How to play Field of Glory AND a battle report!

I once tried to do a guide to playing FOG but found it difficult to illustrate each section of the battle process.

But as we were setting up for a battle last night it struck me that the best way to show how to play FOG is to show a battle from start to finish.

So here it is.  We used the army lists from Immortal Fire.  Ian and myself were the Greek hoplite army and Mark and Russ took on the Late Persians.

Initiative
Both armies had Troop Commanders as their generals so we both rolled a d6 with no modifier (an Inspired commander like Hannibal would add +2 to the roll).  The Persians rolled 5, the Greeks 6 so we won the initiative.

Rolling for Terrain
As we won the initiative we got to choose the terrain.  We went for Agricultural so we could limit the impact of the Persian cavalry.

Referring to the army lists (Persians).

We chose vineyards, plantations and enclosed fields for this purpose (which would slow any except light foot) and aimed to have these on the flanks of the army.  Terrain deployment is random (using d6 to see where to compulsory and selected pieces actually end up - and the opposition have the opportunity to move or remove the pieces depending on the dice roll).

For our scenery, one piece was removed (a lucky 6 on the dice) and the Persians managed to get some open spaces on their left flank and a road down the middle (which no-one used!).  The keys to the battle can be seen below - the gentle hill and vineyard on the left of the battlefield which proved crucial.

The battlefield after deployment.

Initial setup
As the Persians lost the initiative they had to place the first third of their army on the field (light troops no more than 15 inches from their back edge, mediums and heavy troops no more than 10 inches from the rear edge).  This gave the Greeks an edge as we could align our troops more effectively and plan better for their approach to the battle.  This also led to the Persians placing their cavalry at the rear so they could choose the flank which they could attack from.

So we both laid out our thirds of armies in turn.  As the Greek army is made up of three contingents (Spartans, Corinthians and Athenians) we set up each contingent in turn.

The Persians had an advantage here.  The Greek generals had to stay with their own troops and could not influence other contingents.  Persian generals could be moved freely from unit to unit and could influence any Persian unit.  As use of generals is crucial for playing FOG, this did give the Persians a slight edge.

Persian setup.  Light troops at the front, spears in the middle , cavalry (unusually) at the rear.  

Greek setup.  A long line of hoplites, no cavalry and three lots of light troops in front.

Opening moves
As with any battle, you need a plan (preferably before or during setup based on your army's strengths and weaknesses - and of course your opponents strengths and weaknesses).  You need to see where your troops Points of Advantage (POA's) will count against your opponents.  In our case, the best troops we had were our Spartan Citizens - we had to get them in against their spears

Our main fear was the massed (and meaty) Persian cavalry so we'd decided to put the Corinthians on the left to protect that flank while the Athenians were to hold the right.  Apart from at Impact cavalry don't do well against spears so (unless they were swamped) we hoped that our long line would restrict their freedom of movement (as we had nothing that could chase cavalry around should they get behind us).

This would leave our Superior, Armoured Spartans to contest the middle with the less well armed Persian spears and mercenary hoplites.

The other problem we had was that heavy foot only move at 3" which means they take a long time to get anywhere.  To combat this we had the skirmishers go out in front and attached commanders to each battle line to allow the hoplites to move twice each turn (as they were outside of 6" range of the opposition).  This meant we could close to the Persians hopefully before the cavalry could emerge from the rear of their ranks).

As we'd won the initiative, the Greeks moved forward in lines - the Corinthians aiming to crest the gentle hill and take ownership of the vineyard mentioned above with the light troops and holding the flank with their hoplites.

In return, the Persian skirmishers and spears moved forward and the Persian cavalry decided to move to their right flank.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  They first had to turn as individual Battle Groups (BG's), then create a battle line to allow them to move as a group.  The Persians had the same idea as us and attached a general to allow double movement as they too were outside 6" of our troops).

The Persians get their cavalry on the move.

The Greeks continued to move forward in order to close the gap to the Persian line with double moves.  We also closed the gap between our skirmisher BG's (Spartan and Athenian) so they could provide mutual support.

A point to note here - the Greek skirmishers (apart from the Athenian archers) were in BG's of 8 bases compared to the Persian BG's of 6 bases.  When shooting at each other, the Greeks had a major advantage as they got more shooting dice than the Persians and were harder to reduce in cohesion levels.  The Greeks only need 2 hits from 4 dice to force a test - the Persians need 3 hits from 3 dice to do the same.  

The Corinthians on the far side get in position to rush the vineyard  as the rest of the Greeks push forward.

The Persian cavalry move did mean that a large proportion of their army was going to be out of the battle for a bit - all the more incentive to get the Spartans and Athenians stuck in (the Athenians being free to attack as the Persian cavalry was clearly going to the other flank).  This meant that potentially we could get 7-8 BG of hoplites into just 3BG of Persian spears and hoplites.  Getting more BG's than your opponent into the battle gives a crucial advantage - more dice for melee and any hits against you are spread across multiple BG's.  This means you are much more likely to win a melee, force cohesion tests and kill bases.

Mark tries to get out of Dodge as he sees the massed Greeks making  straight for him as the
Persian Light horse enter the vineyard.

Seeing the huge mass of hoplites coming his way he decided to try to refuse his flank and bend the line away from them.  Not as easy as it sounds.  All he could do was turn the line 180 degrees and wheel away (leaving his skirmishers to screen them as they did),

Russ meanwhile moved his light horse into the vineyard to deny it to the Corinthian skirmishers.  But by doing so they became Severely Disordered (putting them at a huge disadvantage should any combat take place).  Any troops except for Light Foot suffer in most terrain - especially those making going difficult - like a vineyard.

In the subsequent turn, the first combat takes place.  The Athenian archers get a couple of hits on the Persian slingers and as the nearest general is a Troop Commander, attached to the battle line and over 4" away he can't influence their cohesion test - which they fail and go Disrupted.  This makes them a prime target for charging as any BG in combat with them fights at an advantage.  This is the way to use skirmishers - get hits to lower cohesion then charge the disrupted unit.

Disrupted slingers - and the Greek skirmishers get ready to charge.

Both Athenian archers and Spartan javelinmen are allowed to charge the Persian slingers - and do so.  The slingers evade (throwing a 6 for their Complex Move Test) and so evading 7".   As this takes them into the Persian line they are allowed a further 2" to get clear and line up behind the mercenary hoplites.  The charging skirmishers also have to make a CMT move.  The archers make a normal move but the javelins roll a 1 and only move 3" - so they fail to move far enough to impact the Persian archers on the other side.

A classic evade.  The Persian slingers end up behind their battle line and variable CMT's mean  the Greek skirmish line  is broken up.

The battle so far  - the Greeks press forward as the Persian cavalry forms a horsey-train and has to wind around the  vineyard - which means it will be a long time before they can get round the back of the Greeks.

To save the slingers, Mark attached a general to them in the Joint Action Phase with a view to bolstering them and getting them back in the fray.  This left the Persian archers on their own - and these were charged again by the Spartan javelinmen.  The archers evaded in turn - leaving the Greek skirmishers free to have a pop at the Persian line.  At the same time the Athenians were running out of room and started having to wheel to threaten the Persian line.

The Greek skirmishers can act without hindrance as the Athenians bend towards the  Persians.

On the other side of the battlefield the battle for the vineyard was ongoing.  Ian had moved his skirmishers slightly to the side which gave us the added advantage that the Persian cavalry had to go even further to get around them and also meant that as the skirmishers were within 6" of the cavalry they could not move twice this turn.  Which was nice.

Skirmishers forcing massed cavalry to swerve.

But the main action was in the centre.  The hoplites had reached the rear of their own skirmishers so we had to decide what to do with the light troops.  We could evade them out of the way or let them have another pop at the Persian line - which is what we decided to do.  The Corinthian skirmishers meanwhile - ignoring the huge block of cavalry next to them - jumped into the vineyard to attack the Severely Disordered light horse.  Outnumbering them 2:1, they had a great chance to damage them.  The Persians agreed and evaded them out - leaving the Corinthians owners of their very own vineyard.  Which meant that the cavalry still had to keep their distance to get a double move.  We could see that our battle lines were likely to converge before the cavalry got into our rear - and if we could get in quick it could all be over before they did.

Cointhians skirmishers challenge for the vineyard as their hoplites arrive at last.

The Persians also decided to move their archers back to stop the javelins having free throws at the Persian Crescent Shields by the vineyard.  They were just charged again and ran away again!

Persian archers make another brief appearance before running off...

There they go!  As do the Persian light horse.

The Athenian line was in danger of getting in the way of the Spartans so we contracted both BG's so they'd have the space to attack the Persian line.  Meanwhile the Greek skirmishers were again sending in uncontested shots - but were also preventing the Greek foot from getting stuck in.  Meanwhile the Corinthians (being undrilled foot) were finding it hard to turn one of their BG's to face the oncoming cavalry as the other ploughed on beyond the vineyard to take on the Crescent Shields.

Athenians contract BG's to get to grips 

The Greek line is now well within charge distance - but their own skirmishers are in the way.  

The skirmishers being there was enough to force tests along the Persian line to stop them charging the skirmishers.  One failed and went for the javelinmen (who promptly scarpered behind their own line) and meant that they unfortunately (for them) impacted two Greek hoplite BG's.  This was in a staggered line (as they came in at the same angle as the skirmishers they were chasing (sorry, no photo as I was so focused on the action!).  As they hit at an angle each base had to step forward 2" meaning they pretty much all impacted.

The Persians lost the impact but passed the cohesion test and the death roll.  So it got down to the melee.  Here they did less well,  Fighting two BG's - one of which was Armoured Superior Spartan Citizens - they were fighting at a -- POA (which means they needed 5 or 6 to hit while the hoplites facing them needed just 3 or more to hit.  The result was 6 to 2 in the Greeks favour - meaning that the Persians lost a base and needed a cohesion test at lots of minuses (more hits than received, more than 1 hit per 2 bases from close combat, more than 1 reason to test etc).  Mark didn't disappoint and threw a double 1 - meaning they dropped a whopping two cohesion levels and went straight to Fragmented.

The lines conform after impact.  

A lost base, Fragmented - and facing the Spartans.  Your basic Persian nightmare.

This in terms of the battle had pretty much sealed the deal - although there was still a lot of fighting to do.  But with the centre of the Persian line in disarray (as is often the case in FOG) there was little hope for the remaining Persian foot because a unit breaking will not only force cohesion tests on nearby troops but also means the possibility of being burst through by retreating troops (forcing more cohesion tests).

We also took the opportunity to charge our Corinthians into the Persian Crescent Shields.  Mark had considered charging the Spartans earlier but risked impacting two BG's again.  This way he got charged but as the Spartans were tied up with the Fragmented Persians and so couldn't break off.  So the Persians would be fighting (albeit briefly) at an advantage here as they had an overlap in any melee which would take place.

Ian also moved the skirmishers in the vineyard to threaten the Crescent Shields flank while his remaining Corinthian hoplites moved to protect the flank against the massed Persian cavalry.  They just needed to hold them up as the Spartans finished off the centre.

The Corinthians are a small army but make a huge difference.  Holding the flank against twice their number! 

The Corinthians lost the impact, made the cohesion test but lost a base.  This wasn't too bad as Ian had stacked the BG up in 3 base depth.  Offensive spears (and indeed most spear armed troops) get a bonus for being in 2 or more base depth.  Being in 3 ranks meant that they still retained the 2 base depth despite losing a base.  On the other flank the Athenians ignored the ineffectual fire from the Persian archers in front of them (much to Mark's chagrin) and continued to plough forward with the Persian hoplites at the back as their target.  The Persian cavalry moved forward around the Corinthians - but the Greeks had done the job.  The Persians only hope now was to get their cavalry into the rear of the Spartans and Athenians.  But they had a long way to go (thanks to the Corinthians) and unless the Persian line could hold the Greeks, the cavalry (unlike in the Westerns) wouldn't get there in time.

Athenians line up the mercenary hoplites as the Spartans chop up the others.

One point to note here - the mercenary hoplites were fighting at a --POA in the melee and one base fought without rear support.  As they were Fragmented as well this meant that the mercenaries lost one dice in two (rounded up) so they had 4 dice to fight the 10 dice of the Spartans and all at --POA (meaning the Spartans needed 3+ to hit, the mercenaries 5+).  And the Spartan Citizens could also re-roll 1's as they were Superior.  The Persians decided to commit their 4 dice to the centre meaning that the Average Spartans on both sides got free hits on the mercenaries.  Indeed, they had an extra addvantage over the single base (as it had no rear rank) but no POA can exceed ++.

The massed Persian cavalty - and the lone Corinthians make them go the long way around.  Ian also moved the skirmishers in the vineyard around to threaten the light horse.

The Persian hoplites crumble - another base lost in close combat.

The Persian hoplites lost another base in close combat and needed a miracle to survive.  It wasn't forthcoming and they went Broken.  This was very bad news for the Persians in general as the Spartans could now push forward to support the Corinthians to tackle the Crescent Shields as well as the Athenians against the mercenary hoplites.

Mercenary hoplites go Broken - meaning the Spartans can push through en masse.  

The Hoplites fall back Broken and the Spartans pursue but fail to catch them.  As the General  was attached to the mercenaries in an attempt to bolster them, he has to go with the Broken troops.

The Broken hoplites caused a cohesion test on the Crescent Shields (as they were within 3" of them when they broke) and failed - dropping them to Disrupted (not good as the Spartans could now charge them).  The only good thing for the Persians was that the Broken troops just failed to reach them in their rout - so they were not (yet) burst through and dropped in cohesion.

The Corinthians and Spartans start bullying the Crescent Shields.

The Spartans did indeed charge in and inflicted more hits on the Crescent Shields.  The consequence was that in the Cohesion test they needed a whopping 11 to avoid dropping to Fragmented.  So Mark through a 12!  Much celebration on the Persian side!

Voldemort celebrates his double 6.

Double six!  Mark's deal with the Devil pays dividends.

Then came the melee.  This was crucial because if the Crescent Shields could be seen off, then the Persians only had 1 BG of spears and an undefended camp against 6 BG of offensive spears.

Therefore the Persians chucked their General into the front line to raise the average Crescent Shields up to Superior.  In turn, Ian put his General in - raising the Corinthians to Superior as well.  But it was still two BG to 1 the Greeks favour.

Generals in the front rank to raise troop quality.

The danger of placing generals in the front rank is that you run the risk of losing them.  If you lose the combat   you need a 12 on 2d6 to kill the opposition general (which Mark didn't) but as we won we needed only 11+ to kill theirs.  Cue me throwing double 6 and cutting him down where he stood!

Right back at you!  Say goodbye to the general.

The Crescent Shields also lose the melee - oh dear.

Losing the melee and their general was bad news.  Although the Corinthians had lost two bases, the Spartans made the difference and were slowly overwhelming the Crescent Shields.  It was only a matter of time.  But where was the Persian cavalry?  Still trying to get around the Corinthian hoplites (as the Spartan javelinmen also moved to create another buffer between the cavalry and the main Greek line.  The Crescent Shields were making this academic though as they went Fragmented and were likely to go Broken next turn.

All over in the middle.  The Crescent Shields are now Fragmented against two BG's.  Game over man, game over!

Time caught up with us but it was clear the way this was going to end.  The last line of Persian spears now faced 7 BG of Offensive Spears and the camp was open.  There were 2 BG of skirmishers around but these were unlikely to stop the forces facing them.  The cavalry were miles away and had to negotiate a couple of BG's to get involved.  

So a solid Greek win beckoned.

Aftermath

Mark bemoaned the fact that their skirmishers were ineffective given their BG base numbers and the number of skirmishers did not reflect a typical Persian army.  However, were were working off 600 points each and the resulting forces had to reflect the make up of the armies.  Our view was that the cavalry starting from the rear meant (as happened) that they would take time to get involved.  Splitting the cavalry onto both flanks would have meant us committing more troops to the flanks and the fight in the centre would have been a lot closer.  

Mark also suggested that the light horse and skirmishers were ineffective.  To be fair, he was right with 6 base BG's against 8 base - the advantage is always with the bigger BG's.  But light horse can be very effective at tying up other cavalry and also riding around the back and capturing camps (which the Persians could have) or harrying troops with missile fire - especially against a slow army like the Greeks.

Anyway - there you have it.  Hope it makes FOG novices understand the rules a bit better.