The Battle Of Amphipolis - 422BC (Hail Caesar)

What a better way to start the year with some of the same you ended it? - So I put my Spartans and Athenians (28mm Warlord games and Victrix mix) on the table and we were going for the ancient battle late in the Peloponnesian War around Amphipolis.

In short, in real history, Cleon, the Delian empire general, strutted his forces in front of the city walls (just invisible on the long hill at the table edge in our illustrous case), while Brasidas went in for the kill, and lost his life but won the battle for the Spartans. So Bart (spartans and the King's Body Guard) and me (allies and Helots) stepped in for the Peleponnesian League while Mike (the Delian elite and allied hoplites) and Alisdair (the Thessalonian Riders and other rabble and peltasts) fought for Athens and his Delian Empire.

The Athenians were quite advanced as the Spartan King and his retinue went for a little Hoplidromos and charged the Athenians on the little hill! Whil I just advanced but kept my distance to the outnumbering Athenians. In fact both parties had the similar tactic, to block on flank, while the other should advance and outflank and roll up the other. You know what happens with plans!

Barts attack was soon quickly surrounded by more Athenians than he could think of and very early in the game Brasidas and his bodyguard got slaughtered! It looked like a walk over for the Athenians.
On my side my rabble was just tethering before the other rabble, avoiding clashes at all costs.

Soon in the centre something changed. The Athenians learned that the Spartan hydra had more heads than they wished for. On after the other Athenian hoplites were melting away before the last Spartan mora, while I kept (more or less because Alisdairs bad control dicing) the other flank away.

In the end many men and units were destroyed, both sides lost a lot and all cohesion to form anything formation wise let alone a charge, we called it a day. The Spartan king was dead and probably all Athenians would have retreated behind the city walls of Amphipolis, still in the hands of the Delian Empire – so we delared it an Athenian victory, but just about it, as the Spartans had give a good show for their money, but they lost a king ...

Initial deployment

The Athenian heavy hoplites

The helot rabble on Spartan side 

The Delian centre

all phalanges drew closer but we keep or formations

The Athenian allied Peltasts are far away

one unarmoured full mora joins my Helots for help

The Spartan king is surrounded on the hill!!!

The Thessalian cavalry attacks

just one mora dares vs 3 Delian morae, all in deep formation

a volte face as I withdraw and in the centre clashes the moras

the unarmored mora fans out her Lochons to a wide phalanx, but looses the tight formation

... nevertheless the flanks of the centre are covered once again!

my flat and long fanned out phalanx vs peppering peltasts

but the fight in the center stalls our deep phalanges getting beaten

and the king and his bodyguard die!!!

in an all out war cry we scream for revenge and charge!

the hippei clash and the peltasts join in

the last Spartan hoplites charge in anger!

the Athenians are melting away

my spartan horse wins!!! and  joins back to hunt peltasts

my unarmoured hoplites try to join in with the last spartans

... but they are too far away

the elan has gone the shields are heavy as the sun sets before the wall of amphipolis