Somewhere in the Peloponnesian War ...

28mm, Classical Greeks, Peloponnesian War, fictional outset, Bart and Tim (as King) were fighting for Sparta, while David Jimmy and me were defending the thought of Athen...

The set up was strictly traditional, few men on horses were set to the flanks plus more or less peasants with shields and javelins while ordinary citizens were defending their lines in the centre. All about the Phalanx! We used hail caesar rules plus some special set up rules to make the phalanx not automatically successful.

the advance was a desaster for the Delian forces. The Spartans divided their troops and made good progress, then our luck was ending as the first Spartan bodyguard with their king clashed. BUT we survived and their king got heavily wounded! We inflicted heavy losses on them but could not break their overall spirit, even if we managed to strip them off their peltasts. 

In the end we suffered more losses and were in no shape of form to continue the fight... never underestimate the power of the Spartans! The specifications were directly out of the HC complimentary book.

The crucial advance ... try to be in line ...

The Delians laid back approach ...

The Spartan king advances ...

And their allies ...

The cluster fight assembles ...

The Thebian cavalry ...

The King attackes ...

Nearly breaking our lines ...

but then falls ... we stay (barley) on our feet ...

The weakened Delians ...

Then came the second Peloponnesian wave ... the end!

434BC - Sparta at the luke warm gates

 A 28mm totally fictional Classic Greek Hail Caesar game between the Peloponnesians and the Delians trying to sort out the long war. The scenario was simple -kill as many as you can. The Athenians were: Mike, Peter (as General) and Alisdair (opposing me) and The Spartans were: Bart (as the King) and David,  and myself as the side officers.

Barts strategoi was to hold out on the flanks (the hills) and then break through the centre of the oipoloi of our enemy, oi oi oi. On my part I failed completely - "I'm shit with skirmishers" (Bart) but thank god, before my flank crumbled totally and Alisdair could reap any of his victories - we looked right to the centre ... and there was a BIG HOLE. Bart had charged the Athenian general before he could support his troops (we told him 3 times to do so) and while losing his king - he won the combat and thus the battle.

Alisdair had to be informed by dispatch riders ... hang on there weren't even dispatch riders anymore.

A fantastic game, sadly not long enough - but we will visit the old classics soon enough.

Initial deployment

After Spartans first move ...

Suddenly Alisdairs rabble rushes over the hill ...

And I'm about to lose my horses ...

And the rest of the helots ...

Look to the centre ... looking good for the Spartans ...

A unit of mine climbing the hill and thus losing phalanx ...

And my second hoplite units attacks ...

The Spartans killer attack...

David slaughtered Mikes flank ...

The second round of angry Spartans ... ouch!

Mikes flanks disintegrates ...

But I'm getting pushed back ...

And the last picture of my photographoi  before Alisdairs riders got him killed, the centre breaks through - victory!!!

424 BC - Delium PLUS - the Spartans should have stayed home

A totally fictional refight of the Battle of Delium, but just with the Spartans and a nice wall to protect the temple of Apollo - because we had them. 28mm, Hail Caesar, my miniatures (Warlord Games or Victrix).

Bart, John and Alisdair fought for the Peloponnesian League, While me, Tim and Gordon fought for the Delian Empire ... errm Athenians. The Spartans had the first move, divided their units the king to block the left and the rest to stop us from flanking them. I had a division just made out of skirmishers and I would harass them just after I would have destroyed their pesky few helots and men on horses...

BUT Bart killed my skirmishers with charging my peltats ... and basically swiped them all away in one or two turns. Yes, this was the first game ever, where I could leave the field not doing anything (I switched to umpire).

So then the Spartans turned the tide and swept around our flank and Alisdairs  phalanges attacked us but came too short ... so we attacked and destroyed them, now that was a piece of luck as that was actually what was winning the battle (we would count the units costs points). So Congratulation, Gordon! Your division broke the Peloponnesian neck!

In the meantime Tim did the best taktic and kept his best, but still inferior Athenian elites out of trouble and pestered and harassed the two Spartan units - successfully with peltasts to the point where only one was not shaken!

And in the end our 5 units charged the 2 of the Spartans for the endfight. We didn't break them, but we got them shaken and or nearly so, they would not survived another round. BUT we didn't killed them.

John ( the king of Sparta and CinC of the line) was  so gallant to accept the defeat - a truly new era was ushered in. So again Congratulations Gordon and Tim, Especially for the absolute right taktic that was the only successful one vs the Spartans. A Delian victory!

The initial set up ...

Barts light flank ...

Our Athenian centre ...

A posh overprotected Apollo temple ...

The Spartans split and came down hill ...

Gordons centre forms up to meet them ...

It could get ugly quite quickly ...

The left the hills like in history ...

And charged my skimishers ...

While the Spartan King waited ...

Unfortunately thats were my light division was deleted ...

Our centre was with an open flank ...

But Tim just continued to harassing the Spartans ...

Meanwhile Gordon destroyed Alisdairs division ...

Gordon formed up again to meet the threat ...

And then retreated to the rest ...

The Plan was to concentrate and to attack ...

Before the Spartan King would be coming with the rest of his army ...

And coming our way he was ...

But the other unit was getting shaken ...

And the Athenians all clogged up ...

Until they formed line ...

While being in phalanx ... (scenario rule)

Time to strike ...

But Time didn't made the order successfully ...

Valuable time for the king ...

Athenians dither ...

But then finally clash ...

Two units got thoroughly thrashed ... end of game.