The Athenian right wing pushed hard at the extreme Theban left. An isolated Theban psilio has been identified as a "vulnerable juicy target" and is double overlapped (gulp). As the Theban left wing commander I have to take full responsibility here. I was left with insufficient PiPs for what I needed to do. I could not pull back both of my psilio units on the left and ran the risk of losing more by reinforcing failure (see below).
The inevitable happened as the Theban psilio descended to Hades (see below). The rest of the Theban left wing gives as good as it gets.
Theban Right Wing Losses:1 (25% to Demoralisation)
Theban Left Wing Losses: 1 (25% to Demoralisation)
Theban Total Army Losses: 2 (Still 10 to play with but every penny starts to count at this stage)
The Thebans go in hard on their right (see below, top) but tactically refuse on their left (see below, bottom). To their advantage the Thebans find that they can disengage their two 3Cv units from the Athenian 4Sp (a case of four legs better than two legs in getting out of trouble). The down side being that the 3Cv enter a region of "bad going", something they don't want to linger about in. The remaining Theban left wing psilio discreetly pulls back deeper into "bad going", but in its case feels much safer.
The "crux of the game" occurs in the next few combat rolls in the "hoplite phalanx on phalanx" action. Firsly the Athenians survive a "6 to 1" roll against them and therefore recoil.
(Note: DBA/BBDBA Quantum physics calculations are, the Athenian Spears +4, supported by back rank of Spears when fighting Spears +1, with +1 rolled on the dice equals 6, versus Theban Spears +4, supported by back rank of Spears when fighting Spears +1, with +6 rolled on the dice equals 11)
The Athenians make it interesting by rolling another "1" and the Thebans roll a "5" but as they are now overlapped are doubled and destroyed.
(Note: DBA/BBDBA Quantum physics calculations are, the Athenian Spears +4, supported by back rank of Spears when fighting Spears +1, overlapped -1, with +1 rolled on the dice equals 5, versus Theban Spears +4, supported by back rank of Spears when fighting Spears +1, with +5 rolled on the dice equals 10)
Suddenly the Athenian left is on the brink of demoralisation with the Theban "deep phalanx" still to be brought into the attack. But alas for the Thebans the last two remaining combats result in "stands" (see below).
Athenian Right Wing Losses:3 (75% to Demoralisation)
Athenian Left Wing Losses: 0 (Untouched)
Athenian Total Army Losses: 3 (Still "9" to play with but the Athenian right is in a 'critical state')
Note: The northern cavalry battle has been pushed past the river line to the flank and rear of the Athenian left. Another "worry" for the Athenian Strategos to consider.
The Athenians follow up on their right wing as best they can but only manage to shuffle back some hoplites and get within striking range of the vulnerable lights and horses for the "next go" (see below):
Fearing inaction being the worse of strategies the Athenian sends his auxilla in to battle the Theban lights on his extreme left in the "bad going" (see below). His reasoning is sound as the two units of Theban hoplites are potentially vulnerable. The die roll is a straight "2 to 2" as the auxillia suffers from an overlap, but if luck stands with Athens these low combat rolls can be deadly, but to whom?
The crack of doom, the Athenian auxillia falls bravely in battle (see below):
Athenian Right Wing Losses:4 (Demoralised)
Athenian Left Wing Losses: 0 (Untouched)
Athenian Total Army Losses: 4 (Still "8" to play with but the all Athenian right is 'demoralised' and at the start of the next turn will suffer -2 to their combat factors)
Can the Athenian right perform a similar feat of destruction on the Theban left before there is a "bonfire of hoplites" on the Athenian left? The Thebans are next up!
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