Mortiem et Gloriam - Macedonian Successors vs Hopilite Greek

Last night, David very kindly invited me round for a game, so he could test out his hoplite Greeks. Seven units of Greek spears, one of which was superior, Thracians, cavalry, Cretan archers, Javelinmen. Tasty!

There is quite a void in my army lists between 650BCE(Siatics) and Mid Republican Roman (c100BCE), I really do not have anything in that timescale, so I had to be creative. My list, cobbled together from Si's rebases, my Siatics, Mid Republican Romans and Dacians (pretending to be Thracians and Illyrians). Maybe I should get a contemporary army one year?

I held no great hope for this list, and I'm not the world's greatest fan of pike, so let's see how we do?

The terrain, very dense mountains, sensibly David chose lots of open terrain, and had a perfect sector to hold with this spearmen in the middle of his line, secured by bad going; as did I.


I managed to outscout him by 50% (not bad on two cards) and I was attacking.


Deployment was two straight lines, 'As Barker Intended' with both of us in corner sitting potential. However, I had bodged my set up with a unit of pike the wrong side of the wood, teamed up with my charging lancers. The rest of my pikes and spears, all deployed deep, and then my light troops including my light horse, behind rocky ground. My CinC floats to give out cards where needed, and boy did I need him! David sat five spears in two ranks up front, with two behind, his two skirmish foot in the rough, and his Thracians, light horse and cavalry out to the right.


First moves, easy, cavalry and stranded pikes double forwards to act as distraction while my main line wheels about the wood.


Even with card support from the boss, it was not enough to get all my bases moving, and my poor poor javelinmen were left behind. David swings his Thracians and light horse to counter my force.


What on earth was I thinking? Piling my cavalry forwards was bound to attract attention. David reacts by sensibly plugging the gap with one of his two spare Hoplite units. Drat! There goes my ever so subtle attempt to roll up that flank!


My light horse JUST clear the rocky gound, and with some severe prodding the tribal and formed Illyrians and Thracians follow a hoplite taxis round, to be met by fire from David's Cretans.


The first exchange of fire, my javelin armed horse, in three ranks and cantabrian launch their pointy sticks at their contemporaries in David's army on greens, (+1) (who had thrown a blank and a slow, blacks because he is in two ranks and not cantabrian). Oops! Being a four they break on 2 losses. (1-0)


On the left, my charging lancers fall back 3BW (love this, they're drilled)! My pikes turn 90. ready to move next go and rejoin the main battle line that is (slowly) wheeling about. Risky, but David had nothing quick enough to catch me here.

My Greek mercanary spears and Thracians form up against David's 8 approaching Thracians. One end on my main phalanx is hanging dangerously in the breeze, but I have plans.

David takes adantage of his shoot and charge ability, and his Thracians shoot (4 blacks, a slow and a wound) and charge. I return fire with my two black dice (both of us are unskilled shooters, hence the downgraded shot) and cause a wound. On evens combat across two bases of Thracians and one base of long spears (so also equal non the charge, up in melee), he causes one wound on my spears, and I kill two bases! My dice are doing really, really well. In melee I do one more wound while he kills a base.

In the next turn, his cavalry smash into my Illyrians, who being flexible, had had the sense to form up into close a turn previously (and hence why they are a move behind their formed cousins). As they come in, my archers, who were in arc, shoot and skirmish back into the rocky ground, causing a wound.

Evens combat again, and he causes a wound, I cause a kill, from two wounds, on the general's file, who promptly drops his cards.

My mass of six spears and now six Thracians (there were 8 to start with), show David how it's done and shatter his tribal foot. (3-0)

During the melee, my Illyrians earn their pay again, out scoring the Greek noble cavalry on even dice. I can afford a few losses with a grinding match, but this is getting silly. Two and a half bases plays 1 and a half of mine, and his general gets downgraded to a mediocre too!

My archers can snipe (on reduced dice) as my light horse comes back into play with the rear of the heavies. I push the Cretans away with my pursuit, lessening their firepower to whites instead of skilled greens, phew.

Back in the centre, my wayward pikes return to the line and we advance to taunting range.

In the backfield, David's hoplites continue their countermarch, while he trys to fill the gap. My charging lancers sit back and wait.

The main infantry slam into each other. Beautiful 15mm Tin Soldier Greeks vs borrowed 10mm Macedonians. NB: If anyone wishes to complain, the pink counters are to show which file has fought. Tough! After all those combats, we caused two wounds each! The might of Macedon and Greece get ready to engage in a long push.

In the melee, the Greek cavalry undergoes a complete disintergration, leaving a massive hole in David's command structure and me with a whole flank of heavily armed nutters to bring back into the fight. (5-0)

Unfortunately, as the general on that flank ran, having already dropped his cards and then been wounded, he rolled as a mediocre and was run over in the scramble to get away!

Not good cards! Espcially when I need to get my right flank back in the game! Zebras!

So, under intense and accurate firepower, but assisted by shieldcover and buying through slowing, my drilled hopilite mercanaries earn their keep and advance.

After extending my mullering onto the Greek spears with the pike, my general, on a red (pike, pike in 3 ranks, general vs nowt as the long spears are in one rank), only rolls an S! Not great for him, but it does benifit the rest of the line.

The shove allows me to tear through the Greek line (7-0), and put a kill into the Theban Scared, sorry, Theban Sacred Band.

David advances left towards my charging lancers. On the right, my average spears had been out performing his average spears by quite a lot. I had lost one base on the far right and a hand full of wounds.,, but now David was up at that end of th eline and had an overlap too.
(Tactical hint hoplite fans, deploying your 6s 3 deep rather than 3 wide gives you a LOT more longevity, but does allow you to be flanked, so pick wisely).

The moment I had been waiting for, my hoplites from the right find an open flank of David's hoplites and charge in. They take a wound from the javelinmen as they do, but it was worth it!

Meanwhile, David takes a punt and charges my charging lancers with his long spears, hoping to get through unscathed until melee where he will be massively up on me. However, he is giving away a solid +2 for a +3 to me (stationary long spears cancel all my charge bonuses), so a net +1 to Macedonia. The result is incredible. I cause a kill on my first roll which gives my generals file a shatter (+2), so up to red.

My general joins in, and I go up to a Red and White vs Black, and the result is a second kill on the unit. This will pay dividends as David no longer gets his +2 for long spear and I get my melee expert bonus in melee.

The charge combat in the flank, joined by a general, my undead spears roll a green and red and from that comes an unprecedented double skull. David's spears are in massive trouble.

In the backfield, my pike that had previously broken through David's line meet his reserve hoplites. An even combat. My pikes had lost a base already, while Daid was untouched.

Not for long though. A skull and a ound plays two misses! His dice were AWFUL!

In melee his rear spears take two more skulls and disintergrate (9-0), as does another line unit (11-0) and the unit I was flanking which finishes off his army, giin g me a (15-0). I was not expecting that.

I would have broken off my cavaltry, I even had the cards stacked up for it, but no need.

Not much remains of David's flank here, or centre, or reserve. Honestly not sure how all this happened. It should have been a lot closer than 15-0, and he should have done well in the great many even combats we fought, but his dice hated him.


That saying, David did enjoy the game, and inited me back for another fight, but looks like 'Lockdown 2' might get in the way...