Small antique battle report
Sicily, IV century before our era.
A civil war led to the exile of a faction in fratricidal struggles in Syracuse.
The exiles, with the help of a spartan expeditionary force (Army of Anthony "tank rider"), managed to control a small city on the coast.The opposing party rushed to meet them.
Rule Played: DBA 3.0 but with two corps per army. The demoralization of the army will only take place when 1.5 corps of a camp is demoralized.
The row of cypresses along the road has only a decorative function. The temple counts in city, the field in rough going and the seaside in waterway. Wood is evidently difficult terrain.
Sicily, IV century before our era.
A civil war led to the exile of a faction in fratricidal struggles in Syracuse.
The exiles, with the help of a spartan expeditionary force (Army of Anthony "tank rider"), managed to control a small city on the coast.The opposing party rushed to meet them.
Rule Played: DBA 3.0 but with two corps per army. The demoralization of the army will only take place when 1.5 corps of a camp is demoralized.
The row of cypresses along the road has only a decorative function. The temple counts in city, the field in rough going and the seaside in waterway. Wood is evidently difficult terrain.
Possible musical to hear when reading this battle report (I bought the album at Cultura and it is top as atmospheric music for the Greek battles of antiquity):
The loyalist fleet threatens the right flank of the Spartan allies of the rebels. The threat is only psychological because no unit was embarked for an offensive landing.
The Spartan units unfurl along a small dusty road in the shade of the cypress trees.
... on their left, the Syracusan rebels occupy the plain which separates them from the city. A small hoplite unit keeps the ramparts of the city
Facing the city, the small wood is ccupé by the legalist psiloi flanking their hoplites. The loyalist sub-general has the junction between hoplites and psiloi.
Another view of the loyalist right wing.
The Loyalist Center relies on a powerful artillery force.
The Iberian mercenaries and some psiloi spread like locusts in the fields.
The battlefield seen from behind the rebel lines.
The rebel general, at the head of the hoplite column, was flanked by his light cavalry.
His Spartan allies ensure the protection of his right flank.
The rebel garrison of the city.
The rebel lines.
... and the center of the Loyalist lines facing them.
The weak Spartan cavalry and the Homoioi, including the general, turned to face the rising threat galloping towards them along the beach.
On the other wing of the battlefield, the rebel garrison, supported by its own cavalry, rushed to the enemy's psiloi in the plain.
The heavy loyalist hoplites struggle to join their psiloi in order to provide them with effective support.
The Loyalist left wing attends the Spartan maneuvers directed towards its light cavalry.
Sling balls and javelins spring from the pentecontery to support their light cavalry.
View of the battlefield in the second round of play.
Infantry maneuvers in front of the walls of the city.
A column of rebellious hoplites advanced between the Spartans and the light infantry composed of psiloi archers and Ligurian mercenaries.
The bulk of the Spartan forces proudly held the plain.
The bronze wall presented by the Homoioi neutralizes the attempted envelopment of the loyalist riders.
A serious explanation seems to emerge between rebels and Syracusan loyalists.
The lines of hoplites are organized in front of the city.
On the side of the rebel, on the flank of the cavalry, the Ligures remain cautiously withdrawn because, for simple mercenaries faced with formidable hoplites, he recalls that "Παν μέτρον άριστον" ("Moderation is the best thing").
View of the Battlefield:
The loyalist phalanxes rush to a small unit of rebel archers to disperse them before the real frontal clash against enemy hoplites.
As was predictable, the rebel archers flee from the first contact with the loyalist hoplites.
Facing the waterfront, the wall of homoioi having stopped the legalistic cavalry, the Spartan cavalry begins a movement behind its lines, heading towards the center of the battlefield ...
... while in the center the Iberian mercenaries of the legal forces seek by their cries and provocations to attract the Spartan phalanx to the artillery.
In complete loss, at the end of the third round of play, no artillery piece (of both sides) has yet fired any projectile.
View of the Battlefield from the Pentecontère.
... and from the loyalist camp.
The shock of the phalanges before the city.
In order to counter the movement of the Spartan cavalry and to threaten the pivot of these Lacedaemonians, the Syracusan hoplites of the left wing rushed to the enemy.
The rebel artillery is heading towards this new threat but its slowness will make this maneuver useless.
On the beach, the Spartan general, framed by two phalanxes of homoioi, seeks to reject the Syracusan cavalry at sea.
The Iberian mercenaries flank the right of the column rushing against the Spartan pivot.
The rebel general and two hoplite phalanxes protect, on the other hand, the left flank of their allies from Sparta
.
.
Threat on pivot becomes worrisome for Lacedaemonians.
The Syracusan artillery began its shooting. They will no longer cease from the battle, the victorious features drawn towards the Spartans at each turn. The only victim of these pieces is a hare who frolics on the trajectory (the impartial observers are not even sure for the hare, it seems that he has just succumbed to indigestion)
The shock of the hoplites in front of the city, seen from behind the rebel lines.
The rebels and their Spartan allies succeeded in splitting the Syracusan army in spite of the inoffensive features of the enemy's artillery.
The rebel general fell on the flank of a loyalist phalanx too advanced in the ennemy lines.
Loyalist archers tried in vain to slow down the Spartan advance.
The fights seen from the beach:
The Spartan pressure (despite the inconsequential retreat of their general) proves to be virulent. The Syracusan hoplites are on the retreoir and a unit of riders disperse by rushing into the sea:
The rebel lines close on the loyalists.
The Syracusan phalanges extending their lines on the Spartan pivot, the latter launch their cavalry to counter or slow the threat.
Despite the losses, the Syracusan aristocrats on horseback remained a real threat to the Spartan right wing. (Even if one of the riders has lost his badly glued spear 
)
)
Faced with the city, the fighting turns to the advantage of the rebels. Legalistic light troops rush to fill the gaps but will soon be disturbed by the Ligurians that are shown at the bottom right of the photo.
Critical moment of the battle. While he seemed to gain the upper hand over the Spartans at this point on the battlefield, the Syracusan general was contacted on the flank by a phalanx of homoioi who had dispersed the cavalry unit facing him.
Retiring under pressure, the general and his guard dipped, causing the flight of their army corps.
Retiring under pressure, the general and his guard dipped, causing the flight of their army corps.
The left wing of the Loyalist Syracusans collapses.
The Iberian mercenaries, who were so proud of having caused a Spartan phalanx to retreat shortly before, are among the first to escape the relative safety offered by the cultures.
Fugitives are caught up by the pursuers. They will valiantly reject the latter but these combats only amplify the terror of their comrades who continue to flee.
On the opposite wing, the legal hoplites try their luck. Ligurian mercenaries serving the rebels come into contact.
View of the front line.
The last fights in front of the city.
Refugees in the little wood, the loyalist psiloi no longer venture to venture outside.
Towards the seafront, the pursuit continues.
The Loyalist hoplites, whose duty it was to protect their artillery, saw with fear the dangerous approach of the enemy.
In front of them, the rebel artillery and its escort say that winning a battle without firing or fighting is very relaxing.
At this moment of the battle, it is not known whether the Spartan generals made religious sacrifices or prepared the frichti after battle ...
.....................................................................
When night falls, the rebels and their allies have won a great victory. Their principal adversary, the Syracusan general, has disappeared. It is still too early to know whether he was able to return to Syracuse or whether his body will be found on the beach.
The next day, the rebels will march against the capital.
