I have to admit that I enjoyed every game at Historicon this year. Each was a challenge and most games came down to the last turn or two. On my drive home I was reflecting on my games, deployments, and tactics, like all good wannabe generals. One game stood out among the rest, though and it sums up why I enjoy playing WAB so much. Here is that story.

On Saturday we played some 3,000 points games. I had been an advocate of the 2,000-is-best club, but after this weekend I must move over to the 'bigger is better' camp in WAB. But back to the game.

I was using a Classical Greek army from Armies of Antiquity. 3,000 points, based on what a Peloponnesian War Spartan army might look like. I had a Spartan General accompanying a 19 man Spartan phalanx (his knights), 2 x 24 Spartan Phalanxes (with light armour), 3 x 24 Allied Greek Hoplites (with light armour), 1 x 6 Spartan Cavalry, 2 x 8 Helot skirmishers, and 12 Peltasts (javelins). This army was hoplite-heavy and as such would need to get into hand-to-hand as soon as possible. This comes to a total of 174 figures.

My opponent was Bob Collie, one of Tony Edwards's St. Louis crowd. Bob had a Republican Roman army which consisted of (as best as I can remember) 1 General, 1 Mounted Army Battle Standard, 3 x 15 Hastati, 3 x 15 Principes, 1 x 15 Velites, 3 x 24 Spanish Scutarii, and 2 x 10 Spanish Caetrati. Bob did not have any cavalry or Triarii. For our game he was using the basic Roman list from Armies of Antiquity -- about 200 figures.

Ha ha... I thought, Spartans versus Armies of Antiquity Romans... piece of cake. But he did have lots of those accursed Spanish Scutarii (light infantry) standing there on his side of the table.

Deployment
I would classify myself as a veteran Classical Greek General. Not necessarily good, but experienced. A Spartan Classical Greek army will almost always be outnumbered. A Greek army's strength is in its phalanx, where it should be. I need to close with the enemy as quickly as possible (never, ever take heavy armour unless the scenario calls for it). The Greeks/Spartans then need to utilize their Oracles to gain victories in hand-to-hand and break the enemy battleline before his flanks get turned and his phalanx surrounded. We played a Pitched Battle on a totally open battlefield.

Normally, I try to utilize any terrain to help with my flanks but in this case there was none. As I deployed my phalanxes I placed the two large Spartan phalanxes on each end of my Hoplite main battleline. This was to have dire consequences later on. From my left I have skirmishers, Peltasts, Spartan phalanx, Hoplite phalanx, Hoplite phalanx, Spartan general and 19 figure Spartan phalanx, Hoplite phalanx, Spartan phalanx, more Helots and the Spartan cavalry. I would use the skirmishing Helots, Peltasts and Spartan cavalry to hold my flanks as long as possible, and close with the phalanxes to break through his centre.

Bob had more units and after deploying his maniples in two lines in his centre, he still had the Spanish Scutarii to deploy. He placed one on my left, and two units of them on my right.

I rolled 3D6 for Oracles... I only got 10, but they would have to do. We diced for first turn and I chose to move first.

The Battle
Off across the battlefield my phalanxes marched. On each flank I held back to see what Bob had in store for me. It is a good tactic with weak flanking forces to hold them back. Sometimes just having them out there gets your opponent to focus unneeded attention on them. Bob, held back with his centre, adjusting them to be within 12" of his General and Army Battle Standard which were posted to the immediate rear of his Principe 2nd line. Bob advanced with both flanks, his Scutarii and light troops advancing on my skirmishers. In the centre his Velites screened his maniples.

I marched again and brought up my flank troops a little and threw my first javelins, with little impact. Bob continued to hold in his centre and advanced his Spanish. A charge from one of these on my left drove off my skirmishers and struck my Peltasts (now formed). On my right his Spanish Caetrati drove off my Helots. In my next turn I reformed my outside Spartan phalanxes to cover my flanks and face his advancing Scutarii. In the centre I advanced. Bob, surprisingly withdrew his Velites. He decided to charge my Spartan cavalry with his skirmished Caetrati, lost and was run down in pursuit. For the first time in many a game I had cavalry free on my enemy's flank!

On my left my Spartans charged his Scutarii who fled and outdistanced my charge. On my right I hit the flank of one of his two Scutarii and broke them and ran them down. I charged in the centre into Bob's newly returned Velites. My phalanxes broke his Velites and pursed into his maniples of Hastati. Bob had made mistake, as I would count as charging on his turn, and he could not do the Manipular exchange for two turns of hand-to-hand. We took a short break and when I returned I don't think I had ever been in a better position. Both of Bob's flanks were in disarray, and my phalanxes were going to begin the push that would break his centre. I might even be able to get my cavalry into his rear, unheard of with my Hoplite armies.

As mentioned earlier, Bob had his maniples in two lines in a checkerboard Roman formation... all within 12" of his General and Army Battle Standard. My Hoplites drove into him and with the use of my Oracles, I won all the hand-to-hands. Bob passed, or re-rolled all of his Break tests. I had used up a good many of my Oracles. On my right, my Spartan cavalry got greedy and charged into his remaining Scutarii's flank, not waiting for my Spartan phalanx which was headed their way to attack in concert. I was beginning to make mistakes of overconfidence. My Spartan cavalry facing the throwing spear-armed Scutarii, even with the flank attack were destroyed to a man. My flanking advantage was gone and his centre, which I needed to punch through, had held. A distant warning began drifting through my mind. "And never underestimate the power of the Roman Pilum!" S4 attacks from two ranks can, and proved to be in this case, a phalanx equalizer. I still had Bob on the ropes; all I needed to do was break him in the centre.

On my left flank he skirmished his rallied Scutarii and on my right he withdrew slightly as he faced my Spartans. In the centre, we had very close hand-to-hand combats and I threw in more Oracles only to see Bob pass his Break test again. While he was rolling very good dice, Bob was also using his General and Army Battle Standard to gain the most advantage possible. Without the Army Battle Standard he would have broken several units. I was only winning each hand-to-hand by a figure or two and could not gain that big CR advantage I was looking for. It was now Bob's turn, having survived two rounds of Hoplite hand-to-hand and with his Manipular rule, now threw fresh Principes into each hand-to-hand. These turned the tide and I lost my first combats. I needed to use my remaining Oracles to hold in my centre. Three rounds of hand-to-hand had occurred and no one had broken in the centre. I was out of Oracles and Bob had his now rested Hastati to throw back in. Both of my flanks remained secure, but my Spartan phalanxes were unable to drive off their Scutarii opponents and were now being drawn away from the centre battle. That distant warning was now a strong wind!

I fought the hand-to-hands in the centre and won a few and barely held on. In Bob's turn, he brought in fresh Maniples and a flank charge. This last attack with fresh troops was my undoing. Out of Oracles, and down by two, my Spartan General and his phalanx broke. We diced for pursuit and Bob's Roman Maniple caught them, killing the Spartan King. All three allied Hoplite phalanxes either broke from combat or failed their Panic test for friends being destroyed. My remaining two Spartan phalanxes, seeing their King killed, turned and fled from the field. Being below 25%, the battle was over.

I had seen this defeat coming over that last few turns. I had attacked and gained advantages all over the battlefield, but as Bob held on, the tide of battle slowly evened then swung in his favour. Unable to break his centre, Bob's resilient Roman "double" line had won out. My biggest mistake, the deployment of my Spartan phalanxes onto the ends of my phalanx line. They were wasted and unnecessary on the flanks. They would have been the muscle that would have broken the Roman centre. Bob for his part fought a masterful battle. He recognized his army's strength and weakness and got the most he could out of his deployment.

All this talk about too-powerful phalanxes and that Warhammer Ancient Battles is just some Hollywood non-historical game is dead wrong. Dissenters need to fight a battle such as this. Everything was here, deployment, battle plans, changing fortunes of war, and a mighty slugging clash in the centre which was gradually resolved. And need I mention, a victory by the Manipular system over phalanxes! It's odd that one of my most memorable games is a crushing defeat. But I had the Romans only one failed Break test from defeat. It's not about winning; it's about the journey.