Spears and Swords - Greeks vs. Romans in Pulse of Battle

Greek Command before the first Pulse of Battle game.
Romans vs. Greeks.  Figures painted by Brent O.

After a gaming drought of over four months, we had the opportunity to play two games of Pulse of Battle at Brent's house.   It had been so long since we last gamed at Brent's house that we spend the first hour just talking about history, figures and the state of the hobby.

We had a good turnout with Eric, Terry, John, Rodney, Greg, and myself all playing leading roles in the wargame drama's that were played out on Saturday.  Eric Rodney and Terry were the Romans in both battles.

Greg, John and I played the Greeks in the first battle and the Carthaginians in the second battle.  Victory went to our team in both battles though the Carthaginian battle was very close.

Rodney holding forth while Terry looked on, appropriately bored.

In the picture to above you can see the basic layout of the Roman army.  They have refused their left flank.  Off board, in front of Eric, was the remainder of the Roman army in a small command.

The Roman plan for battle is now lost to history but archeologists surmise that they planned to have Eric's command sweep around the Greek left and roll up the flank of the Greek phalanx.  No photos of the entire Greek army in its initial deployment survive.  However, it is know that there were two phalanx in the center flanked by a spear unit on each side.  Light troops and cavalry covered the left flank (in front of Eric), while elephants and light cavalry covered the right flank.

Another picture of the Roman deployment.  Note the Greek
slingers in the woods in the background.  They acted as a strong
 deterrent on the Roman flank attack.

The Greeks lined up and astutely noted that the 'hinge' of the Roman line (in the foreground of the picture above) was thinly held by two cohorts and a skirmish unit.  During the Greek's initiative, the center commander (yours truly) charged forward with both phalanxes and their supporting spear men.

Greeks charging with seven units in two phalanxes vs
two Roman cohorts.

The spear units successfully protected the flanks of the advancing phalanxes while they closed with the Roman line.  The Romans were brave or foolish enough to charge into the front of the advancing enemy, inflicting a single loss on one unit.  Then the Greeks drew a melee card.  It was not pretty.  The Roman commander discovered that Greeks in Phalanx formation do not fall back and even if you defeat one unit, there are 3 more also engaged to your front who have a chance to attack.  One cohort was outnumbered 4:1.  The other was outnumbered 3:1.  One Roman cohort was destroyed.  The other fell back, wounded and disordered.

The aftermath.  One cohort destroyed, one thrown back with
losses.  Greeks and Romans still engaged on the flanks.

The Romans rushed reinforcements to the center from their central reserve but they were unable to stop the Greek juggernaut.  They were fed into the fight piecemeal.  Two more cohorts went down, followed by a slinger unit.  Even a unit of Triarii bit the dust.

Front view of some of Brent's fantastic Greeks
before they charged the Roman line.

The Roman army failed their army moral check after handing the Greeks no less than eight of their own moral chips.  Greek losses were minimal (two chips).

The game was tremendously fun, especially for the Greeks.  The next post will cover the second battle of the day, Romans vs. Carthaginians.