Plataea with To the Strongest

 Hi folks,

It has been a very long time since I posted. It isn't that I haven't been gaming, but I have been gaming a LOT! 

First of many posts to come is on the testing of To the Strongest (TtS) ancient rules with my friend Phil. Since I had Greek and Persians in 15mm, I created a TtS mat with lichen as the corners of the squares and chose the battle of Plataea 479 BC. The squares were 5" x 5" which will be too large for future engagements. I've had these Greeks and Persians since the late 1990s! I put every one of those water transfer decals on the Greek shields. Whew!

It looked good enough and we got down to fighting this battle twice in late July 2024. As usual, clip on the photos for larger images.

Below: Greek Hoplites and Peltasts. Using Litko "Arrow Volley" wooden bits to track Peltest ammo.

Below are the Persians with Indian subjects. I tracked ammo using brown wooden cubes. Persians have an enormous amount of missile troops.

The first time was a Persian victory while the second was a Greek (historical) victory. Both were nail biters so that was nice. I still have some reservations about the rules (mainly about no modifiers TO HIT), but it was really a good time.

FIRST Plataea Battle (Persian victory)

Athenians (top left) crashing into the Boatians and Medes. Orange cubes are disorder markers

Immortals raining down arrows on the Spartans.

Persian cavalry waits patiently to slip around the Greek flank

Great view of the battle. Greeks on the left, Persians on the right.

Immortals ready to punish the Spartans, yeah right!

Pausanias didn't survive this battle! I made these labels too.

Persian cavalry trying to overrun the Greek archers.

My usual terrible combat chit draw. 16 chits and five 1s!!

SECOND Plataea Battle (Greek victory)

Phil did much better this time and crushed my Persian after a hard fought battle. I forgot to take photos until the battle was well under way!

Indian Allies are pulverized by the Greek Phalanx.

Persian Sparabara hold the phalanxes at bay, at least for a while.

Phil doing another chit pull. the battle rages across the entire country-side.

Persian left wing (immortals and Sparabara) in a desperate struggle against the Spartans.

Boeotians with 2 disorders. This won't end well.

My Persian cavalry turn the Spartan flank and have cavalry loose in the Greek rear area. The battle hangs in the balance!

Light Persian infantry can't hold against determined Greek Hoplites

Better view of my flank attack on the Spartans.

The crushing flank attack that broke the Persian right (Medizing Greeks) and won the battle.

So, after these two playtests, plus my two games I played at Historicon 2024, I'm embarking on a TtS adventure. Surprisingly there are little or no published scenarios for the rules, which is very frustrating.

Anyway, I'm going to make Scenarios for both the Greco-Persian Wars and 2nd Punic Wars.

Here is a sample map I made for Trebbia 218 BC, where each unit is roughly 1000 men.

I have another battle schedule in November, but I plan to host a game here in the War Room sooner than that. I've also ordered an extra mat from Cigar Box so that I can manually put dots on the corners of the squares so they are 4" squares. Here is a sample with my WoFun 2nd Punic War figures on them. I like how they look.

Cheers!

Eric