Illyrians versus Alexander’s Successors

[gavindbm]

An account of 4 games of DBM at JGL's themed competition- please excuse the DBM speak.

For the Alexander's Successors competition, I had a choice of 3 armies (as 17 other options had already been chosen).  I chose the Illyrians as offering high aggression and a 4th command.  The Athenians (Hellenistic Greeks) were tempting - but ultimately they looked similar to several successor armies though with slightly worse troops.  And putting together an Illyrian army would push me to base some of my painted but not yet bases 15mm Picts who had been stuck in that state for probably 10 years.

I organised the army into 3 Illyrian commands each of 28 elements - each with 10 psiloi - the central command had 18 warriors (Superior Auxilia), while the two wings had 14 Warriors, a mounted General and 3 light horse.  Plus a Paionian ally with 10 warriors (ordinary auxilia), a mounted general, 4 light horse and some poor quality psiloi.

First Game. Invaded by Lysimachus.

The terrain was a significant steep hill in front of my left wing, and beyond it some rough ground, and on my right wing a significant piece of rough ground.

Cleitus (my CinC) went on my far left round the steep hill and into the rough; Glaucias led some of his warriors over the steep hill, and deployed others well back in the centre.  Bardylis had his warriors in reserve in the centre and his skirmishers well forward, while Symrus' Paionians took up position in the rough going on my right wing.

Lysimachus deployed a mass of Illyrian warriors opposite the steep hill, then elephants and phalanx in the central plain with the elite Xystophoroi (fast knights) on his left wing.

Cleitus and then Glaucias attacked the renegade Illyrians under Lysimachus and ultimately defeated them.  Meanwhile, Symrus and Bardylis lost a fair number of skirmishers (psiloi) defeating the small force of Xystophoroi.

The game timed out with the loss of one Lysimachid command, and the pikes about to attack a line of warriors but with both flanks of the phalanx exposed.  So my Illyrians almost completed a double envelopment...but did not and the phalanx might have broken through.  (See attached photo)

At one stage we had a fight between two lines of light horse - 4 elements fought...so we each threw 4 dice..and between us we rolled five 1s...and each lost 2 light horse.  Love such moments.

Game 2.  Invading Macedon (Antigonus knock-knees)

The battlefield had a line of low hills in the centre on the Macedonian side of the table.  Facing them, on my side, was a decent piece of rough going.  There were two more patches of rough going on my right wing.

So I decided to send Cleitus into the central rough, with Glaucias and Bardylis to his left (aka I placed the bulk of my army on my left), and gave Symrus the job of holding the right wing.

Antigonus garrisoned the hills with his personal corp of elephants, a group of mercenary peltasts and some artillery - so they faced my 3 Illyrian commands.  Next to them was the phalanx command, and then a mixed command of mounted troops and auxilia (facing Symrus).

My attack started slowly due to poor PiPs (two 1s and two 2s), Antigonus responded with even worse PiPs (three 1s).  Things became more normal after that.

The Antigonid phalanx advanced, supported by the peltasts who came down off the hills and were then very roughly handled by Cleitus' warriors - eventually breaking Antigonus' command - and turning to engage the phalanx from the side (in a bit of a stalemate).  Glaucias and Bardylis made very heavy going of attacking the Antigonid elephants and artillery, and were approaching the Antigonid camp as time was called.

Meanwhile, Symrus had fought a delaying action against the much stronger Antigonid left wing and eventually broke - leaving the way to the Illyrian camp open.

So a second win for the Illyrians - each side lost a command, but the Macedonian's had lost their CinC.

Game 3.  Invaded by Antigonus One-eye.

The centre of the battlefield was open, but there was a steep hill on my baseline in the centre.  There was a big area of rough on my left wing and in front of that a smaller area of rough. While there were a couple of smaller areas of rough on my right wing and another steep hill shielding the left flank of the Antigonid deployment zone.

I reckoned there could be even more Xystophoroi and cavalry than I had faced in my previous two games....so I did not fancy a fight in the open and thus went for a flank march on each wing.

Cleitus and Glaucias were deployed on my left wing (in the rough), with just a line of skirmishing javelinmen in the centre (safely on top of the steep hill); Bardylis was flank marching on my left, while Symrus was sent to flank march on the right - so I was hoping to mount a strong left wing attack and demonstrate on the far right.

Antigonus was facing my heavy left with a mixed command of mounted, auxilia, elephants and artillery; the phalanx was in the centre; and the enemy left wing had more mounted, auxilia, artillery and a few Hoplites.  Antingonus redeployed with his own force and the phalanx facing my left, and his left wing awaiting Symrus' flank march.

Eventually, Bardylis arrived (see attached photo), and shortly after that Symrus also arrived.  Once Bardylis arrived the three Illyrian commands attacked.  Bardylis did most of the damage including killing Antigonus; Glaucias focused on pinning the phalanx; and Cleitus aimed to get round the flank of the phalanx but his warriors ran into a line of 5 Antigonid light horse who in a straight fight with a line of 5 warriors destroyed 3 warriors on contact - Cleitus became much more cautious.

Game times out with just Antigonus' command lost, so another Illyrian win.

Game 4.  Invading Kappadocia.

My Illyrians found themselves on the top table going into the last round...and facing an army with even more mounted troops.

The significant terrain was a steep, wooded hill on the left centre of the Kappadocian deployment zone, a low hill in my central zone, flanked by pieces of rough (on my base edge on the right of the hill and forward of it on the left) plus another small low hill on my far left but on the Kappadocian side of the field.

Having seen my warriors be roughly handled by Light Horse in the last game & how long it took to defeat 4 Xystophoroi in the first - I did not fancy trying to fight a mass of Kappadocian cavalry in the big open areas. Thus I contemplated a number of options:

• Attempt to rush the steep hill in the Kappadocian deployment zone. But if it was defended then my attacking force would be cut down in the open as it tried to fight its way onto the hill.
• Flank march on my left...so a similar plan to the last game...but the Kappadocian's are more mobile and the area my flank march would arrive in would be much more open.
• Do the unexpected and attack heavily on my right...but the terrain was mostly open.
• Deploy weighted towards my left wing, hold the line of rough and hills, attack if the opportunity presented itself.

I went for Last option. The only 'attack' I mounted was an initial raid by Symrus' light horse which was expertly cut off and run down by the Kappadocian's - aided by a couple of mistakes by me - which resulted in the death of Symrus and the rout of the Paionians.  At which point we called the game...as neither of us felt strong enough to attack into the terrain favoured by our enemy.

One notable event occurred as the Kappadocian's ran down Symrus' light horse.  At one point two Kappadocian cavalry attacked one Paionian light horse...we both rolled a 1 - which killed my light horse.  Then next move a similar combat occurred, so I jokingly predicted we would both again roll a 1, and we did so - resulting in much laughter.

End Results and Reflections

3 wins and a defeat resulted in the Illyrians claiming 4th place: equal with the Athenians who I had chosen not to use.  Doing that well means that for the next competition I will only have a choice of two armies (rather than the three I had this year).

Reflecting on the games and the army.  I was happy with my organisation - though my expectation of using massed psiloi to storm difficult terrain and bully small numbers of light horse did not prove realistic - but the massed psiloi were useful enough that replacing them by more warriors would not have improved the army.  In terms of my plans and execution - I needed to be more aggressive and not weight my attacking wings so heavily...as I never came close to losing an Illyrian command and was unable to complete the destruction of any of my opponent's armies in the available time.

Most importantly though, I had four really fun games with lots of memorable and funny moments - usually involving throwing low scores on the dice. 

[Chris]

Interesting! I should be so succinct in my efforts. 

Three wins and only 4th place?!

The color of the main terrain/battle mat? really made the units stand out.

Thanks for posting.

Cheers,
Chris

[gavindbm]

Three wins and only 4th place?!

The color of the main terrain/battle mat? really made the units stand out.

No big wins...but did make it to the top table for the last round.

The photos make the table mat look much darker - and actually two different tables!

[Chris]

GB -

Having never played DBM, or competed in a wargames competition, the scoring is foreign to me.

Thanks for the clarification.

Better luck on your next competition!

Chris