Marathon and Platea with Dominion of the Spear

 I recently picked up the Ancient Battles supplement to Dominion of the Spear (along with the Pike and Shot version) . It has 36 historical battles in the DotS format, along with historical notes, deployment suggestions and variant army lists depending on whose sources you believe. Tucked away at the back are also some designers notes on how terrain was handled in the scenarios and some ideas for alternate activation systems.

I wanted to try the latter out, so set up a couple of battles from the scenario book. First up, Marathon in 490 BC. I realised later that I'd already done a version of Marathon when I first purchased DotS, but this one is the scenario from the supplement. 

The general setup is this. The Greeks are at the top with four armoured hoplite units, three in line and one in reserve. They are attacking, as they did historically. The Persians have five units of archers, one of whom (the Immortals) are elite. They have the Immortals in the centre, flanked by normal archers and two more in reserve.

Historically the Immortals did OK in the centre, but the charging hoplites collapsed the Persian flanks and routed them.

An optional rule is that if one or both sides only starts with four units or less, then both sides get an extra basic unit of infantry in reserve. It introduces a bit more decision making and a bit more depth to the armies, but I didn't use that option for a first run.

For the first iteration I used the standard activation system. Each zone activates from the left (attackers right). Missile troops fire first then melees are resolved sector by sector.

The great mass of Persian archers get to fire first, but if they miss, the Greek hoplites get a bonus in melee against missile troops. The Greeks are armoured so the Persians need a 6 to hit them (5+ for the Immortals) but the Greeks hit in melee on a 4+.

Things go badly from the start and the Immortals are routed. 

And even though the Persians do rout one of the Greek units they are rapidly reduced to two units.

And then annihilated. Greek win. 

Next I tried activation option 'B'. This involves the attacker picking one sector to activate and then the defender, rather than the automatic combats in the standard version. This involves more decision making and is a bit slower to resolve as only two sectors fight each turn. It better represents commanders choosing where and when to attack though. 

The Persians here are doing better than before, two hoplites routed and only one Persian. That unopposed central position for the Immortals is a killer, as they can now conduct flank attacks against the hoplites on the right and left which gives them an extra bonus on top of their +1 for being elite. 

And the Persians duly wipe the floor as the Greek centre collapses, rapidly followed by both flanks. 

I'm not 100% convinced about that activation method as both sides just picked the most favourable matchups each time. Obviously the vagaries of the dice had something to do with it, but I'm not sure. If you want a slightly longer pure match up game, then that is one to pick, and it better represents active and quiet sections of the battlefield. 

The final activation method is a mix of both. The attacker and defender each pick a sector to activate, and then the third sector fights automatically. This is a compromise of the previous two in that you can do some minmax, but still get to resolve all three sectors so I is faster to resolve overall and throw in some unexpected outcomes. 

This one ended with a Persian defeat, but I think I prefer that mistakes in the initial deployment are punished, rather than players constantly picking the best battles to fight. In a solo game you are both sides of course! They both good suggestions as alternatives to the quite mechanical standard activation sequence, particularly depends how much you much control vs chaos you want. 

I thought I'd try a different mix of troop types, and the next chronological scenario is Platea in 479 BC which has rather different forces.

The setup for Platea, the Persians are attacking this time. The Greeks have got two armoured hoplites in the left and centre, and on the right is the Spartan contingent, rated as armoured elite (ouch!). The reserve is a unit of unarmoured hoplites, just rated as standard foot.

The Persians are more a mix this time. On their right are mercenary hoplites (armoured spear), in the centre are the inevitable massed archers and on the right, a big blob of cavalry. Two more archers in reserve, including one elite unit (the Immortals).

This is roughly the historical deployment, but a very viable alternative would be to put all the archers in the front line and keep the mercenaries and cavalry in reserve. Something for another day perhaps.

For the first run through, I went with option 3 for activation - each side picks one activation and the third is automatic. The dice weren't playing ball and although the Greeks routed both the mercenaries and an archer early on, the Spartans and Persian cavalry kept bashing each other but both steadfastly held on.

Eventually the Persian centre collapsed and then it was all over with a complete Persian rout. Unlike real life however, the cavalry and Spartans were still battling it out on the right.

I tried it again with the normal activation system (three automatic activations left to right) and although the Greeks routed both the Persian mercenaries and cavalry, the Persian archers struck a string of 6s and just shot the Greeks right off the field.

For the final matchup I reverted to option 2, each side picks one sector to activate. The Greeks managed to rout one Persian archer early on,  but once again the Spartans failed repeatedly against the Persian cavalry.

The Immortals didn't last long either, and soon there was a gaping hole in the Persian centre.

And finally a very one sided rout.

That was certainly a bit more deliberate, and it adds more decision making to the game. If you are au fait with the various combat modifiers and matchups then  it makes some of the decisions easier. I guess if you wanted to spend even more time just doing one battle you could let the units take two hits befor routing (like the two hit version of the Portable Wargame). I've also had a few thoughts about reserves, and I know Shaun has made some suggestions about making them less flexible. I do like the look of the armies deployed in multiple lines, so much better than the wargame standard 'one line of troops from side of the table to the other'. 

All the games were fun and fast to play and I think they are ideal for trying out different deployments etc or for games in a campaign setting. It is very refreshing to be able to fight six engagements in under an hour, and I certainly want to try some of the battles outside the 'classic' Ancient period. The speed of play pretty much allows you to conduct Monte Carlo simulations of the various battles, as although in theory the points values are matched, the matchups between troop types are quite asymmetrical and it lends itself to experimentation of optimal deployments.