Oinephyta 457 BC Again

Started by MengJiao, August 22, 2017, 04:58:18 PM

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MengJiao


  The interest of this battle for me is that almost nothing is known about it, but it was as decisive as any battle of the period.  It was fought just after Tanagra by the same Athenian army that lost at Tanagra and it was fought against the Theban-led Boeotian confederacy somewhere on the Asopus River and the Athenians won so totally that they controlled Boeotia for the next decade.

   In this version of Oinephyta, we are assuming that both sides have secret reinforcements and expect to trounce their foes by overwhelming them.  The Athenians have the Hermianoians and the Thebans have some Spartan Allies (the main Spartan army was so wrecked by winning Tanagra that it went home as quickly as possible).  So the Athenians have just crossed the river and used their initiative move to bring up the Hermianoians while the Thebans hurry to overwhelm them.

MengJiao

Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 04:58:18 PM

   In this version of Oinephyta, we are assuming that both sides have secret reinforcements and expect to trounce their foes by overwhelming them.  The Athenians have the Hermianoians and the Thebans have some Spartan Allies (the main Spartan army was so wrecked by winning Tanagra that it went home as quickly as possible).  So the Athenians have just crossed the river and used their initiative move to bring up the Hermianoians while the Thebans hurry to overwhelm them.

  After some back-and-forth cavalry action (momentum plus moves, moves plus momentum) we arrive at turn 2:


MengJiao

Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 07:48:25 PM

  After some back-and-forth cavalry action (momentum plus moves, moves plus momentum) we arrive at turn 2:

  Turn 3 opens with some dilemmas for both sides.  If the Athenians advance, they will come under the hoplite advance rules AND be in a spot to be completely outflanked by the Spartan allies.  If they don't advance, the Boeotians may concentrate on the Athenian's green allies.  For the Boeotians, pivoting to go after the green hoplites may leave the spartan allies isolated and any attack will be under hoplite advance rules in any case:


MengJiao

Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 08:57:31 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 07:48:25 PM

  After some back-and-forth cavalry action (momentum plus moves, moves plus momentum) we arrive at turn 2:

  Turn 3 opens with some dilemmas for both sides.  If the Athenians advance, they will come under the hoplite advance rules AND be in a spot to be completely outflanked by the Spartan allies.  If they don't advance, the Boeotians may concentrate on the Athenian's green allies.  For the Boeotians, pivoting to go after the green hoplites may leave the spartan allies isolated and any attack will be under hoplite advance rules in any case:

  So the Athenians just run down the hill and get some lucky rolls.  It could have gone very badly and even more luckily, the flanking phalanxes are walking and trotting while the wrong Boeotians walked or ran.  So Turn 4 opens with things looking okay for the Athenians and not quite as good for the Boeotians/Thebans.

MengJiao

Quote from: MengJiao on August 23, 2017, 08:18:07 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 08:57:31 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 07:48:25 PM

  After some back-and-forth cavalry action (momentum plus moves, moves plus momentum) we arrive at turn 2:

  Turn 3 opens with some dilemmas for both sides.  If the Athenians advance, they will come under the hoplite advance rules AND be in a spot to be completely outflanked by the Spartan allies.  If they don't advance, the Boeotians may concentrate on the Athenian's green allies.  For the Boeotians, pivoting to go after the green hoplites may leave the spartan allies isolated and any attack will be under hoplite advance rules in any case:

  So the Athenians just run down the hill and get some lucky rolls.  It could have gone very badly and even more luckily, the flanking phalanxes are walking and trotting while the wrong Boeotians walked or ran.  So Turn 4 opens with things looking okay for the Athenians and not quite as good for the Boeotians/Thebans.

  And turn 4 bashes on by with lots of lucky Athenian rolls.  The Boeotians are at 44 of their 60 rout points and the Athenians are at 0 of their 60.  Still a lot of Athenian formations are close to collapse and the Spartan allies have turned up on the flank as feared.  Things are closer than they look.

MengJiao

Quote from: MengJiao on August 24, 2017, 05:54:14 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on August 23, 2017, 08:18:07 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 08:57:31 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on August 22, 2017, 07:48:25 PM

  After some back-and-forth cavalry action (momentum plus moves, moves plus momentum) we arrive at turn 2:

  Turn 3 opens with some dilemmas for both sides.  If the Athenians advance, they will come under the hoplite advance rules AND be in a spot to be completely outflanked by the Spartan allies.  If they don't advance, the Boeotians may concentrate on the Athenian's green allies.  For the Boeotians, pivoting to go after the green hoplites may leave the spartan allies isolated and any attack will be under hoplite advance rules in any case:

  So the Athenians just run down the hill and get some lucky rolls.  It could have gone very badly and even more luckily, the flanking phalanxes are walking and trotting while the wrong Boeotians walked or ran.  So Turn 4 opens with things looking okay for the Athenians and not quite as good for the Boeotians/Thebans.

  And turn 4 bashes on by with lots of lucky Athenian rolls.  The Boeotians are at 44 of their 60 rout points and the Athenians are at 0 of their 60.  Still a lot of Athenian formations are close to collapse and the Spartan allies have turned up on the flank as feared.  Things are closer than they look.

  And indeed things were very close.  The Boeotians rolled well in turn 5 and had the Athenians at 52 rout points when they hit the magic 60 and the whole Boeotian army collapsed.