
The Ballad of Bradicles
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About the Project
Our local gaming group is play testing a campaign system for Clash of Spears. Bradicles is one of my starting characters and this is his story.
Related Game: Clash Of Spears
Related Company: Fighting Hedgehog
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
How it started
Someone got a wild hair and wrote up some rules for a Clash of Spears campaign. The parameters are a one game a month campaign over five or six months. The setting is Sicily with only armies from the first Clash of Spears book. No Rise of Eagles or Clash of Katanas.
Players choose to align with either Rome or Carthage but can bring any army and fight any player. The alignment is just for the narrative. Players also choose personal goals and starting assets. The normal army construction rules are replaced with the campaign rules. Link to the draft rules below.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1029355283757150269/1036104839115046953/CLASH_Campaign_Beta_Rules_10-12.pdf
First List and starting assets
Because I’m stupid and have way too many miniatures to paint, I’ve decided to build a new army for this campaign. It’ll be Phyrric force. In order to mitigate the sea of grey, I’ll start out with my standard Greek minis that are already painted and then substitute out the Phyrric specific units as I complete them.
House: Spiti
Aligned with: Rome
Starting Asset: Loyalty
Initial 600 point list:
Meet the Characters
This is Bradicles. Bradicles is very pretty. Bradicles wants to be famous. He’s willing to die to be famous. He’ll probably succeed. At both.
This is Eeyoricles. Eeyoricles is Bradicles younger brother. Eeyoricles is convinced Bradicles is going to get him killed. He’s probably right.
This is Tim. Tim thinks he’s a wizard. Tim smells. Probably because of all the chicken entrails. He’s the Soothsayer.
Tim the enchanter prays for the blessings of the gods.
This is Testicles. He’s the younger cousin of Bradicles and Eeyoricles. He wants to compete in the Olympics. He’s very gung ho.
General Thoughts
I’ve enjoyed Clash of Spears. Managing command & control as well as fatigue makes for an interesting game. It’s crunchy enough that units and armies feel different without sacrificing fairly easy rules. The only thing I wish would be for commanders to give bonuses to nearby troops. Don’t get me wrong, characters are critical to managing your army.
In starting this campaign I chose a Phyrric force because the pike formations looked fun and you can have elephants and elephants are always cool. Also, the starting assets of the campaign say that if you start with zero wealth, you have to take armor downgrades if a unit has that option and you are, mostly, limited to civis units. Fortunately, the Phyrric lists don’t have those downgrades and virtually all the units are civis!
I also chose Loyalty as my starting asset because it would allow me to take both a Soothsayer and a Musician in my list. The Musician extends the command range of Bradicles meaning he’s less likely to have to move up within range of enemy units and thus has a better chance of staying alive.
The Soothsayer allows me a chance to get an extra Fate die. At the start of the campaign limits you to one, having two could give me a slight edge and I had some nifty models so I might as well shoehorn them into a list.
If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably realized I have an odd sense of humor. You may have noticed I named the house my characters came from as Spiti. It’s the Greek word for house. You’re welcome!


Game 2
Still the same 600 point list, this game was the pre-battle scouting mission. It was a 1 vs 1 game pitting my Phyrric force against a Greek mercenary force.
Eeyoricles contemplated the new priest with a sour expression on his face. “All in all, I preferred Tim even with his ridiculous hat.”
“Why brother? TimToo is filled with the fervor of a true believer. And he doesn’t smell nearly as badly”. Bradicles flashed that impossibly beautiful grin.
“Hear now priest! What say the gods?”
“The omens are good. You, boy, take this carcass”.
As the boy approached TimToo leaned in close and whispered, “ Let none see you but pluck this bird, then fry him in my Seven Secret Herbs and Spices.”
The boy nodded and ran off, thinking what a feast the day would bring.


Game 2 continued - Oh, the fates!
Game 2 continued- fighting all around!



The wounded Lieutenant, and the Pezhetairoi are exhausted. But the slingers spent the previous turn failing to activate and so have recovered. What will they do?
The opposing commander catches his breath and charges into the Pezhetairoi but dies!
Now the exhausted Pezhetairoi succumb to the Greeks sling stones of outrageous fortune and melt away.
Game 2 continued - End game
As the sun goes down, the Hoplites on both sides see that their chance of glory has faded.
But not Bradicles.
He stands on a rock, hair flowing in a gentle breeze when he removes his helmet pleased he has not lost. Eeyoricles glances over at Bradicles and even he has to admit his brother is a beautiful man.
Thoughts on Game 2
The game ended a little early with neither of us having accomplished the scouting mission and both of us having an equal number of break points. I did manage to take out a character model. He survived but will be out of the campaign for awhile.
This was a battle purely of the skirmish troops with neither of us engaging with our Hoplites. The Greeks had two units to my one so I would’ve been hard pressed to come out on top of that fight.
Both units of Pezhetairoi got wiped out. The unit on the left flank literally accomplishing nothing. The one on the right flank did a number on that unit of slingers but got done in by the repeated and reckless charges of that leader model. Even though I killed the leader, they had so much fatigue that when the slingers activated, they barely dinged them and they just melted.
On the plus side, my slingers definitely made a difference. They disrupted the formation of Hoplites for a turn and turned around my left flank preventing those pesky Peltasts from scouting forward and saving Eeyoricles from a fate worse than death.
Game ended in a tie. All in all, could’ve been worse.
Game 3 Who’s got the bacon?
“Do you like pork?”
“What?”
Bradicles seated his helmet and adjusted the crest to display it in the most magnificent fashion.
“I prefer it roasted but not everyone does.” Bradicles glanced at Eeyoricles and noted the confusion on his younger brothers face.
“We are in need of supplies and there is a pig farm just ahead. Pick some men and form up. I intend to feast tonight.”
Eeyoricles grumbling set off to round up the soldiers.
“Priest?”
TimToo smiled, “My lord?”
“Well?”
“The gods say we’ll have full bellys tonight”.
The priest’s acolyte smacked his lips literally imagining the taste of victory.

Game 3 - Continued- the fighting begins!

Game 3 continues- Frying up the bacon!




Bradicles watches the Pezhetairoi on the far right flank as they first loose their javelins and then charge into the unarmored Carthaginian Hoplites. They savage them causing them to flee the field. The Pezhetairoi then herd the pigs back to camp.
Bradicles has to admire the Carthaginian commander. Such boldness! Such glory! He looks to his slingers as they look up at him, bloodied and exhausted but still standing. He smiles and points to the herd of pigs. “We feast!” The men cheer!
Eeyoricles considers the day. He reflected that on the plus side with so many paying the ferryman this day, there’d be more than enough food tonight. He almost smiled at the thought.
Almost.
Alternate History - Game 1
If I’d thought of it sooner, id have arranged these as point and counterpoint battle reports. But here we are, so these are links to my opponents Battle reports.
The campaign encourages battle reports as publishing them earns you assets that are useable in the campaign
Game 1, the 8 player inaugural event:
https://plasticpirates.blogspot.com/2022/10/clash-of-spears-battle-for-sicily-begins.html?m=1
Alternate History Game 3
From the Carthaginian viewpoint.
https://plasticpirates.blogspot.com/2022/11/pork-its-what-for-dinner-hopefully.html?m=1
General thoughts on Game 3
I’d rather be lucky than good and I had a few dice rolls break my way.
I do feel like I need more heavy troops. Yes, the slingers are solid and the Pezhetairoi have proven to be fantastic but I faced three units of Hoplites with only one. Those Hoplites definitely under performed against the Numidians. I had two fate dice and could’ve re-rolled the attack. I might’ve put fatigue on the two commanders and that reduced Hoplite unit if I’d wiped out the Numidians. I could’ve attacked them again or I could’ve gone for the Hoplites. Only one if the commanders was within reach so I could’ve piled on. I think I still would’ve lost my Hoplites as they were clearly overextended but they could’ve had more effect.
The left hand Pezhetairoi unit was going to get mauled but I could’ve played that better. Doing the Defend action, where hits are first cancelled by your Fight skill and then remaining hits are canceled by your armor would’ve been better than a counter attack. Henry’s Hoplites and my Pezhetairoi have the same fight skill and armor save and his unit was bigger so dragging out the fight was probably the better option.
I’m surprised my slingers survived the Hoplites attack. As it was, I had three break points and Henry had four. But only by 2 models. It was a close game!
Alternate History - Game 2
Somewhat out of order but here’s my opponents version of my Game 2. My opponent was Sean Twiddy and he’s a fantastic painter. Link to his battle report below.
https://stwiddy.wordpress.com/2022/11/25/clash-of-spears-punic-war-in-sicily-campaign-turn-1-battle-1/?fbclid=IwAR1iM910Wwm1Rqzj9K3zu_Om2ftmh6u5iEX7oNAsGyVj5TmXgW4i7pmkqec
Silly Shields
More in the area of whimsy than an actual project, it occurred to me that the old saying “Beware of Greeks bearing Trojans” could be funny.
Another source of inspiration is all the purple I’m using on my minis. Well, technically probably lavender, but you get the idea. Grapes are purple and I crush my foes like grapes, so how about calling them the Grape Crushers? Or in Greek, the Spastíres Stafylión.
Turn 1 Results
So, I chose as my Starting asset of Loyalty +1 because I gave Bradicles the Charismatic trait.
After fighting 3 battles in the first turn of the campaign, I have the following assets:
Starting Assets – Loyalty +1
1st Battle Result vs Chris – Major Victory
Renown: +3
Assets: Influence +1 (disputed), Wealth +1 (motivation), Influence +1 (major victory), Wealth +1 (captured treasure)
Experience: Bradicles +2, Eeyoricles +1
2nd Battle Result (Pressed) vs Sean – Draw
Renown: +1
Assets: 0
Experience: 0
3rd Battle Result (Pressed) vs Henry – Major Victory
Renown: +2
Assets: Zeal +1
Experience: Bradicles +1
Participation (battle report, painting, etc.): Inf +1
TOTALS:
Renown: 5 (first battle plus best other battle)
Assets: Influence : 3, Wealth 2, Loyalty 1, Allies: 0, Zeal: 1
Experience: Bradicles 3 (advances to Lvl 4!),
Eeyoricles 1
This means that at the next stage of the campaign I can build my army in accordance to the following table.
800 Point List
With the next campaign turne bumped up to 200 points and Bradicles being promoted to a Level 4 commander, I have a couple of options. Basically, I can add one unit to the current list. Now, the nice thing is, I can completely re-work my list and don’t actually have to keep the same units. But, I’m pretty happy with the current makeup. I’ll add one Pezhetairoi with javelins to each unit to make those units 7 men each and one more slinger to make that a 10 man unit.
Bradicles got promoted to a Level 4 and Eeyoricles stays at level 2. I’ll add heavy shields to both because I have the points. It’ll improve their armor saves.
I have enough points to add one more unit. It’s basically a choice between taking an 8 man Pezhetairoi unit with pikes or a six man Heiatori cavalry unit armed with Xystons. Both units are classic Macedonian units and both would give a needed boost to my melee capabilities but both are a bit light on armor. The cavalry unit is probably going to be a glass hammer. I can get one good charge in and then they die to a counter attack.
And here’s a link to my army list.
https://cilliancleland.github.io/clashculator/?punic=c13o1004-78-78-9b-a7-89-11o1g_Phyrric%20Campaign%20800
New Unit
Armed with a significantly longer spear called a Xyston, probably held two handed, the Hetairoi, or Companion Cavalry, of the Macedonians was a corner stone of Alexander the Great’s success. I’m hoping a little of that success will rub off on my warband. In game terms, this will be a hard hitting but fragile unit. It won’t be added into the current list. Maybe campaign turn 3 or 4.