Men of Bronze The Tyrant of Cyprus game

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, however archeologists have discovered Hoplite equipment in finds here.  I see it much more as a place where limited fighting, and skirmishing was the norm.  Fortunately this fits well with men of Bronze. 

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."

(Actually the Paphians lost eight out of nine ships and the last ship with only fifteen survivors ended up being captured by the Athenians.  Probably not a good idea to remind modern Cypriots that they were on the Persian's side, especially given all of the "This is Sparta" t-shirts for sale here.)

Cyprus was not under direct Persian rule.  The Empire had not created a Satrapy for the island, 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 much as they did with the Ionian cities.

My game map so far including battle locations.  A work in progress but I intend to have it blown up to A3.

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 of fifty men to Cyprus, and immediately a attacked a city gate, 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 a huge 30,000 but the Ancient population is 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 the games will be skirmishes at 1:1.  If I go with a notional ratio of one figure is roughly ten men for larger encounters, I can achieve the look I`m after.

At this scale the individual is key.  "Files" of Hoplites would be commanded by men loyal to the King, or at least appointed by him.  An "elite" band of guards would accompany the King himself.   I would suggest that the King or at least royalty, rather than a Strategos, would lead the city's armies.  (Otherwise the Strategos would quite quickly become King.)

Relating this to "Men of Bronze - Cyprus"

In game terms then I need named leaders for each focal point figure.  Each of my Kingdoms would need this.  Named figures who are killed are replaced by sons... who just happen to have the same name.

On the subject of names Citeon was a Phonecian city.  Semetic names and the worship of Bhaal made the city distinctive.  Carthaginian Citizen Spearmen are of course essentially Hoplites. 

Soli has the ruins of a large Persian palace contemporary to this time.  I`m hoping Warlord games bring back the plastic Persians.

Equally there was an Egyptian enclave, as well as the ever present  ship bourne nemesis from mainland Greece.  During the Peloponnesean War the Cypriots were influenced by both sides, and Athens especially had strong support here.  

I'm currently raiding the local bazaars for small Greek god sculptures to serve as the objective for raiders, and building Hoplites ready for a huge painting frenzy.

It's very much a work in progress, but this is looking good as my Autumn 2019 project.