DotS Greek Battles

I've been playing more 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear (DotS), this time going through the Greek battles.

Battle Results

I haven't been taking pictures of all the battles, but I've been keeping track. Scores show remaining units at battle end.

• Marathon - Greeks 3, Persians 1. The Greek's armor proves decisive!
• Plataea - Greeks 3, Persians 1. The Persian archers cannot hit the broad side of a barn.
• Gaugamela - Alexander 3, Persians 1. See account below.
• Ipsus - Antigonus 2, Coalition (Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus) 1. See account below.
• Raphia - Ptolemaic 4, Seleucid 1. Opposing elephants eliminated each other then Ptolemaic pikes prevail.

Gaugamela

This battle features Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army vs. the mighty Persian Empire.

Things start poorly for Alex (red army) as the Persian scythed chariots wipe out his pikes.

But he gets things back on track. White flags indicate that the unit routs.

Then Alexander' Companions (left) flank the Persian reinforcements and rout the center. Alexander is victorious!

Ipsus

While the pikes in the center sparred inconclusively, Antigonus's spears prevailed (right) while Seleucus's elephants triumphed on the other flank (left).

This sets up this final turn. The flanking spears wipe out the coalition's pikes. Meanwhile, Antigonus's pikes hold off the elephants.

Victory for Antigonus!

NEXT!

Time for some Roman battles. There are 4 from the Republic days and 4 from the middle to late Empire. I plan to do them as 2 separate posts.

Returning to Your Regularly Scheduled Coverage

Since the new year began, I have consistently published multiple posts per week. This occurred due to a couple of factors:

• I built up a backlog over the holidays
• I was experimenting with fast play games

Well, it looks like the well is drying up. My output has slowed and I only have one post ready, which I'm saving for Saturday.

Unfortunately, this means fewer posts for the near future.

Invasion Florida

I decided to do a little Cold War game. This will be a prelude to my upcoming not-Wolverines campaign.

I decided to run a One Hour Wargames scenario. I rolled randomly and got scenario 1 - pitched battle. I fiddled with the terrain to fit the story.

Introduction

• Washington, DC 1984 - a terrorist attack kills much of the senior leadership of the Federal government. After much politicking, Representative Walter Taub becomes President. An isolationist, he immediately orders de-militarization.
• Mexico, 1984 - a coup establishes a pro-Soviet Mexican government.
• Germany, 1985 - a Soviet invasion overruns most of Europe. The US remains neutral.
• United States, 1985 - sensing an opportunity, the Soviet launches a sneak attack on the US. They land in Alaska and push south through Canada and down along the American west coast. Meanwhile, the Mexicans invade Texas and the Cubans land in Florida.

We now join American forces at Homestead Air Force base south of Miami. The Cuban invaders advance on the base.

Deployment

• The Cubans (brown) advance upon the base's gates from the south (right). They need to pass through a residential area.
• There is a unit of infantry manning the gates. Reinforcements rush to the gate.

Note: I don't have appropriate modern terrain so I am substituting. The walls represent chain link fences so do not block line of sight. I assume there are sandbags so there is light cover.

The Battle

The Cuban armor rushes forward. Their initial attacks fall short. An American aircraft joins the fray (center).

Note: Because this is an airbase, I figured it is fitting to give the Americans some air support. I had a rule that I had to roll to bring it onto the battlefield.

The Cubans push their armor through the gates. There are heavy casualties.

A Cuban helicopter (top) is hit and retires from the battle.

American air support destroys the Cuban armor.

And Cuban rocket launchers.

The Cubans retreat.

Aftermath

Realizing that they cannot hold the supply lines to Homestead, the Americans abandon the base and pull northward. They escape with most of the base's aircraft before the Communist hordes overrun South Florida.

DotS 36 Ancient Battles

I started playing the battles from 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

These are the first four battles. They all feature chariots in some form.

Megiddo 1479 BC

New Kingdom Egyptians (red) vs. Canaanites (blue)

End of the battle. The Egyptian chariots ran roughshod over the Canaanites.

Final score: Egypt 3 units remaining, Canaanites 1 unit remaining

Notes: 

• You can see some of the markers I use. The orangey looking (supposed to be gold) tokens indicate Elites. I use the white flags to mark destroyed units.
• I also added hills to the battlefield. DotS does not use terrain. Instead, it accounts for advantageous terrain in the unit ratings. For example, the Canaanite spears were historically deployed on hills. To account for this, DotS treats them as armored. That's what I did as well. I just used hills to indicate this rather than using an armored token.

Kadesh 1274 BC

Hittites (blue) v New Kingdom Egyptians (red)

A rough turn for the Hittites - 2 units lost!

Final score: Egypt 4, Hittites 1

Note: Speaking of armored tokens, here are some in gray (silver).

Arrapha 616 BC

Neo-Babylonians (blue) v Assyrian Empire (red)

Early in the battle. The opposing archers wipe each other out in the center.

A bloody battle. The Assyrians were near defeat, down to 2 units. But they rallied for the victory.

Final score: Assyrians 2, Babylonians 1

Thymbra 536 BC

Lydians (red) v Early Achaemenid Persians (blue)

In the center, the Persian chariots break on the Lydian elite armored spears. But the Persian archers dominate the flanks.

The archers would continue their dominance, routing the Lydians.

Final score: Persians 4, Lydians 1

Notes

• Estimated time to complete these 4 battles: 30 minutes!
• Only one close battle - Arrapha. We'll see how the Greeks fare.
• I thought I had enough chariots for all possible armies but I fell short for Kadesh. The Hittites had to borrow Egyptian chariots. Worried that my math was wrong, I went back and checked. My math was not wrong; I can do all the armies in the core book. But the Kadesh scenario has different orders of battle than the standard lists.

More Cold War Thoughts

Just some random thoughts on my Cold War project.

New Counters

I was short on counters so I made a few. I added some more infantry and artillery to the mix.

I also made some helicopter counters.

They turned out bigger than the 1/2 inch square bases I had (they are closer to 1/2 x 3/4). I mounted them on 1 inch wooden square bases, which I subsequently cut down to size.

Air Battles

I'm thinking of adding some aerial conflict to the project. Why? Just because.

I have WW1 and WW2 style plane counters for air wargames but I lack jets. Time to rectify the situation.

I made some generic fighters jets, loosely based off the F-15.

I debated making some attack planes but have held off for now. Given the wide range of missions that late Cold War fighters could undertake, I think these will do for now. Just need to print and mount them.

When?

This is a question that I am pondering. When should my fictional Cold War Gone Hot take place?

• The movie Red Dawn came out in 1984.
• But I was thinking of switching up to late 80s. This is when I would have been in the military if I hadn't washed out of Air Force pilot training due to medical issues.
• I ordered the Team Yankee: Red Dawn booklet from Battlefront. I understand it is set in 1985. Might be best to stick to that date.

More DotS

Despite my little detour into Cold War gaming, I haven't forgotten Dominion of the Spear (DotS)

An Expansion

The author Steve has already put out an expansion - 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

You can find a detailed description at Wargame Vault.

I already purchased my copy. I look forward to playing all these battles! Stay tuned for battle reports.

My Boxed Set

I'm putting together a boxed set for DotS. I'm creating two new counter armies specifically for the box. I'm going with the classic Red vs. Blue.

If I did my math correctly, each army should have enough counters to make any force listed in the main book.

Here is my completed Red army.

Flanks: Missile (left) and Melee Mounted
Upper middle: Missile (top) and Melee Infantry
Middle: Leader
Lower middle: Chariots (Melee on the flanks, Missile in the middle)
Bottom: Elephants

To save space and money, I made the counters double-sided - melee on one side and missiles on the other. For example, I have 6 infantry stands with melee on one side and missile on the other. Therefore, I can field either (a) 6 melee infantry, (b) 6 missile infantry, or (c) any mix of melee and missile up to a total of 6 units.

The Red army is done. I am still working on the blue army.

Leaders

DotS does not have separate leaders. Instead, leaders are factored into a unit's rating. But I like having leader counters, so I made one.

I'm still not sure how to use them in games. Steve made an excellent comment on this post about a lack of evidence about them switching units. Still, I think the idea is plausible despite a lack of evidence. I'm wrestling about it now.

At least, I can attach a leader permanently to a unit, kind of like DBA.

Campaigns

Once my box set is complete, what do I plan to do with it?

• Great battles - Play through the 36 battles in the DotS expansion.
• Pyrrhus - Two stages
• Replay the Pyrrhus vs Rome campaign I did using MicroBattle.
• Play Pyrrhus vs. Carthage on Sicily. I planned on doing this with MicroBattle. I may play it with both rules sets and compare the results!

Cold War Convoy

In keeping with my Red Dawn craze, I played a quick scenario using my MicroBattle rules.

Somewhere in the US, The year 1984. 

A Soviet (brown) column is heading down a road. American insurgent forces (gray) strike, destroying the infantry at the head of the column.

The Soviets take damage, but they drive a squad of insurgents out of the woods.

They pursue.

But this opens the Soviet tank to short-range fire. Kaboom!

The rest of the column turns around and flees!

Game Notes

• I initially created the counters for sci-fi battles. They may not look exactly like Soviet vehicles of the time period, but they'll do as stand-ins.
• I haven't mounted my green army yet. When I do, Americans will be green.
• I assume that the American infantry have anti-tank weapons. In addition, the heavy infantry (oval around a dot) have mortars.
• I would ultimately like to add helicopters to the mix. Need to make some new counters!