Marathon Via Zoom part 2

[Rod]

A few action shots from Sunday's rematch with 6 players 4 on zoom and two in person.

This time the Persians shot up the Greek line as it advanced and finally broke the center. The Persian flanks were overwhelmed though and the Persian center was endanger of being surrounded.

Overall it played out very much like the original battle.

[Bill Hupp]

Did the Greek lines on the flanks that were 2 stands deep perform differently than the thinner one stand deep center? In other words, was that formation an advantage? If so, how did it impact the he battle?

Bill

[Rod]

Having the reserves on the flank made them tougher and it also made those commands bigger.

[greedo]

I haven't played yet, but am really intrigued.
Have been looking for a system that can model Hoplites vs Hoplites and Hoplites vs EAP

I did have a question:
Hoplites vs Archers
I get that Pavises are CF 3 vs Hoplites 5 (including rear support).
And I get that Archers are CF 2 vs Hoplites 4 (rear support doesn't work against Archers).

1. Does the math work out that Pavises are just *slightly* better than archers in this case? The hoplites can rear support against them. Haven't done the math yet.
2. Is there a way to represent the Immortals, or would you just use the the "Hold the line" card for each one? Is it right that I can use the purchased battle card for any Pavisier unit, or do I have to purchase them for a specific unit?
3. Really excited that Spartans and Thebans are better than regular Hoplites. Awesome. Is the extra deep Theban formation represented by this, and is effectively equal to the Spartan's hoplites?

[Rod]

The Hoplites in this battles are all Heavy Foot, so their CF is +4 and Heavy Foot do not get rear support, so they are a straight +4. Elite Foot are +5.

The Pavise have to shoot up the Hoplite line in order to break them up before contact if the Hoplites hit in a solid front they will eventually tear up the Pavise. If the Persian shooting is good enough and they break up or kill a stand or two in shooting they have a good chance. Important too, the Pavise stands are 4 points each, the heavy foot are 3 points each. This is an important factor in the balance of the game as well, the Hoplites can lose a stand or two from shooting as long as they can close ranks and hit the front of the Pavise line with some sort of solid front.

Otherwise if the Persians have any mounted on the table (none for Marathon) they have a good chance to work any unsecured flanks. Have played Marathon and many 48 point battles with the EAP and Hoplites and it is a very fun battle, close match every time.

Hold the line is intended for the Immortals only, it is a small differentiation, in a scenario like this you can make adjustments, but I would encourage people to try as is first.

The deep hoplite formation is available for certain time periods (i.e. later) also in a Spartan army only a small proportion of the army would be elite Spartiates, the rest are allied or subject hoplites. So in the EAP period there would not be more than about 1/3 of the army as Elites.

Triumph works really well for Hoplite on hoplite battles. They tend to be, as you would expect, a pushing match until something collapses. Shield wall battles tend to work this way in Triumph I like the way in models Dark Age shield wall battles as well.

I hope that answered your questions?

[greedo]

You totally did Rod, thanks! I didn’t know that the hoplites wouldn’t get rear support in this period. That makes tons of sense!
Watching the Hastings YouTube vids right now. They are great as I calculate the cvs before you say it so that I know I’m doing the calcs right.