Triballi

[wxman40]

Does anyone have any information on which of the included armies in Immortal Fire would be closest to the Triballi that Alexander fought at the Battle of Lyginus River?

[TheGrayMouser]

Does anyone have any information on which of the included armies in Immortal Fire would be closest to the Triballi that Alexander fought at the Battle of Lyginus River?

I don't profess to know but FOG1 had a scenario by someone who wrote an article ins Slingshot about the battle.
I believe the troops were described as basically thracians with some celtic influences.

The actual Fog units were Thracian Rhompia men ( which would translate to the Fog2 heavy weapons guys) and basically medium offensive spears ( which would be thureophoroi) and some decent armoured cavalry(spear sword) Now the closest Fog 2 list would likely be the Thracians but they have no medium spears.. If I can find my copy of Peter Green book on Alexander, I can see if he describes them in any detail.

[vakarr]

I don't profess to know but FOG1 had a scenario by someone who wrote an article ins Slingshot about the battle.
I believe the troops were described as basically thracians with some celtic influences.

That was me! I suggest you read "[The Gods of Battle: The Thracians at War" https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-God ... ack/p/2852 for more information but anyway I've written a Thracian campaign that includes a battle with the Triballi and just have to get the whole army list modification thing worked out before I release it, with a Triballi army list. The Triballi were known for their especially long spears, and their ferocity. Archaeology shows that they used Celtic swords and had several significant hill forts. So they were a Thracian tribe under Illyrian and Celtic influence. In the battle with Alexander, the battle was going their way as long is it involved skirmishing. A Triballi army list should therefore include a lot of medium infantry spearmen, a few warband (eg a general's bodyguard), lots of skirmishers, a few heavy cavalry, and a few light cavalry (some of which can be horse archers). No rhomphaias have been found in Triballi territory so they should not have any heavy weapon guys unless you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, and give them a few.

The Gods of Battle

Book cover The Gods of Battle.jpg (58.78 KiB) Viewed 1983 times

Quote from the book: The Triballi were in constant contact with the Getai and Skythians, and frequently used Skythian equipment. Some of the jugs in the Rogozen treasure, for instance, show people in clothing similar to Skythian costume. Polyaenus 15.8 provides some evidence of direct Skythian pressure on the Triballi. He says that during one battle with the Triballi, the Skythians ordered their farmers and horse keepers to wait until battle had been joined, then to appear in the distance driving herds of horses. The Triballi thought this was the arrival of reinforcements, and fled. Papazoglu posits that since the Triballi in this incident were the aggressors, they had travelled down the Danube to the delta and fought the Skythians there. The Triballi lands were remote from the Skythians so it’s possible the Skythians mentioned in the sources were in fact Getai.

The Triballi drew up their forces in battle in four ranks [phalanges]: in the first went the weaker, in the second the strongest men, in the third the horsemen and in the last the women, who by their curses and scolding prevented the men from running away. By “weaker “and “strongest” we should read the lighter (skirmishers) and heavier infantry. Although Triballian phalanges and indeed “phalanx” are spoken of, it is clear that this just means a disorganised mass of barbarians bristling with spears. As a Triballi warrior used a “sarissa” against Philip, a good number of them could be armed with long spears. If all the ranks were the same length this formation might also mean that a Triballi army could be about 25% cavalry. If we say that the cavalry needed about twice as much space as the infantry, then the number of cavalry would be half that figure.

This passage is not the only one to mention Triballi cavalry. Lucian mentions “the cavalry of the Illyrians, the Triballi and all the rest of the mercenaries.” Triballi horsemen are also shown on their artwork. They are not mentioned at the battle of the Lynginus because the Triballi King and his entourage (i.e. the cavalry) were elsewhere. There may not have been many in their army, though, as the Triballi only contributed infantry to Alexander’s army,

[TheGrayMouser]

HAHA, small world indeed! That is one of the scenarios in FOG1 I actually still occasionally play as it quite difficult!

You should try to convince RBS to add them as a unique list as it seems it would be quite interesting.

[vakarr]

You will find this one rather easier, it has the troop types though it still has to be updated and modified to have a custom army list https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zuPhu ... WtV79TXQIR This scenario is Sitalkes' last battle, where he fought the Triballi and died (the Triballi also killed his father) - a fictional river crossing scenario

[wxman40]

I don't profess to know but FOG1 had a scenario by someone who wrote an article ins Slingshot about the battle.
I believe the troops were described as basically thracians with some celtic influences.

They are not mentioned at the battle of the Lynginus because the Triballi King and his entourage (i.e. the cavalry) were elsewhere. There may not have been many in their army, though, as the Triballi only contributed infantry to Alexander’s army,

The Lyginus River scenario for Great Battles of Alexander (GMT Games) lists the opponents as all Triballi with no cavalry but the leadership is shown as being under Syrmus, Arbeus and Clitus. I have a PNG file of the initial setup from the VASSAL
module but it doesn't seem to want to post here.