Pointy Sticks Ayton Nov ‘21

[Essex Boy]

'Ti's true.

Mostly.

E

How are you with chariots?

Never used them. But they're not cavalry, so what can possibly go wrong?

E

[goat major]

We are about to find out

[Jamanicus]

Hi Gary, thanks for sorting out the scenario for us

I know you said points aren't a massive issue, but I've totted my total, just so you can make sure it fits with your initial thoughts...comes to 810 points (including a level 9 army General at 25)

Not sure about Jeremy's?

[garyp]

There's no way you are having a level 9 general! . Unless we upgrade the Greeks to Spartans and make Achilles indestructible.

I plan to sort out army lists as part of the scenario, based on the posts from earlier on in this thread. - I hadn't allowed for many upgrades for veterans, Praetorian guard etc because if we go for fully-loaded Romans they'll just overpower the Greek/Mycenaeans. If you want to upgrades them I reckon you'll need to leave some stuff at home to balance the game. As it is, I think you'll need to ditch the artillery except for the light scorpions.

[Jamanicus]

Cool, whatever you think is best to make it easier, definitely just have all the Legionaries as 'normal' rather than veteran etc

I've done it so I have 3 Roman infantry divisions of 4 standard units(2 Legionaries and 1 Auxiliary), each with an additional supporting missile unit of some kind (not including the Scorpions), then a cavalry division (3 Aux cav and a small unit of Cataphracts)

Then the Dacian Division, with a medium unit, Falxmen unit, 2 small archer units and the 2 elephants (both with a small Slinger Sub-unit)

Thinking about the scenario of 3 attacking forces, mine could be split relatively easily into 2, with Jeremy's as a third

I'll just bring the lot and at least then it's there to use or not

[garyp]

Ok Jamie, I hadn't factored in the Dacians because they were unpainted when you last sent me a list. They'll probably tip the balance too far. With no Dave, there's no need to split your forces into 3 armies but you'll still need a mixed division as your vanguard, to help balance the scenario

[Jamanicus]

Okay dokey, I'll go with whatever

I painted the Dacians over the past few weeks, as I didn't see Dave wasn't coming...

I'm just happy I've gotten them painted now that's my main challenge...focus on a specific force!! Haha

[garyp]

OK, here's a bit of background to the scenario for next week. I'll bring some force rosters with me and I'm not going to be prescriptive about how your organise your divisions - it's up to you, subject to the following constraints.

Jamie and Jeremy - you need at least 3 divisions, one of which (your vanguard) must consist of light or medium cavalry, plus skirmishers, light infantry and a maximum of one medium infantry - auxilia, scutarii and the like (not warbands). Your troops will arrive piecemeal after the initial vanguard.
Jeremy - your Libyan, Liby-Phoenecian and African spearmen are 'heavy' infantry rather than medium because they are line-of-battle troops with long pointy sticks and big shields. The Africans are veteran. Your Gauls are warbands, with the armoured guys rated stubborn and the others deployed as a single large unit. Your chariots should be deployed as a single unit (3 or 4 chariots in a unit). Elephants are deployed in a single-model unit
Jamie - I guess from looking at your list you have 8 legionary units. If that's true, you can upgrade 2 of them to veterans. Based on the Hail Caesar lists, you can have 3 artillery units in total, of which 2 must be light artillery (remember that an artillery unit is 2 models). I'm assuming your aren't bringing any Dacians.
Simon - You also need a smallish division of scouts/screening troops - cavalry, peltasts (you have 3 units of these in total) and skirmishers. Otherwise I recommend 2 infantry divisions with hoplites and screening skirmishers. Your Spartans will be rated as Spartans - seriously fully-loaded - and your Thebans as veterans. The rest will be standard hoplites.
Iain - you get to be Achilles with chariots and Myrmidons!
The rest of my Mycenaeans will be organised into 3 divisions, although I have no heavy infantry and no cavalry (just lots of chariots)

The scenario is fairly simple:

You've heard of the battle of Cynoscephalae ("the Dog's Heads"), well this will be the battle of Gataproktos (which loosely translates as "the Cat's Arse").

The Greek general, Dodgenes, and his time-travelling Mycenaean ally, Agamemoryloss, are marching their forces through an unnamed scrubland in Asia Minor, on their way back to the Aegean coast. As they approach Gataproktos, a ramshackle village at the end of a long, low ridge, their scouts give them word of an approaching army. Dodgenes, cautious as ever, decides to form up for battle on the ridge. Agamemoryloss follows suit, sending light infantry and chariots forward to screen the army as it deploys. He also wonders what has happened to Achilles - ever a law unto himself, he was last seen heading off on a raid in front of the army (or was it behind, a maybe off on one flank - why can the man never read a map?). Agamemoryloss sends out riders to find him - hopefully he'll show up sometime, somewhere.

Also in the desert is the famed Roman General, Glutius Maximus and his equally time-elastic Carthaginian ally, Ronni Barca. Their vanguards have located the Greek/Mycenaean force and move to engage, whilst the heavy divisions hurry forward at their best forced march pace. Soon, a line of Romans, Carthaginians and Gauls are strung out over miles of the desert, whilst their commanders do their best to feed them into their positions in the battle line.

The battle begins as the Roman/Carthaginian vanguards appear on the field of battle, opposed by the Greek/Mycenaean screening troops protecting the main main battle line, still forming on the ridge.

Let battle commence.

Any questions, please shout.

[garyp]

Btw, you need a suitable command figure for each division and some means of recording casualties

[Essex Boy]

Wooo.......who?

Brad Pitt? Yep, I can see that.