Spartan rebellion - 85ad

Tired of being a mere tourist trap and quaint memory lane novelty for the Roman Empire, Sparta rises in rebellion in 85 ad and with a collection of allied cities tries to reinstate Greek liberty...

Ok, so a thin explanation for a game of Warhammer, my first in over a year.  Martin used to circulate on the tourney scene with his Romans and I have of course a Spartiate Greek army to play with, and so we made for a 1500 game.

Initial deployments were as can be seen.  Martin's Roman army was surprisingly small, suggesting tooled up super elites.  Mine flattered numerically with lots of dirt cheap skirmishers to support the three Phalanxes.

 Obviously a Ballista and a walking grey tent (or Elephant as the Romans informed the ignorant Spartans) were going to feature somehow.  Martins force was apparently mostly Gripping Beast, and very nicely painted, as most of his stuff is...

 The Greeks won the first turn and set off on an over hasty advance, our nimble skirmishers and light troops formed an effective screen; but as the Romans had no end of javelins they were able to stave the Psoloi off with ease.  The Phalanxes trundled along behind.

 Having cleared away our lightest troops and having used his cavalry to distract my bowmen and to a lesser extent the Spartan Phalanx, the main City Phalanxes got stuck in to the Roman centre.

The Messinian phalanx did a steady job of destroying a Roman cohort, whilst the Chalcidians initially collided with another.  Then the big grey tent arrived and made merry hell, terrifying the Chalcidians!

 They routed immediately.

 By this point though the Messininans were busy taking the Legions Eagle and chasing its' general from the field.  My bowmen encircled the pursuing Elephant whilst the Spartans went in for a quick round against the Romans, routing them immediately, only to see them rally.

Before this a wound on the Elephant would see it go berserk.  It scared my bowmen away too, but also chased it's own cohorts almost off the field, forcing Martin to turn his Ballista on it to avoid even greater loss of his own men!

By the end, I was a much reduced force, but with my general, all but a couple of his Spartans and most of the Messinians still alive, I was comfortable victor.  A case of putting all your eggs in one basket working out, with over 700 of my 1500 points being in the Spartan unit and the Messinians being worth 250, I lost scant more than a third of my army, compared to half of Martins and two captured standards and an Eagle too.

It was nice to get the ancients out again, but I was conscious of how such a small game took a long time to play to a conclusion (3 hours).  Warhammer Ancients has always felt like a small, almost skirmish level battle; I've never had the time to play great clashes with it.  Maybe new rules will fit the bill, or perhaps I will have to try the likes of Impetus or get back to Armati.

Hmm...