Corinthians V Commagene

The Pitch: A coastal town at the far end (defended by the Commagene army) on a headland between
two rivers and some marshy and rough ground. There was some urban development beyond the
bypass along with a small fort. The ground then opened up into a plain with the attacker’s (Corinthians)
fort at the near end with its rear protected by steep hills.

The Teams: Both sides numbered about 5,500 with their cores being low quality close order infantry.
The Commagene phalangites had better armour than the Corinthian hoplites and also the Commagene
force had a stronger cavalry contingent.
Corinthians Commagene
200 Good Hoplites (Strategos’ Guard) 1,600 Militia Phalangites
1,800 Militia Hoplites 1,600 Raw Phalangites
1,800 Raw Hoplites 300 Militia Peltasts
150 Aristocratic Peltasts 900 Pressed Archers
150 Trained Peltasts 300 Guard Cavalry (King’s Escort)
600 Volunteer Peltasts 300 Militia Cavalry
400 Foot Skirmishers 200 Aristocratic Cataphracts
150 Volunteer Cavalry 300 Horse Archers
200 Light Cavalry
The Tactics: The Commagene King had his troops spread throughout the town with the fort manned
by the peltasts and his horse
archers billeted in the
outlying villages. His plan was
to use his phalangites to hold
the main road into town
whilst he led his cavalry
round to join the horse
archers and fall on the enemy
flank. The levy archers were
to make their way through
the rough ground (hexes
closest to camera in this
photograph) and support the
phalanx. Once the phalanx
commander could see both
archers and cavalry in
position he should advance and attack.

The Corinthian Strategos planned to lead his

army down the main road into town. He
would form the centre with his two other
hoplite divisions on either side. His lighter
troops and cavalry would sweep out to the
right, clear the outlying villages and attack
the town from that front. He left 100
slingers to guard his camp.

The Battle: The first stages went very quickly as

both sides sought to deploy their troops from their
starting positions.

The Commagene King rode through town

mobilising his phalangites, whilst the levy archers
stumbled around the back lots towards their
allotted position.

Meanwhile the Corinthians deployed from their

camp. However, their order of march caused a
problem as the Strategos soon found that his
right flank divisions – the last to leave their
camp - were struggling to take up their
positions (see top left in photo to the right)
leaving that side exposed. So he called a halt
giving them time to catch up but it also gave
the Commagene cavalry time to reach the
gap between the village settlements and for
the phalangites to seize the road junction.

Unwilling to face the phalangites head on

whilst there was the potential for the
peltasts in the fort to assist, the Strategos realigned his attack so that his own division could assault
the fort and then
combine with his left
flank hoplites to gang
up on the phalangites.
He hoped the two
right flank divisions
would be sufficient to
prevent any
involvement from the
Commagene cavalry.

His division (peltasts

in the lead) duly
attacked and won
control of the fort, but
the phalangite
commander had
spotted his King
emerging from the villages and so attacked the left flank Corinthians. Supported by missile fire from
the archers loitering the wood and despite high losses, the phalangites soon gained the upper hand
and had their opposition retreating.

On the other flank, the eagerness of

the Corinthian light troops led to their
downfall as they came too close to the
cavalry and were soon caught in melee
and wiped out (see photo on the left -
the cavalry don’t have much left in the
way of opposition).

In an attempt to re-gain some

initiative, the Corinthian Strategos led
his division out of the fort to attack the
second phalangite block, whilst his
remaining hoplites closed up to cover
his back.

But again, the phalangites fought well (a

couple of good die rolls) and with better
armour and bigger units they weathered the
Corinthian attack, cut down the Strategos
and sent the remaining hoplites retreating
down the other road out of town with the
archers shooting after them.

This left the Corinthians with one division –

consisting of their raw hoplites – to face most
of the Commagene army. Their morale
started to slump as all they could see were
friends running away and the enemy
advancing towards them (see photo above). As the Commagene King gathered his troops, the
Corinthian retreat turned into a complete rout and the town was safe. Hurrah!

The Conclusions: The Commagene King probably had the better tactics, but the Corinthian Strategos
could have played a stronger hand and might have been better off either changing direction and trying
to focus on taking out the Commagene cavalry first or continuing to advance with his two lead divisions
to gang up on the first phalangite unit and ignore the fort. The phalangites put up better resistance
than expected and I put this down to their better defensive armour and bigger unit sizes enabling
them to soak up more punishment than their oppositon. Whether the characteristics of the two
commanders played a role, I’m not sure yet but it is likely that the “royal” and stronger leadership
rating for the Commagene King enabled him to inspire his troops more than the “appointed” Strategos
who also had a “weak” leadership rating.

The Postscript: As this battle ran its course very quickly and I still had some play time left, I decided to
go for the second leg with the Corinthians at home this time. So the terrain and armies were the same
but their roles switched.

Briefly: The Commagene King planned to make best use of the open plain and led off with his
phalangites. These had orders to form up
and halt until his cavalry was on the right
and the archers one the left (as they are
seen doing in the photo on the left). They
could then advance in line.

The Corinthian Strategos planned to

assemble his hoplites along the road, draw
the opposition in and pepper their right
flank with missiles from his peltasts and
light troops before crunch time. However
he suffered delays in trying to mobilise
and then assemble his fighting divisions. In
the photo you can see half the Corinthian
hoplites on the road below the red rock whilst the other half are still on their way in town. Not only
did this delay enable the Commagene army to form up but it gave their horse archers the opportunity
to pick off the straggling and dispersed Corinthian skirmishers as they tried to join the hoplites.

So again, the Corinthian Strategos changed his

tactics and ordered his two best hoplite
divisions to attack the phalangites, whilst his
worst division waited in the hope of preventing
any further advance by the Commagene
cavalry. Whilst the Strategos’ own division
successfully recoiled the worst of the two
phalangite units, the other hoplite division was
less successful and after a few brutal rounds
was moving backwards.

The Commagene foot archers stepped up, shot

down the Corinthian Strategos and then
charged causing what was left of those
hoplites to break.
Having been peppered by the horse archers and seeing their colleagues in retreat, the remaining
hoplite division broke too and were swiftly accompanied by the volunteer peltasts who vacated the
fort and joined in the
overall rout.

This left, as shown in the

photo on the left, the
Commagene King
poised to enter the now
defenceless town.

Again the result seemed

to hinge on the ability of
the phalangites to out
fight the hoplites and
the lack of ability of the
Corinthian light troops
to anything more than
die or run away.