Trojans on tour - 28mm Bronze Age Fantastic Battles

Due to having to attend a conference, my Trojans needed to travel south to Dublin with me this week, before heading back north again to face off against Andrew's Hittites for a 1000 point game of Fantastic Battles. This was a mostly historic game, save that some of my spearmen were Amazons, and we both had a priest/magic-user with level 3 prophesy.

Deployments for both sides were pretty linear. As the defender, Andrew gave us a big open centre for our chariots to thunder across. He ran six heavy chariots (in two divisions) and three chariot archers (in one division), while my Trojans had a mere four chariots (in two divisions) on my left flank. As the attacker, I placed my spear and shieldwall units facing his chariots as best I could, hoping my chariots would be able to outmanoeuvre his infantry.

Mishaps saw my warlord's division on the left flank messed up a bit with one unit of chariots enthusiastically deploy forward, while the other (with the warlord attached) was late! My three-company unit of archers were diseased, but otherwise the army was unhindered.

On the Hittite side, the single-company of formed archers suffered Resolve loss through desertion, and the unit of chariot archers were late to the battle. Otherwise, they too retained their initial deployment.

Early on, the Hittite lines remained stationary while the archers were rallied and the chariot archers moved forward into position. Nothing was to stop the Trojans from advancing however, with the noble chariotry trying to expand their line to crack the Hittie hillmen with their full force. Under fire from Hittite skirmishers, the nudie Trojan javelin skirmishers formed a forward screen to draw the enemy arrows away from the chariots. By moving forward while the Hittites held back, the Trojans ensured that the coming melees would be favourable - or at worst, evenly matched.

The massed chariots of the Hittie Empire then surged forward to meet the threat of the advancing Trojan and Amazonian spear(wo)men.

The Hittite hillmen charged one unit of Trojan chariots, denying them their furious charge. However, the second unit of chariots then counter-charged and caught the hillmen already in combat.

The ensuing combat started the way the Trojans intended to continue, almost breaking the Hittites in the first round of melee. 

The Hittite chariots then slammed into the Trojan heavy infantry and found themselves contending with closing shots, long spears and a shieldwall - the ultimate defensive force.

The Hittites gained one small victory when they managed to kill the Trojan priestess attached to one of the units, but they lost their own captain in the same struggle. Foolishly, the Hittite fool of a foolish commander also charged his chariot archers in against the elite Amazon spear and shieldwall unit. From that moment it was just a matter of time before the Hittites found their Resolve weaker than their wish to be back in their homes surrounded by their loved-ones...

The Hittite chariot archers broke just as their own support arrived to attack the Luwian allies in the flank.

But free of their frontal foes, the Luwians were able to conform in the next turn and face the Hittite javelineers face-to-face.

On the Trojan left, their chariots broke through the hillmen; one unit ploughed on to charge the skirmishers behind them (they evaded but not far enough away), while the other unit of Trojan chariots caught the Hittite heavy infantry in the flank.

The small two-company unit of Trojan royal guardsmen now committed to the fray, charging the Hittites to their front, swinging their heavy axes wildly to cut through the Hittite ranks.

In the following turn, the Hittite skirmishers on both flanks broke and ran, leaving the beleaguered Trojan heavy infantry and chariots isolated (each close to breaking anyway) and forcing the battle to come to a close with a resounding Trojan victory. 

This was the first time that Andrew had played Fantastic Battles with his Hittites, and while he made one or two tactical errors - such as charging in with his chariot archers - I don't think he'll make them again. It has to be said that the dice gods were very much in my favour for a change too, so the victory was not entirely down to my own strengths as a master of Bronze Age strategy... 😁