T11 Start
The Spartan centre collapsed spactacularly this turn and the Persians mopped up enough other units to seal the game, many thanks to pantherboy for playing an enjoyable if tough game!!
Thoughts on the battle.
It was always going to be a tough task taking on pantherboy as he's one of the best players of the game, getting the map for this battle really didn't help my cause!! The Persians had a really useful line of hills and woods on which to form a defensive line, which pantherboy took full advantage of.
Their wasn't any clear line of attack where I could fight with the hoplites on an equal footing, either I had to go on the offensive and try and punch through the defensive line of the Persians or I could have waited on my side of the battlefield in the hope of drawing the Persians out. I think the latter wouldn't have worked well though as the Greeks are not blessed in the mobile troop department and would have ended up slogging across the entire battlefield under a rain of fire, with the Persians staying out of contact range all the way....
So I still feel the attack up the hill was the best option from a poor set of choices, if I was to change anything it would be putting the Spartiates in a secondary line, protecting them from some of the missile fire they had to weather before getting into melee. Pantherboy also thought that once I had contacted the Persians in the centre, I should have pushed more units into melee straight away, rather than holding the line as I did. My thought was that holding the line where I did I was able to have some localised advantages with two to one combats, although this did leave a large number of the Spartiates open to more shooting... If I had pushed in more units straight away, they would all have been fighting uphill and the line would have been stretched further, though less Persian bowfire could have been brought to bear on the Spartiates. Expect pantherboy was right on this one but if the Greeks had broken through a turn or two earlier than they did it may have been the correct decision to hold the line.
My other thought was where the Persians held the defensive line on the hill, would pantherboy have been better served holding it one hex back? Where the Persians held only four units made up the frontline, allowing the Greeks to gang up on the defenders and causing quite a bit of disruption to the Persian line when they did fold. One hex back though some of the Greeks would have been able to fight on level terms with the Persians but the frontline would have been longer forcing the Greeks to push more units into the attack, possibly leaving their flanks vulnerable to attack from the woody areas on either side. I'm sure pantherboy got it right but it's worth considering the other option.
I don't think I made too many mistakes in the game, the obvious ones were not taking the IC which may have made a considerable difference bolstering the morale of the Spartiate attack up the hill. Charging the Indian Chariot was a very poor call and I got soundly thrashed for my impetuous decision, also think the attack against the Persian camp wasn't worthwhile as it ended up costing me three Corinthian units to take it, though it was one of the few Greek highlights in the battle!!
I think holding a line across the entire battlefield worked well as it denied the Persians the ability to flank the Greeks, which would have caused all sorts of problems if they had. This isn't always feasible at smaller point cost battles though...
The main bane for the Greeks apart from fighting uphill, was the overwhelming missile firepower of the Persians. Even against armoured troops the sheer number of units able to target the same unit, really weakened the Greek line. Meaning the Greek attack was already blunted when it came, combine that with the Persian ability to use their bows at impact whilst holding the hill advantage, it was an achievement by the Greeks to even force a breach in the Persian line even if it was only a temporary one... Pantherboy made good use of the hill to keep shooting over the Greek frontline, keeping up a constant rain of arrows into any available Greek targets.
Overall a very enjoyable game against a tough opponent, the Spartan list is very good at what it does best, getting up close and personal to the enemy. On a different map the outcome may have been very different...
Thanks again to pantherboy for the game.
cheers
Matt
