Spartans vs Persians 480BC

For our game on thursday I opted for an Ancients game,Spartans vs Persians,based on an incident at Thermopylae.

This is the scenario,and positions of both the Persians and Spartans.

This is a shot of the Persian centre and camp,which was the objective of the game.

This is a detail from the camp,showing "dusky maidens" cooking "dusky food"

This photo is of the Persian left flank.

This is the Persian right flank.For this game it was deemed that all the Persian cavalry,except guard cavalry,was away foraging.

This is the overall view of the table,with the Spartans on the left and the Persians on the right.

This is the Spartan left flank,made up of 3 units of Corinthians,and a unit of slingers.

This shows the Spartan right flank,c/w slings and cavalry.

This photo shows the Spartan centre,with King Leonidas standing on the hill behind.

Both sides had a good solid battle plan,I was in command of the Persians,and had decided to hold both flanks back for a while until I could see where the main Spartan attacks were coming from,and then strike!!
Paul was in charge of the Corinthians and Brian, who is about to be called Reggie (Regi for short) for reasons which will become clear as the blog continues,was in command of the Spartans.Both Paul and Regi,had decided to attack the camp and my left flank,whilst holding back on the Corinthian flank, to see what I was going to do.

The photo above shows my left flank being assailed by 3 units of Spartans,assisted by slingers and a unit of cavalry.

This is my right flank,I have attacked the Corinthians,and in sheer blind panic,Brian has thrown his king,Leonidas,into the fight,in response I have launched my guard cavalry at the Spartan king, to stabilise the situation.

This action shot is of my camp being assaulted by the cream of the Spartan army,one unit has beaten a unit of my Immortals,and have pushed them back,this is where I committed a fatal error of judgement,I threw my king,Xerxes, into the melee,to add points,and bolster the morale of my troops.......OH DEAR!!
On the next turn of melee,Brian,sorry,Regi, threw a five on the dice,and was able to throw another dice to see if he killed my king,and guess what???yes he killed him,hence his new name Regicide,or Regi !!

However, undetered,my troops fought on,after all they can elect another king after the battle!!
This shows my right flank in full swing against Paul's troops,this was particularly hard fought,as we were fairly equal in points and morale values.

This shot shows my depleted camp,and the battle still raging on my left flank,Regi is just about to get his Hoplites into the camp and finish off my last unit of Immortals.

The left flank battle continued right up to the end of the game,with successes and failures to both sides,however with superb fighting points and morale ,the Spartans did eventually win the flank.
I have to also report another disastrous intervention,by the commander of my right flank,who bravely threw himself into a melee,and was killed by that well known assasin,Regi/Brian.He must eat raw meat!!

Look at the state of these two, no wonder I can't throw decent dice faced with the brothers Grim!!!!!

This is a shot from the Spartan point of view,of the camp being overun,with the battle for the flank still raging in the background,don't the tents look nice?

It's all over now baby blue!! the camp has been captured,I have two commanders killed,one of them is the King,both flanks finally beaten,and my troops streaming off the board,ah well, there's always Sunday to look forward to.

This was a colourful and exciting game,filled with mistakes from the Persian high command,but nevertheless enjoyable,well done to Regi and Paul.

I think it only fair to mention that all of the fighting figures on the board are from the Warrior Miniatures range of Ancients.