Greeks vs Persians 480BC

Yesterday I had two games,both involving Greeks and Persians,but with different results!
The first game had Brian in charge of the Persians and me in charge of the Greeks.

This is the scenario for the first game, Brian had planned for his scythed chariots to charge forward and hit the Spartans,then followed up with Horse archers,and finally to hit them with his Immortals-This,unfortunately for me, worked a treat,and the dreaded Spartans,ie the whole of my centre,were forced back onto my second line.

This shows Brian's centre advancing on the hapless Spartans! The Persian spearmen to the right of the picture,were also advancing against my City State Hoplites,who were so badly beaten that they eventually retreated off the board!!

My centre is looking good,but that's because the scythed chariots haven't been "revved up" yet.
My Corinthians and heavy cavalry are moving onto the right flank hill,being opposed by Axemen.
I won the battle for this hill after a long hard slog!

The chariots are seen hitting the Spartan flank unit in this shot,this seemed to be the beginning of the end for the Spartans,but they are made of stern stuff,and despite being beaten a couple of times in the ensuing melees,they eventually recovered and forced the Immortals back,and broke the deadlock in the centre.

The City State hoplites are fighting the Cardaces Spearmen in this photo. As stated previously,my hoplites took to flight,however on my far left flank,a group of hoplites managed to defeat some light infantry sent against them,so I dominated the far flank,putting Brian under pressure,he eventually broke, and that flank was won,the centre was also won,and the far right hill was in my grubby little hands, and I was declared the winner.

A final shot of the morning game,Brian is removing his Immortals,and my Corinthians are beating the Axemen. This was a good game,with lots to think about,it has to be said that Brian used his Chariots and skirmish archers really well,and had me thinking I was beaten within the first few moves,but a good wargamer never says "die" and fights on.

The second game involved Brian,Paul and I,plus a very strange character who called himself Dave,who "popped" in on the off chance that we would be playing-all we need to find now is Lord Lucan and Shergar!!!

The game had a few terrain changes,but the troops were virtually in the same positions.Paul and I commanded the Greeks and Brian and that other bloke(!) commanded the Persians.
Once again the poor old Spartans took a right hammering,the Axemen (supermen!) took on the Corinthians,were beaten back twice,but came on again,and put the Corinthians to flight,along with our Heavy Cavalry!!

meanwhile on my flank,our left,I bided my time,advancing slowly,and won the eventual melee against Dave's spearmen,but,because the centre was "knackered" and the hill was lost,the Persians were declared the winners.

The impending doom of the Spartans in our centre,with heavy cavalry squaring up to each other,on the flank.

Axemen and Corinthians contesting the hill,whilst Paul's cavalry are being forced back,even though he has killed the Persian cavalry commander-one of many killed during the battle,on both sides!!

Paul,could you not just squeeze one more Spartan into this melee??,and,OH OH look at the chariots speeding down on you!!( as it happens the chariots "bounced" this time,but it was all over by then!

Two good and exciting games,good battle plans,officers going down like "nine pins",lots of movement and of course the inevitable banter!!

roll on Sunday,probably 18th century.