Battle of Mantinea - To the Strongest in 28mm

Afternoon All, Monday night saw the return of some ancient Greek warfare to the Shed, although this time we used To The Strongest rather than Hail Caesar. Credit must go to the TTS author, Simon Miller, for this scenario. A few months ago I contacted Simon with some questions and clarifications of the rules. He was swift to reply and in addition provided the scenario for the Battle of Mantinea (362 BCE). The following extract is from his scenario briefing...

Epaminondas the Theban led a coalition of forces deep into the Peloponessus. Thwarted in a surprise attack on the unwalled city of Sparta, Epaminondas moved northwards to threaten the pro-Spartan city of Mantinea, but a Spartan/Mantinean/Athenian force interposed itself between his army and the city. However, when the Spartans and their allies broke ranks to have lunch, Epaminondas unexpectedly launched his forces forward...

Spartan/Athenian Alliance on Right - the attacking Thebans to the left

Originally I had planned to run this game with four players with myself coordinating affairs as the umpire. Sadly two players dropped out at the last minute leaving Mark to fight it out with Vince. Mark, having arrived early chose to lead the Theban attackers with Vince commanding the Spartan/Athenian alliance 

View from the attackers side

Simon's scenario provided full orders of battle and deployment. I estimate that I needed about 50% of my total Greek forces - much of the cavalry and almost half of the Hoplites I have painted stayed in their boxes. What is apparent though is I need significantly more Javelin units.

The game kicked off with the Thebans attacking, their left flank already close to the Spartan right wing. Both sides had wings made up of skirmish cavalry and javelin armed troops.

As the Theban advanced across the line (remarkably no failed orders) Mark unleashed his first attack with slingers against the veteran Cretan archers allied to the Athenians. Direct hits and failed saves quickly despatched the bowmen.

The Spartans (Vince) were not happy and vowed that this unit would be avenged.

Spartan force not happy !!

Starting with his left wing the Spartan alliance failed to move forward en masse 

In the centre awaited a large block of Theban hoplites supported by a couple of heroes and Epaminondas (the General) himself.

The two sides crunched together and a general melee erupted across the line. The Spartan elites taking on the large Theban contingent.

Almost on a continuous basis Marks troops would hit and Vince's troops would fail to save, when Vince (Spartans) returned the honours they more often than not missed. Now in our gaming group Vince has a reputation from being extremely lucky with dice often scoring well over the odds. The cards in this game were doing him no favours and he was getting well and truly spanked !

As the centre brawled it out the Theban light horse were making short work of their opponents on the wings. 

By the mid point of the game all the troops were fully engaged and as you can see in the picture below a unit of Thessalian cavalry attached to the Theban army has now managed to get on the flank of the Spartan forces.

I

It was at this point the Spartan elite went down fighting to the opposite Theban Sacred Band, they had a chance of recreating history when a direct hit was scored on Epaminondas the Theban General but alas he only took a minor wound. This roused the Thebans to strike hard and our chaps in red were slaughtered to a man.

Things were looking very difficult for the Athenians/Spartan alliance. Their wings had been destroyed and their centre was in danger of collapsing. Could Vince, the Spartan commander turn things around in some ancient heroic deed ?

The simple answer was NO. He had to opportunity to fight back and as his force slowly disintegrated in front of us he ran out of Victory medals (the manner by which a victory is judged, as units disappear medals are lost to the opposing player. Very similar mechanic to Billhooks)

A stunning Victory for the Thebans commanded by Mark, not only did he thrash Vince he managed to do so without losing a single unit. Congratulations Sir

Was this scenario balanced? The forces were remarkably similar in both quantity and quality, the Thebans enjoyed a slight superiority in light troops but not one that should have created such a landslide victory. From my perspective as spectator and umpire Mark played a blinding game, activating units in the right order (and more importantly successfully), getting the first hits in and making crucial saves when required. His opponent just had shocking bad luck.

Think we will revisit this battle again soon

Thank you