Tuesday 25 March 2014

Basic Impetus Spartan vs Athenian

BASIC IMPETUS!

Now then,

After yesterdays game playing bolt action, the lad and myself are up for another game, this time rewinding history a few thousand years to ancient Greece.

Now I haven't had a game of BI for about a year so I have had to re-read the rules, and I also found that watching some "how to" videos on YouTube have helped clarify things for me.

It is actually very informative and the guy who has done the vids has done a good job of explaining some of the finer points of the game.

The videos can be seen here - BI how to videos




OK so we will take it that the opposing forces have met on a plain somewhere in central Greece, negotiations have failed and the only way to resolve the territorial dispute will involve bloodshed. The Hoplites march out from their camps and face each other across the field of battle!

The Armies


SPARTA!


ATHENS

The Lists


The field of battle


Deployment

In basic (and full) Impetus, deployment is key. If you set up without a plan or without really having a quick think about how the different troop types work together, you are pretty much inviting disaster (unless of course the dice gods smile on you).



To that end, the Hoplite armies of both sides have set up opposite each other, with the skirmisher troops placed out front. The Athenian army has a medium cavalry unit, which I have decided to place on the left flank, the plan being to get round the flank or even better the rear of the Spartan phalanx.

The Spartan forces have divided into 2 separate groups, with the second group hopefully in a position to support the first....?

Turn 1


Turn 1 saw both commanders ordering their forces forward, with the Athenian Cavalry getting disordered.

Turn 2


Turn 2 sees both armies again moving forwards, with the Athenian right moving from column which results in quite a bit of disorder! The Spartans move forward their discipline and training keeping their formations tight!


The battle lines draw nearer!


The Athenian right wing take up a position on the small hill, but end up disordered

Turn 3


Turn 3 sees the battle lines close, the Athenian skirmishers are too slow and get caught up in the Spartan charge, one of the Athenian hoplite units is also driven back, but the rest of the battleline stands firm following their generals example as he fights in the first rank!


Elsewhere the cavalry move to outflank the Spartans but end the turn disordered again...As do the Spartan reserves as they move into position.

Turn 4


Turn 4. The Athenians launch their attack on the right, which fails to make any headway, with a Hoplite unit being pushed back!


In the centre the disordered hoplite unit charges straight back in, but the General and another unit are routed by the superhuman Spartans!


Turn 5


The end is inevitable, and despite some limited success on the right wing, the Athenians lay down their arms, as to fight on would be pointless.

Aftermath

Yes, the little bugger beat me again! Basic Impetus is the perfect game to play with newcomers to wargaming, he has picked up the rules and wants another game!!

Enjoying this little spell of gaming, Crusades action next!!

The armies used in this game all come from my Greek Hoplite army for Full Impetus, here Greek Hoplite

Thanks for reading,
Steve

17 comments:

  1. Great AAR glad to see you getting some games in.

    Jason.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great battle report and excellent figures too. Thanks for posting.

    Cheers, Ross

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  3. Lovely looking Greek armies Steve!

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  4. Very enjoyable BatRep and Impetvs is, indeed, a great game.

    Well told!

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  5. Excellent AAR, and I love your Impetus armies.

    The Athenians were terror struck when they saw the lambdas gleaming. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep quite possibly, would you believe the lad actually started giving me tactical advice, he thinks I used my cavalry very poorly......

      Hes right of course!

      Delete
  6. Great! stunning looking BI units, which is no surprise to me I have seen your work before on your blog Marvelous! very nice after battle report thanks for that. I also love your idea, expressing my Hellenistic/Heritage background here, the cloth you used during the game - ĻŒĪ¼ĪæĻĻ†ĪæĻ‚ :o)

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  7. Lovely looking armies a fin game report!

    Christopher

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    Replies
    1. Cheers mate, just messing about with "paint" on the laptop..

      Steve

      Delete
  8. Looks like a great game. Good game report. Thanks.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete

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