Battle of Plataea (479 BC)

We refought the Battle of Plataea on 25 March 2018 at the Hall of Heroes in Campbelltown. Due to the store being fully booked with an X-Wing tournament, we set up the 4′ x 12′ table outside for an ‘al fresco’ game.

This was the culmination of our Greek-Persian wars campaign that was mostly played during 2017 using the Hail Caesar rules. It will hopefully be the precursor to our next campaign based on the Peloponnesian Wars campaign.

I will post more on the format of our armies in another post, but basically divisions are made up of similar units (generally all infantry & skirmishers or all cavalry). Each division is 100 to 150 points in total. Rather than calculating the % of each troop type as outlined in the army book, each division is built with a few restrictions (e.g. there must be more heavy infantry units than skirmisher units in a hoplite division) to the required point limit. The points limit changes for each type of division to reflect that some troops are more or less common. For example, a cavalry division in most Greek armies is 100 points, whereas it is 150 points in a Persian army.

By pre-generating divisions (each of which has a card summarising the unit stats) it is possible to have a quick pick-up game. For our campaign, we generally play one-on-one games with 1-3 divisions per player. This gives enough units for an interesting game that can be played in a couple hours.

One last point before describing the game – We use slightly smaller sized units than outlined in the Hail Caesar rules with a standard 120 mm frontage rather than 160 mm. We find this fits better when playing one-on-one games on a 4′ x 6′ table, but also helps to get models painted and onto the table.

For our re-fight of the Battle of Plataea, we fielded eight Greek divisions (1,100 points) vs. nine Persian and Theban divisions (1,350 points). Some divisions were ‘recyclable’, but it turned out that we did not need to recycle any on the day of the game.

The orbat and scenario was loosely based on the description in the excellent book on 5th Century BC Greek land battles by Fred Eugene Ray Jr.

Greeks

• Spartan Elite Hoplite Division
• Spartan Hoplite Division
• Spartan Light Infantry Division
• Corinthian Hoplite Division
• Levy Hoplite Division
• Athenian Hoplite Division
• Athenian Levy Hoplite Division
• Athenian Light Infantry Division

Persians

• Immortal Division
• Sparabara Divisions (x2)
• Persian Cavalry Division – Heavy
• Persian Cavalry Division – Light
• Thracian Medium Infantry Division
• Theban Elite Hoplite Division
• Theban Levy Hoplite Division
• Thessalian / Theban Cavalry Division

The Game

The game starts following the nighttime withdrawal of the Greeks that did not go to plan and split the Greek army into three parts. The Spartan divisions on the right are waiting for favourable omens before they can move and there is a big gap in the lines to the Athenian divisions on their left. The gap will be filled with the Corinthians after several turns. A vigorous attack by the Persians will be needed to exploit the temporary gap in the Greek lines.

The Spartans deploy on the Greek right flank, with their light infantry protecting their left flank…

Opposing the Spartans are the Persian commander Mardonius’ favoured troops: Immortals, Persian Heavy Cavalry and Sparabara…

The big gap between the Spartan and Athenian forces.  Theban hoplites and cavalry in the foreground (right) facing off against the Athenians…

The ‘streams’ are representing dry river beds / ravines (or other rough terrain) and can only be crossed by skirmish infantry / cavalry or light infantry without any penalties. All other units can cross, but this costs one full move and the unit is automatically disordered. This disorder cannot be removed until the end of the player’s next turn.

The Persians had the first turn and moved up into the centre with the Persian Light Cavalry, Thracian Infantry and another Sparabara division. The light cavalry shot at the lightly armoured Spartan infantry trying to break into the vulnerable flank of the Hoplites …

The Theban Hoplites also advanced on the Athenians …

The Spartan light infantry took some losses but were able to reorganise and hold off the cavalry. Meanwhile the Spartan commander Pausanius was waiting for good omens before he would commit his Hoplite divisions…

To represent Pausanias’ wait for favourable omens, or more likely his delaying tactic to wait for reinforcements, the Spartan player had to roll 5+ on 1d6 (+1 Dice per turn) before he could move either of the Hoplite divisions.   This gave a couple of tense turns whilst the light infantry had to hold off the Persian cavalry (light and heavy).

Whilst waiting for favourable omens, the Spartan hoplite units could not move, but did have a +1 Morale Save vs missile attacks and were able to ignore all disorder results from shooting.  If charged by the enemy, then they would not have to roll for favourable omens and could move freely from then on.

The Spartans decided to join in on Turn 2, so the reinforcements would arrive on Turn 3.  It was around this time that the Persian team made an interesting tactical decision.  Whilst the Spartan hoplites started to refuse their flank, one unit became slightly isolated from its supports and was pounced upon by the Persian team.  They decided to attach Mardonius, who was subsequently hit in the combat and … was only wounded.  For a moment, we thought history was about to repeat with Mardonius dying early in the battle.  A close call for the Persian team who sheepishly admitted that they were just trying to recreate a historical result.

When the Greek reinforcements did arrive, they were forced to deploy in a ragged line and the Persians took great advantage of this fact.  The Sparabara in the centre were clearly Immortals in the making, winning several combats against the Corinthians through good use of supports…

The Persian successes in the centre meant there was a potential gap in behind the Athenian lines, but the Theban cavalry simply could not break through (Although a couple of failed commands rolls suggested they were not too keen).  Meanwhile, the Athenian and Theban Hoplite divisions had rolled into each other and casualties were building up…

By the end of the game, the Spartans had managed to form a formidable line of shields and despite numerous casualties (Two units were shaken), could not be broken.  The Spartan player, who is famous for his ‘attack is the best form of defence’ tactics was unusually resistant to charge into his opponents.

The Persian divisions in the centre certainly gave the Greeks a hard time, but eventually the Thracian division broke.  Similarly, the Thebans on the Persian right flank had pressed the Athenians hard and were unlucky to lose their Levy Hoplite division without causing a similar loss for the Athenians.

Victory points were based on:

• 2 VPs for each broken Hoplite or Medium / Heavy Cavalry Division.
• 1 VP for each other broken Division.
• +1 VP per opposing Army Commander that is killed or wounded.

Tallying up at the end, the Greeks had a very marginal victory with a total of 4 VPs (Three of which came in the last turn).  The Persians had their chance, but just could not take it.

Thanks to everyone involved.  Plataea was always going to be a tough ask for the Persian team, but I think they outperformed their historical counterparts, which is as good as a win in my books.

Thanks also to Ralph for the photos!