Você está na página 1de 5

Athenians V Spartans:

The Pitch: A large central plain with a few low hills and scattered woods, bounded on one side by
rough ground leading up to steeper hills and on the other by a settlement, river, marsh and more
woods.

The Teams: The Athenian army (in blue lined up on the left) was about 12,500 strong and principally
built around their muster of hoplites and supported by a collection of mercenary peltasts and a
reasonable (for Greeks) cavalry force.

The Spartan force (in red and on the right) was slightly larger at just over 13,000 troops but nearly half
were from their allies and there was considerable variation in the overall quality of their army.
Athenians Spartans
Athenians: Spartans:
400 Good Hoplites (Polemarch’s Guard) 2,400 Good Hoplites (Spartiates and Laconians)
2,400 Trained Hoplites 600 Trained Hoplites
6,000 Militia Hoplites 600 Raw Hoplites (barely trained helots)
150 Good Peltasts 450 Light Hoplites
600 Trained Peltasts 300 Volunteer Peltasts
750 Militia Peltasts 900 Pressed Peltasts (conscripted helots)
450 Trained Archers 600 Volunteer Skirmishers
1,500 Skirmishers 400 Slingers
300 Good Cavalry 300 Average Cavalry
450 Average Cavalry 100 Light Cavalry
300 Light Cavalry Willing Tegan Allies:
600 Good Hoplites
600 Trained Hoplites
300 Trained Peltasts
Reluctant Messene Allies:
600 Raw Hoplites
300 Good Peltasts (Aristomenes’ Guard)
300 Volunteer Peltasts
100 Slingers
Lower (or Lesser) Laconian Allies:
600 Good Hoplites
600 Trained Hoplites
1,200 Militia Hoplites
150 Good Peltasts
300 Militia light Hoplites
300 Volunteer Peltasts
300 Volunteer Skirmishers
200 Slingers
200 Light Horse

The Tactics: The Athenian Polemarch was concerned about facing the high quality Spartiates and
Laconians in a straight battle, so he decided he would try to break what he hoped would be the weaker
Spartan left flank by a general advance supported by a cavalry outflank whilst his left flank would be
held back to delay contact with the Spartiates. He stationed himself with his best hoplites on the low
hill in the centre of his line with his cavalry off to the right and his two divisions of peltasts hidden in
the woods on his left. The peltasts had orders to advance through the rough ground and delay any
Spartan light troops but to concentrate on weakening the right most Spartan hoplites by sustained
javelin throwing.

The Spartan King followed his usual deployment of placing himself on the extreme right with his best
hoplites and using his lighter troops to protect his right flank. He then placed the Tegans next on his
left, followed by the Messenians and finally the other Laconians. The allied Laconian light troops would
hang back on the extreme left flank to hinder any possible cavalry outflanking manoeuvre. Whilst
confident that most of his hoplite divisions could out fight their opposing Athenians, he ordered his
weaker divisions to hang back slightly (just in case). Otherwise it was a case of advance and let them
have it.
The Battle: Both sides advanced as
planned.

The Athenian peltasts (seen in the


photograph to the right) pressed on into
the rough ground and started to
exchange missile fire with their opposite
numbers. One of the Spartan light
divisions were initially delayed as they
crossed the rough ground (lower quality
troops have a higher chance of getting
stuck). Whilst (visible in the background)
the red wave on elite Spartans trundled
forward towards the stationary Athenian
hoplites on the left flank.

On the other more open flank (see the photograph below) the Athenian cavalry had swept out and
were closing in on the Laconian allies on the Spartan left. The combined fire power of the allied
skirmishers quickly saw off the Athenian light horse and they formed up to face the heavier cavalry.

The hoplite formations


rolled forward, with
their skirmishers
exchanging missiles
and rude remarks.

The first division to


charge was the
Polemarch’s own
division who had
somewhat fortunately
lined up against the
Messene allies (the
worst division on the
Spartan side). Despite
the mis-match, the
Messenians put up
some initial resistance
and held on longer
than anticipated. The two adjacent Athenian divisions also attacked but their opposition was of
tougher material and their melees developed into long slogs.

The Athenian cavalry were not put off by the skirmishers nor by the loss of their light horse and
charged into the allied Laconian light foot – seen at the bottom of the photograph above but not in
the one below as they were cut down to the last man. The cavalry then proceeded to advance towards
the rear of the Spartan line. However they did not add much more to the battle as the sight of
unguarded baggage in the near vicinity induced a sense of “plunder lust” in the main unit and, despite
the efforts of the Hipparchoi, they dashed off to raid the baggage.
The loss of their flank guard caused the Laconian allies to start folding the line (see photograph below)
to counter the outflanking cavalry.

In the centre, the


hoplite melees
continued (with the
Athenian militia
putting up much
stronger resistance
than envisaged).
Apart from the
Messenians who
were the first to
rout, creating a hole
in the line which the
Polemarch soon
exploited.

The elite Spartiates


continued to
advance (as at the
top of this
photograph) but were coming under heavy fire from the Athenian peltasts. The Spartan light troops
being unable to provide sufficient distraction as they were pinned down by the general overall
superiority of the Athenian lights.

Eventually the remaining hoplite divisions clashed and the opposing lines swayed back and forth, but
the Athenians sained the upper hand with only two Spartan divisions being victorious.

On the Spartan left, the allied Laconians broke due to a combination heavy melee casualties, the loss
of their light troops and their weaker hoplite division getting caught in a flank attack by the Athenian
Polemarch’s division.

In the centre, the Tegans won their melee but soon became jittery as all their friends around them
started to retreat.

On the right flank, only one Spartan hoplite division was successful. The weakest of the three divisions
was soon down to half strength as the barely trained helots broke and the King’s own division, pre-
weakened from missile fire, did not manage to break through some resolute opposition. When the
Spartan king went down (again) the morale snapped across the whole army and soon there was
general retreat across the battlefield (as shown in the photograph below).
Only one Spartan
division (the one on the
flat topped hill) did not
break but instead
made an orderly
retreat.

Whilst a number of the


Athenian divisions
were sufficiently
weakened (only two
were broken) to make
them reluctant to
attack again, the
Athenian Polemarch
(largest clump of blue
troops towards the
bottom of the
photograph) was able to motivate enough troops to form a sufficient force to prevent any Spartan
recovery.

The Conclusions: The battle didn’t quite go the way I anticipated. I had expected the Spartan right to
be much more successful and then be able to turn and take on what would have been a weakened
and nervous Athenian right flank – a bit like the battle of Nemea 394BC. Whether the outcome
reflected better Athenian tactics or a lack of historical accuracy or skill differentiation in my rules I’m
not sure.

Certainly the Athenian tactics seemed to be more carefully thought out and played to their strength
but I think the Polemarch also had a bit of luck on his side. Firstly, his own division faced the weakest
Spartan division. Had he drawn the Tegans or better allied Laconians either side of them it might have
been different. Secondly, the initial delay to the Spartan lights in crossing the rough ground enabled
his own peltasts to secure a position where they could contain their opposite numbers and harass the
Spartiates (which proved significant). And thirdly, I discovered a bug in one of the new alogrithms and
although I can’t prove it I suspect it worked to the Athenian favour in a number of the melees.

Apart from that the new melee mechanisms seemed to work efficiently, with less dice throwing,
potentially more consistent results and appeared to speed the game up. It certainly finished quicker
than I anticipated.

And finally, the population of the settlement had a good day’s entertainment.

Você também pode gostar