OGAM
Pre-Trojan War Achaean Greece
I
had been using the normal list Greeks and simply changing the names.
I felt some time ago that it was time to move on. Using Bronze Age
heroes with Hoplites is a bit like having the SAS led by Kitchener.
Here
is my series of posts on the Bronze Age, but now condensed into two
articles.
The Historical bit.
A heroic age. Achaeans bright with gold and bronze. An archaic
age where a hero must do what a hero must do, namely insert weapon A
into target B. Minoan Crete dominated the world but left a lot of it
to the wild things. Often refered to as Arcadia, where the more
animalistic mortals and demigods were to be found. Gods did what they
wanted.
Gift giving was the
rule amongst nobles, but this never transcended class boundaries. Now
I think in Medieval feudal terms and had considered that any spare
armour would “filter down” to other ranks. We know that armour
and chariots, infantry weapons were held in the royal store and would
be issued at need to those obliged to use them. The gift of the kit
was repaid by the gift of service to the city, clan or individual
ruler. The troops expected to be fed, watered and housed.
The was no market
economy in the Achaean world, although the Hittite influenced Trojans
might have, and everyone had experience of the Phonetician traders.
Barter with a fair exchange was the common.
Heroes, when they
killed an opponent stripped them of their armour. These trophies were
the evidence of the status of the slain, as was a Medieval Samurai's
taking of a head. This takes time and major tugging matches often
developed over the body. So what
happened when an ordinary soldier killed an opponent? Did those
spoils go into a central pool or, as a sign of his prowess was he
allowed to keep the kit? It seems that during raids loot was shared
with the leader taking a large and a normal share. So this may have
been the way. More aggressive and experienced soldiers would receive
a better helmet or some armour, the old kit would be returned to the
pile and then given out to someone else.
I
would suggest that the idea of a tower-shield wall simply
doesn't hold water. There wasn't the standardisation of shield design
despite the central distribution system. Yet the boar tusk helmet and
sword-in-a-baldric was almost universal. Did they represent citizen
status? To my mind individuals claiming their kill, or protecting
their dead mates, stripping the body and probably retiring with the
loot. Better armour and helmet would probably be put on immediately
the same as their “betters” did. This is supported by the rather
loose order these troops are shown in, everyone acting in unison, but
looking out for their advantage.
Once you start to
delve, the difference in cultures is quite starting. The Achaeans are
on the “rabid barbarian” end of the spectrum. If you saw some of
their ships, unlike the ever-so-fluffy-Vikings, there was no excuse
of trading. Just raiding. In a nutshell – Achaeans took female
slaves only, killing any men and boys. Hittites took whole
townloads, marched the surviving population to another city (often
hundreds of miles away) so let hardship weed out the population.
Egyptians traded but everything was owned by the Pharoah, so there
was no need for slaves as the bulk of the population owned/worked for
the ruler.
The
wargaming bit.
The following is based
on my usage and the new OGAM supplement for the Celts plus Song of
Spear and Shield. (see my SOSH posts for our chariots series).
If you like OGAM,
you'll love it, regardless of your interest in Celts. Buy it!
These early city-states
are the period of Legends The Minotaur, Medusae, Pegasus, Hydra,
Nemean lion, Herakles, Perseus, Theseus, Orpheus, Ballerophon and
Hyppolyte.
Legendary
heroes. I use both Armoured and Mounted to represent heroes in or
around chariots. I suggest adding the Greedy trait to these and the
named human Legends to represent armour-stripping.
Now
we come to the chariot hero. Different from the Celtic chariot,
heavier with an armoured hero and crew side-by-side as opposed to
front & back. Costs as normal, plus Long move and armoured. In
the turn the outer part of the chariot moves at Medium, and must move
at Medium or Slow in rough ground. A chariot is moving at a set move
distance at the end of movement, not stationary.
Gets
free disengage and a +1 height advantage against infantry.
Shock
of Impact (my rule) hero adds speed in Long only (+1,2,3) in
melee as all the weight and momentum of the chariot is transferred to
the spear point, as with a medieval lance.
Hammering
blow can be used by a chariot hero, representing strength and/or
extra big spear.
Dashing
represents the more seasoned, experienced or better trained hero and
charioteer.
Combat
Master for the real killing machine-
Bad
Form. Killing of horses or charioteers by a hero is bad form.
The hero's Q score is dropped by one for the rest of the game. This
does not apply to undead or monster-legends.
The chariot has 4
aspects, an attack must contact the most obvious:
Front,
if contacting the horses they count as Q4 C2 with a -2 in combat.
Left,
the hero's side, any attacks are against him or her.
Right,
the charioteers side, Q4 C1. The hero may use the spear but gains no
plus.
Rear,
either passenger, again the hero get no plus.
Shooting at
chariots:
From
front-1, side, 0, rear +1
Roll
D6 0-3 horse hit, 4 charioteer, 5,6 hero.
Effect
Charioteer
killed, hero can take reins and make moves as normal, but cannot use
shock of impact, dashing or height advantages.
Horses
killed, the chariot is removed from play and the hero is catapulted 1
move distance in the direction of travel. If he lands on or in an
enemy unit its an attack, (I'd include shock of impact!) if not count
as prone!
Hero
killed, the chariot is either removed or retires on the charioteers
Q. Any hero with Greedy must stop to strip the body.
That's
pimped their ride, now it's time to bring them to life!
Legendary
Boast (mine differs from the Celtic original – how? Buy the book!)
8 points
Within
3 turns I will slay (named enemy) legend costing more points. The
Legend cannot be in or engage in another fight & target not
reduced Q or C.
For
3 turns the hero will inflict at least 1casualty to opponents force
of any tier.
You
shall not pass! For 3 turns. Hero must be dismounted and in contact
with 1 or more CO units who gain Steadfast as long as they stay in
contact. At the end of the turn the whole group and any OO in
contact may advance 1 short IF not in contact. I'm thinking a (the)
Rock version of Herakles, Ajax or Odysseus here.
If
the Legend succeeds they become inspiring. All mortals within 1
Medium gets +1to Q for activation and morale.
Failure reduces the heroes Q by 1 - embarrassment mode.
A
few heroes may have striven from the ranks of their followers on
foot, like a proto Ajax or Odysseus. Likewise I can see no reason
why the Minotaur, Perseus, Theseus, Ballerophon or Hyppolyte could
not be chariot mounted.
Now the mortals:
Non-heroic,
heroic charioteers. These are near identical to the above. In 15mm
I use two on a CD, use one 28mm. The CD represents the dashing,
maneuvering style of movement.
Q4,
C3, Armoured, Dashing Greedy, Long move, Mounted (23+5+4-3+8+7) = 44
Rare (4)
Royal
bodyguard Q4, C3, Armoured, Greedy, Steadfast (CO) (23-3+5+3) = 28
Rare (4) These are dendle armed dismounted heroes or veterans, add
javelin Shooter (short) for 3.
Spearmen
wore next-to-nothing and a tower shield.
Early
tower shield spear (CO) Q4 C2, Greedy (15-3) = 12.
Early
tower shield javelin (CO) Q4 C2 Greedy, Shooter (short) (15-3+3) =15
Selected
bands led by Legends (ie Odysseus) can add Steadfast +2.
Raw
recruits, rear rank or just fed up (CO) Q4, C1 = 8
Shooters
and javelin skirmishers, Maenads, undead, etc. as per list.
Amazons
would be the same, as they may have followed their historical sisters
habit of head hunting.
Animals, the
booklet gives a good range that I list here:
Boars (OO) Q4 C2 Long
move, animal, forester. @ 23
Cattle or Wild horses
(OO) Q4 C2 Long move, animal. @ 21
Wolves or Warhounds
(OO) Q4 C2 animal, forester @ 15
Sudanese
or similar mercenaries as shown in the famous Cretan fresco. They
must have provided something not available in the local population.
Q4,C2,
shielded javelins (CO/OO) Dashing, Shooter (Short) (15+4+3) = 22
Mercenary
archers (CO/OO) Q4, C2, Shooter (Medium) Good Shot (15+5+3) =23
Now
to test! One of Homers poems tells of a Cattle raid by Hermes on
Apollo's cattle. This fits nicely with one of the Celtic scenarios,
so I'm going with that. Watch this space!
https://periklisdeligiannis.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/the-figure-of-eight-shield-and-other-shield-types-of-the-bronze-age-aegean-part-ii/
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