ELLAS & DBM

This section covers my armies of the hellenistic period, from Hoplites to Hannibal. These armies have a major attraction to the lazy wargamer, in that they all use very similar troops so by and large building one means you have them all with not a lot of extra work. From the point of view of playing them I would say there are 5 very distinct flavours (1).

• The Heavy, Heavy Hoplite Style - top class regular heavy infantry with a supporting cast of lighter peoples. Mine are SPARTA, where women liked their men on shields, and CARTHAGE (20mm Atlantics, photo left) where a poor battle result usually meant a jog in the fiery furnace. Why have 2, you ask? Well, Sparta operates in 15mm, Carthage is the refuge of all my 20mm plastic Atlantic figures that made up my first ever wargames army - and they beat Romans (Hurrah). There is nothing on the table that can beat a mass of superior spearmen, the trick is to ensure that they contact something.

• The "Muddle through with democratic intent" Hoplite style of ATHENS and other less regular hoplite armies - for the sort of person who is rosily romantic about democracy, and who is only warming up after painting 140 Hoplites, AND likes to put a different pattern on each shield. They are a challenge to play against anything vaguely manouverable except that there are so many of them that they can easily cover the table. And they should beat Persians....

• "Phil's Boys" - After Phil the Greek, Pike Phalanxes are de rigeur, and you can use big words like diadochi to describe the brigands who took over from Alexander (yes, that one). My favourite is PYRRHUS of EPIRUS - for his big ego & colourful life - and his army is typical of the genre. Hannibal rated him as better than Alexander, and he was killed by a roof tile thrown by a Spartan woman (I warned you about those Spartan women....). Also, his army uses a lot of the hoplites I painted earlier. Besides, he beat Romans - the only Hellenistic general to do so. In fact this is one Hellenistic army that is well structured to beat Romans, as the cheap Phalanx and Hoplites allow it to match frontage (usually the Roman's big advantage) and the Kn(F) will usually put the boot in.

• The Bactrian Greeks (or BeeGees), who got into Heavy Metal in a big way, and give a Hellenistic player the opportunity to use an Irr Kn(F) or Eastern Cataphract Horse army or Pike n' Horse army, all totally different experiences from the other mainly foot armies above. A crossover between the BeeGee's and the other Hellenistics are the Seleucids, and a curiosity is the Pergamenes, its like a"pocket Seleucid" army and a good 350ap 25mm performer

• The Huuuuge Hellenistic Hordes - Primarily Auxilia based armies like Thracians, Spanish, Samnites, Bithynians and my personal favourite MITHRIDATIC (because of the skullduggery of course, but beating Romans may also have something to do with it....). They must use terrain, and swamp the enemy with sheer number of tough, mobile troops before the middling weight centre goes. I also like Mithridatic because the Sarmatians give it some much needed bite.

• (1) In fact I lied a bit about 5 army flavours - if the Early Carthaginian army gets Kn(O) as proposed in the new DBM Book 1 amendments, the test games I've had says it will be a very interesting proposition of a classical heavy spear army with good lights and better punch troops than the Macedonians.

Structure & Tactics

There is a difference between 25mm and 15mm, in that 25mm heavy infantry typically has fewer open flanks and can reach its enemy in the game.

25mm Late Carthaginians - I field 2 regular commands and a Spanish ally as games are typicaly 350ap and this delivers a big, mobile army. The main command is primarily Sp(S) with Ps, Ax and a few LH. The other command and Spanish ally are very similar - Spanish Ax(S), Ps(S/O) and LH(O). Their role is flank fighting unless facing enemy Elephant (Classical Indians are poular in period) or Warband armies. In genearl I find Cv(O) a waste of points - no teeth, and not enough mass. 25mm is far more of a frontal slug, and Sp(S) excel at this. I have fought 2 tournaments, witha c 50% win rate and a somewhat better rate in teh Milton Keynes club league

25mm Early Carthaginians - Similar structure, but far fewer Sp(S) - I use the Wb(S). It is a brutal frontal slugger against heavy infantry owing to the Wb(S), but this makes it less nimble.The Cv(O) chariots are a complete liability, owing to their inability to double rank and the huge recoil/zone of death distances on a 25mm table. My record with Early Carthaginians at Roll Call '98 was fairly dismal, but I had terrible dicing luck in all 4 games.

15mm Spartans

In 15mm open flanks are a much bigger issue, so I field 12-16 Sp(S) and many more Sp(O) plus all the LH(O) and Ax(S) I can buy. The army attempts a frontal slug while the LH and Ax hook around the enemy flanks. What you get is a big army full of very tough spearmen that can look after its flanks. In period it will wipe any Hellenistic army out, as the Spartiates will hold the phalanx (and anything really) while the Hoplites smash the flanks.This army has never lost a battle, and is the dourest mincing machine I own, grinding its way through Assyrians, Hellenistics, Romans, Medieval Portuguese et al - but it has never been to a tournament so has not been properly tested, and it has no way of catching an enemy who will not fight.

15mm Bactrian Greeks - Fun to play, and typical of all Irr Kn(F) armies, if it gains the ascendant the enemy collapses rapidly, if not it is in trouble - but the large numbers of Light Horse can slow things down, lessening the defeat from a 0-10 to a 2-8 or so. I used it at Roll Call '97, and it went 4-6, 7-3, 10-0, 0-10. Not bad - the 0-10 was against its period nemesis, Classical Indian. I have not tried the new cataphract version, but have played against it with Dynastic Bedouins and it was fairly easy meat for the Bedouins due to their size and manouverability. I typically field all the cheap infantry as bulk, 2 LH commands and a Kn(F) main command.

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