This is the continuing recreation of the Ionian Revolt. The Ionian Revolt was a revolt against the Persian Empire by the Ionian Greeks and their allies prior to the Greco-Persian War. It took place from 499 to 493 BCE. It was a land and sea affair, so I am using a combination of Poseidon's Warriors and Men of Bronze to re-create the campaign. Both are from the Osprey Wargaming Series. In addition, Men of Bronze has a specific supplement for the conflict called The Ionian Revolt.
By the sixth year of the Ionian Revolt, the Persians had successfully counter-attacked and recaptured much of the lost cities. However, the Ionian Greeks still held out with Miletus being the originator of the revolt still resisting. The Persians reformed into a single army, supported by naval forces and marched on Miletus to end the Revolt once and for all. The accomplished Persian general Datis took command of this unified Persian force.
Upon hearing of the approaching enemy, the Greeks decided to challenge them at sea rather than on land. The Greeks assembled a large fleet from many of their member cities. They made for the island of Lade in order to stem the Persian attack on the city.
The Persian force was composed of a multi-national fleet as well. It had Phoenicians, Egyptians, and even the newly re-conquered Cypriots. They were likely led by Datis himself. The Persians sent the former tyrants of each rebel city with the offer to surrender. This strained the Ionian coalition. In addition, the Greek general Dionysius trained them hard in tactics and fighting. This did not sit well with all the Greeks. Today, we are going to be fighting the Naval engagement that occurred off the island Lade. Supposedly, some of the Ionians retreated from the battle, persuaded by the Persians offers of peace. This allowed the Persians to overwhelm the remaining Greeks forces and defeat them.
Once we get the results of the sea battle, we will also be playing the land battle using the scenario in The Ionian Revolt supplement for Men of Bronze.
Forces:Persians1 Slow Trireme unit with admiral and elite troops
4 Slow Trireme units
Ionians1 Fast Trireme with Admiral and
1 Fast Trireme
3 Slow Triremes
Set-up:This battle will take place on a 6x4 table. The fleets are spread from West to East. The coast of Lade is on the short edge to the East. The two fleets are facing off. The Persians are to the North and the Ionians to the South.
Both fleets have deployed for a standard engagement, with the Ionians having their Fast Triremes on the left edge furthest out to sea. The two sides spread out across the ocean by Squadron.
Mission: This will be a straight up battle, with both sides looking to sink the opposing fleet. The basic scenario is found in the main rulebook.
The turn after the first combat, each Ionian squadron will start the turn with a simple 4+ morale test. If failed, they will abandon the fight. They are removed from the table as they signal their desire to fleet and escape to the Persian ships. They are no longer relevant to the battle. Once two Squadrons have fled, no additional Morale tests are needed.
Instead of my normal turn-by-turn breakdown, I am going to try to break the game down into the Maneuver Phase, the Battle Phase, and the End Game section. Something a bit different to ease the load of book keeping, and to avoid me taking too much time typing during the actual game!
As we begin the final stages of the campaign, you can read the results for the battle of Lade on the Blood and Spectacles blog here:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2023/09/battle-report-poseidons-warriors-battle.html
