Battle Report: Wars of the Republic- Anabasis of Antiochus the Great

 

Antiochus the Great took the throne of the Seleucid Empire in 223 BC.  By this time, the most distant eastern provinces had broken from the empire under their own Hellenistic rulers.  The rest of the empire was busy battling Ptolemaic Egypt and other foes to stop them.  However, once Antiochus the Great came to power he shifted his focus and travelled eastward to re-claim the lost provinces.  

The Anabasis of Antiochus would last 10 years and be largely successful.  He and his forces would battle the break-away provinces and bring them back into nominal obedience.  Antiochus even crossed into India on his journey similar to his ancestor Seleucus.  

This is a good time for wargamers since there is very little details remaining about Antiochus adventure, the armies involved, or even what the troops looked like.  Therefore, there is a lot of scope for playing out whole ancient campaigns in the East. 

You can pre-order the rules for Wars of the Republic from Osprey/Bloomsbury Publishing here.

Forces

This period is a fertile place for wargaming as it is ill documented. Very few sources remain and there is scope for a series of battles and even a campaign to take place in this region and time period.  Today's battle will represent one of the lost battles fought on this 10 year campaign to the east.  Our forces will be drawn from the Seleucid List and the Minor State/Lesser Satrapy list.      

We know little specifics about the Seleucid army that went East and even less about the Greco-Bactrian and other provinces armies that opposed them.  We can assume that they were based on a Hellenistic model as that was their heritage.  This gives us free reign to choose the units we want to use!   

Seleucids

1 Bronze Shields

1 Theurophoroi

2 Light Infantry

1 Heavy Cavalry- Commander

Greco-Bactrians

2 White Shields

1 Elephant - Commander

2 Skirmishers

1 Light Cavalry

The Greco-Bactrians have a 1 point advantage and a 1 unit advantage.  

Mission

We rolled up a mission from the main rulebook as normal.  We determined we would be playing a Control the Battlefield scenario during Bad Weather as a complication.  

In a Control the Battlefield game, both sides are trying to touch terrain to "control" it and score points.  The army controlling the most terrain at the end of the game wins!  This will force our units to split up in order to be holding the terrain.  The Greco-Bactrian advantage in units may play a big role.  

The complication of Bad Weather will slow us all down 1 MU and improve our armor against shooting attacks by 1.  It is raining pretty heavily as we move into the area. 

Set-up

We also randomly rolled up terrain per the rules.  The Seleucid side is 1-3 while the Greco-Roman side is on the opposite side and is 4-6.  We are playing on a 72MU x 48 MU board with 1 MU equal to 1 inch.  

1. Spring- Difficult
2. Swamp- Difficult
3. No terrain
4. Swamp- Difficult
5. Grove of Trees- Difficult
6. Walls- Obstacle

This will be a difficult board to get across thanks to all the difficult terrain.  The heavy rains must be making the area into a swampy mess!  

We follow the normal rules for deployment and take turns placing units with the Greco-Bactrians placing first.  Each unit can deploy up to 6 MU in from their deployment edge.

After set-up, we have the following units.  Seleucids have the Light Infantry in the right to head into the swamps and spring area.  The edge of the terrain has the Theurophoroi then the Bronze Shields and Heavy Cavalry anchor the left.  The Greco-Bactrians have the Skirmishers ready for the Swamps, the White shields bracketing the Elephant in the center, and then the light cavalry on the right as a screen.  

Seleucids deploy on the left of the board

Turn 1:

Both sides collect their Commander's Gaze tokens.  The Seleucids get 6 and the Greco-Bactrians get 7.   The Seleucids bid 2, and the Greco-bactrians bid 3.  Grecos will go first. 

We start with a unit of skirmishers paying their Gaze, and moving into the swamp.  The heavy rain slowed their progress, but they secured the terrain.... for now.  The second unit moves up between the board edge and the swamp.  On the opposite flank, the light cavalry ride up to the wall, but stay behind.  

At this point, the Seleucid commander interrupts and takes over successfully.  The Bronze Shields move forward, and then the Greco-bactrians try to take back over, but fail.  The Theurophoroi break into open order and move to secure the spring.  Meanwhile, the other light infantry supports their fellows flanking the spring by the board edge. Finally, the Heavy Cavalry moves forward. 

With all Seleucid units moved, the Greco-Bactrians take back over.  The elephant stays in line with the white shields as they trudge forward in the rain. The main infantry formations flanks seem secured by terrain.  

Melee:
None

End:
None

Turn 2: 

Both sides collect Commander's Gaze, and prepare to make their bids.  The Greco-Bactrians bid 2, to the Seleucid 1.   

Greco-bactrian skirmishers make themselves at home in the swamp using their skirmisher skill.  The second skirmisher unit moves up in the gap to support them.  The Seleucids successfully interrupt.

The Seleucid light infantry move up on the flank, with the spring secured by the Theurophoroi.  The Greco-bactrians try to interrupt to secure their flanks, but fail.  Meanwhile, the Heavy Cavalry moves to block the Greco-bactrian light cavalry from getting to their forces flanks. 

The Seleucids ceded movement back to the Greco-bactrians, electing NOT to move their core Theurophoroi or Phalanx unit. 

The core of the Greco-bactrian army moves forward, their flanks secured by a grove and swamp.  The light cavalry stay behind the wall. 

Melee:

None

End:

None

Turn 3:         

Both sides collect their Commander's Gaze.  The Seleucids bid 2, and the Greco-Bactrians bid 0.  The Seleucids go first. 

The Seleucid Light Infantry spreads out in front of the spring to defend it, and potentially threaten the swamp.  The Heavy Cavalry moves up and threatens to contest the grove of trees. They are daring the light cavalry to come out and attack them.  The rest of the Seleucids stay in position and cede movement over to the Greco-bactrians. 

The Greco-bactrian main battle line moves forward, taking an echelon formation to protect their flanks with terrain.  The furthest flank skirmishers move forward and try to throw their javelins at the enemy light infantry but fall short.  The Light Cavalry moves away from the Heavy cavalry, but is still touching their wall.    

Melee:

None

End:

None

Turn 4: 

This look like things might start getting real this turn.  Both commanders collect their Commander's Gaze tokens.  The Seleucids bid 3 to go first, while the Greco-bactrians bid 3 as well.  With the tie, the Seleucids opt to bid 1 more to win it.  

The Seleucid light infantry on the right flank charges into the Greco-bactrian skirmishers opposite them.  The Light Infantry get supported by their fellows, and the skirmishers are supported by the units in the swamp.  

The Heavy Cavalry moves to flush the enemy cavalry out and away from the terrain objective.  The Bronze shields feel their flank is secure by their cavalry and march forward towards the White shields across from them.  

In response, the Greco-bactrian White Shields by the swamp, break into open order and move towards the spiraling melee on their left.  The Elephant also moves forward to threaten the enemy. 

Melee: 

The Light Infantry of the Seleucids strike hard on the charge, and reduce the skirmishers to 1 courage, and they start to waver.  The Light Infantry also lose 2, and start to waver!  The skirmishers are pushed back 3 MU.  

End:

None

Turn 5:

The Greco-Bactrian White Shields need to get to the Skirmishers to help them out.  Both sides collect their Commander's Gaze and bid for initiative.  The Seleucids bid 4, the Greco-bactrians bid 3.  The Seleucids go first again. 

The Seleucid Heavy Cavalry declare a charge at the light Cavalry, but fail to get there due to the heavy rain!  They are Wavering!  The Greco-Bactrians try to interrupt.  This time, they win and get to go next! 

The Greco-Bactrian White Shields rush in to join the Combat against the Light Infantry, hoping to turn the tide!  It might be a mistake.  The War Elephant moves up to stop any support from the Theurophoroi.  The other White Shields also move up provocatively to threaten the Seleucid Bronze Shields. 

The Greco-Bactrian light cavalry throw their Javelins and cause 1 courage loss.  Then, the Heavy Cavalry fail to make a Discipline check thanks to Wavering, and lose another Courage, down to 2.  They then use their last Gommander's Gaze to ride away!  

Play turns over to the Seleucids.  The Bronze Shields charge into the White Shields, who can not counter-charge as they have no Commander's Gaze.  They use the last of the Seleucid Gaze to manage it.  

The Seleucid Theurophoroi throw their Javelins at the Elephant, but fall short. 

Melee:

The Greco-Bactrians are starting to doubt their flank charge into the Light Infantry.  They should have waited until the Skirmishers were routed first!  Oops.  

The melee turns into a swirling mess, and both sides quickly annihilate each other!  That cleared up the flank!  

The Bronze Shields use their momentum to push the White Shields back 3 MU and reduce their Courage 1.  The inexperienced troops begin to Waver. 

End:

The Theurophoroi sees the Light Infantry flee, and makes a Discipline test. They pass and avoid wavering.  

Both sides need to make collapse tests, as they lost 25% of the force by the swamps! In the ensuing Collapse tests, both the Seleucid Bronze Shields and the Greco-Bactrian White Shields call it a day and withdraw from the battle! 

Turn 6: 

Both sides only get 2 Commander's Gaze as most of their armies have withdrawn!  However, there is still more fighting left to do!  The Greco-Bactrians bid 1 to the Seleucid 0.  

The Greco-Bactrians use their last Gaze to charge their War Elephant into the Theurophoroi, who are in cover by the spring.  The Light Cavalry then throw their Javelins, feeling safe behind the wall at the Heavy Cavalry but fail to cause any injury.  

The Seleucids use a Commander's Gaze to Rally their Heavy Cavalry.  After a quick look at the rules, the Heavy Cavalry leaps across the wall and charges to attack the Light Cavalry.  They have no Gaze to try and evade!  I guess they should have ran instead of thrown Javelins. 

Melee:          

The Greco-Bactrians decide to start with the War Elephant.  First, we make the Terror test for the Seleucids, who pass.  The War Elephant loses one courage in the fight, but despite the Theurophoroi being in cover, the Elephant stomps them pretty badly, reducing them to 1 courage and wavering.  The Elephant also pushes them back 3 MU.  

The Cavalry battle sees the Light Cavalry lose 1, and start to waver, but they also inflict 1 on the Heavy Cavalry. 

End:

None

Turn 7:

Both players collect their gaze, and bid none.  Everyone is in combat.  Seleucids win and get to go first. 

Melee: 

They choose to resolve the Cavalry battle first. This time, with some help from re-rolls, the Heavy cavalry drives off the Light Cavalry for good.  

The Elephant also drives off the Seleucid light troops it was fighting, giving it control of the spring.  The Heavy cavalry has the wall. 

End:

Both sides have to make collapse tests looking for 5+.  The Heavy cavalry succeed with 1 success.  The War Elephant has 0 successes, and retires from the battle!  

Conclusion: 

Another fight down to the wire based on collapse tests.  This time, the higher Discipline of the Heavy cavalry won out over that of the War Elephants.  Seleucids win in the East!   

I must say, that War Elephant made short work of the Theurophoroi!  Very impressive. I do not think they would fare so well against a tougher unit like a Phalanx or a Legion though.  Still, right tool for the job and all that.  

As the Greco-Bactrians I made a couple of tactical errors.  The first was having the White Shields on my left flank join the Skirmisher battle 1 round too early.  If they had waited until the Skirmishers had been routed, instead of joining the melee they would not have been scattered so easily.  The second was having my Light Cavalry throw Javelins instead of fleeing from the Heavy Cavalry and contesting a different piece of terrain rather than the wall.  This would have left them a threat in being to be dealt with.  I was tempted by the thought of a barrage of Javelins breaking the wavering Heavy Cavalry, which had a very low likelihood of happening.   I played the maneuver phase of the battle well enough, but fell apart once contact occurred. Oh well.  Next time. 

You can pre-order the rules for Wars of the Republic from Osprey/Bloomsbury Publishing here.

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