Eumenes 2 vs Antigonas 0 part 2

The second game was played on Sunday at the Miniature Wargaming Society of Sacramento.   The first game can be viewed at http://18clovehamhock.blogspot.com/2018/04/eumenes-2-vs-antigonas-0-part-one.html   Gary and Dave commanded Antigonos' army while John and John commanded Eumene's troops.

The armies for both games were as follows.   Where two numbers are shown for number of units this indicates left and right flanks respectively.  The elephants are listed as left, center, and right.  Troop numbers and types are based on the discussion on the Society of Ancients forum from the past year.  In Scutarii ach unit represents about 500 infantry, 300-500 cavalry (300 for this battle) or four to five elephants.  Infantry and cavalry units had two bases each and  the elephants had one base.  the rules do allow for using a single base for cavalry or infantry units.

There are some discrepancies in the number of troops in Diodorus account of the battle.  This was discussed on the Society of Ancients Forum prior to April.  Patrick Waterson suggested a remedy to the difference in the number of cavalry between the overall numbers and the individual unit totals by reducing the formation of 2200 Tarentine cavalry to 200 as there were seldom any great numbers of them and assigning 100 men to the formation that did not have any listed.   There is no mention of light infantry in the account of the battle, but about 20,000 light infantry were provided to Eumenes by his supporters and light infantry are mentioned previously in Antigonos army.   Hellenist armies often provided a light infantry escort for the elephants of 40 to 50 men.   This would require about 3000 of the mercenaries in Antigonos army and account for about 6000 men in Eumenes army.  The disposition of the other 12000 that are estimated to have been present presents a bit of a problem.  If they are part of the elephant screen then they would either extend out past the flanks of the main battle line or form a solid line in front of it.

The players had some leeway in where they deployed their troops other than the phalanx centers.   They had to keep their cavalry units on their historical flanks and the elephants kept their basic groupings of left, center, and right.   The extra light infantry in Eumenes army ended up being deployed to the right of the phalanx in a sixteen rank deep formation, similar to the deployment of the light infantry in the Seleucid army at Raphia.

Under units where there are two numbers that is the number of units on the left and right flanks respectively.  For the elephants the three numbers are for left, center, and right.

Antigonos
UNIT	ATTACK	DEFENSE	MISSILE	MOVE	MORALE	POINTS	UNITS	POINTS
ANTIGONOS	ADD 1	X	X	14"	+/- 1 OR 0	free	1	0
Generals	ADD 1	X	X	14"	+/- 1 OR 0	free	9	0
Bodyguard	5	5	X	12"	11	12	0,1	12
Companion	4	5	X	12"	11	11	7,3	110
Heavy Cav.	3	5	(2")	12", 14"	10	8	5,3	64
Thracian horse	3	4	(2")	12", 14"	11	8	0,3	24
Horse Archers	2	4	4"	12", 14"	11	9	3,0	27
Mercenary horse	3	5	(2")	12", 14"	11	9	0.2	18
Tarantine cavalry	3	5	(2")	12", 14"	11	10	1,0	10
Macedonian phalanx	3	6	X	6"	11	9	16	144
Pantipodoi	3	6	X	6"	10	8	16	128
Mercenary Peltast	3	5	(2")	6", 8"	11	8	12	96
Lycians etc	3	5	(2")	6", 8"	11	7	6	42
Elephamt and Lt Inf escort	4	6	4"	8"	10	13	3,6,7	208
								883
Eumenes
UNIT	ATTACK	DEFENSE	MISSILE	MOVE	MORALE	POINTS	UNITS	POINTS
EUMENES	ADD 1	X	X	14"	+/- 1 OR 0	free	1	0
Generals	ADD 1	X	X	14"	+/- 1 OR 0	free	9	0
Bodyguard	5	5	X	12"	11	12	0,1	12
Companion	4	5	X	12"	11	11	6,4	99
Heavy Cav.	3	5	(2")	12", 14"	10	8	1,2	24
Light Cav	3	4	(2")	12", 14"	10	7	2.2	28
Thracian horse	3	4	(2")	12", 14"	11	8	2,0	16
HYP and Silver Shield pike	4	6	X	6"	11	10	12	120
Mercenary Phalanx	3	6	X	6"	11	9	12	108
Pantipodoi	3	6	X	6"	10	8	10	80
Light Infantry	2	4	6"	6", 8"	10	6	24	144
Elephamt and Lt Inf escort	4	6	4"	8"	10	13	10,10, 10	390
								1021

This time the Antigonid left flank cavalry was not as aggressive.  The horse archers did move out to the flank and skirmished with opposing cavalry, but the other cavalry remained where it was in the battle line.   The elephants of both armies engaged each other.  On the other flank Antigonos' cavalry was gaining the upper hand and had driven off some of the opposing cavalry.   The opposing phalanxes eventually made contact and after a drawn out fight lasting much longer than the previous game the Silver Shields again routed their opponents.   The rout of the Antigonid center ended the battle with Gary and Dave conceding the game.   Losses for Eumenes were about 1000 with over 15,000 of Antigonos' men routing.   Pictures below.

 Initial dispositions viewed from the hills.

 Antigonos advances with the horse archers at the far end moving to the Eumenid flank.

 Euminid commanders John and John

 Antigonid commanders Gary on left and Dave on the right with an observer.

 The armies advance.

 View from the open flank as mercenaries and elephants make contact.

 View from the hills as the opposing elephants collide and the Antigonid phalanx attacks some of them.

 overview of the battlefield.

 A gap opens in the Antigonid line as some of the mercenaries flee from the elephants.

 The phalanxes clash.

 view from the other side

 Both sides start to take casualties

 view of the battlefield from the hills

 inconclusive fighting on the open flank

 view from behind the elephants and light infantry.  unengaged Antigonid heavy cavalry in right rear of picture.

 Chris joined the game later on the Antigonid side taking over the phalanx.

 Antigonid phalanx in trouble as most of the units become shaken

 another view of the fighting as the left flank of the Euminid phalanx advances to take the place of the elephants that were driven off.  Based on discussions on the Society of Ancients forum where it was noted that other than Magnesia and Zama it appeared to be that elephants would leave usually leave the battle instead of routing, we had them depart if they became shaken during a morale test.

Final view of the battlefield.  Chris had just tested the morale of the phalanx units as once again the Silver Shields routed their opponents..  One unit of the Euminid pantipodoi is routing near the center of the picture, but had no effect on the other units. 

Eumenes 2 vs Antigonas 0 part one

I ran the battle of Paraetacene at the South Bay Game Club and the Miniature Wargaming Society of Sacramento meetings this past weekend using Scutarii from Hoplite Research.  Paraitacene is the battle chosen for the Society of Ancients 2018 Battle Day.  In both actions the Silver Shields were the ones who brought victory for Eumenes.   Phalangites are from Rapier.  Elephants and other figures are from Irregular, Baccus, Rapier, and Heroics and Ros.

The first round was at the South Bay Game Club on Saturday.   The second round can be viewed at  http://18clovehamhock.blogspot.com/2018/04/eumenes-2-vs-antigonas-0-round-2.html  Order of battle for both sides is listed in part 2.  Scott commanded the Eumenid right wing.  Robert was Eumenes and commanded his bodyguard and the phalanx.   Manny was the Eumenid left wing commander.   On the Antigonid side Kent commanded the right wing,  John the left wing, Greg had the phalanx, and Bill had the mercenaries and Lycians. 

The Antigonid players decided on an aggressive attack by their left wing cavalry.  Having won the initiative they opted to move first and by staying outside of 12 inches (300mmm) of the opposing troops moved their left wing cavalry 40 inches to the flank.

{Each turn in Scutarii is 15 minutes.   Normally troops move at a reduced speed in order to maintain formation.   By staying far enough away their cavalry was able to move at the walk/trot rate of a horse (4 to 6 mph) and move 2000 paces (one mile/1.5km).}

The Euminids reacted by shifting part of their cavalry from their left wing to their right.   This would take them two turns as they had to move more than one mile to reach the other end of their battle line.  The Antigonids intended to hold back their infantry center and advance to contact with their right wing cavalry and elephants.

The commander of Eumene's right wing moved his cavalry to counter the Antigonid horse.  The elephants,  light infantry, and phalanx advanced to engage the opposing infantry.   (Eumenes had 18,000 light infantry.   Their disposition during the battle is not mentioned.  About 6000 of them would be escorting the elephants.   If the other 12,000 had been with the elephants they would have formed a solid close order line.   Instead for the re-fight they were placed to the right of the phalanx in a similar fashion to what the Seleucids did at Raphia with their light troops.  In this case they were backing up the elephants in the center and on the right.)

The elephants on the Eumeinid left wing prevented the Antigonid cavalry and elephants from breaking through on that flank.   About 1000 Eumenid cavalry were driven from the field on the other wing, but the arrival of the cavalry from the left wing stabilized that flank.  The cavalry combat saw fortune swing from one side to the other as the cavalry battle swirled back and forth.

In the center Eumene's elephants engaged the mercenaries and Lycians while Eumene's phalanx advanced to engage the opposing phalanx.   At first the pantipodoi  withstood the impact of the Silver Shields, but then one units morale faltered and then broke.  This caused the other units of pantipodoi to flee and Antigonos army fled.  (Gary had extremely bad die rolls when he made the morale checks for the other pantipodoi units due to the one unit routing.   At this point the Antigonid players conceded the battle as morale checks for the Lycians and mercenaries would probably have resulted in additional routs.   Though the Macedonians held the large hole in the center of the Antigonid battle line would have allowed the Argyraspids and Hypaspists to envelop the remaining infantry.)

Eumenes had won the battle losing about 500 men.   Antigona's had over 10,000 men routing at the end of the battle with possibly more joining the rout.  Photos of the game follow.

 The Antigonid commanders Kent, Greg, John, Bill

 Bob (Eumenes), Scott, Manny

 The armies deployed.  Viewed from the hills

 Antigonid left wing cavalry moves to flank Eumene's army

 View from behind the Antigonid army

 End of turn one.  View from the hills

 The cavalry engage on the other flank.

 Fierce fighting that would lead to several units of Eumene's cavalry breaking.

 The opposing phalanxes advance.  View from behind Antigonos' line.

 Mercenaries and Lycians engage the elephants supported by light infantry.

 Inconclusive fighting on the flank by the hills

 The opposing phalanxes make contact as Eumene's holds back the Pantipodoi

 The mercenaries and elephants exchange blows.

 The cavalry battle swirls around as Eumene's left flank cavalry arrives to stabilize his right flank

 The Argyraspids and Hypaspists engage the opposing pantipodoi.  The pantipodoi caused a few more casualties than they received, but one units resolve faltered as it became shaken.

 The following turn the shaken unit broke and Greg had a very unlucky series of die rolls as he checked morale for the rout, making five out of seven checks with the worst possible die roll. 

 The battle on the flank by the hills remained deadlocked.

 The Lycians and mercenaries have been battered by the elephants and their morale checks for the routing pantipodoi would have led to most of them fleeing also.

The cavalry battle on the other flank was still in a state of flux.

Tank Drifting

Drifting cars has become a completion sport.   Drifting tanks in the snow and ice is part of training in Norway and the US has taken part in that training.   Some tank crews have also done it for fun and to demonstrate the abilities of their tanks.   The following link is to YouTube videos documenting these and also some failures.   The one with the Chinese driver is quite impressive.  drifting tanks

The battle of marconi

The war between La Union Federal de Buena Vista and La Republica Democratica de los Pueblos de La Cucaracha continues.   A recent engagement occurred at the border town of Carmichael between two brigades of UFBV and two brigades of RDPLC.  Reports from the battlefield are contradictory with both sides claiming victory. 

Forces involved were the 2nd and 9th brigades of the UFBV and the 6th, 9th, and 10th brigades of the RDPLC.  UFBV uses German equipment while RDPLC uses Russian.  The UFBV brigades had only one company each from the engineer and recon regiments.   For organization information and links to both sides forces see  Buena Vista army

This was a meeting engagement between the two modern imaginations and came to a halt when two participants had to leave about four in the afternoon.  It looked like the UFBV was gaining the upper hand, but the RDPLC still controlled more of the towns when we halted.

This was a learning game for us.  We had decided to try Fist Full of Tows 3 to see how it compared to other rule sets we have tried.   The rule book is rather large and somewhat expensive, but it covers everything from post WWI to almost the present day.   With a discount coupon from LULU it costs the same as purchasing both Blitzkrieg Commander and Cold War Commander and a lot less than flames of war..  Much of the book is devoted to equipment data, instructions for how to determine statistics and point values and some organization examples along with ratings for World War II nations and most of the modern day nations.  The rules are well laid out with a basic outline of each rule at the beginning of a section and a more detailed explanation with examples following.   The mechanics of the rules are easily understood and after a turn or two do not require checking the rule book for clarification.   We did not include aircraft for the first game and will be adding additional items as we play further games.

 Start of game. Brian moves his brigade onto the table

 UFBV commanders Hal and Mike move  their brigade on while Chris watches.

 Gary moving his brigade onto the table

  Brian's mechanized battalion takes up a position on the ridge after his advance is halted by UFBV forces.

 DRPLC forces defend positions as UFBV advances.  Chris was able to cause more losses than he received.

 both sides were able to get troops into the town at the center 

DRPLC tank battalion in center of picture is destroyed by UFBV tanks on hill in the background.