1914 Red Sea: Game two

A Force of destroyers, led by the light cruiser HMS Swift of the Suez Flotilla, has been dispatched southwards, escorting a small convoy.  This is straight into the path of the Bülow and Hamlin.

The chart I'm using.

Battle in the deep channel of the Bab el Mandeb

The Suez Flotilla

Commander Dudley Blunderclash

HMS Swift (Fictional)
Type: Light Cruiser
Displacement: 4,000 tons
Armament: 8 x 4-inch guns,
Speed: 27 knots
Armor: 4-inch belt armor
Crew: 450
Description: A nimble light cruiser, the Swift is tasked with leading the Suez Destroyer flotilla.  Her relatively lighter armor makes her faster but vulnerable to heavier enemy fire. Equipped with wireless communications equipment for faster coordination, 

HMS Weaver
Class: River-Class
Displacement: 1,000 tons
Length: 240 ft
Armament:
2 × 4-inch naval guns
4 × 21-inch torpedo tubes (2 on each side)
Crew: 85 officers and men
Description: The Weaver is a seasoned veteran of the Royal Navy, built in 1905. It has been stationed in the Red Sea for much of its career, patrolling the Suez Canal and maintaining a presence in the Arabian Sea. With a long history of service, it has seen a number of upgrades to its engine and armament over the years, but its hull still shows signs of wear from years of exposure to the harsh desert sun. It’s well-known for its speed and agility, allowing it to slip through the narrow waters of the Suez with ease, making it a reliable scout and raider.

HMS Trent
Class: River-Class
Displacement: 950 tons
Length: 235 ft
Armament:
3 × 4-inch naval guns
3 × 21-inch torpedo tubes
Crew: 90 officers and men
Description: The Trent was commissioned in 1904 and has long been one of the Royal Navy's most reliable destroyers. Stationed primarily at the southern entrance of the Red Sea, the Trent is well-known for its robustness and ability to withstand enemy fire. It has served in various conflicts and is often deployed as an escort for merchant vessels transiting through the Suez Canal. The ship has a slightly modified stern to accommodate extra storage for provisions when stationed in the more remote areas of the Red Sea.

HMS Tees
Class: River-Class
Displacement: 1,050 tons
Length: 245 ft
Armament:
2 × 4.7-inch naval guns
4 × 21-inch torpedo tubes
Crew: 85 officers and men
Description: The Tees is known for its superior durability and its reputation for being “unsinkable” during its service in the Suez and Red Sea region. It’s often used for reconnaissance, anti-piracy operations, and as a protective screen for larger naval assets. While it may not be as fast as some newer ships, its heavily reinforced hull and improved engine make it perfect for long-range patrols and quick response to emergencies. Over the years, Tees has earned a fierce reputation as the guardian of British interests in the area.

The Flotilla, while older, has  been kept in service due to their strategic importance in the region during the early 20th century, particularly given the critical nature of the Suez Canal as a vital link between Europe and Asia. Their role in protecting British shipping lanes and countering potential threats in the Red Sea and Arabian Peninsula is crucial to the narrative of this era.

Bulöw
Scharnhorst-class armored cruiser
Displacement. 12,985 t (12,780 long tons). Length. 144.6 m (474 ft 5 in). Beam. 21.6 m (70 ft 10 in). Draft. 8.37 m (27 ft 6 in)
Installed power. 18 × water-tube boilers. 26,000 metric horsepower (19,000 kW)
Propulsion. 3 × triple-expansion steam engines.  3 × screw propellers
Speed.  22.5 knots (42 km/h; 26 mph)
Range. 4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Crew. 52 officers. 788 enlisted men
Armament. 8 × 21 cm (8.3 in) guns
6 × 15 cm (5.9 in) gun.  18 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) gun.  4 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor. Belt: 8 to 15 cm (3.1 to 5.9 in). Turrets: 17 cm (6.7 in). Deck: 3.5 to 6 cm (1.4 to 2.4 in)  Casemates: 13 cm (5.1 in)

Hamlin
Königsberg-class light cruiser
Displacement. Normal: 3,469 t  Full load: 3,902 t 
Length. 116.8 m (383 ft). Beam. 13.3 m (44 ft). Draft. 5.24 m (17.2 ft)
Installed power. 13,200 PS (9,700 kW). 11 × water-tube boilers
Propulsion. 2 × screw propellers. 2 × triple-expansion engines
Speed. 23.4 knots (43.3 km/h)
Complement. 14 Officers. 308 Enlisted men
Armament. 10 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns. 8 × 5.2 cm (2 in) SK guns. 2 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor. Deck: 80 mm (3.1 in). Conning tower: 100 mm (3.9 in)

German Admiral Maximilian Von Spittle

Kapitain Ernst Von Groüser of the Bulöw

Kapitain Pieter Pied of the Hamlin

The commerce raider Sigismund, a former liner armed with 4 inch guns.

2 colliers working under false flags

The Game

HMS Swift leads the convoy.  HMS Weaver scouts out front.

The convoy

With a liner as a troopship

Hamlin and Bluőw appear in the straits

Weaver is bracketed almost immediately 

Weaver is damaged but fires torpedoes.

The convoy turns, making smoke.

Weaver (Tees here) manages her turn making smoke.

Weaver's torpedoes strike and damage Bulõws bows.

Hamlin draws fire from Swift as she come in range.  A lucky hit.

Swift is targeted by the Germans

And Swiftbis hammered with critical.  She is on her way down.

Bulõw takes the last fire from Swift.

Trent and Tees come into range and fire torpedoes.

The spread misses.  Close though.

The Germans line up on the smoke obscured Destroyer line.

And the danger of getting near destroyers is made clear.  A spread launch.  Its at long range and the Germans turn away.

The German turn allows the destroyers to head back north at flank speed.  With Bulöw damaged the convoy is saved and the cruisers in pursuit of the Germans will be closing in. 

Tyrant of Cyprus: Honour the Fallen

Honour the Fallen

Thrusticles, Tyrant of Salamis has abducted Perplexia, maiden of Cition.  On his way back to Salamis he discovers the remains of a battlefield, loot is everywhere but the maiden's father Hermes Parcelippus is in pursuit with his warband and the two sides face off over the bodies of the fallen.  

Scenario 1: Honor the Fallen

Free-for-all or team fight. Since the days of Homer individual  warriors have sought glory and riches by stripping foes of their arms and armor. Two warbands come across a fresh battlefield and decide to take advantage of the situation.

Setup and Deployment

• All players roll off, high roll determines attacker and low roll determines defender. 

• Starting with the attacker, players alternate placing seven casualty tokens anywhere on the board more than 6” from any edge and more than 3” from any other casualty token. 

• Starting with the attacker, each player now chooses a board edge and places their warband within 3”.

Special Rules

• When a character activates in the movement phase, they may strip the armor from a casualty token within 1”. 

Remove the casualty token from the board. That character may not move or shoot during that turn.

• A model cannot strip a casualty token while in combat or when an enemy character is within 1” of the token. 

• At the end of the game, you may strip any casualty tokens within 1” of a friendly character that are not within 1” of any enemy models.

Thrusticles Tyrant of Salamis 

Peniscles Of Cition.  Yes I know he's a Samnite but I ran out of Greeks!

Old Hermes himself

Euclitius of Salamis (another Samnite interloper)

The fallen

The Game

The opposing phalanx form up

The lines close

The attacker moves in

Allowing the defender to charge.  I have an issue with this.

The Defending CinC and his supporting hero attack.

Thrusticles boys fight back

And although the left is pushed back Thrusticles the Tyrant

The Defender's hoplites smash aside a unit of slingers who fail to evade.

The defender kills off one of the Salamis sacred band.

The Tyrant turns the line.

And it's a mad melee that the Attacker's are winning on better dice.

The enemy General goes down.  His panoply becomes one of the spoils.

The end game.  The Defender's have lost unit after unit.

My treasury of Comedic Ancient Greeks!

Sorecratarse

Hippohippsus

Implausias

Oopsides

Euclit

Eugetitties

Herodoltus

Peniscles

Herpicles

Syphilis

Hepatitis

Gonorrhea

The Lady Chlamydia

Nippleclipsias

Alcopopiades

Tyrant game 3: Ram Raiders

Scenario 3: Ram Raiders
The Tyrant of Salamis has put to sea in a war galley, only to be confronted by a "Pirate" galley out of Kourion.

Setup and Deployment

• 3x3 board.  Reef down one edge representing the Island.   

• High roll determines attacker and low roll determines defender. 
• The defender places the reef.   
• The defender then deploys their galley. 

• The attacker chooses a board edge to come on.

Not within 12" of defender.

Special Rules

Blood and Plunder rules to move the ships shoot and fight.

The Game

Not much sea room!

Using Blood and Plunder as the base rules set.

A bit of twisting and turning later the Tyrant rams the pirate.

The Tyrant leads the attack

A hard fight.

The Tyrant makes it onto the enemy deck.

The fight goes onto the pirate.

And the enemy marinescare killed.  Its general vs general now.

So a few rounds on Single combat.

The Tyrant wins round one

And round two

And the pirate Captain is cut down.

Tyrant of Cyprus: Game One.

Since I live in Paphos an Ancient Greek campaign was a must at some point.  I am under few illusions that huge battles involving Hoplites happened in Cyprus, much less Paphos, but the Island was important for naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

To quote Hill in his first volume of 'The History of Cyprus': " Paphos must also have been important, although it appears but rarely in the records and the numismatic evidence is very inconclusive; it may be that the Cinyrad Dynasty priest-kings were more concerned with the cult affairs of the chief religious centre in Cyprus than with politics, although there was a Paphian contingent (which did not distinguish itself) in the fleet of Xerxes."

("did not distinguish itself" is Hill's valiant attempt to cover the fact that the Paphians lost eight out of nine ships and the last ship with only fifteen survivors ended up being captured by the Athenians)

Cyprus was not under direct Persian rule.  The Empire had not created a Satrapy, and preferred instead to allow the individual Kings to rule their cities, giving allegiance to the Great King.  No doubt that the idea of "divide and rule" appealed to the Persians and thus they allowed the Island kings to fight amongst themselves. 

Ok so my map is pretty much a later period of Cyprus but the idea is there.

The only ancient authority, Herodotus, describes warfare on the Island, giving a good idea of the numbers involved. 

About 415 BC an adventurer, named Abdemon, probably a Phoenician from Tyre, with support from the Cypriot city of Citium, murdered the occupant of the throne of Salamis and declared himself King.  Prince Euagoras the heir fled to Asia Minor.  He immediately began to gather round him a small group of loyal Hoplites including Athenean Mercenaries.  In 411, he returned with his warband to Cyprus, and immediately attacked a city gate at Salamis, capturing the palace from the defenders.  Herodotus tells us that "Thus, taking due vengeance on his enemies, he restored the Teucrid dynasty and seated himself upon the throne of his ancestors."

One of the other comments Herodutus makes is that Euagoras attacked immediately rather than "attempting to establish himself in a strong place of any kind, and gather round him more sympathizers."  This implies that the normal practice would have been nodes of hostile settlements and perhaps endemic small scale factional warfare. The emphasis on the loyalty of followers is also interesting.  Cypriot cities were ruled by Kings, and in Pathos case by a Priest King, and a loyal band of supporters would be needed rather than reliance on the support of the democracy. 

My Assumptions:

Hoplite warfare is ritualised and stylised.  Casualties are kept to a minimum, use of missile weapons is frowned upon as "Dirty Tricks."  Civilised men fight in phalanx.

In "Warfare in Ancient Greece" however Everson makes the case that the Persian and then Peloponnesian wars caused the change in Hoplite equipment to reflect the change from ritualised fighting between cities.  In Cyprus, as in both Ionia, Crete and Rhodes, light troops were used more extensively. 

For the numbers involved we turn to Thucydides.  Hoplites were men of property between 20-50 years old.  Many of these would not serve.  In 231 BC with its population of 28000 Athens only had 5500 Hoplites, and this was Athens with its Empire.  Boeotian cities are calculated to have had a third of the men of military age and qualification serving as Hoplites.

The population of Roman Pathos, as capital of Cyprus, was 30,000 and the Ancient population estimated to be far smaller.   Looking at the size of cities populations of 5000 to 10000 are probably overestimates.  With a population of 5000 a city's army cannot have been more than a few hundred strong, and drilled Hoplites even fewer in number.  Now I have no intention of using 500 figures for this project.  In any event a lot of these games will be little more than skirmishes. 

Scenario 0.  Spoils of Battle

Scenario 1: Honour the Fallen 

Scenario 2: Baggage  

Scenario 3: Raid and Pillage 

Scenario 4: Cross the Ravine

Scenario 5: Holdout 

Scenario 6: Breakthrough

Scenario 7: Face-Off

Scenario 8: Slay the Captain

Spoils of Battle

The Game.  Spoils of Battle

Then was agéd Spurious Tyrant of Salamis thrown down by his brother Onamis.  The old Tyrant's son, bold Thrusticles, returned from his wanderings abroad, and met the new Tyrant on the field of Mars before the city, with the men of Tamassus as his allies.

At stake is the throne of Salamis.

Thrusticles the exile

Herpes of Tamassus

The Spurious Sacred Band

Onamis strong handed

Hepatitis of Kition

The Men of Salamis

The phalanx draws up.  The Tyrant Onamis attacks. 

Thrusticles shuffles forwards.

But it's the defenders who charge home.

It's hero vs hero

Thrusticles shoves his enemy back.

It all gets a bit fraught

Onamis is pushed back.  He loses three units on the bounce.

And it's a fight over the body of Hepatitis of Kition.

Thrusticles pushes forwards.  What else!

Game ends with the men of Salamis pushed back and surrounded.  Onis flees into action.

Thrusticles, son of Spurious, known for his sharp spear.  Herodotus however points out that Thrusticles himself was not as sharp as his weapon!