Well, this didn't happen -- much to Xenophon's disgust. In the winter of 370-369 BC, Epimondas led the Theban army on a raid against the Spartans (who were in bad shape after Leuktra). The Corinthians, Athenians and Spartans tried to trap Epimondas' force, but failed. Had their scratch forces reached a blocking position, they might well have put up some obstacles (such as the ditch here). Could Epimondas' crack troops have cut through an impovised allied force? Maybe:
Quote from: MengJiao on June 15, 2019, 10:14:18 PM
? Maybe:
The Thebans move first, but the Allies score first as their light infantry crosses the ditch (which doesn't effect the cohesion of light troops) and attacks the peltasts:
Quote from: MengJiao on June 16, 2019, 08:07:18 AM
Quote from: MengJiao on June 15, 2019, 10:14:18 PM
? Maybe:
The Thebans move first, but the Allies score first as their light infantry crosses the ditch (which doesn't effect the cohesion of light troops) and attacks the peltasts:
And it looks like the Thebans are off to a bad start even with their main hoplite force as the hoplites with Epimondas decide to run and the ones who should have at least trotted up and confronted the Allied light infantry -- they just sorta walked kinda forward and were not much help:
Quote from: MengJiao on June 16, 2019, 08:44:57 AM
And it looks like the Thebans are off to a bad start even with their main hoplite force as the hoplites with Epimondas decide to run and the ones who should have at least trotted up and confronted the Allied light infantry -- they just sorta walked kinda forward and were not much help:
Fifteen minutes into the battle and it looks like the Thebans are probably not going to disperse the Allied Entrapping force. A lot of walking and so on. I gave the Thebans two momentum chits since they only have 2 commanders and the allies have 5, but they probably would need another substantial force to succeed in breaking through the entrapment:
Quote from: MengJiao on June 16, 2019, 11:44:01 AM
Quote from: MengJiao on June 16, 2019, 08:44:57 AM
And it looks like the Thebans are off to a bad start even with their main hoplite force as the hoplites with Epimondas decide to run and the ones who should have at least trotted up and confronted the Allied light infantry -- they just sorta walked kinda forward and were not much help:
Fifteen minutes into the battle and it looks like the Thebans are probably not going to disperse the Allied Entrapping force. A lot of walking and so on. I gave the Thebans two momentum chits since they only have 2 commanders and the allies have 5, but they probably would need another substantial force to succeed in breaking through the entrapment:
Yep. After a fair amount of brutal slogging, the Allied light troops routed enough of the Theban hoplites to cause the whole Theban army to collapse.