Arginusae 406bc : A Seanario with many variants

BLOOD AND SPLINTERS IN HIGH SUMMER

At about this time of year 2410 years ago the Athenians won a victory in battle at sea that was one of the most surprising and spectacular in their naval history. It became, also, one of the most painful and shameful events in the political history of the Athenian democracy. In wargame terms it is an interesting battle because the two sides involved are relatively balanced and the outcome by no means certain. In addition, our knowledge of the battle is limited and this gives many possible iterpretations of the original engagement to allow many different refights.

I will not go into detail on the circumstances leading to the battle or the subsequent controversial events. These can be found in any book on the history of the Peloponnesian War. There is more than enough meat in just detailing the battle.

This is not a totally prescriptive seanario but I have tried to include all necessary detail sfo ryou to make your own interpretation too.

THE SITUATION
An Athenian fleet of 150 ships had been assembled at Samos at short notice to come to the relief of thier forces blockaded in the port of Mytilene on Lesbos and overnighted at the Arginusian Islands to the south. The Spartans and their allies had a fleet blockading Mytilene but their main force; of 120 ships, overnighted at Cape Malea, the southernmost tip of Lesbos, intending to face the oncoming Athenians next day.

DETAILED ORDERS OF BATTLE ?
We have no detailed list of ships and personnel for the battle but we have more information on the Athenians.

The Spartan fleet probably included many mercenary rowers and crews  paid for with Persian money. Some proportion must have been from the Spartans and their key allies but at this point in the war they had atttracted many professional seamen from wider afield by offering bette pay than the Athenians. In addition. because the main Athenian fleet had been defeated and blockaded into Mytilene we can infer that the Spartan side had better quality vessels. Trieres were divided into three classes according to their seaworthiness: 'Fast' ships were more agile and speedier through the water, 'Slow' ships were more sluggish to accelerate and turn. The remainder had unexceptional performance. The Spartan fleet  had dEmonstrated its ability by defeating the Athenian fleet outside Mytilene and we can surmise it had few inferior vessels or crews and maybe a preponderance of the best classes.

Spartan Fleet ?

The Athenian fleet was a triumph of ad hoc organisation. Upon getting word of their fleet's plight the city had mobilised everything which was trieres-shaped and had positive bouyancy and found crews made-up of slaves, shopkeepers and even the upper crust. The ships from Athens were supplemented by allied ships and any Athenian vessels at liberty in the Aegean. There were 150 ships in the following groups.

Even crayoned-in vessels were called upon to sail out from Piraeus to help

ATHENIAN SHIPS ( many would be rated slow and have inferior crews) 60 or 90 in 8 squadrons.
ATHENIAN SELECT SHIPS 13 (commanded by Athenian military officers and probably good quality)
ALLIED SHIPS 15 in all ? ( 10 from Samos and other allied contingents). Probably competent crews.

THE DAY OF BATTLE : THE SPARTANS
After an intended night-attack was called-off due to bad weather, the Spartans put out to sea probably at first light and sailed directly over to the Arginusian Islands to meet their opponents. The night attack and the purposeful approach were typical of Callicratidas, the Spartan commander. He was a Spartiate and went by the book. Attack and win or die fighting. He hoped to hold the initiative and destroy the Athenians before they could unite witht the 38 ships in Mytilene.

Callicratidas cannot have seen the Athenian fleet across 18 km of sea. he may have had some intelligence from fast scouting craft. In any case, he probably set out before the Athenians were at sea. The 120 ships cannot have crossed the water in line-abreast because the formation would have fallen into disorder rapidly as different crews maintained slightly different speeds. Most probably, the squadrons making up the line each proceeded in file, led by their commander, intending to come up to form a continuous phalanx as they approached the enemy. Callicratidas was leading the rightmost squadron as was the usual practice. It is significant that Callicratidas cannot have known the exact disposition of the Athenians. Once he was close enough to see details his options for rearranging his line or for issuing new orders were very limited.

The contemporary writer, Xenophon, tells us the Spartans intended to use their superior capabilities to use diekplous and periplous tactics against the Athenians. These tactics involve using speed and sea-space to penetrate and circumvent the enemy line. To this end, the file formation of the Spartan squadrons would be well-suited. They could approach at top speed and glide through spaces identified in the enemy ranks. Diodoros Siceliotes, writing hundreds of years later, says that the Spartan fleet was divided into two to match the Athenian disposition - the left half being commanded by a Theban general. He is, however, a creative writer guilty of sometimes inserting credible but anachronistic elements into his histories.

Best to ram anywhere except head-on.

The Spartans may have approached in file and then swung into line to form a solid phalanx to face the enemy before engaging. In any case, the Spartans found themselves facing a novel Athenian deployment with little chance to equivocate or reorganise before joining battle. A Spartiate general would not have been well-disposed to do either, especially when he was confident that he had the best materiel for the fight.

THE DAY OF BATTLE : THE ATHENIANS
The Athenian fleet overnighted on one of the Arginusian Islands. The commanders cannot have had so much intelligence as the Spartans because they had approached from the south into areas dominated by the enemy and Callicratidas was confident enough to consider a surprise attack after the Athenians had anchored for the night. The islands were, however, colonised by Athenians and watchers from the cliffs would have sighted the oncoming enemy fleet soon after it put to sea. Crossing the intervening waters at an easy 7 knots so as not to be exhausted for battle, would take the Spartans an hour or so.

The Athenians had eight naval generals present and in concert or under direction of the day's Commander-in-Chief, they deployed their forces in a way designed to compensate for their inadequacies and neutralise the Spartan advantages. The key feature of the disposition was that the ships formed in a double line. In this way any enemy vessels seeking to penetrate the battle line and make a rear attack - as was the aim with diekplous and periplous tactics - would be intercepted and neutralised by the reserve line.

The second feature was that the island of Garip Adasi may have been incorporated in the Athenian battle line to disadvantage the Spartans. One possibility is that the Athenians deployed with half of their fleet north and half south, of the island. This would cause the Spartans to divide or else stretch their line to cover a broad front. The breadth of line the Athenians lost by deploying in depth would then be compensated-for.
The second possibility is that the Athenian centre was lying in front of the island. In this way the weak division would have its rear protected from an enemy break-through. In both of these scenarios the islands and the shallow straight between them create a barrier to any enemy ships moving along the rear of the Athenian line if one flank was defeated or penetrated.
The third possibilty is that the battle was fought out to sea away from the islands which did not play any significant role in the battle. The incorporation of Garip Adasi in the battle line is inferred from Xenophon's account and Diodoros' comment that the Spartans divided into two to try and match the breadth of the Athenian front.

SHIP QUALITY
The ships manned by the naval officers - the nauarchs and the taxiarchs - should be of fast or better qaulity- The Samians and allies hsould be at least standard quality and maybe also fast/better.

The general Athenians standard must be  lower. Dice for each squadron as follows.

D6 : 1 = Fast (only happens once)  2( or subsequent 1's) =  Standard,  3+ = Slow

Peloponnesians dice as follows :

Division commander's squadrons always Fast/Better.

Others - D6 : 1234 = Standard, 56 = Fast

The players make a list of forces, dice and record quality scores for later proof !

 SEANARIO VARIANTS
The different interpretations of the accounts we have allow many variants for a tabletop refight. The following matrix outlines the possibilitie for 16 to 24 variants !

Each component of the matrix is explained below. The variants marked '?' are less likely to have occurred.

SPARTANS DEPLOYMENT NOTES

FILES : Means they deploy in line-ahead. Equally spaced between  wherever the ship of Callicratidas  enters and the northernmost end of line Y. Each squadron is 10 to 15 strong and is led by a commander's ship.

FILES SPLIT :  Here the Spartans are divided into two divisions. The player can choose how many squadrons of 10 to 15 ships are in each division but smallest division must have at least 30 ships.
One division deploys behind line X, the other behind line Y. One divison is led by Callicratidas, another by the Theban Thrasondas.

LINES : Means the squadrons deploy in line to form a phalanx instead of files in line-ahead.

Callicratidas must lead the rightmost file, Thrasondas the rightmost squadron of his division.


ATHENIANS  DEPLOYMENT NOTES

The Athenians can either follow the the historical deployment with divisions as outlined in this diagram:
 

Or, they can deploy freely within the division's allotted area.

A final variant is to allow the Athenian to reaarange his squadrons within the divisions but he must have a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 60 in each division. Squadrons can be 10 to 15 strong.

A) Means the Athenians must deploy forward of the white lines with the squadrons in file / line-ahead.. This means the island is not in their battle line.

B) As A but squadrons equally spaced in line-abreast / phalanx.

'IN FRONT OF THE ISLAND' means that the Centre Division deploys on line B. This means they have the island at their rear. The left division deploys at line A, right at line C.

'WITH SPLIT LINE' means that the Athenian centre deploys on line A to the right of their left division. In this way the Athenians have deployed in two blocks separated by the island.

Protomachus is considered the Commander-in-Chief.


WHICH VARIANT ?
The Athenian player can select which deployment option he wants. Dice or draw cards to see which the Spartan adopts - but he makes a sketch map and only enters the board on turn 1.


There are three further options - does either side see the other's deployment before doing their own or both choose blind of the other's choice and deploy after a sketch they must make before the first turn is made.?  (we are now up to 23 to the power of 3 variants....enough to be goin gon with i think ?)

 
THE SEASCAPE AND FORCES FOR THE REFIGHT

If you have fewer models scale the numbers down to 1/2 without too much change from the original situation.  Many fewer models than this will give a less crowded seascape and a different situation from the original engagement.

Alternatively, use the options with a split Spartan deployment and fight two battles. Indeed, Diodoros states that this battle was special because it was like two simultaneous battles, divided by the island.

Here is the layout, plundered from Google. About 4,5km wide. Make the island 1200m wide. You only need the combat area to be represented on the table. Allow some space for further combat out to sea, maybe.

The exact orientation of the battle lines is unknown. I have them facing east-west as the direct route over the strait from Lesbos.

The lines ABC are the furthermost deployment for the Athenian divisions.
The lines X Y are the entry zones for the Spartan divisions.

Areas of turquoise/green  water are shallows and rocks. All the western side of Garip Adasi are rocky coast and the island and mainland are 'friendly' to the Athenians.

Here is a 6x4 table set-up.A larger table should give more space on the flanks and out to sea.

TACTICAL NOTES
 The Spartans have a problem. Their better ships must be careful to achieve breakthroughs against the double line.They are outnumbered and so must Try to defeat one part of the Athenians before the remainder come up on their flank.

If the Athenians are deployed in front of the island then, unless pinned,  their centre can wheel out against either Spartan division.

HISTORICAL OUTCOME
The Peloponnesians attacked with gusto and must have made some impression on the Athenian line.
However, they were rolled-up from the left and, after Callicratidas was lost overboard - maybe as his ship rammed another - the battle degenerated into the usual dispersed chaos of  trieres combat.
The Athenians were victorious, even though they had a scratch fleet of inexperienced crews. This shows how much their deployment was crucial and the high level of seamanship that could be drawn upon from these Hellenes with salt-water in their veins.

Trieres combat at its most intense

The Peloponnesians lost at least 70 ships with most of their crews. A terrific loss, but it was made good again with the help of Persian money. The Persians were determined that  Greek naval power would not dominate their Ionian coast in the future and Athens must be curbed.

 The Athenians lost 25 ships, leaving c.5000 men in the water. Unfortunately, the rest of the fleet could not come to their aid before bad weather intervened and most were lost.

'There's going to be an awful row at home about this..glug..glugg'

 The postscript to this stunning victory was that the generals responsible were sentenced to death for neglecting to aid the survivors. So grateful could the Athenian demos be.

Warriors of Poseidon : Naupactus Scenario

I tried the 'Naupactus' scenario. It actually refers to the battle in the Gulf Of Patras.

The first problem is how to set up. No guidance is given apart from it is a battle 'in the open water'.
I tried with the Athenians starting behind, but they have to start close or they lose some of the 6 game turns just to catch up and get in position to strike. If the Athenians start facing the Spartans then a massacre occurs... I resolved that the Spartans are best deployed in the centre of the table on an axis to which the Athenians deploy at 90 degrees12 inches away - or maybe 3 d6 inches away ?

The problems of the small size of the scenario - 1 Athenian unit, 3 Spartan - means the dice roll for initiative is important for the Athenians each time and the Spartan can freely move two units each turn without immediate retaliation. The Athenian must attack the end of the Spartan line to avoid this advantage.

In this scenario the Athenians have fast triremes and are led by Phormio. This gives them a move of 7 inches. The Spartans can move 5 inches. Under the rules the Athenians cannot initiate boarding with their epibatai but the Spartans can - no allowance given for the extra troops on some of the Spartan ships. This means the Athenians will not bother to grapple and board, just ram. This complicates matters further, because, when rammed, fast triremes cannot be sunk - they always survive. ( or maybe they always sink? If I understood the rules wrongly?) - they have a saving roll of 0. They always survive a ram attack. This means the Spartans can only successfully kill an Athenian ship by boarding and killing its marines. The Athenians can have oars knocked  off If a side attack can be made but that gains the Spartans little.

In the 4 battles I fought the Spartans never sank or damaged an Athenian ship - good result. Historically accurate in that the Athenian ships were faster and more skilled and could avoid their heavier opponents.

On the other hand, the Athenians won each time by game turn 4 or 5 they had sunk 5 Spartans.

The trick for the Athenians was to get any ram attack in and then the Spartans need a 6+ on a d6 to survive. Attempts by the Spartans to do the historical thing and face-down the Athenian ships bow-to-bow do not work because the Athenian attacks are still effective 5/6 times.

The historical result was that the Athenians captured 12 Spartan ships and sunk many more, the remainder fled.

Poseidon's Warriors : Wargame Review

I hope you have a bucket under your table when you play these rules, to catch the blood and smashed ships.

The rules are basically. I-Go-You-Go, unit by unit. Combat is instantly resolved with no carry-overs to the next round. You can drink and play this game with no problems. The blurb's 'integrated turn system' with special powers is not apparent after a few trial games.

Record keeping is necessary to monitor damage but it is minimal and can be accomplished with markers.

Ships move in the order of 6 inches a turn. Turns are accomplished by pivoting on the spotup to 45 degrees for each inch advanced. Units can also 'turn-about' on the spot - even if they lie alongside each other? Backing is only allowed at a minimal rate. No other special manouvres are possible. This is a problem if one considers evasion to be an essential tactic - especially before the Roman era or with small ships. Ships could turn and run before an opponent but this is not possible here unless one trusts to the vagaries of the movement sequence to stay ahead of a pursuer. An attack always goes home - the attacker never baulks, the target never flees.

ROMAN 'SLOW' 5s WITH CORVUS COME UP AGAINST CARTHAGINIAN 'FAST' 5S

 

 THE MEASURING TRIANGLE ALLOWS TURNS AND MOVES TO BE DONE EASILY. THE 1 INCH SIDE IS TO ENSURE 1 INCH SPACE TO MAKE TURNS.

Each class of ship has a 'Slow' and 'Fast' variant but no 'standard'. Maybe this avoids some complication.

Command and Control is by keeping units of 3 to 5 ships together. A single larger ship can form a unit by itself. Mixed units are not allowed. Commanders with special abilities allow extra tactical possibilities.

Combat uses a d6 and some ship characteristics give +/- modifications.

THE ROMANS ARE UNABLE TO ATTACK THIS MOVE BUT THE CARTHAGINIANS CANNOT TURN AWAY WITHOUT EXPOSING THIER SIDES SO THEY MUST FIGHT

Artillery , fire pots and corvii are featured but no distant shooting by deck troops. The number of deck troops is reduced down to a few factors but is not related to ancient numbers. A trireme with 12 epibatai seems to get 1 factor and a Roman 5 with a century on board gets 2.

Playing a few trial games showed up the usual problem of this turn structure. If one side has more units it always gets the extra initiative of saving good units to move last. This type of movement also means a player watches as a unit gets smashed by the quick bloody combat then may try to send in a response unit to smash the victors. who, in turn get smashed and then another unit is sent in to smash the victors etc.

Head-on ramming by similar ships tends to sink most of each side. Avoid it. But it was a usual tactic in the later era and with heavier ships - just do it against lighter vessels and you will succeed.

THE ROMANS CHARGE TO CONTACT AND MAKE FRONTAL RAM ATTACKS
THE ROMANS DICE FOR EFFECT AND SINK 2 PUNICS AND DAMAGE THE OTHER

 A fleet must check morale when things are going badly and a simple modified dice roll can end things.

No table-top layouts are shown in the book and  no maps or diagrams of battles at all. This is probably an omission for a book aimed at gamers starting in this type of wargaming. Not even a photo of a game in progress.

No help is given with terrain. If this is a beginner's book then this is an omission, especially as the terrain is a bit specialised for this kind of wargame.

THE CARTHAGINIANS CAN MAKE A REPLY BECAUSE THE ATTACK IS FRONTAL AND THEY SINK TWO OF THE ROMANS - MUTUAL CARNAGE

 

 Osprey seem to always have editing failures like this. The editors do not know what they are editing. If one had read the book they could have noticed these omissions? Also, Guiseppe Rava is given credit for providing illustrations reproduced from other Osprey titles but two of Peter Dennis' illustrations entitle him to no such mention. An editor's job ? Also, there is a contents list but no index.

The best part of the rules, in my opinion, is that players are not left dangling, trying to think up a battle situation to fight-out. From a single battle to a generic scenario to a basic historical campaign players can find an excuse for a scrap that stops them turning to science fiction. All to the good. The basic historical background also aids gamers new to the period from going to far astray.

THE ROMANS DROP THEIR CORVUS AND TRY TO GRAPPLE - THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL
(MARKED BY CARD AT JUNCTION)
THE MARINES NOW FIGHT AND THE 2 DICE OF THE 'SLOW' 5 KNOCK-OUT THE ONLY PUNIC MARINE FACTOR ON THE 'FAST' 5. GOODNIGHT VIENNA.

 IN THIS LITTLE FIGHT 5 OF 6 SHIPS WERE LOST. 2000 MEN FOUND A WATERY GRAVE.

A few oddities include  the compulsory slowing of a ship equipped with a corvus - not necessary for a load equal to a small handful of deck troops, surely.In the Punic Wars scenarios we are not informed which ships have corvii. There are no rules for the tactic of deliberately beaching to avoid sinking by superior enemy and no rules, even elementary, to disembark troops or  fight on land. The fastest ship is a 'four' - ancient sources and research would suggest the trieres is the fastest possible ancient oared ship. An oddity is that a ship can sail across the wreck of another, even a 'polyreme' ? The Corinthian modification of reinforced bows is ascribed to the Syracusans.. There were three battles at Artemesium between the Greeks and Persians not one, and the battle at Arginusae has been widely written about but the account here lacks detail. 

I would recommend the rules for a conflagration at 1/1200 or even 1/3600 scale. 1/300 or larger games need more detail than these rules provide. I had battles with up to 56 1/1200 ships and could manage it. Several players could refight an ancient battle with many ships. The question mark hanging over the rules is whether they give a good representation of an ancient galley battle. ('Classical' galleys ?).  I do not think they do but they do make it possible to fight the melee-type battles between Romans and their enemies without getting too confused and get a result. More mobile type of tactics will not be possible. The historical campaign are an excellent feature. Players could extend this idea in several ways to make games interesting and connected.

I am currently setting up a harbour battle and will do a short report on that too.


A file to print and make the simple models I used for my battles with these rules is HERE. I normally use 1/3600 or N-Gauge or 1/400 models.

POST SCRIPT 10/2016

I played two games with tens of ships a side, including an Arginusae refight.

The results were easily predictable. With the kind of mechanisms in these rules only statistics count.
There are no rules to encourage or allow manoeuvre and so a sloging match is the best tactic. If one just sets ones ships side-by side then the progress of the engagement is easy to see. A second rank will ensure victory at that point.

The best aspect of these rules remains the campaign aspects. Jazz-up the rules to make the battles more interesting.

PW Review

Poseidon's Warriors by John Lambshead: Osprey Wargames
I was pleased to see this  title emerge because galley warfare gets too little attention in my opinion. It was a bit wierd, however, that I saw so little discussion on the web or in Osprey marketing before about February this year. Why keep it a secret so long ?

The book is in the usual Osprey soft-back format and is 64 pages with colour illustrations and photos. The illustrations are all from previous related Osprey titles. Most of the illlustrations show combat or combat situations.The miniatures photos are of Langton Miniatures ships exclusively and most are provided by Langton Miniatures. There are no photos of a game in progress and a single one which purports to show an action. This made me a bit uneasy because the book also lacks any kind of play-through or battle report from a game. Maybe I hanker for the good old days of worked examples too much ? Despite the break-throughs in digital and optical technology of the recent 100 years the photos are mostly not sharp.

The book is divided into a battle rules section of 22 pages and then three sections on how to create an on-table battle which is a one-off or linked by simple 'campaign' rules. Historical information is given as needed, including a timeline and explanations of which end is the pointy one etc. There are some quibbles possible here but bear in mind it is a slim volume. The core of the book is the rules and these are clearly stated and a quick-reference sheet can be copied out.

The best feature of the book, I found, was the second section which gives three ways to set -up a battle. A one-off tabletop encounter, generic scenarios such as 'Invasion' or 'Harbour Break-Out' and historical engagements based on ancient battles and campaigns. The idea with the latter is that all engagements of a period are played and a points table kept to see who is victorious overall. Simple but, importantly, do-able.

The wargame these rules create is to 1/1200 scale with an indeterminate time-scale which would appear to be about 1 minute., and players will deploy 'on average' 6 or so squadrons of 5 ships. That is 30 models per player per side. This does not get up to the hundreds of the big battles but should allow smaller engagements to be done 1:1. I was therefore surprised that the scenarios given reduce the real ship totals to 1/3 to 1/12 of the original number of vessels. Is this stating from the outset  that the rules cannot support a true refight ? or, maybe trying to say a scaled-down and cheaper refight is possible with these rules.

The battle rules themselves group 5 lesser ships or 1 larger -'6's or greater - as a unit. Simple ship records must be kept but it is not beyond the wit of an average player to use a marker system - hopefully better than the horrendous 'gem' markers the author suggests. I find these make my eyes bleed, in the context of an historical miniatures game with decent terrain, only slightly less than the Liquorice All-Sorts on pylons used by Olicana Lad in his games.

Without going into detail, the rules are straight-forward, use a D6 and ship status comprises 'oar banks', 'hull damage' and marines on board. The alignment of a ramming attack within certain arcs allows a retaliatory ram or possibility of hitting oar banks or not. Ships must grapple before attempting a boarding attack. Combat is quick and bloody. Dead ships vanish to keep the battle area clear unless you want to use the optional 'debris' rule.

Control is exercise by 'command distances' and split units are to be avoided. Admirals can add their own special strategems and abilities to a fleet.

I am a fan of manouvere in galley warfare. At this scale it is limited. In these rules it is basic. Movement is by pivoting on the ship's centre. All ships turn at the same rate. Surprisingly, the fastest ship is a 'fast' quadrireme. Ships from a 'Light Galley' to the astronomical 'Forty' are catered-for. Diekplous and Periplous are commented-on as possible tactics but there are no special rules to help implement them. Better ships have more movement distance.

Harpax, corvii, artillery and Rhodian fire pots are all here, the only things I noted as wanting were Athenian 'dolphins' and fire as a weapon for Non-Rhodians.

I will have a few battles with the rules and report them here too. This scale is not for me due to the fact I feel it neither allows representation of marines and crews and ship manouvering nor the large numbers of ships to refight ancient battles.

A major negative point for me was the strange promise given in the blurb. Who writes these ?
It do say ' the rules use an integrated turn system to allow a commander to position ships to go in to ram without being rammed in return, or to employ feints and traps to tempt the enemy out of position and leave his ships vulnerable to a follow-up strike.'  It turns-out that the 'integrated turn system' is an I-Go-You-Go with priority decided by a dice-throw. The other stuff is nowhere to be seen. It may lie 'between the lines' or be revealed in play but this seems to be hype of the oddest kind.

The proof of the rules lies in the sinking of enemy ships, so that is what I will attempt tomorrow..

At this point I would say the rules seem workmanlike and do not try to confuse the issue of a naval set-to with too many bells and whistles. All to the good. In addition, the book provides the nice feature of setting tabletop scraps in context.

Poseidon's Warriors turn up in the postbox

After a month and 5 days - a record for Fishy Eagle - I got to see Poseidon's Warriors, John Lambshead's galley wargame rules. I will do a precis and review shortly.

Some of the delay may be explained by the fact that the book came from Hungary ? WT? Maybe globalisation creates this kind of economic wierdness. Osprey claimed the delay could be beacuse of customs problems - between Hungary and Denmark ? God help us when UKexit actually happens and the costs and delays of real customs kicks-in.

N-Gauge Fleet Review

After some overtime in the forests  of Thracia and the shipyards of Piræus the Athenian trieres Fleet puts to sea for a test-cruise.

6 triereis with deck crew

 

Epibatai and command are Magister Militum 10mm hoplites

Bridge-decked and Full-decked triereis

Steaming along..the rowers that is..phew!

Narrrowly avoiding the edge of the world..

10mm hoplites at sea. These photos not the best but I'll put better ones up soon.

  One-to-one deck crew and N-gauge ships seems to be a good combination.
I was pleasantly surprised at how nice 10mm figures are. 6mm are another thing altogether which I have tried but dropped in favour of card units- 10mm are quick to paint and look very nice. There are just four colours on these figures and an ink wash.

The ships are made of paper, card, polystrene, glue and elbow-grease. Oh, and pins. Lots of pins.

Poseidon's Warriors

I ordered Poseidon's Warriors, the new wargame title from Osprey. Not much info in the blurb and cannot find much on the web. I have ordered anyway but have no idea what scale the rules are for but they cover 480bc to 31bc. I wait to read why these specific dates. The book should   be colour illustrated by Sr.Rava who had an exchange with me previously on my views of his illustrations...

 I will write something on the book when I get it which cannot be before 16/6 according to Fishy Eagle but others seem to have theirs already ?