It's been a while since we have been able to play a battle, now we finally were able to plat again. We have a played battle between Celts and Macedonia (very loosely based on the second battle of Thermopylae in 279
BC, not to be confused with another famous battle at that same place). Anyway, the Group was reasonably complete, and it was the first time we were able to play in my new hobby room that was made specifically for our great hobby. Unfortunately, the battle lasted slightly shorter than hoped and I was able to take less pictures than I normally do.
Macedonia was led by Sander, with Justin and Joost in support. The Celts were led by Erik with support from Abe and Alex.
For months the situation was tense in the surrounding landscape and more and more Macedonian citizens were attacked by Celtic raiding parties. With the opening of a new modern bathhouse, it was impossible for the Celts not to act. None of the Celtic tribe princes was more fascinated by such institutions than Erikiatourix. Alexix and Abix were fast to join and these three brave warriors brought a great Celtic assault force to the field as they moved into Macedonian territory.
Sanderios was the closest general who could stop these Celts and soon formed an army and drew them up in battle line.
With the bath house in sight Macedonia placed its troops. In the center Sanderios took the lead, on its right flank he placed the always reliable Joostimachus, on its left flank Justinantinos. They formed a strong line where the Celts would break upon, behind the bathhouse Justinantinos would take a force to outflank Celts. The troops moved forward steadily, there was no real line was yet but with the Celts at a great distance they did not worry their heads about that.
The Celts also moved forward, unceltic this went reasonably disciplined. Erikiatourix sent his skirmishers and chariots forward, he wanted to weaken the opponent first and perhaps even disorder some of them so that the deadly mass of Sarissa's could be braved. On the flanks the cavalry and chariots moved forward. The first arrows were shot onto the Macedonian troops, but no casualties were suffered.
Macedonian Hetarroi Cavalry now moved around the bathhouse and got the Celtic troops in sight, sniffing from joy, Justinantinos looked from on top of a hill down onto them, he couldn't wait to thrust his Xyston through their flesh, unfortunately, for now, they were still too far away. In the center, the Macedonian troops moved very slowly forward, but since the Celts in the center had not moved that much Sanderios could not really be bothered about their own slow progress. On the other flank the cavalry also moved forward.
Joostimachus could not understand the arrogance, Alexix himself drove with his chariots towards a force majeure of Macedonian cavalry and threw some javelins at them. Joostimachus gave his Thessalian cavalry the order to attack and the cavalry charged the Celtic chariots, with a spectacular, madness-bordering competence the chariots maneuvered away from the cavalry and the cavalry could get a grip on the Celts and did not deal the blow they had envisioned.
Abix, never known for his patience, looked jealous how Alexis held himself more than standing against that grand cavalry charge. But now he could not believe his eyes, Macedonian cavalry moved in from behind bathhouse and now trotted towards him in plain sight, he thanked Toutatis and Braced himself. Two Celtic cavalry units and a unit of chariots charged up the hill. The Macedonian Hetarroi Cavalry of Justinantinos brought their xytons down and in wedge formation they countercharged, with an unprecedented blow they smashed into the Celtic cavalry. Abix had just enough time to look up but more time then that he did not receive, the Xyston of Justinantinos pierced Abix who fell to the ground and was crushed under the hooves of the horse of Justinantinos that did not even take the time to enjoy his kill as he was already robbing another barbarian of his life. Justinantinos looked around grinning, while his horse was still trampling some Celtic bodies, the Celtic Cavalry unit was completely destroyed and its "supports" were bloodied and looked around bewildered after suffering this brutal violence, this was not what the barbarians had in mind when they charged.
The Celtic Cavalry and Chariots of Abexis (the successor of Abix) were now attacked by Macedonian cavalry, as a hot knife through butter the Macedonians broke through the bewildered Celtic cavalry and the cavalry was completely destroyed on that flank. Only the Celtic chariots managed put a halt to the destructive Macedonian cavalry. But no matter the brave resistance of the Celtic chariots, Macedonia dominated on that flank. On the other flank however, the Celtic Chariots managed to push back a unit of Macedonian cavalry. A second Thessalian unit attacked a unit of Celtic cavalry and the Thessalians knew no mercy as the Celtic unity was destroyed.
With a lot of pressure on the Celtic right flank, the Celts realized that they had to stop the Macedonian cavalry to prevent the whole flank from being rolled up. A unit of Gaesetae was no longer able to keep themselves in control and these naked Warriors stormed forward, the Macedonian hetarroi turned and rammed the unit of fanatic warriors. The fight was terrible, blue-painted warriors were pierced and fell bloodied to the ground while Macedonian soldiers were pulled from their horsed and beaten to death, as more and more men perished in the most brutal fashion, the casualties on both sides were extreme. Slowly however, the balance turned towards the Celtic Warriors, the remaining Macedonian Hetarroi broke and fled the field.
On the other flank the Celts managed to achieve an even greater success, Celtic cavalry crashed into the flank of a Thessalian cavalry unit that was routed, the other Thessalian cavalry unit was driven back. In the center, the Skirmish war had begun while both Skirmishers and phalangites were targeted and several Macedonians fell to the ground, a Macedonian unit of skirmishers broke and all over the line Celtic Warriors moved forward.
Macedonia now attacked their left flank, a second unit of Hetaroi, led by Justinantinos himself charged towards the heavily bled Celtic gaesetae. Xystons pierced human flesh and those who were not pierced were trampled under the hooves of the Macedonian horses, meanwhile the Celts dragged the Macedonian warriors from their horses and slashed brutally into them. The Celts had been so enthusiastic when this battle started, but even the otherwise fanatical gaesetae could not accept these extreme losses and they broke and left the field. However, the Macedonian cavalry was too heavily bloodied and could not pursue their enemy. The Macedonian charge on that flank had been stopped but the costs in casualties was enormous. The phalanxes on that flank moved forward now, the time was ripe to attack the Celts in force on that flank.
On the other flank however, the Macedonian cavalry was pushed back further, several phalanxes formed and closed the flank. In the center, several Macedonian skirmishers were broken and the skirmish screen fell away, allowing the Celtic skirmishers to target more and more phalanxes. A Short thrust forward from the phalanxes pushed the Celtic chariots and skirmishers back the Celts were too fast to be caught.
Casualties were now beginning to mount amongst the Macedonian Hoplites in the center Several and Celtic Warriors were moving closer and closer towards the Macedonian phalanxes in both the center and the left flank. The Celts were moving in for a final offensive. Only on the heavily bled Celtic right flank The Celts were slowly moving away from the advancing Macedonians.
In the center, Macedonia attacked the chariots and they managed to reach them, the chariots were unable to hold themselves against this attack and the unit broke. With this, the Celts lost their enthusiasm and decided to withdraw.
By marking the chariots as "separate divisions", more than half of the divisions were now broken and we always use it as "Army break point". Because of this, the battle was already over before it became really interesting, the infantry had not done anything yet, this was a pity but again a good learning moment for us to make the lists a little bit smarter next time. Nevertheless, an excellent victory for Macedonia, which proved to be a very hard nut to crack.
