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Greetings All,

You may know that I am the author of Osprey's Men of Bronze game in the Osprey Wargame Series of games. After that experience, I have contracted with osprey to write two new books for the series. One of those books will be an expansion of the Men of Bronze format into a different era of Ancient battle. This time, I am going to be looking at the Wars of the Roman Republic.

I am particularly excited to cover these period for a variety of reasons. One of which is that this will allow me to expand into a variety of fighting styles in the Mediterranean region. Fighting styles from Roman legions, Macedonian Phalanxes, Greek Phalanxes, Cavalry armies, Warband combat, and more! This is even a broader range of fighting styles and combat than Men of Bronze could hold!

Here are some of the design goals:

1. Scale, mini and basing agnostic
2. Lot's of decision making
3. Big battles with small miniature counts
5. Expand and build on the Men of Bronze model
7. Somewhat accurate historical outcomes based on my fallible understanding of Ancient combat
8. Make it fun!

I need to have the rules to Osprey by June of this year, and as such I have tentatively finished a draft and started playtesting. I will catalog the playtesting I complete in this thread to give you a feel for the rules, some of the lists involved, army sizes, and game play. This should give you a good feel for the game and see if it is something you are interested in.

Anyway, our first battle is a Polybian Legion vs. Gauls. A classic match-up.

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2019/11/battle-report-wars-of-republic-romans.html

Thanks for your interest. More to come as it develops.

So, I managed to get another Playtest game in....

Hamilcar surveyed the dusty plains beyond. His army of Libyans, Phoenicians, and Carthaginians were at the edge of their fertile lands. The furthest their irrigation channels reached. Beyond was the wilder lands of the Numidians. They had dared to resist the will of Baal, and now he was sent to show them the error of their ways. From Libya he had brought his heavy chariots, each pulled by four powerful steads. He had also come with loyal North African tributary soldiers and his fellow citizens to act as the backbone of the force.

Across the dusty plains were the barbarous Numidians. He could see that they had brought their own
horseman to the fight. In addition, he could see the white of goose feathers on the backs of their
soldiers. That meant archers would be present, and they most likely out-numbered and out-ranged his own missile troops. Speed would be the key to closing the distance, but the Numidians lighter horseman could slow him up. Perhaps Baal had been watching over him when the dry air from the ocean blew across the fields and kicked up dust. It would help screen his troops from the enemy archers.

Today’s battle will be using my test Wars of the Republic rules and features a battle between the rising power of Carthage in North Africa versus the army of the neighboring kingdom of Numidia. In actuality, we have very little records that such a clash happened, but it only makes logical sense that as Carthage’s power grew, there would be tension before Numidia became a client state. No real documents survive from Carthage to discuss their early history and we are left mostly with speculation from archeology and what records the Romans left us.

The big decision is to determine which army lists to use for such a hypothetical clash. If we place the
battle earlier in time, we can use the Early Republic Carthage list that aligns with the wars in Sicily and the Numidian list there. If we want a later battle, closer to the time of the Punic Wars we could use the Pre-Xanthippus Reforms army list and the Jugartha list for the Numidians. The main difference between the lists is the use of Hoplites and Heavy Cavalry by the Carthaginians, and the access to Elephants for both sides.

I decide to place the battle in a very early time frame for Carthage and the Numidians, before Carthage’s interference in Sicily. This would put the battle early in Carthage’s rise to power and before it extensively used mercenaries. Essentially, it is a rising city-state against a rival regional tribal power.

[img width=240 height=320]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rMi_LP1RII4/XgEAxVV75rI/AAAAAAAAH6A/8weuQ0WLw4U-C6N_X1Annd43dyEGqI2uACKgBGAsYHg/s320/F31BB424-D558-47EA-9323-7FD8D14D4D7A.jpeg[/img]

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2020/01/battle-report-wars-of-republic.html

For those interested, the Manuscript is due back to Osprey by November..... so I need to get moving on this!

Anabasis of the Seleucids

The Seleucid Empire was founded by the successor’s of Alexander the Great. These successors fought a series of wars with each other for control of his empire. Eventually, the Successors and their children were able to establish their own stable empires. All though smaller than that of Alexander, they were regional power players.

The Seleucid Empire covered much of the Middle East and Eastern parts of the known Ancient world. They were a major player in the Hellenization of the Near East. Their main power base was in Syria but their empire extended into the East and even came up against the Mauryan Empire of India.

When Antiochus the III came to power, he went eastward and restored various vassal states back under Seleucid control. This included Parthia and Greco-Bactria. During this process, Antiochus defeated the leader of a Greco-Bactrian king named Euthydemus at the battle of Arius. Interestingly, this man was also Greek and previously aligned with the Seleucids.

After the Battle of Arius, the Bactrians retreated back to their capital. Antiochus III put the city under siege for three years before they came to a negotiated truce.

Today’s battle will be using the Wars of the Republic rules, but again I am using the lists creatively to simulate other ancient combat to test what they can do. Today will be the Seleucid successor list vs. the Lesser Satrapy list to represent the Bactrians. We will be using a Scout the Area scenario to represent the advanced forces of both armies scouting out the geography.

Forces

Seleucids
1 Heavy Cavalry
1 Bronze Shields- General
1 White Shields
1 Agema

Greco-Bactrians
1 Heavy Cavalry Cataphracts- General
1 Bronze Shields
2 Light Infantry
1 Archers

Seleucids will have 5 Commander’s Gaze, while the Bactrians will have 6

Mission
The Secure the Area scenario has 6 tokens scattered across the board, and is set-up by the defenders after terrain is set-up. As a unit puts a token into their Zone of Control, they have scouted the terrain there and can put the token on their side of the board. The side that uncovers the most tokens wins OR if they can force the enemy to collapse in 8 turns.

Set-up
Today’s game is using 1 inch as an MU, and is being played on a 72 by 48 MU board.

For terrain, we used the terrain placement rules straight from the rule book. The Seleucids got to place terrain first. In the center terrain on their side of the board a small wall was placed towards the left corner. The Satrapy matched it on the opposite side with a grove of trees in the forward right corner. This left the center a bit congested. On the left corner in the Satrapy's side of the board the Seleucids placed a 1 level rocky hill in the center of it. On the Satrapy's left flank grid space they placed another rocky, one level hill towards the front of it, again blocking up the center of the board. The Seleucids placed a wall on their right flank grid space to act as a defensive location for the flank. Finally, on the Seleucid left flank the Satrapy placed a small rock hill in the center of the grid space.

The Exploration tokens were then placed in on these terrain pieces. The battlefield was somewhat congested in the center of the board, and that would make capturing objectives there a bloody pushing match. The Seleucid Phalanxes liked there chances there.




For Deployment, the Seleucids were the attackers and began to deploy first. This was an alternate deployment process so the Defenders could react to where the Attackers were located. Interestingly, the Seleucids decided to put their Phalanxes in the center, across from the enemy light infantry. The Greco-Bactrian Phalanx and Archers were on the right, and facing the Agema. The Cavalry forces were facing each other on the left flank. Some interesting match-ups.

Most of these two armies have miniatures EXCEPT the cataphracts are paper templates! Boo! Hiss!



Let's see how things turned out....

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2020/05/battle-report-wars-of-republic-anabasis.html

Battle of Scarpheia

Shortly after the Fourth Macedonian War, the Greek Acheaen League rose up against Rome. This war was one of defiance after Rome's high-handed treatment of the League during the 3rd adn 4th Macedonina War.

The Roman's took hundred of hostages from the League and refused to return them or even entreat the ambassadors sent to secure their release. In addition, populist generals were elected to the Achaean League leadership on a platform of reforms and taxation that would be counter to Roman interests. Finally, Rome's efforts to reduce the size of the League by severing several cities and limiting the size of the League. These three issues were politically unbearable to the Acheaen League and war was decided upon.

It is unlikely that the Greeks had any hope of beating the Romans. After all, the Romans had just defeated the much larger Macedonians and the Seleucid Empire. However, it was a war of defiance. It is best known for two key battles, the Battle of Scarpheia and the Battle of Corinth. There may have also been several smaller skirmishes that were unrecorded.

The outcome was the total defeat of the Acheaen League. As punishment, Rome complete destroyed Corinth, killed all the men, and sold the women and children into slavery. All of the cities wealth was looted and sent back to Rome. The Greeks were no longer a force in the Eastern Mediterranean after this cataclysmic defeat.

We know nothing about the Battle of Scarpheia except that it happened in 146 BCE between the Romans and the League. Rome won the battle and it is believed the Greeks took heavy losses, but there are very few sources on this particular battle. That is what makes it so interesting to us as wargamers! It gives us free reign to play as we wish!

Forces

Roman Triplex Acies- Praetor Matellus
1 Skirmisher
1 Triarri
1 Principes- Praetor
2 Hastati

Rival City-States- Critolaus of Megalopolis
2 Drilled Hoplites- 1 with General
1 Militia Hoplites
1 Light Infantry- Peltasts
1 Archers
1 Skirmisher- Psiloi

The Acheaen League will be represented by my Men of Bronze Corinthian army.



Sadly, for this playtest, the Romans will be my famous Paper Templates.

Set-up
This was completed using the rules laid out by the rules in the booklet. The board is 72 x 48 MU with an MU being 1 inch. The board was divided into 6 grid spaces and terrain rolled and placed using the chart. The Players took turns rolling and placing terrain, with the player being able to place the terrain anywhere they wished in the grid square.

This system led to the following set-up.

Grid 1 is the Roman right, 2 Roman center, and 3 is Roman left. Grid 4 is Greek left, 5 is Greek center, and 6 is Greek right.

Grid 1- No terrain
Grid 2- 2-level hill
Grid 3- Grove of trees
Grid 4- Stone walls
Grid 5- Stone walls
Grid 6- Swamp or spring

The Greeks place the supplies 12 inches in from their board edge and across the frontage of the army. 1 by the swamp, two in the open field, 1 inside the stone walls, and 1 in the ruins.

The Romans deploy from left to right as Principes, Hastati, the skirmishers on the hill, Triarri on the opposite side of the hill, and then the Hastati again. The Greeks facing them from right to left are, Drilled Hoplites, Drilled Hoplites, Militia Hoplites, Archers, Light infantry (Peltasts), and Skirmishers (Psiloi)