It's all Greek to me

Mark Walker whom I have met across the table before emailed me and asked if I could be available for a couple of games, my son had to cancel yesterday so I slotted Mark in, he traveled up from Grantham which is at least a two hour drive so you can imagine how keen he is. Mark so far has brought his Spartans and Normans nothing changed yesterday, his Normans are desperate to beat my Patrician Romans, my Seleucids had managed to survive against the Spartans the last time but only just, by millimeters when it came to the count down.

Mark appeared at the door at about 0815 and we had a chat and a catch up over a cuppa, first up was the Seleucids vs Spartans, just like the last time I did not feel confident about this line up, I have not played with them often and they are simply outclassed by any Greek Hoplite army under these rules. We played at 2,500 points, so I left the elephants in the stable, do they live in stables, I took three pike phalanxes, mercenary Hoplites, scythed chariots and a bunch of supports and skirmishers with the intention of winning the flanks before the main Spartan line hit me. The terrain went against me and the Spartan flanks looked secure and they were going to take the hill in the centre before I could get there, so I decided to hold back and continue with the flank plan.

Seleucids on the left, Spartans on the right.

Massed pikes.

Spartan left.

Spartan centre.

 Very soon it became apparent the dice gods were not Seleucids, the Spartan right flank skirmishers held up two large units of mine until it was too late to get anything from them. On my right I at first did fine and whittled the very dangerous Cretan archers but not before they took out my Scythians, a Hill Tribes warband now charged my lovely (but useless) Thureophoroi, my rubber javelins found no victims and neither did my spears, they held for a couple of turns before running for the hills, I had lost the right flank as well.

Things about to turn nasty.

My own chariot attacks my mercenaries.

The Spartan advance in the centre kept coming and I saw an opportunity to sweep away a non Spartan phalanx, I hit it with a chariot and one of my phalanxes, I got a slight win, I got another before the tide turned and although my boys held for a long time they were on the way out, I simply could not kill my enemies who saved on everything but a one or two. I had thought of sending my mercenaries over to the right but decided against, I dithered with this unit until it was too late to use them. I needed help in the middle, meanwhile I saw another possible opportunity to throw a spanner in the Spartan works, I again charged with a phalanx and a chariot. The chariot failed its charge and crashed forward right into the flank of my mercenaries with extreme prejudice! Looking over the battlefield I now only had one phalanx left fighting, my right was about to get rolled up and as my last phalanx could not dent their opponents, I had certainly lost, I handed over my sword.

The end.

 Despite a couple of bad dice rounds which did not help my own efforts in the beginning my boys fought well enough but could not stand toe to toe with the Hoplites, we simply could not kill the enemy, many times I hit 10 or more but got one kill or none. My only chance really was that the first charge with the chariot in support broke their opponents, this would have opened up opportunities but it was not to be. I got nowhere in this battle and was crushed. I have had a lot of experience fighting hoplites and have reached the stage where I would be loathe to fight them again unless I too had a Greek army. Despite my whining over the army lists Mark fought well and deserved his win.

Round Two and this was more to my liking, I can handle the Western Patrician Roman army pretty well although the Normans are always a tough fight and you cannot give them an inch, I also felt I had settled in a bit better for the second game. This time I had four Legions, Hun horse archers and my Magister Militum with his bodyguard and some skirmishers. As Mark deployed his army I wondered when it would stop, his right flank had massed archers and two small units of spearmen. the left flank had the normal elite milites and way out on the left was a mounted milite unit. It looked like I was going to have trouble protecting my flanks, I left my Hun horse archers to hold the left and took the decision to move my Bucellari to the right, hopefully in time to stop the Norman cavalry hitting my line in the flank. Things went well for the Romans right from the start, at times Mark's die rolling was dire, my Hun archers polished off both units of spearmen on the left with deadly volleys of arrows as the enemy failed their morale and were both eventually dispersed.

Romans left, Normans right.

The Normans advance.

My cavalry shift to the right flank.

Steady lads.

 In the centre my skirmishers saw off the enemy skirmishers and then I marched a unit towards the flanking Norman cavalry, these began to take casualties, when my Bucellari turned up these expert bowmen helped put an end to the Normans as they were cut to ribbons and dispersed. It was now that the Norman main line moved forward, it transpired that Mark only had to hold the centre of the table to get his objective, he had almost managed it as his flanks crumbled but I fortuitously decided just then to at last advance my own line, Mark lost out by millimeters. In the last two turns I lost a Legion on the left of my line to the massed archery but at the last moment it rallied, I also held off an attack on the line and my horse archers ran amok in the enemy deployment area, I had attained my objective and had only lost some skirmishers throughout. The Normans would have to wait a bit longer for revenge.

My archers get too close to the Norman line.

What's not to like?

Almost over as I win the flanks.

The end.

 This was not the most exciting battle but I was outnumbered and had one elite unit versus four Norman elites so I would have been mad to have taken them on on their terms, hence my holding back. We played with the objective cards I am not keen on these for games here, if people travel for a game then they want a game not to lose because their army was untouched but their camp silver has been stolen.

No matter, a good days wargaming and a big thank you to Mark for taking the time and effort.

I have more War and Conquest next Sunday, Charlie is bringing his Normans for a fight, I am using my Saxon Heptarchy army, one which, unlike the Patricians will really be up against it, but it will be something different, hopefully when Charlie gets more experience in he will face my Legions at some point.