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Greetings Dakkites,

I have been toying around and building a ruleset for use in Classical Greece. The work has been inspired by a number of sources, but primarily Mr. Mersey's "Rampant" series. Since I am still playtesting the rules, i don;t want to invest to heavily in the models yet, but would love for others to give them a try and let me know where they need tightening.

Men of Bronze- The Corinthian War



The Corinthian War was a conflict between the city-states of Sparta and a coalition of rival states that lasted from 395BC to 387 BC. The alliance included Thebes, Athens, Argos and Corinth. The alliance was displeased with Sparta’s aggressive expansionism in Ionian, and Greece. The majority of the conflict on land revolved around major battles near Thebes and Corinth.

The Battle below is between Sparta and the Corinthian allies. Many of the battles were recorded by Greek historians, but today’s has been lost to the shrouded mists of time. This battle takes place after the battle of Nemea, but before the sea battle of Cridus. An “Alliance” army composed of the survivors of the Battle of Nemea is trying to face down the approaching Spartans and their allies and check their successes on land.

The Forces

Corinthians
2 Drilled Hoplites 20 pts
1 Militia Hoplite 8 pts
1 Psiloi 2 Pts
1 Archers 4 Pts
1 Peltast 4 Pts
-Total 38 Points

Spartans
2 Elite Hoplites 24 Pts
1 Drilled Hoplites 10 Pts
2 Psiloi 4 Pts
-Total 38 Points

Set-up
On the north side the Corinthians have deployed to do battle. On their left flank are the Peltasts, then the Militia Hoplites in open order. Next comes a Drilled Hoplites unit in Phalanx formation. Then comes the Cretan archers followed by another unit of Drilled Hoplites formed up in a phalanx. The right flank is anchored by Psiloi unit in open order.



The Spartans have drawn up on the south side of the valley. On their left flank they have deployed a Psiloi unit of helots. This is followed up by an allied Perikoi unit of drilled Hoplites in phalanx. Next to them were the elite Spartans themselves, drawn up in a phalanx formation. The right flank was anchored by another unit of Psiloi helots.



The north and south sides of the valley have some rocky outcroppings. On the west side is a grove of trees that separates the Corinthian Peltasts from the Spartan Psiloi. The rest of the valley is open ground.



Of note is that both sides are made up of paper stand-up models for the armies. They are also carbon copies of the sample armies found in the Men of Bronze book for the represented forces.

Mission
This is a pitched battle. Each side is attempting to collapse the enemy army.

Let us begin!
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/01/men-of-bronze-battle-report-corinthian.html

Easy,
Good on ya for creating a game!!!! Too cool. The Arete points I guess are ways of giving orders? Also are you envisioning individual minis or groups of minis based together? Havent browsed the rules yet, but I will. I need to read the wiki links below first.

This is the reason I like Historicals. I learned new vocab words and some history!

Easy dropped some knowledge on me....

Psiloi - Unarmored Skirmishers and missile troops (Stones, Javelins, Slings, Bows plus short swords)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psiloi

Peltasts- Light infantry flanking hoplites with crescent shaped wicker shields.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltast

Perioeci - Non citizen inhabitants of Sparta. Not sure of their in game difference. Wiki said they were integrated into Spartan Hoplite phalanxes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perioeci

Corinthain War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_War

Oh, I like!

If 38 points is a standard game, then bonus points for only needing about three boxes of Victrix's Greeks for two forces.

It was my understanding (possibly wrong) that Periokoi were also often allies of the Spartans from other cities in addition to free farmers and merchants. Either way, they were not full Spartiates so had less Hoplite training and did not grow up in the rigid warrior traditions of the Spartans.

There was a bit of a difference rules-wise. Spartiates were Elite Hoplites while the Periokoi were Drilled Hoplites. Still good soldiers, but more along the lines of standard Hoplites from other city-states.

Edit: This isn't the last of the Corinthian War either. next up is a sea battle using Posiedon's Warriors from Osprey.

I think your interpretation of the difference would be pretty correct and an elegant way to label the difference between drilled and elite. Nice...

Sooooo.... envisionining individually based minis or group based?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
.... OK....

I just browsed your blog.... Frakin' awesome dude. I TALK about making games. You actually make games. Love the included HGWells pics of Little Wars in several of your rulebooks.

I now have a full on man crush on you. PM'd you and will CC my buddy who also TALKS about making games.

The game rules are designed to be scale and basing neutral. You could use any models you want, however the bases need to be able to separate to distinguish between open order and phalanx formations. So, any standard basing format for minis should work out.

I will probably single base mine and make movement trays. That way I can also use the Greek models in other games from battles to skirmish.

I still want to add a page or two of campaign rules to Men of Bronze and do some tweaking before I call it done.