Phokians - Game 3
After a sensible evening at home I set off early driving through West London
in plenty of time to get to the venue for the Sunday Morning game. This saw
me avoid another Pike army and facing an Arakathid
Kappadocian force.
Knowing they could prove powerless against the massed spears, the Kappadocians decided to set up some mountain strongholds into which they stuffed auxilia, whilst playing with cavalry out on the flank.
Again I was attacking, so the artillery would have a long march to reach anywhere useful.
The Greeks teed themselves up without too much of a plan - the rubbsih command flank marching on the left
As the Phokians swept forwards past the protecting hills a column of Kappdocian cavalry sought to gain some advantage by sneaking round the back - but the wily Phokian CinC was wise to the maneuver, and detached some of his bravest hoplites to hold back the mounted raiders.
The Spartans meanwhile were ignoring the very idea of having flanks, and had marched swiftly to try and find some lesser spearmen and give them a right good thrashing for leaving the service of their fellow Greeks.
The Kappadocian cavalry had clearly not travelled in by tube, and so their non-reading of the Kappadocian Metro newspaper meant they remained ignorant of the successes of the Phokian psiloi in last evenings game. They pushed on gamely seeking to take the high ground and menace the stone throwers from on high.
But the Phokians were still confident - a wall of spearmen were waiting at the foot of the mountain slopes, ready to stop the hillmen exploiting their position.
The mountaineers swept down from the hills - but soon found themselves embroiled in a grim combat against the remarkably resilient artillery.
With the auxilia undecided as to which target to attack, the flank march arrived, giving food for thought to the Kappadocian general.
Seeing their opportunity, a load of Phokian peasants emerged from their viet-min style trenches and fell upon the luckless auxilia, butchering them where they stood!
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| In the middle, the Spartans were also jostling for position - their advance to retribution being held up by mischievous interlopers rolling boulders down on their flanks from the hills. |
The flank march had also foundered - but the survivors were making a dash for the baggage as the Arakathid troops stood by impotently - only one element from breaking now after the debacle on the hill, they could afford to take no risks!
!
The battle on the hill had turned into full scale retreat for the peltasts, and jeering peasants hurled small stones and long Greek insults at them from on high as they fled like cowardly dogs!
With time running out, the Spartiates and their Ipakratean employees launched a desperate attack up the steep mountain slopes, as the Phokian commanders spear line wheeled majestically into range of the Kappadocian peasant bowmen hiding at the back. It was going to be damn close !
With a last flourish the CinC's spearmen hurled themselves - double overlapped - into the trembling bowmen.
Would they hold on and save Kappadocia?
Well, no - a few well placed dice swings later it was all over - a million bounds, and 10-0 to the Greeks with Sticks ! Celebrations were in Order !
Post Match Summary
The Kappadocians were on the wrong end of a bad matchup here - no answer to the men with sticks, cluttered terrain and the artillery to keep them from simply hiding. Whilst they made valiant efforts to get round the flanks, as with the Alexandrians before them they had caught a mauling off superior numbers of inferior Psiloi on the mountain range when they had tried to press an apparent advantage. This reverse had stalled their attack on my left, and also prevented the Kappadocians from really chewing up the flank march.
This then left the Phokians with a process of getting in as many bounds as possible to slowly rack up the required casualties. As it was, it was close at the end - but there was still no cigar for the Kappadocians this time.
