ADLG Marius' Romans vs Mithridates

 

In 2026, I'm going to try for more regular ADLG games. Its a system of rules I like very much, although I can't say I understand all the movement nuances. I had prepared to play my Gallic army but, on request from a friend, I switched to Mithridatic. This is a list that I enjoy playing and I think I'm close to determining the list I prefer. I was up against Ian and his Romans. 

The Romans in question were led by Marius - a strategist - and were a very small force. To be honest, I think Ian may have stuffed up his points somehow as even the image above shows a very small force. But, he did have many costly options .... legionaries, elite cavalry, 4 light horse, heavy artillery and an fortified camp. 

I didn't have many expensive options. Above you can see my main battle line consisting of mediocre pike and imitation legionaries. 

These are the real legionaries. On the top left you can see Ian's heavy artillery which he promptly advanced past and masked its field of fire for the whole game. This was just one of a series of command mistakes that the Romans made. I don't know what one earth Marius was thinking. 

Marius had failed to protect either flank of his expensive front line. He even had troops in a partial second line seemingly waiting to be outflanked. Above shows my heavy cavalry wing - Sarmatians and Greek cavalry (one elite) plus LC javelin support. These troops would monster the opposing Roman cavalry that was totally inadequate for the task. The entire Roman command would be lost. 

On the other wing, my left consisted of a mass of archers, javelin men and two bases of Thracians with 2HW ... oh, and some gallic heavy foot. 

The Romans threw forward their light cavalry. I didn't have any cavalry to oppose by enough foot to counter and flank this force. 

My scythed chariots were winding up and were protected by enough light foot with javelin to drive away any threats. 

My left wing drove back the light cavalry then began to turn inwards on the very small Roman force. Being elite is good .... but leaves your force numbers low. 

The Romans were marching right down the middle at top speed. They were playing directly into Mithridate's hands. That second line I'd mentioned was struggling to get out from behind the legionaries but this was slow going. My javelin light foot had driven off the Roman lights. 

My cavalry smashed into the Romans. The Sarmatian impact had a direct ... impact ... and my elite Greeks won their fight too. My light cavalry chased their opposition right off the table - you see see this in the top right. I think Marius wanted to hide behind that dice container. 

I also had two bases of heavy spear advancing to support cavalry or hit the Roman line too. 

Those chariots are getting closer ... 

On the other side, the Romans just charge straight into the Gallic foot. The Roman lights had placed a point of disruption on the Gauls previously and this saved the Roman cavalry ... at first.  But now, the Romans were pinned, in a fight they would not win, and were set to be flanked by Thracians with two handed weapons. Again, Marius had blundered. 

Above, the Roman left flank was also evaporating. Marius had lost the fight on both flanks. 

The Romans just tromped ahead but in piecemeal fashion. Some fought the scythed chariots - who had done horrible damage to the legionaries - and heavy spear. Other Romans advanced into my main foot line. But, it was only three legionary based against 6 of mine. 

The Romans were all but destroyed on their right ... by this stage, but their sub-commanders had died. 

The Roman left was a nightmare for them. You can see a lone base of legionaries against heavy cavalry and heavy spear. None of my troops were disrupted and even a scythed chariot remained. 

My light cavalry had even chased down the Roman light foot completely behind the Roman battle line. Marius was in a total pickle as he had lost both flanks and several central fights and completely disjointed his own line. I have no idea what his plan was on this particular day ... but it should never be spoken of again. 

Mithridates humbled Rome. I think the points were something like 19 to 5. I have lost one scythed chariot and suffered 3-4 disruptions across the field. Rome had been crushed due to terrible tactics - just advance down the middle and ignore the movements of the enemy. 

I don't really know what else to write. I guess I just need to make the final decisions on army composition. Maybe some medium spear instead of javelin or reduce the archers by one and substitute medium spear??? Not too sure. 

ADLG - Achaemenid Persians 15mm

My project for the last six months (a WILD guess on time) is nearing completion. As usual with any project, I set up and take photo's as I can't wait the final few days for the last couple of bases. 

My love of the ancient world surges forth from time to time while usually just bubbling along beneath. I teach Persepolis at work, have read Herodotus over many years and recently gobbled up Lloyd Llwellyn-Jones book on the Great Kings. All this made me enthusiastic to paint Achaemenid Persians. In wargaming terms, these are an interesting choice as they're a bow army in a period with few all shooting forces. I also had many bases in my Diadochoi armies that would slot in - saving some painting. A friend of mine, Ian, is has committed to painting hoplites too adding a historical opponent. 

Above is one cavalry wing. I have 8 bases of heavy cavalry and 4 of medium cavalry. If I put all on, I can make up a decent Late Achaemenid list too. I painted various coloured Persian 'bonnets' to mark some as elite, ordinary and mediocre if needed. 

Next are my immortals. I think I will change the basing to get 8 per 40x40 mm base. This will reduce to only 3 units but they are expensive in terms of ADLG points and, as elites, shouldn't be too numerous - despite Herodotus' idea of 10, 000. 

Next the colourful Sparabara. These have spear in front rank and bow in the second. I decided to paint in different colours to mark units from among the 23 (or more) subject peoples of the empire - as listed on the Behinstun Monument. Reliefs carvings about Persepolis also emphasise the cultural differences which could be represented by bright colour changes. Not a true uniform but I tried to use a simple colour scheme with some variation to represent different groups within an army.  

Next the Bactrian elite LC. These are xyston while most of the army is Forged in Battle. This creates some size differences but this is unavoidable due to not needing the larger number of miniatures that come in the Forged in Battle boxes for all units. One xyston pack here was enough. 

A already had scythed chariots for my Mithridatic army so ... 

Behind the chariots are some assorted units ... two of mercenary Greek peltasts and two of assorted Persian bowmen. Just some cheap units to flesh out the line. I intend to pick lots of miniatures - especially in my Later Achaemenid force - and just see what happens. (I'll lose, I imagine.)

The other cavalry wing. More of the same but I failed to mention my 4 bases of javelin LC. These represent arachosians or paphlagonians or something similar. Plenty of such troops for the Persian king or satraps to draw from. 

Behind the front sparabara line - all used in an Early Achaemenid force - stand my heavy options. I recently painted the Apple-Bearers on the end of the line but the 4 units of hoplites come from my Macedonian army. May need 4 more one day if I ever put both forces on the table. 

And lo! The Great King, the King of Kings, the King of Anshan, the ... I had great fun painting this miniature chariot. Lots of bright colours. I was well into the painting before I remembered the Alexander mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. Could have used that colour scheme. Oh well, I imagine if little Tutankhamun can have 4 or more chariots the Great King can have as many different ones as he pleases. 

In the background - no, not the house - are one of two lines of light foot - 4 bowmen and 4 javelinmen. These give further options for skulduggery from the scrub or screening the scythed chariots. 

Oh, I forgot to put an elephant in the photo's too - I've got two that will do - but only need one. 

The view I'll get most games. Funny, you rarely see the front of your army ... and this is frequently the best modelling, painted and decal-ridden part. The above looks suitably colourful but will never be on the field together as those troops were not found in the same period armies. 

One eastern satrap urging on the cavalry. 

Back to those heavy cavalry. I really hope their numbers and mobility will win many fights on the wings. 

Hand painted Apple-Bearer shields. I found I could do an eagle - despite not being particularly prominent in Persian art. The more common lions or fantastic creatures were beyond my ability with the brush. Although, Ahrua-Mazada does have splendid eagle wings while hovering above the king. 

Ah, King of Kings ... no more running away like Issus please. 

Again, my hand painted shields - this time on my Immortals. I did like this design - taken from a border in a Persian palace. 

This Immortal shield design was inspired by the 'evil eye' charms so prevalent in the Middle-East. 

I purchased some turquoise paint (or emerald I think is on the bottle) just because it looked nice. I finally found a use for it. To my mind this suits Persia as their massive empire had access to many different colours from the purples of Tyre to the blue stones in Afghanistan. Again, I have no direct archaeological reference but its within plausibility (and it looks good.) 

And there we go ... only 2 bases of kardakes (or Later Achaemenid medium swordsmen infantry) and my single base of satrapal cavalry elite guards - to be complete. These are being painted now. 

Combined, this gives me a hugely varied army that should be fun to play. Will they be effective? Well, the Madaxeman just got quite a few wins with the Early Achaemenid ... but he can actually play ADLG. Not sure I'll do the same - but my army will look GREAT even when I lose! 

 

Sword and Spear Ancients 15mm

This Thursday evening saw a 400 point game of Sword and Spear with Early Imperial Roman against the forces of the Pontic King - Mithridates. Rob returned to the earlier Roman list after trialing a later list with large units of impact troops which didn't match his expectations. 

The Romans above with their fortified camp. They decided to drop a sub-general hoping that the camp would keep troops in command. The Romans are always wary of being flanked and like to pay a defensive game. 

Mithridates can be seen behind two units of pike. These are discipline 5 units and can be hard to motivate to move, charge and they just don't rally. But they are still pike and with 6 hits don't moev too easily. 

I was trying my scythed chariots for the first time in this battle. I think they look great but would prefer to have another unit of light cavalry or peltasts for the points. 

The Temple of Apollo stands in the background and before it the Pontic left wing. Heavy cavalry backed up with thracian foot and javelinmen. These would try to turn the Roman right. (Sword and Spear is usually always decided on the flanks.) 

The early turns saw the Pontic plan materialise. Don't fight the strong Roman centre and work around both sides. My imitation legionaries would try to hold the hill while any bonus dice would drive the scythed chariots into the Roman horse. 

Mithridates struggled to get the pike block moving. They weren't too keen to go forward at the Romans in any case. I hoped I could decide the battle elsewhere before most of the Roman legion could march into contact. 

The Romans decide to storm the hill ... a little sooner than I hoped. 

Those pesky auxilia on the far right had moved into a position which prevent my chariots from smashing into the horse. But, in turn, the horse would have to charge my heavy foot ... then my chariots would thunder in ... what a plan!

Wait for it ... 

Blast and bugger ... the Roman horse charged and annihilated the imitation legionaries in a single combat then pursued through ripping apart my chariots before coming to rest on my second line - the Thracians. This medium foot unit bought this monumental charge to a halt inflicting two hits on the horse. There was now a gap in my line. But now Tyche - who had smiled so favourably upon the Romans with this charge deserted them ... from here onwards in the battle they would struggle for good activation and combat dice. 

This photo should have been just before ... you can see the gap created by the Roman cavalry as they race onto the hill ... their pursuit will have them impact into the Thracians in seconds. 

Here is cavalry versus medium foot. In the background my cavalry has charged into the auxilia on the end of the line. Another Pontic horse unit is moving around the flank. In the distance are two dead cohorts ... I'll describe the fight in the centre soon.

The centre saw two Roman units assault the remaining imitation legion manning the hill. This was the first sign that Fortuna had turned her back on the Romans. Two cohorts charged and both recieved three hits for their trouble. When Mithridates goaded a pike unit into charging the Roman cohorts their final hit was taken. Now the Roman flank was in danger. 

This is quite simply going to hurt ... the Roman line was being rolled up. 

One Roman cavalry unit against 4 Pontic units ... it didn't last long. Six Roman units had routed from their Right flank. The battle was drawing to a close. 

The Pontic right flank executed the plan very well. They were deployed far out in a position to ride around the Romans and threaten their camp. The Roman general committed three units to try and prevent this and it also delayed the advance of several other cohorts who were wary of exposing their flank if the Sarmatians turn back into the fray rather than continue to flank the Romans. 

This is what they did and their ferocious fighting qualities soon won over the Romans whom the dice gods had cursed. 

And thus it ended ... a steadfast cohort was caught in the rear by Sarmatians and flanked by more imitation legionaries. In the rear can be seen two Roman units who were simply left in the dust after trying to guard the camp against a more mobile enemy strike force. 

The Romans were decisively defeated. Pontic losses consisted of one pike block and one imitation legionary unit. The cavalry advantage of the Pontic army is hard for the Romans to deal with ... especially if deploying in the centre of the table. Trying to defend the fortified camp was also probably a flaw as the additional cohorts could have decided the contest in the centre. There was only a one unit advantage for the Pontic force over the Romans but both their flanks were turned. After an early incredible charge things did not go the way of the Romans. A comely goat should be sacrificed to Fortuna at once. Mithridates and his Pontic force will rejoice at humbling the greatest empire in the world ... the last heir of Alexander has triumphed. Rematch in a fortnight.