Peter Sides - Ancient Historical Battles Volume 2 (Gosling Press) [OCR]

ANCIENT HIST

JBATTLES. . lu.me 2. vo

' by

PETER .S IDE.s ·

~RICAL

BATTLES Vol2 by PETER SIDES

ISBN 1 874351 112 COPYRIGHT GOSLING PRESS FIRST PUBLISHED 1995

GOSLING PRESS 35 CROSS STREET UPTON PONTEFRACT

WF91EU

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CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ._, 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

INTRODUCTION ACRAGAS 406BC CROCUS PLAIN 353BC CRIMISUS 34 lBC SUESS A 340BC CAUDINE FORKS 321BC HELLESPONT 321BC P ARAITAKENE 317BC GABIENE 316BC RIVER THATIS 310BC SENTINUM 295BC BAGRADAS 253BC TELAMON 225BC SELLASIA 222BC TICINUS 218BC TREBIA 218BC EBRO 216BC MAGNESIA 189BC PYDNA 168BC CORINTH 146 BC ARAUSIO 105BC AQUAE SEXTIAE 102 BC CHAERONEA 86BC ORCHOMENUS 86BC TIGRANOCERTA 69BC BIBRACTE 59BC VOSGES 58BC SAMBRE 57BC ALESIA 52BC PHILIPPI 42BC TAURUS 39BC ANGRIVARII BOUNDARY 15AD NAISSUS 268AD MURSA 35 lAD CHALONS-SUR-MARNE 451AD DARAS 53 lAD DECIMUM 533AD TRICAMERUM 533AD TAGINAE 552AD CASILINUM 553AD YARMUK 636AD

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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INTRODUCTION Ancient Historical battles book Il. is the third book in a series that covers all the major battles from 1479BC to the end of the middle ages in 1485AD. Ancients II is intended to cover the gaps in book Ancients I and to extend the period of ancients to link up with Medieval Historical Battles in this series. This series of books have been written for the wargamer and in so doing' are primarily designed to give enough information for him to re-enact the battle using any wargame set of rules, though I would recommend W argame Research Gr:oups::pe Bellis Antiqutarti.s" or even better "De Bellis Multitu4U_l~s'.~ ,Q0µi ,e)(cell1;~t, s~ts .ofrul~s f~r hist()ric;il re~ enactment. Each Battle.is described in. a :ecmcise anq,co~p~ct, ,Yt~Y, ~pv~npg wh,Yit- took place; the forces engaged, given in DBA\DBM.style ~lements and actual numbers of men; a deployment guide and illustration of the initial positions for each battle; the victory conditions and the historical outcome. · I have described each battle in a compact form and I do not pretend this is a major piece of historical work. My intentions are to allow people to re-fight the battle and in so doing learn the lessons on the battlefield. Don't be fooled by shear numbers, all battles are won and lost on small margins so what may appear a hopeless case is often the exact reverse.(see Marathon book I). In selecting what battles to include in this book I have firstly aimed at the period of history between 378AD and 732AD which covers the late Romans , the fall of the Roman Empire and the Early Byzantine's linking up with the Medieval Historical Battles in this series. I have also tried to fill in the gaps and expand upon the earlier historical periods covered in Ancients I which I hope now will give the complete military picture for many of the great classical wars. You will find the Romans do feature heavily in this book principally because not only were they the major power of most of the classical period but they also had a wealth of historians tQ record (not unbiased) Roman history, but I have tried to keep the spread of battles as diverse as I can. : The battles range from small to massive affairs and are for both individual duels and large battles requiring the resources of an entire club, some of the bigger, more spectacular, actions making excellent demonstration games. There are no push-overs in this book, every battle requires to b~ hard fought and will be won or lost on very small margins.

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ACRAGAS 406 BC CARTHAGINIAN INVASION OF SICILY The Carthaginian siege of Acragas on the south-west coast of Sicily , whose defenders were commanded by the Spartan Dexippus was almost brought to close by an epidemic that killed the Carthaginian commander. Hamilco assumed command of the siege when he was confronted by a relief force of Syracusans under Corinthian command and a pitched battle was fought outside the walls of Acragas. ARMIES EARLY CARTHAGINIAN SYRACUSAN 25000 Carthaginians 35000 Syracusans 2000 Mounted (2 Cav,R(O)) 4000 Mounted (2 Chariots.2 Cav. (4 Cav,R(O)) 18000 Hoplites, 12000 Hoplites (8 Spear,R(O)) 12Spear(6,R(0);6,R(I)) 9000 Others (7 Auxilia ,R(O); 4 Psiloi,R(O)) 10000 Auxilia .10 Auxilia,R(O) 1 General (@+ 1) Cav,R(O) 5000 Lights, 10 Psiloi,R(5 (0); 5 (S)) 1 General Cav. R(I) DEPLOYMENT: Deploy the Carthaginian force first and the Syracusan forces move first. Count the Rampart as difficult going. VICTORY CONDITIONS: Carthage must destroy 11 Elements and Syracuse must destroy 7 Elements.

cav. psiloi

CARTHAGINIAN ouxilia

C(N

auxilia

S[Z