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The Ballad of Bradicles
Recommendations: 1218
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
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.
Scouting done, both sides got locked down fairly quickly. I had my units arranged left to right as Pezhetairoi, slingers, Hoplites and Pezhetairoi. The Carthaginian force is scary having more heavy infantry to might lighter skirmish units. Henry arranged his force from left to right as Hoplites, Hoplites, Numidian javelin men and Citizen Hoplites.
Bradicles in the back urges forward the left flank of Pezhetairoi and Slingers.
TimToo hangs out in the rear with the gear with Bradicles taking advantage of a tactical ruin. The Hoplites saw no action last game and are determined to earn their share of glory.
On the far right another unit of Pezhetairoi moves against a larger unit of Carthaginian Citizen Hoplites.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 2 continued - End game
The slingers arrive in the nick of time and their stones fly true! The Peltasts vanish.
The Greek Hoplites look across at their Macedonian counterparts never having entered the fray. 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.
Game 2 continued- fighting all around!
The slingers disrupt the Hoplites formation! 
After a rally and a rest, the two survivors push forward determined to learn the enemy dispositions.
The enemy Lieutenant charged forward into the the tired Pezhetairoi but is pushed back with a wound!
An exhausted leader, an exhausted unit of Pezhetairoi and a recovered unit of slingers eye each other warily. 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.
The Greek Peltasts advance. Eeyoricles is alone having watched the men under his command melt away. He dashed toward the slingers in an attempt to shore up the flank.
Flushed with victory the Peltasts advance seeing an opportunity to scout the area and perhaps capture an officer and gain a handsome ransom?Game 2 continued - Oh, the fates!
The Greeks advance through the farmers field seeing an opportunity to pelt the advancing Pezhetairoi with javelins. Three hits!
Three failed armor saves! Spend that fate point and re-roll!
I needed fives. ?♂️
The Pezhetairoi stagger under the onslaught of the enemy javelins.
Their brothers on the right flank fair somewhat better. Losing only one man they move forward and throw their javelins to little effect. So they charge!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.
TimToo at the altar. 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.
Pre battle deployment saw both sides place their Hoplites in the center with skirmish troops on the flanks.
Pezhetairoi hug the cover of a peasant hovel as they seek to scout the enemy deployment area. Eeyoricles lends moral support from the rear.
TimToo watches the battle from his shrine. Bradicles brushes an imaginary speck of dust off his breastplate. The Hoplites form up and the slingers ready their shots.
The Pezhetairoi on the right flank seek to counter the opposing slingers.
The Greek Peltasts on the enemy flank seek to move up.
The opposing Hoplites are formed into two units. The first urged on by their commander.
The second unit of Hoplites form up near their leaders Lieutenant.
The Greek slingers look nervous knowing their lack of armor makes them swift but they see the opposing Pezhetairoi.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!
These Pezhetairoi with javelins are the first unit I specifically painted up for my Phyrric force. These guys died to a man in the first game but they definitely held their own. I may need more of these. 
These Pezhetairoi with pikes are not in the current list but will be added at the next campaign step when we go to 800 point lists. More expensive than a unit of Hoplites, I’m hoping those pikes will make my opponents nervous. 
A Phyrric specific command element, I may substitute him out for a named character or create a new character. Perhaps Mediocrates? 
TimToo! I had this guy and figured I might as well paint him up too. He’s the priest of Zeus from the Mythic Gods range by Footsore. He came with that lovely altar that Tim used in the first game. Meet the Characters
BradiclesThis 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.
Eeyoricles This is Eeyoricles. Eeyoricles is Bradicles younger brother. Eeyoricles is convinced Bradicles is going to get him killed. He’s probably right.
TimThis is Tim. Tim thinks he’s a wizard. Tim smells. Probably because of all the chicken entrails. He’s the Soothsayer.
Tim at workTim the enchanter prays for the blessings of the gods.
TesticlesThis is Testicles. He’s the younger cousin of Bradicles and Eeyoricles. He wants to compete in the Olympics. He’s very gung ho.
