Sicily proved to be the battleground between two of the
premiere civilizations in the Mediterranean.
The Doric Greeks and the Phoenician Carthaginians battled for control
over the island as a vital crossing point and stronghold for trade. Whoever controlled the island could control
North/South and East/West sea lanes.
Therefore, the competition between the Greek allied city-states often
led by Syracuse and the North African city of Carthage raged for decades.
The Osprey Wargames Series book number 24; Men ofBronze details the battles between the Greek city-states on the
mainland. However, it fails to touch on
the battles in Sicily between the Carthaginians and the Greeks. Here, we are going to take a closer look at
this conflict and how to use the Men ofBronze rules to play out these conflicts.
In addition, many of the campaigns were land and sea affairs offering
the chance to link games of Osprey’s Posiedon’sWarriors and Men of Bronze.
The Sicilian Wars
The conflict for Sicily was a series of seven individual
wars between various Greek city-states and Carthaginian troops. To control Sicily was to have control over
vital trade routes. It has been suggested
that Carthage was primarily interested in keeping the trade routes to Sardinia
open, and hence needed a secure western Sicily to accomplish that goal. However, the Doric Greeks were aggressive in
expanding their sphere of influence by ejecting the Ionians, removing Carthage,
and dominating that trade for themselves.
Thus, the seven Sicilian Wars. To
put it in perspective, the famous failed siege of Syracuse by Athens took place
during the second Sicilian War.
The specific details of the Sicilian Wars are not
relevant, except that they are a fertile backdrop for battles between Greek
City-State armies and those of Carthage.
Suffice to say that various Greek Tyrants of Doric and Ionian origin
allied or quarreled and that often led to intervention by Carthage. Various cities were sacked, armies defeated,
and booty taken. Sometimes the Greeks
lost, and sometimes the Carthaginians lost.
In the end, neither side ever really gained control over Sicily until
Rome eventually ended the squabbling decisively.
For further reading, I recommend you take a look at the
following battles of note during the seven Sicilian Wars:
·
Battle of Himera 480 B.C. E.
·
Second Battle of Himera
·
Battle of Selinus
·
Battle of Catana (Naval)
·
Battle of Cronium
·
Battle of Crimissus
·
Battle of the Himera River
·
Battle of White Tunis
You can use your preferred rule sets for campaigns in
this era. However, I will be focusing on
Osprey’s Men of Bronze rules. I like these rules as they are scale and
model agnostic by using base widths and focal points for movement. In addition, they are Unit-versus-Unit rules
with no casualty removal. I find the
mechanics straight forward and the method to build armies simple and easy. Plus, you do not need a huge number of units
per side, about 5-8. Of course, I am
biased since I wrote them!
With a little tweaking these army lists and scenarios can
be used with any Ancients rule systems.
The Carthaginian
Army
Details about the early Carthaginian Army are
scarce. Diodorus of Sicily (Siculus) is
our main written source. There are
snippets in Polybius, Herodotus and Livius, but as always with the Ancients;
written sources go only so far and you need to turn to archaeology. Even then, the details for this period can
easily become intermixed and confused with the details of the later Pyrrhic and
Punic Wars.
The Carthaginian army re-organized and reformed along
Hellenic lines into a Hoplite phalanx somewhere during the 4th
century. It is believed that this may
have occurred after the First Sicilian War ended with a Greek victory at the
Battle of Himera. Legend has it that the
Carthaginians were impressed by the valor of Greek hoplite troops during Himera
that they decided to adopt the Greek formation.
Of course, this is probably Greek propaganda. For simplicity, our army lists will consider
that the Carthaginians were using the Hoplite Phalanx through-out the Sicilian
Wars.
At this early stage of the Carthaginian military power,
much of the manpower for the army was still citizen militia and levy
troops. Much of the core infantry was
from the cities of North African and Libyan coasts. The heavy use of mercenaries and subject
people occurred after the losses suffered in Sicily fighting the Greeks.
The citizen militia appears to have been a typical Hoplite
force. Linen breastplates with large
round shields and spears were the common equipment. Carthaginian citizen forces would fight in
the typical phalanx formation of the Greeks.
In addition, light infantry forces supplemented the citizen phalanx. These were armed like the Peltasts common on
mainland Greece and came from various sources.
There are references to a “Sacred Band” that has obvious
roots with the Sacred Bands from the Greek mainland. These were the sons of well-bred Carthaginian
nobles. These troops had the best
wargear and personalized shield emblems.
They were trained from a young age to fight in the Phalanx. However, their service record is not as
illustrious; as they were wiped out on three separate occasions during the
Sicilian Wars. They took the field as an
elite phalanx formation, often at the center of the battle line.
As the Sicilian Wars dragged on, more and more
mercenaries were integrated into the army.
These were drawn from sources across the western Mediterranean including
Gauls, Iberians, Sicels, Sardinians, Corsicans, and of course the famous
Balearic slingers. Cavalry forces were
frequently drawn from the subject peoples and focused more on impact than
typical Greek or Persian forces.
The early Carthaginian forces in Sicily also made use of
the Chariot. They were typically the four
horse variety and supplied by Libyan subjects. There is evidence of these
Chariots being used through out the conflicts in Sicily despite them going out
of favor elsewhere. These appear to be
in operation within the army until the 3rd century BCE. These can be represented by the Heavy Cavalry
options in the Men of Bronze
list.
Elephants are considered a well known feature of
Carthaginian armies. However, there is
no evidence that they were in use during the Sicilian Wars. The war elephant first came to Europe with
Pyrrhus of Epirus. The Pyrrhic Wars
post-date these conflicts. Therefore,
there are no War Elephants in this list.
Below is the Army List for Carthaginians during the
Sicilian Wars:
Carthaginians
·
0-1Elite Hoplites
·
1+ Militia Phalanx
·
0+ Peltasts
·
0+ Drilled Infantry
·
0-4 Warband Infantry
·
0-4 Archers/Slingers
·
0-2 Light Cavalry
·
0-1 Heavy Cavalry
·
0-2 Psiloi
In the Men of
Bronze rules, there are a number of sample army lists presented to allow
you to quickly sort out and play a game.
They are built for a standard size game of 38 points. Below will be a sample army for the
Carthaginians in Sicily.
Carthaginian- Sample Army List- 38 Points
·
Elite Infantry- Sacred Band
·
Militia Phalanx - Citizens
·
Heavy Cavalry- Chariots
·
Slingers- Balearic Slingers
·
Psiloi- Mercenaries
This list includes all of the “signature” Carthaginian
Units in one army. It may not be well
rounded or versatile, but it is distinctively Carthaginian. A more balanced list looks like the
following:
Carthaginian-
Sample Army List- 38 points
·
Militia Phalanx- Citizens
·
Militia Phalanx- Citizens
·
Warband Infantry- Mercenaries
·
Slingers- Balearic
·
Heavy Cavalry- Chariots
This still has Carthaginian flavor, but is a well-rounded
force better fit for dealing with those pesky Sicilian Greeks.
 |
| From the Victrix Limited Website- Warriors of Carthage Box |
Syracuse and the
Sicilian Greeks
The island of Sicily was colonized by two factions of
Greeks: the Ionians and the Doric Greeks.
Both had established themselves and developed the standard Polis
city-state common on the Greek mainland.
These cities often displaced natives such as the Sicel tribe. The city-states soon fell under the control
of various tyrants who ran them. In
addition, factional in-fighting between the Ionian and Doric Greeks often
inflamed tension between the various city-states. Like their mainland neighbors, the Sicilian
Greeks were often divided by factionalism and politics.
The largest Greek city-state on Sicily was the city of
Syracuse. It was on the eastern shores
and was founded by Corinth. During this
time period, it could be argued that Syracuse had the largest army in Greece. The city was expansionist in nature and would
eventually control much of Sicily and southern Italy. However, Syracuse was not the only Greek
founded city-state on Sicily. They all
generally followed the military model of mainland Greece as well. These various city-states were frequently
feuding or at war with each other.
For Syracuse or the Sicilian Greek City-States you could
use the army list found in the main Men
of Bronze rules. After all, the bulk
of the armies were hoplite phalanxes.
However, the city of Syracuse probably had larger access to cavalry than
those of mainland Greece. For example,
Athens was well known for having a large cavalry force of up to 1,000
horseman. Supposedly, Gelon the Tyrant
of Syracuse was able to field 5,000 cavalry before the battle of Himera! In addition, Syracuse may have had a larger
access to Archers/Slingers than most mainland Greek city-states. One of the descriptions of the Battle of
Himera makes specific mention to the commander of Archers for the Greeks.
If players prefer, they can choose to use the following
Syracusan/Sicilian Greek City-State list instead of the Greek City-State list
found in the core rulebook for Men ofBronze.
Syracuse/Sicilian
Greek City-State
·
0-2 Drilled Hoplites
·
1+ Militia Hoplites
·
0-3 Peltasts/Psiloi
·
0-4 Archers/Slingers
·
0-4 Cavalry
This could provide a sample army for 38 points as
follows:
·
2 Militia Hoplites
·
1 Cavalry
·
2 Archer
·
1 Peltast
Historical
Scenario- Battle of Himera 480 B.C.E.- The First Sicilian War
Greek legend has it that there was a vast world-wide
conspiracy hatched by their enemies to destroy all of Greece and subjugate it
to barbarian rule. The Persian invasions
of Xerxes was one front in this conspiracy.
The second flank was in Sicily, as the barbarian Carthaginians closed in
on Greek Sicily.
Herodotus and Diodorus Sicilus both describe the campaign
and the battle. However, the numbers
involved are suspect and some of the details are questionable. Despite this, having the details from two
sources helps us understand the battle more than other ancient battles. The outcome has been corroborated by recent
archeological finds in the area of mass soldier graves for the period.
We know that prior to the battle, Carthage mobilized a
large force including chariots, cavalry and much of their citizen soldiers to
the campaign. Many mercenaries were also
recruit from Gaul, Spain, and Italy. They
sailed to Sicily, but some of the ships with the cavalry and horses were
lost. This would prove to be a challenge
for the Carthaginians and their allied city-states.
On the Greek side, the Tyrant Gelon of Syracuse and
Theron of Arkagas aligned their forces together. The force supposedly had a wealth of cavalry
compared to their Carthaginian foes. In
addition, the Greeks main body was their hoplite soldiers. The Greeks claimed that the performance of
their citizen-soldiers in Sicily is what influenced the Carthaginians to use
the same model. These hoplites were
undoubtedly supported by Sicilian Peltasts and light troops.
After the difficulty in crossing, the Carthaginians had
some early success on land against Theron’s forces. However, Gelon soon came to his aid. The Cavalry advantage of the Greeks paid off
as they were able to rout various Carthaginian ravagers.
At this point, there are three different stories of how
the battle unfolded. Heordotus gives us
little detail about the battlefield, so our main source is Diodorus
Siculus. He claims that Greek cavalry
infiltrated the Carthaginian naval camp and killed Hamilcar. The Carthaginian and Greek army then met on
the field of battle. Eventually, the
arrival of the Greek cavalry and the news of Hamilcar’s death caused the
Carthaginian troops to retreat to a hillside.
As the Greeks began to loot the camp, Iberian troops attacked and almost
scattered the Greek’s until Theron’s troops from Himera flanked the Iberian
troops. This led to the end of the
battle.
All versions of the tale had the Carthaginian commander,
Hamilcar die away from the main battle.
Then the rest of his troops broke and fled. Some stories have the Greeks fighting uphill,
while others have the Carthaginians fall back to a hill before eventually
surrendering. No matter which version of
the story you read, the Carthaginians lose decisively. The entire expedition is lost. How much we can believe from the histories
that remain is up for debate, but we do know that Carthaginian influence and
power waned on Sicily for the next 70 some years.
Forces
Like most ancient battles, we have very little detail
about what each army consisted of. We
have a few hints. The first is that the
Carthaginians had lost their cavalry and Chariot forces in transit. We also know they were using Citizen Militia
and Mercenaries. On the Greek side, we
know that the Cavalry played a large role in the battle. One of the versions of the Carthaginian
defeat calls out the role of Greek archers.
From these hints, we can put together some ancient lines of battle for
our game.
Carthaginians
Drilled Phalanx- Sacred Band
Militia Phalanx- Citizens
Drilled Infantry- Mercenaries
Slingers- Balaeric
Peltasts- Mercenaries
Peltasts- Mercenaries
The Carthaginians will have no Strategoi to lead their
force, and therefore will not generate an extra Arete Point from his unit. However, the Sacred Band will be considered the
command unit for purposes of Collapse tests.
For this scenario, I have rated the Sacred Band of Carthage as only
Drilled Infantry instead of elite.
In one version of the story, Iberian mercenaries
counter-attack the Greeks looting the Carthaginian camp and almost break
them. However, Theron’s forces leave the
city of Himera and reinforce the Greeks
and defeat the Iberians. In the list
above, these Iberian troops are represented by Peltasts. Alternatively, the Carthaginian commander
could replace them with Warband Infnatry.
Greeks
Cavalry- Gelon
Cavalry
Militia Phalanx
Militia Phalanx
Militia Phalanx- Theron
Psiloi
Psiloi
Gelon will be the Strategoi of the Greek forces. The Greeks have a points advantage in this
scenario. In this force, the Psiloi
could be mixed missile troops such as archers and javelin men. In one of the reports of the battle, archers
play a key role in killing Hamilcar.
Alternatively, the Greek player could replace the 2 Psiloi units with 1
Archer unit.
 |
| Victrix Limited- Greek Light Cavalry |
Set-up
We know the battle took place in site of the coast near
the city of Himera, but the exact details are unclear. Recently, mass graves were discovered in the
area of the old city of Himera where some of the bodies were dated back to the
5th century. However the
location of the graves does not help us truly nail down the details of the
topography of the Battle of Himera.
We know that a hill took part in the battle. In one story, the Greeks fought uphill
against the Carthaginians. In another,
the Carthaginians retreated to a waterless hill before surrendering.
Therefore, our scenario will posit the following based on
Diodorus’ account. The battlefield
itself will be 72 base widths by 48 base widths wide. The table should be bisected length-wise by a
hill. This can be books under the cloth,
actual hills across the board, or some other technique to provide one side of
the board as a raised area. Other scatter
terrain can be placed as the players wish.
However, transitioning from the low side to the high side of the board
should count as difficult terrain.
The Carthaginian forces control the “top of the hill” and
can deploy anywhere between their long board edge and the center line. The Greeks deploy on the long side of the
opposite “low” board edge. They can be
up to 4 base widths in from their edge.
The Greek player must deploy 1 cavalry unit in reserve,
and Theron’s Militia Phalanx in reserve.
The Cavalry will make a discipline check beginning in Turn 2 and the
beginning of Turn 3 for Theron’s men. If
passed, the Greek units can deploy on a table edge specified below. The cavalry (without Gelon) can deploy
touching the Carthaginian long board edge.
Theron’s men can deploy touching the short board edge on the Greek right.
Complications
The scenario rules have outline two complications all
ready. The first is the lack of
Strategoi in the Carthaginian force. The
second is the reserve deployments of the Greek forces.
The final complication is, during the End Phase of turn 3
each unit in the Carthaginian army must make a complication test for being
Hungry and Thirsty. The details can be
found in the Men of Bronze rulebook. However, it is essentially a discipline
check. If failed, the unit has more
difficult target numbers for future rout tests.
Winning
The Greeks have a literal “uphill battle” while the
Carthaginians have their own challenges in this battle. Each force must overcome the frictions they
are faced with. The winner of the battle
is the force that manages to rout or collapse the other force. There are no other complicated victory
conditions.
Final Thoughts
You can see the beginning outlines for a fun campaign
between the Carthaginians and Greeks in Sicily.
There are a number of fun battles and scenarios between these two
antagonists for a plucky wargamer to draw inspiration. A war games club or small group of gamers
could easily put together a fun Con game, a themed night or two at the club, or
a more involved campaign using a map of Sicily!
You can even integrate it with other game systems for a land and sea
effort. Overall, the Sicilian Wars could
form a fun, unique, and interesting opportunity to have a lot of fun as a
gamer. I encourage you to give it a
try.
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.
Very tempting. The wars in Magna Græcia are of great interest.
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