their ships rammed.  The retreat of this squadron meant that the last Persian squadron no longer enjoyed protection to both flanks, leaving it at a disadvantage to its attacker.  The Athenians failed to exploit this opportunity, ramming only one ship and again ending in a continuing engagement.  However, this Persian which had moved up from the second line to fill a gap was a small squadron and did not have additional marines.  It would remain at a disadvantage to the Athenians.

Turn 5.  Engagement continued on the right and was joined on the left.  In the centre, the Samian squadrons manoeuvred for position to bring a 2:1 attack against the angled squadron protecting the flank of the right hand Persian division, but did not have the movement to launch the attack this turn.  They also held off against the other angled squadron on the Persian left.  A 1:1 attack here would have been disadvantageous.  Indeed, the Persians were finding that the angled deployment, while a powerful defensive measure, obstructed any rapid counter-attack by the other squadrons of their second line.

Turn 5 engagements looking from behind the Athenian left to the Persian right.  On the far left, the small Persian squadron has succeeded in blocking all Athenian attacks.  Next to it, the Athenian attempt to follow up on success in the previous turn ended with only a single ram and another continuing engagement.  Next to that, the Persian B squadron managed to grapple 1 Athenian ship, forcing the Athenians to choose between supporting it in a general boarding action, or abandoning the grappled ship so as to preserve freedom of action.  The Athenian squadron, seeing the masses of marines on the Persian ships, fell back allowing the Persians to over-run the grappled ship.  In the right hand contest, the Persians did even better, grappling three Athenian ships.  Here, the Athenians decided to stand and fight, hoping that the adjacent Samian squadron would be able to come to their aid in the next turn if they could survive a first round of boarding action.

The Athenians did well in their dice rolling for the boarding action.  There were 9 pairings, 5 of which were drawn, but the Athenians won 3 to only 1 win for the Persians.  This still left the Athenians outnumbered 4:3 in marines overall, with 6 of their ships reduced to a single marine.  Without help they would be unlikely to hold out long.

On the left, the Chian squadrons had 'Evade' dispositions, so fell back as the Persian front line advanced.  Two squadrons did so without difficulty, but the centre squadron failed to evade a couple of attacks, lost two ships and became disordered.

Turn 6.  The Athenian squadron trying to move into the rear of the Persian line finds its way blocked by a Persian squadron.  On the left, the Persian front line again pushes forward but the Chians again evade, all managing to do so successfully this time.  The Persian second line has moved forward to clear the block caused by the angled squadron, but it will be a couple of turns before it can get across to help the Persian right - and there is a Samian squadron lurking to attack from the flank!  Another Samian squadron has attacked the Persians angled to protect the right of their position but the third Samian squadron has gone to help the beleaguered Athenian squadron to the side.  An even bigger fight has built up in the middle of the line, with a Persian squadron attacking the flank of an Athenian locked in combat with another Persian, then being attacked in the flank itself by another Athenian!  Finally, a single Athenian and Persian squadron remain locked in combat next to the island.

After playing out the various engagements from this turn, which saw the Athenians building up a clear advantage all across the right, I stopped play as supper was not going to cook itself.

Generally I was quite pleased with how things had gone.  The decision made after the last test to replace dicing for the number of attack opportunities in each engagement with a simple table to determine this based on the number of ships involved and whether the circumstances gave a squadron an advantage or disadvantage paid off well, allowing better judgement about what fights to commit to and getting through the engagements more quickly.  The QRS worked well and the boarding action mechanics also seemed to flow well.  However, it was apparent from the complex engagements at the end, where several squadrons could be engaged in the same action on each side, that an aid for players to keep track of the steps and factors was needed, rather than just jotting notes on a piece of paper.  This has now been drafted and will be tried out in another test using the Seleucid vs Ptolemaic fleets tomorrow.