As I was working on Men of Bronze, I was researching
like crazy on Ancient Greek warfare. I
was looking at Herodotus, Xenophone, Thucydides and many, many more. In addition, there were a ton of secondary
sources such as Warry, Hanson, Gaebel and many more.
Through all of this research I ended up focusing on the classic
City-States of Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, and Argo. I also tried to capture their main enemies
the Persians. However, there was a much
larger Greek world to consider.
Nic at the Irregular Wars blog rightly called me out. My book was missing details for such places
as Pre-Reform Macedonia, Thrace, Magna Graecia, Syracuse, and more. One of the big call-outs was not including an
army list for Thessaly, the home of the best horseman in Greece.
Since then, I have done research into two areas to create
lists for Men of Bronze. Since
then, I have taken a much closer look at Sicily and the war between the
Carthaginians and the Greeks there. It
was a fascinating learning curve and I have since been shopping the army lists
and Historical scenarios for that period around to various wargames
magazines. The second area I looked at
was related to Thessaly, the land of horses.
Thessaly was an area to the north of what many people refer
to as Ancient Greece. It is often
considered to be an outsider of the Greek world. However, it rose to prominence later in the
classical period and became especially important during the early years of the
rise of Philip of Macedon and the Sacred Wars.
After Philip's death, they were also key allies of his son Alexander. However, they were still well known horseman
and cavalry troopers before these times.
The earliest reference I could find of Thessaly was in Herodotus before
even the Greco-Persian wars.
A Brief History
Herodotus tells us a bit about Thessaly through the voice of
Xerxes. It is a broad plain surrounded
by mountains in east-central Greece north of the major city-states of classical
times. It is bordered by a broad river
called the Pineios River. Indeed, Xerxes
observes that if the river was damned, it would flood all of Thessaly. This natural basin is a broad and fertile
plain and one of the few good places in Greece for raising cows and
horses.
It was the natural landscape for powerful land owning
aristocrats to develop. These
land-owners would come to control the regional politics. This even included the small cities that
began to develop in the late 5th century BCE. In this regions, the horse became a status
symbol for the aristocracy. Under these
conditions, horsemanship thrived. Most athletes
in the Olympic games from Thessaly were involved with horse races.
 |
| The famous Thessalian Headwear |
The region was divided into 4 Tetrarchies, which were
nominally part of the Thessalian League.
These were loosely aligned politically, but in wartime would come
together under the military leadership of a single archon or tagos. Not much is recorded about Thessalian
military history until 375 and the rise of Jason of Pharea. However, we do have some snippets from
Herodotus, Xenophon, and Thucydides.
For example, Herodotus records two engagements between the
Thessalians and Spartans. The first was
a Sparta landing force on the beaches near Phalerum. In this encounter, the Thessalian cavalry
managed to route the Spartans before they could form a proper line of
battle. The second engagement between
the mercenary Thessalians and the Spartans was a land engagement where the
Spartans managed to see the horseman off with little effort.
Xenophon also offers insight into non-horseman units in the
Thessalian armed forces. During the
Persian Expedition under Cyrus, mercenaries are recruited from Thessaly. Meno commands 1,500 hoplites and 500 peltasts
during the campaign. In addition,
Xenophon later tells us in a different text that Thessaly had hoplites,
peltasts, and other light troops in addition to the cavalry units.
Some sources also reference an unknown and ill-described
light infantry trooper that was supposed to accompany the cavalry into
combat. It is unclear exactly what this
force was, and seem reminiscent of chariot-runners from earlier bronze age
battles. It does not specify what the
role of these troops were or their status within Thessaly. They can be assumed to be a very light and
mobile support force, similar to Psiloi.
Diodorus Siculus and Xenophon also discussed the make-up of
the Thessalian military under Jason of Pherae.
It consisted of the noble Thessalian cavalry and mercenary forces for
the ground troops. Again, Xenophon
believes that the Thessalians could field up to 20,000 infantry and 8,000
cavalry. 6,000 of these were mercenary
troops of the highest quality.
 |
| Jason of Pherae? |
Most of our information about Thessaly comes from the later
period as Macedonian influence became more relevant to Thessalian
politics. Phillip was elected Archon of the
Thessalian league and was reorganized to support the growing military needs of
the Macedonian army. At this point, the
Thessalian cavalry became a regular formation in their order of battle and
became more of a heavy cavalry formation.
The Thessaly Army List
As stated, the army of Thessaly was focused around cavalry
forces. Early Thessaly was focused on
light cavalry, however later iterations transitioned into a Heavy Cavalry
role. However, as Xenophon tells us
other forces were also present in their army.
One of the defining features of the later Thessalian cavalry
was a special formation known as the Rhomboid formation. Essentially, the cavalry formation was a
diamond with a point at each
direction. A leader was place at each
point, this formation allowed the cavalry to move quickly in different
directions. In addition, this formation
was tasked with protecting the left wing of Alexander's army during his Persian
campaign. There, they held the line in a
variety of defensive battles using the Rhomboid formation.
The Thessalian Cavalry can use the Rhomboid formation as a
Special Rule. The Rhomboid Formation
uses the following rules:
 |
| Rhombus Formation |
Rhombus
The Rhombus was a special cavalry formation used by
Hellenistic cavalry forces to help increase their maneuverability on the
battlefield. The unit could quickly
change direction and move based on switching the leader of the formation at the
tip of any edge.
•
Units in the Rhombus formation have the
following rules apply: Unit may start the game in Rhombus
•
A Rhombus can move straight forward, straight
left, straight right, or straight back up to its full move
•
If a Rhombus touches difficult terrain it will
revert to Open Order
•
To change from Open Order to Rhombus requires a
Arete Point and can only be done in a Unit’s Activation.
•
A Rhombus can change to Open Order at any point
during an Activation
•
A Rhombus formation provides +1 Armor and +1
Attack Dice
Units in Rhombus can be aligned this way. The center line is 4 models. On both sides of the center, there is a row
of two. Finally, the tip of both ends is
a single model. The Leader model should
be at the forward tip of the Rhombus.
Thessaly Line of Battle
Use the following lists to build your historical forces for
Thessaly. The Lines of Battle help to choose the appropriate units for your
historical forces. These are sample lists and there to provide a flavor of
potential forces. Players can always modify these lists as they see fit
Each Line of Battle will have an entry with a number. The
number indicates the limit of that Unit you can take in the army. If an entry
says 1+ your army must have at least one of these units in it. If it is 0+ any
number of that unit may be taken. If a Unit is not on the list, it can not be
chosen.
Early Thessaly
List
1+ Cavalry
0-3 Militia Hoplites
0-2 Peltasts
0+ Psiloi
Jason of Pharea
List
0-2 Heavy Cavalry*
1+ Cavalry*
0-1 Elite Hoplites
0-4 Light Hoplites
0-2 Peltasts
0+ Psiloi
•
This unit maybe given the Rhombus Special Rule
for +2 Points
Late Thessaly List
0-2 Heavy Cavalry*
1+ Cavalry*
0-4 Light Hoplites
0-2 Peltasts
0+ Psiloi
•
This unit maybe given the Rhombus Special Rule
for +2 Points
 |
| Warlord Games Thessalian Light Cavalry- From Warlordgames.com |
Below you can see Sample Armies built from the Lines of
Battle provided. They give you an idea of what your force could look like. They
are all built to a 38 point force. They range from 5 to 10 Units each.
Early Thessaly
2 Cavalry
2 Peltasts
1 Militia Hoplite
1 Psiloi
Jason of Pharea/Late Thessaly
1 Cavalry with Rhomboid
1 Heavy Cavalry with Rhomboid
1 Light Hoplite
2 Psiloi
 |
| Thessalian Heavy Cavalry from Wargamesfoundry.com |
Battle of Phalerum
Herodotus tells us a story prior to the Persian-Greek War
about a mercenary Thessalian cavalry force meeting a Spartan army on the plains
of Phalerum. During the reign of
Cleomenes the “Mad” Spartan king, he and the Tyrant of Athens had a falling out. The Athenian Tyrant was named Hippias, and in
addition to the military forces of Athens, had hired a group of Thessalian mercenaries
to help maintain his rule.
Cleomenes wished to over throw Hippias. Therefore, he had a force of Spartan soldiers
land on the beach near Phalerum. The
plan was to march to Athens and overthrow Hippias. The Tyrant must have gotten wind of this plan
and sent his mercenary horseman to intercept them. Apparently, the plain of Phalerum had to be
specially prepared for cavalry operations so the Thessalians must have know the
Spartans were coming. Herodotus’ account
lacks almost any detail, except for one crucial element, the Spartan opponents
were attacked and over run before they could form into a proper battle line.
Despite the set back, the Spartans tried again the following
year. This time, they took an overland
route. They again faced the Thessalian
horsemen, but this time the mercenaries were swept aside by a larger and well
prepared Spartan force. The Spartans
were well prepared, and probably more numerous than their first encounter with
the Thassalian cavalry.
The following is to help recreate the initial battle of
Phalerum vs. the Spartans. Modern
scholars know nothing about the battle and some great liberties must be taken
with the force compositions, lay-out, etc. in order to make this into a viable
scenario.
Herodotus only tells us that the Thessalians were a cavalry
force, while the Spartans were foot soldiers.
Spartans
Elite Hoplites- Spartiates
2 Militia Phalanx- Allies
2 Psiloi- Helots
32 Points
Thessalians
4 Cavalry
2 Psiloi
36 Points
Records of the Thessalian forces indicate a number of
ill-defined and light troops that were sent to fight amongst and with the
cavalry forces. It is not clear how
these troops were armed or equipped.
However, they sound similar to Psiloi.
They had no recorded arms or armor and were recorded as more of an afterthought. Therefore, I have included Psiloi in the Thessalian
mercenary list for the Battle of Phalerum to add some flavor and variety.
Set-up
This scenario is played on a 72 base widths long by 48 base
widths across board. The Spartan side is
one of the long board edges and is considered impassable terrain. It is the sea where the Spartans are
deploying from their ships. The other
side is open into the plains of Phalerum.
Instead of the normal 6 grid spaces for terrain placement, this battle only
uses 3, all on the Thessalian side of the table. However, place terrain randomly in these
three with the Thessalian deploying first.
This represents the preparation that supposedly occurred before the
battle.
The Thessalians can be placed on the board edge with all the
terrain elements anywhere within 12 base widths of their long board edge.
The Spartans are not placed on the table. They begin the game in reserve. They deploy as if subject to the Delayed
Units complication found in the Men of
Bronze rules. In addition, when
deployed on the board, a Spartan unit may not be within 12 base widths of
another Spartan Unit. If a Unit can not
deploy anywhere outside of 12 base widths of a Spartan Unit, then it is placed
in reserve again. It may try to enter on
a different turn.
When entering the board from reserve the unit must be placed
touching the deployment board edge. This
counts as their action for the turn.
Special Rules
See the section on deployment to see the special rules for
this scenario. Other than what is listed in the Deployment section, no other
special rules exist.
Victory
The Spartan mission is to move 1+ unit off the Thessalian
board edge. Alternatively, they can
completely rout or destroy the Thessalian forces opposing them. The Thessalians win if they rout the Spartan
forces from the board. All other
outcomes are a draw.
The game will last 8 turns or until one side is
destroyed/collapses.
 |
| Greek Light Cavalry from VictrixLimited.com |
Now, we can add one of the Northern territories of Greece to
your games of Men of Bronze. I think the Victrix, Wargames Foundry, Warlord, or any Greek Light Cavalry
models will be great for such a force.
They will look very impressive in squads of ten 28 mm models on the
table. Their foot print on the table alone
will be a sight to behold!
Keep your eyes on the Blog as I intend to add some more army
lists for Men of Bronze such as
Pre-Reform Macedon, Syracuse and the Sicilian Greeks, and early Sicilian Wars Carthaginians. I am having a blast researching these forces.
Thanks to Ingtaer, Grey Templar, and Duracellrabbit from the Dakka Dakka forums for help with the research. Also, thanks to Nic at the Irregular Wars for his help with
the topic. These fine folks pointed me
to some good resources online and in the primary sources. Thank you!
You can get all of the updated materials including a FAQ, Campaign rules, and Lines-of-Battle in the Men of Bronze Supplement: Hercules Abroad.
No comments:
Post a Comment