Herodotus tells us a
great deal about the Ionian Revolt. Ionia was Greek colonies along
the coast and edges of Turkey that had been captured and absorbed into the
Persian Empire around 540 B.C.E. In 499 B.C.E the Tyrant of Miletus,
Aristagoras; failed to capture the island of Naxos. This left him in
a bad political position with his Persian overlords. In a desperate
bid, he decided to stir revolt amongst his people against the Persians. This
led many other local cities to cast off their Persian based Tyrants and replace
them with Democracies.
The Ionian Revolt had
initial success in 498 B.C.E. when the allied Greek forces (including Athens,
Eretria, and Ionians) managed to successfully attack Sardis. Sardis
was the seat of a Persian Satrap and one of the personal enemies of
Aristagoras. The city was burned and the
sanctuary of a local deity was destroyed.
Herodotus says thus:
So
Sardis had been burned, and in the fire a sanctuary of the local goddess Kybele
had also gone up in flames (…). [W]hen the Persians who dwelled in the
districts west of the Halys River heard about these events, they gathered
together and rushed to the aid of the Lydians. Discovering that the Ionians
were not in Sardis any longer, they followed their tracks and caught up with
them at Ephesus. The Ionians deployed their troops to oppose them, but in the
battle that followed they suffered a severe defeat. Many of them were
slaughtered by the Persians (…) Those who escaped from the battle dispersed as
each one fled to his own city.
The battle here is to represent the Battle of Ephesus
after the burning of Sardis. Many
speculate that due to the speed of the Persian pursuit, that the army must have
been mostly cavalry based and making use of the Royal Road. Why the Ionians and their allies were so slow
on the march is unclear. Whatever the
reason, the Persian forces caught up.
The Greeks were not ambushed, as they had plenty of time to deploy for
battle. The following battle will try to
recreate this battle….
The Forces
I will be choosing troops from the Lists of Battle for
the Persians and Other Greek City-States List.
There are no surviving troop numbers or description of the armies. We can only extrapolate to build these lists.
Ionian Greeks- General
Eualcides
1 Drilled Hoplite
2 Militia Hoplite
1 Peltast
1 Psiloi
Persians- Satrap
Artaphernes
2 Cavalry
1 Drilled Infantry
2 Archers
Both sides have 32 points.
Deployment:
The river Cayster is on the Greek Left/Persian right. The rest of the board is barren, arid terrain
and will be good for maneuver. A few
rocky outcroppings dot the plain to break it up. This battle will be on a 6x4
board with both forces deployed on the long table edges.
This is a Decisive Battle scenario and the Greeks will
suffer from the Complication Hungry and Thirsty.
The Greeks follow standard practices and place their best
troops on the right and their Militia in the center. The Peltasts are guarding the left flank
while the Psiloi are to their flank. The
Persians also follow a traditional formation with the Drilled infantry in the
center flanked by archers, and then cavalry on both sides.
The Greeks then check for Hunger and Thirst. The Psiloi and Militia Hoplites on the left flank
are both suffering from Hunger and Thirst.
That means their Discipline Checks have a Target Number of 5+ during the
battle. We will have to see if this is
decisive or not.
Turn 1:
Both armies collect their Arête Points of 5 each and
consider their bids for Initiative. The
Persians bid 4 as they do not think they will get close enough to do much else,
while the Greeks are content to let the Persian plan unfold and bid 0.
The Persian horseman rush forward, while the infantry
begins to shake out behind them. The
Greeks do not try to interrupt and let the Persians complete their maneuvers in
peace. The Greeks simple redress their
lines and move a bit away from the baseline, content to let the Persians come
to them. They are concerned about
keeping their flanks secured from the swift Persian horse.
Turn 2:
The Persians again bid 4 Arête Points, to the Greeks
0. The Ionians appear to be in no rush
to engage. The Persian cavalry on the
left flank begins to cross-over in front of the Persian battle line. It looks clear that the Persian point of
attack is going to be the Greek left flank, where the Peltasts and Psiloi are
stationed. This may leave the Drilled Hoplites
by the river woefully out of position.
The Greeks recognize the danger and begin to re-dress
their own formation. The Peltasts move
forward while the Psiloi on the edge move behind them. Hopefully, the Peltasts can hold a bit longer
than the Psiloi. Meanwhile, the right
ward militia unit breaks into open formation and re-positions itself. The Athenian/Eretrian contigent of drilled
Hoplites tries to move up quickly.
Turn 3:
This time, the Persians bid 3 this time to save some Arête
Points to try and move and shoot? The
Greeks bid 0 again, and hold to try to interrupt as the Persians get
closer.
The right flank Persian cavalry looks like it has managed
to make it to the Greek flank, but it maybe too far out to successfully coordinate
with the rest of the Persian army.
Meanwhile, the others Persians follow, trying to set-up a firing line to
support the Persian advance. The Greeks
do not interrupt at all.
The Open order militia Hoplites reform Phalanx right away. The other Militia Hoplites break into Open
Order to reposition themselves in the gap betweent he Peltasts and the
phalanx. The Drilled Hoplites march up
to cover the flank. The Peltasts and
Psiloi contemplate moving out and attacking, but judge the distance to be too
great.
Turn 4:
The Persians again bid 3 Arête Points, the Greeks 0. The Persians set-up their attack, and the
Greeks hold their position and do not try to interrupt. The distances are getting close, and
launching a premature attack could be fatal.
The Greeks take over and reform their Militia
Phalanx. The Greeks form a batteline,
but do not commit to an attack. Tension
between the two forces is very high.
Misjudging the distance at this point would leave your units exposed to
enemy counter-attack and isolation.
Everyone is ready for the next turn to unleash their attack.
Turn 5:
This time the Greeks bid 4 Arête points to the Persian 3. The Peltasts rush forward and throw their
javelins with an Arête point only to find that they are short! The Persian player smiles knowing that his
archers will shoot the Peltasts to pieces.
Seeing his attack fail, the Greek general begins to move his batte line
forward, and the Persians do not interrupt.
The Persian archers open fire on the Peltasts and reduce
them 2 Courage, the Persian Cavalry rushes up and attacks with their Javelins as
well, but reduces them only 1 more Courage.
The unit passes their Discipline checks.
Suddenly, the Persians are not as confident.
Archers fire on one of the Militia Hoplites but fail to
cause injury. This time, it is the
Greeks turn to smile as he is confident he can charge home against the weaker
Persian units now.
Turn 6:
The Greeks bid 3 Arete Points to get the initiative as he
needs some points to charge, while the Persians bid 4! The Greek player is surprised but such a high
bid.
This time, Persian archery finishes off the Peltast unit
and they are turned around and routed.
The Greek player decides to interrupt and succeeds the dice roll. The Hungry and Thirsty Militia unit declares
a charge straight into the Persian Drilled infantry before their flank
collapses completely. A Persian Archer
unit decides to support. The attack is
successful, and reduces the Persians 2 Courage.
The second militia unit breaks into open formation and
declares a charge at the other Persian Archers.
They just make it. The Persians
archers are routed in the initial charge!
The Drilled Greek Hoplites also break into open order and
re-position themselves to fend off the Persian cavalry from rear attacks on the
melee in the center. Lastly, the Greek Psiloi
move up and throw javelins at the Persian cavalry. This causes them to waver after losing 2
courage.
Stunned, the Persians take back control. They respond by having the Cavalry charge
into the Psiloi supported by the second unit.
The Psiloi can not evade as they do not have any Arête Points left but with
the movement of the Cavalry it probably would not have mattered. The Cavalry
sweep away the Greek unit.
The drilled Persians in the center fight back, and reduce
the Militia 1 Courage, but force them to waver.
Since they are tired and Hungry, they will be at a big disadvantage next
turn. However, the Persians are pushed
back 3 base widths.
The Routing units are removed from the board. This forces a Greek Collapse test, which the
Drilled Hoplites fail! They flee the
battle! The Persians pass their tests. I did not see that coming!
Turn 7:
The Greeks get 2 Arête Points, while the Persians get
4. The Greeks bid 0 to Persians 1. The Persian Cavalry declares a charge into
the back of the melee between the Militia and the Drilled Infantry. That reduces them 2 more hits.
The remaining Greek unit could join the melee or try to
charge the unengaged Persian Cavalry. It
is likely that the other Militia unit is all ready lost. They decide the other Persian cavalry is too
far away and instead reform Phalanx and charge into support the main
melee. If they win, it is game over! However, the attack goes horribly wrong as
the main Militia Hoplite unit they are supporting is waver and Hungry and thirsty! They fail to carry the day with their attack!
It is obvious that the Greek end is near.
Turn 8:
The Persians bid 3 to 0 and guaranteed going first. The Greeks hold on for re-rolls.
The last Persian Cavalry piles in for a rear attack. The Greeks are swept away by this final overwhelming
bit of force and the Battle of Ephesus is lost to the Ionians, no thanks to
their Athenian/Eretrian allies legging it.
Conclusion:
The Athenian and
Eretrians returned to their fleet and sailed back home. They were content to let the Ionians handle
their business from now on. The Persians
had managed to be a tougher nut to crack than they had hoped. The surviving Ionians spread out and ran back
to their own cities. Meanwhile, the
Persians set about restoring their power and crushing the revolt of the Ionian
Greeks.
Another historical result from the rules. The outcome of the Battle of Ephesus here was
very much like the actual battle. The
Greek forces had a hard time dealing with the cavalry and ultimately the
Athenians fled back to their ships. The
Ionians got beaten and the Persians won.
I have to admit, if the Drilled Hoplites would not have
failed the Collapse test after losing the Peltasts and Psiloi, things could
have been very different. They probably
would have been able to fend off the Persian cavalry and keep the Militia Hoplites
from getting completely over run by rear attacks. Now, it is not as clear if the Militia Hoplites
could have held their own as the main unit was “Hungry and Thirsty” and
wavering. However, if the second Militia
had waited for the first to break, and then charged…. who knows!
I didn’t have it all my own way as the Persians. Turn 6 I should have tried to interrupt
before the Militia unit charged my archers in open order. I guess I was just too stunned by it. Then, I could have saved my Cavalry from
getting pin cushioned by the Psiloi before getting charged. Just shows how you always need to be thinking
about when to use your Arête Points.
The Cavalry was fun to use, and I think I did it right to
try to use their mobility to attack a weak part of the enemy force, and try to
get around behind the enemy. They are
not very good on the attack, and their firepower is pretty weak too. The only way to maximize their impact is
against Psiloi and rear attacks. They
would crumple against anything else.
However, the big units just look scary and they are so fast.
Peltasts and other Javelin throwers are an interesting set
of units. They are soft and squishy and
their range puts them in danger. It is
tempting to use their move and shoot ability to soften up foes, but most likely
they will not kill them. They are better
to use as a finishing attack, support unit, or against other equally soft and
squishy units. So far, I have only seen
them run too far ahead and get shot to pieces by archers. I have a feeling they do better against other
Greek armies.
This was my first time using Cavalry and it was a good
time. I look forward to the next battle
of the Ionian Revolt.
No comments:
Post a Comment