Mediterranean campaign - contributors requested

[Prufrock]

Intrigued by Pontus, as at this period it still doesn't seem to have control of Sinope or the coast, conquering these in the 180s BC. Seems to have allied with Bithynia against Pergamon to do it so a Pontus v Pergamon campaign is on the cards.
Given at this point Pergamon is still worried by Seleucids etc, it is probably a pretty even match 

It seems the elderly Mithridates II has announced himself as a player in the region's politics. A marriage alliance with the Seleucids; fluctuating relations with the Galatians; designs upon the Green coastal cities; a fledgling rivalry with Pergamon. He can call upon native troops from Pontus and Phrygia, perhaps Armenian friends, Hellenistic mercenaries, Galatians.     

His emergence at this stage was a surprise, and it is unlikely that he will be an aggressive presence quite yet, but stranger things have happened!

[Prufrock]

We can do a Carthage v Rome here, no probs. Just check is this envisaged as a full on pitched battle with equal-ish forces or do you want to put on some conditions?

Hi Ian, sending you a PM

[Jim Webster]

It seems the elderly Mithridates II has announced himself as a player in the region's politics. A marriage alliance with the Seleucids; fluctuating relations with the Galatians; designs upon the Green coastal cities; a fledgling rivalry with Pergamon. He can call upon native troops from Pontus and Phrygia, perhaps Armenian friends, Hellenistic mercenaries, Galatians.     

His emergence at this stage was a surprise, and it is unlikely that he will be an aggressive presence quite yet, but stranger things have happened!

It does look very intriguing. Another crack at Sinope perhaps?
I could go out on a limb and try something solo in the area if you want

[Prufrock]

It does look very intriguing. Another crack at Sinope perhaps?
I could go out on a limb and try something solo in the area if you want

By all means, Jim. It would be very interesting to hear of an attempt on Sinope, or indeed anything to do with Pontus!

[Prufrock]

Attack on Sinope 216 BC

Jim Webster and friends have enlightened us on the reasons for the sudden appearance of the Kingdom of Pontus as an active player in our campaign. Here is the story (edit - just to be clear, the scenario, game and report are all Jim. I am merely posting it!):

Campaign Battle
We know from Polybius book 4 that Mithridates II of Pontus had got designs on Sinope.

56 1 Such was the state of affairs in Crete. At the same period Mithridates too went to war with Sinope, and this proved as it were the beginning and first occasion of the misfortunes which finally befell this city. 2 The Sinopeans sent an embassy to Rhodes begging for assistance towards this war and the Rhodians passed a decree to appoint three commissioners and to place in their hands a sum of 140,000 drachmae on receiving which they were to supply the requirements of the Sinopeans. 3 The commissioners got ready ten thousand jars of wine, three hundred talents of prepared hair, a hundred talents of prepared bow-string, a thousand complete suits of armour, three thousand gold pieces, and four catapults with their artillerymen, 4 on receiving which the Sinopean envoys returned home. These things were sent because the Sinopeans were in great dread of Mithridates undertaking the siege of the city by land and sea, and they therefore were making all their preparations with this view. 5 Sinope lies  p435 on the southern shore of the Pontus on the route to the Phasis and is situated on a peninsula running out to the open sea. The neck of this peninsula connecting it with Asia is not more than two stades in width and is absolutely closed by the city which is situated upon it; 6 the rest of the peninsula runs out to the open sea and is flat and affords an easy approach to the town, but on its sea face it is very steep, difficult to anchor off, and with very few approaches from the sea. 7 The Sinopeans were fearful lest Mithridates should lay siege to them by throwing up works on the side of the city next Asia, while at the same time effecting a disembarkation on the opposite side and occupying the flat ground over�looking the city; 8 and consequently they busied themselves with strengthening all round that part of the peninsula which was washed by the sea, blocking up the approaches from the sea by means of stakes and stockades and pla�cing soldiers and stores of missiles at suitable spots, the whole peninsula being of no great size but quite easily defensible by a moderate force.

So the game worked on the following.

It was obvious that landing on the plateau was possible. (Looking at google maps, it wasn't going to be easy)

Mithridates obviously had access to ships to do it. Pontus controlled the city of Amastris (Its tyrant Eumenes presented the city of Amastris to Ariobarzanes of Pontus in c. 265–260 BC rather than submit it to domination by Heraclea.)
This time Mithridates decided to attack more rapidly before Sinope had started doing defensive works.

I had two maps, one was a plan from 'Development of the city plan of ancient Sinope: Infrastructure as ideology.' By Owen Doonan. The plan is credited to Bryer, A. and Winfield, D. 1985: The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos.



The other is a screen shot from google maps.



Over the last few months, at our club we've introduced people to DBA. They're not 'ancient' players but are enjoying the rules. So I would do this battle as a multiplayer DBA game with each player having a DBA army. Actually some had more than one.

The defenders were divided into three watches.

1) Miscellaneous Anatolian Mercenaries. 4 Sp, 6 Auxilia, 1 Cv, 1 Ps
2) The Greek mercenaries. 8 Sp, 1 Cav, 1 LH, 2 Ps
3) The citizens. 8 Sp, 2 Cav, 1 LH, 1 Ps.

I counted Mercenary Thureophoroi as Sp in this game as I think it better represented what was going on.

The attackers were divided into three landing sites.

1) North landing. The Galatian mercenaries. 11 warband, 1 Ps
2) East landing. The Greek Mercenaries. 6 Sp, 2 Ax, 3 Bw, 1 Ps
3) South Landing. The other mercenaries. 4Sp, 3Ax, 3Bw, 2 Ps

The Bow were because Pontus always seems to have had them. The Ax were probably dismounted cavalry.

The game started with one base for each landing party appear on the table edge. The Watch on duty was rolled for at random, and this one was queuing at the city gate.

The Sinopean forces were to drive the enemy back into the sea. The Pontic forces wanted to get into the city.

Each move each Pontic player rolled a d6, that was the number of bases who'd scrambled up onto the plateau that move. Each move the Sinopean player rolled a d6 for each watch unmustered to see how many bases arrived at the muster point (the main gate). When a watch left the gate it could move up to 6" in column. But once it deployed, it used Pip dice as normal.

The battle lasted a couple of hours. The first action happened when the troops from the South landing came into contact with the Miscellaneous Anatolian mercenaries.


The Galatians advancing: three Sinopean commands have the centre ground; the third Pontic command is still plodding towards the fighting.

Mainly due to dice luck, the Pontic forces triumphed comparatively quickly. But we used the rule where you can use pips to hold the demoralised remnants. So whilst the mercenaries broke, they managed to hold the line and slow pursuit.
Then the Galatians hit the Greek mercenaries whilst on the Sinopean side, the Citizens deployed to face the South landing force.

The fighting was tougher but the arrival of the Greek mercenaries from the East Landing meant the Sinopean Greek mercenaries broke.


All three Pontic commands are closing in. One Sinopean command has just broken and the Sinopean citizens are being turned round to cover that flank

Finally the Citizens, trying to withdraw to the city gate were hit by Galatians. Whilst they managed to fend them off, it meant that the troops from the South Landing finally hit them from the other side. The Citizen's general was pulled from his horse by Pontic psiloi in the city gateway and the now demoralised Citizen contingent surrendered. The city had fallen.

Many thanks to Jim for this account of how Mithridates II made a name for himself by conquering Sinope and turning his kingdom into a regional power!
The campaign continues.

[Ian61]

Good work Aaron,a well thought set up. Our battle half way though the report will appear asap, perhaps later today.

[Prufrock]

Good work Aaron,a well thought set up. Our battle half way though the report will appear asap, perhaps later today.

That's all Jim's doing, not mine! I better edit to make that clearer And will look forward to your report as well! Many thanks, Ian

[Ian61]

Battle Report Med Campaign Northern Italy – Hannibal v Gracchus
So my approach was a little different. I decided on a Roman Army and thought how could they be disadvantaged – not quite the Trebia but they are crossing a ford and not appreciated how close Hannibal is. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus is of course leading the right wing and has crossed the ford and deployed his troops in a pretty pattern sorry effective Battle formation ...
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The left wing, being lead by Silanus Punctilious is still crossing the river. At this point I decided to throw an average dice to see how many elephant units Hannibal had got across the Alps and rolled a 2 and wrote up an Army list to equal the Romans. I decided that Hannibal knew where the Romans were and enough about their deployment methods to risk a gamble. He has three divisions and plans to attack at speed. He has stacked the right wing in an attempt to block off the Romans entry / exit point from the Battleground and entrusted this to Maharbal the Numidian and conveniently it will contain the Numidian Cavalry and Elephants as well as two units of Iberian Scutari. Knowing he needs to keep the Roman right busy he has persuaded his Celtic Allies (ever disposable!) to attack Gracchus head on, knowing that, even if defeated, they will do a lot of damage to their opponents. He places a Hasdrubal to oversee this with his Punic cavalry. That leaves Hannibal following up with his main line of Battle hardened Libyans to deliver the coup de grâce if all goes well.
To return to the Battle
Suddenly the Romans see figures appearing from the treeline in front of them...
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(Sorry for distortion but this gives an idea of the overall battleground.)
The Romans win the first move and mostly freeze. Gracchus clearly spluttering in disbelief fails to get his troops actually moving (too busy drying their feet off?) Sempronius, having given orders that washed over the stunned troops has to bellow his orders again to get his wing moving to dry ground but not in any sort of good formation. The Numidians as expected sweep in to box up the Roman Cavalry crashing into the Velites en route who die valiantly but fail to stop the Numidians continuing into the Roman horsemen. The rest of the right wing and Hannibal in the centre advance. On the left wing both Cavalry units get stuck in breaking one opponent and forcing the other back. However the rest of the Celts have clearly had a heavy night of drinking and fail to follow up. However they will do so and well in following turns managing to get the drop on charging the Romans.
However the die is now cast. On the right the Romans struggle against the Celts but slowly dispose of Cavalry and one Waband but lose some units and are left out of position with two of the three warbands now effectively behind their main lines. On the left wing, having seen off the Numidians, the Romans almost get their line together - The Campanian Legionaries are the unit in limbo at the back. The elephants are the beasts of the Battle as they finish off the Roman Cavalry in front of them and then take two Roman units away from the centre to hold them up leaving the centre far too weak to withstand the hammer blow about to land as Hannibal marches his Libyans into the centre of the Battle.
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This is the situation at the end of turn 3 Hannibal has a solid battle line of mostly heavy infantry (light blue) where the Roman line is broken up (red) (In both cases double lines represent two units). The Romans are in real danger of being enveloped so the result from here is inevitable – a victory to Hannibal.