Our second Hail Caesar battle, our group was strengthened by Alex. It was just before the birth of the daughter of Sander and we’ve adopted that as its theme (and we gave her a good Spartan name, in the end it turned out that she got a different name?)This time a classic battle between two Greek powers, Athens against Sparta.
Sparta:
King Leodinas with a Division Spartans (Roland)
Peltasts (light infantry) (Roland)
Division of Spartans under Clearchus (Sander)
Cavalry Division (led by a woman with beard according to Alex who saw no men because they all had beards..??...)(Sander)
Spartan Division of "allies" under Damianopopolous (Damian)
Athens (all units are divided democratically by means of a dice)
Division "elite" Hoplites under the command: army general Alcibiades (Erik)
Division Hoplites under Thucydides (Alex),
Cavalry Division (Alex)
Division of hoplites under leader Pericles (Joost)
Peltasts (light infantry) Division (Joost)
Athens went to meet the Spartan power because Sparta wanted to sacrifice in an Athenian temple to stem the Gods "positive" for the upcoming birth of the daughter of Clearchus/Sander, named Gorgo.
Athenian Citizens looked full of confidence towards the upcoming Athenians.
Sparta decided to form a short line, that way they could have plenty of support, Sparta had fewer were troops but they were of a higher quality.
Athens decided to draw up an equal line but the cavalry on the left flank and peltasts on the right flank had to outflank the Spartans, the only thing that Athens had to do was persevere until the peltasts were able to do their work.
The first turn was for Sparta and their units moved slowly but steadily forward, with a stray arrow they managed to kill Abdias (an Archer of Athens), a rage great rage erupted amongst the Athenians.
Athens moved slowly forward, they did not want to go too fast, the Peltasts had to have time for their circling movement, unfortunately the Peltasts were busy with very "other matters", and they didn't move. The Athenian Skirmishers discharged their arrows and javelins onto their opponents, however, they did not cause any casualties.
Sparta Moved further forward and shot a few arrows on Athens, all of these missed.
Athens again moved a few steps forward, this round the skirmishers managed to kill a few Spartans, the Peltasts again did nothing "useful" and remained where they were.
Sparta was now near Athens and moved steadily forward, only Damianopopolous did not manage to bring his division in line, King Leonidas wanted to wait on them and the Spartans stopped in front of the Athenian line.
Athens made use of the time they were given by shooting a few arrows on Sparta but the Peltasts, on whim the entire strategy depended again did not do much, this time they walked forward slightly but it did not go quickly.
Damianopopolous again could not get its Division in line and Leonidas didn’t want to wait for him anymore, so close to Athens he stormed forward and two units made contact. A Spartan division was driven back by the exulting Athenians but this left Leonidas and his unit in a minority and he decided to take command of the fight himself, he threw himself forward and despite being in the minority Leonidas knew, with his personal commitment and charisma, to hold out against the Athenians. However, the price was high. Thanks to his brave commitment Leonidas himself had fought too far forward, without the protection of sufficient Spartans, he was pierced by three Spears and he fell lifeless at to the ground.
Clearchus (Sander) also made contact with the Division of Thucydides (Alex) and fighting broke out.
Athens fought back hard, a Spartan Cavalry unit was destroyed (fortunately not the female leader with beard ...), two other Cavalry units stormed the Spartan Flank. Across the line hoplite fought hoplite as one Phalanx after the other made contact. This time Alex rolled for the Peltasts and it was the only time this game that they quickly marched forward. If they wouldn’t outflank Sparta soon Athens might be in big trouble.
The other divisions of Damianopopolous now also arrived and rushed towards the enemy. Units were "shaken" and a number of units were destroyed but the fight went both ways, Athens held stood strong and Sparta brought in more and more of its reserves.
During the tough fighting that took place, Pericles (Joost) saw the Spartan flank opening and ordered an Athenian phalanx to charge the vulnerable flank. This unit didn't understand his command and instead of charging the Flank (he threw a blunder) they stormed towards an unsuspecting phalanx that was kept behind to supply "cover from behind". Behind the temple finally the Peltasts arrived and there they saw the bloody battle take place, all this violence scared the otherwise so happy Peltasts.
In the Centre the battle raged on and the new Spartan leader (very originally named) Leonidas II was also killed. The Athenian general Alcibiades was hit by a spear, he was wounded but not yet disabled. He could no longer fight but continued to encourage his units. The Spartan Peltasts now came through the centre, two units were destroyed but the Spartans now slowly started to get the upper hand. In the Centre Athens was driven back still further, multiple Athenian units were destroyed. The Athenian peltasts, from whom so much depended, now had only a few trees in front of but because of the dirty muddy ground they refuses to walk through it with bare feet, again they moved forward only very slowly forward. The successor of Leonidas II, Leonidas III, fought with his unit and he knew to push the Athenians further back.
On the left Flank Thucydides (Alex) prevailed, the Spartan cavalry was destroyed (the woman with Beard was killed) and the Athenian cavalry could now support the infantry. The Athenian cavalry was eventually broken and they pulled back, they managed to destroy a Spartan unit and the remaining Spartan Division was shaken. It was now a matter of time before Sparta would be driven back on the left flank.
On the right flank Athens was driven back by Damianopopolous, in the Centre the second unit of Alcibiades was destroyed. The unit of Alcibiades itself (Erik) fought hard against the unit that included none other than Damianopopolous himself. He saw Alcibiades, weak and mutilated encouraging his troops that were in distress. Damianopopolous saw his chance and when Alcibiades turned his back to speak to his men, Damianopopolous cleaved Alcibiades with his spear. As a result, however, he had placed himself in a vulnerable position. Damianopopolous was put to the sword by the Athenian warriors. The last thing Damianopopolous saw was the badly injured Alcibiades who also had survived this second spear and would make it to the end of the battle, then Damianopopolous closed his eyes for good. With the death of Damianopopolous panic broke out in his unit, they tried to pull back but driven against a rock formation, a drewling Alcibiades gave the command to this unit to massacre the Spartans to the last man. Alcibiades remained in his unit but although his division was broken they did not retire because they were surrounded. With tears in their eyes and with wet loincloths the Athenians fought on.
Pericles (Alex) charges Clearchus but the stubborn Spartans stood their ground and pushed Athens back.
Erik's Division was broken but Alex was on the winning side on the left flank, however, his units were so severely weakened that they could not offer much support the Centre. Joost held out but his division was severely weakened, with the strong divisions of Roland and Damian lining up against him he now had little chance of a glorious victory. After many turns the Athenian Peltasts still had not arrived. Athens decided to retreat. The Peltasts strolled along without having made themselves dirty, amazed at the animosity that they received of the Athenian Hoplites.
Athens had a numerical majority, by sending the Peltasts to outflank the Spartans this advantage was nullified. By the lack of arrival of the Peltasts, the whole Athenian strategy failed.
Thanks to the good manoeuvring and "supporting" of Sparta, Sparta even managed to create even a numerical superiority, this combined with the better quality of the troops finally secured a victory for Sparta. However, it was a Pyrrhic victory and also Sparta was severely bloodied.
Clearchus however couldn’t be bothered about the great amount of casualties. He couldn’t care less about all the killed Spartans or Spartan leaders, Leonidas (and Leonidas II) and Damianopopolous (and Alex's bearded woman..), he had the opportunity to sacrifice for his upcoming daughter "Gorgo" and while the sun slowly went down on the bloody battlefield, Clearchus knew that the gods were positive and he could go back home with great peace of mind.
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April 27, 2024, 07:59:03 PM
December 13, 2009, 09:07:27 PM