Battle of the Great Harbour

 

A clash of triremes today with the battered athenians trying to force their way out of Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War

Fewer in number the syracusans form at the harbour's entrance

baiting the athenians to get closer...

Then springing into action

First blood for Athens with a side ram

Then a trireme is cleaven in two by their foes

And soon both fleets clash prow to prow

Fire arrows crisscross the sea

And vicious boarding actions are fought

The athenians gang up on a poor syracusan vessel

And get their first prey of the day

The sicilians have more hoplites on board however, and weight of numbers starts to tell in the confused melees fought ship to ship

More and more athenian triremes are captured

And some losses suffered

The northern battle has been won by Syracuse

While in the south Athens emerges triumphant

Another trireme is bruatally rammed on her side

While other galleys engage in melee

The last dregs of the southern syracusan force hold on for dear life

But it's all over for Athens that loses ships left and right

Battle comes to an end

With a crushing athenian defeat

Aegates islands 241 b.C.

After seventeen long years of conflict the First Punic War comes to a head off the coast of Sicily. The carthaginians have been caught unawares, sailing hevily laden and without any marines as the roman squadron appears on the horizon.

Forming a double line the punic fleet points their prows to the foe

A carthaginian quadrireme is rammed on the side and loses three damage

Another one falls also to the romans, that after ramming jump onboard and take the vessel

The romans move against the left flank while keeping the rest of the enemy fleet at bay 

Despite their early sucesses the romans are set on fire by enemy ballistas and will lose some crew and structure points while trying to put out the blazes

A carthaginian galley manages to break the oars of a quadrireme but to little gain, the legionnaries jump ship and launch an assault

Taking their chance, the romans ram the enemy on the side whenever their can

Taking the crippled vessels in a boarding action

As their first line engages the enemy, the rest of the punics sail to their embattled left flank

But the lack of marines starts to show as the men of Rome sweep the decks clear 

Hanno's impressive flagship stands as a floating castle, but is soon surrounded by roman galleys and wittled down bit by bit

Having defeated the first line consul Catulus and his ships sail against the rest

However the punic player has finally managed to get a hang of the rules, and starts ramming the romans

Even sinking a galley with a well placed blow

Despite these late gains time has run out, and the carthaginians retreat from the battle leaving Sicily in the hand sof the Republic

Four punics captured or sunk for only one roman

Battle of Salamis

 

 ὦ παῖδες Ἑλλήνων ἴτε
ἐλευθεροῦτε πατρίδ᾽, ἐλευθεροῦτε δὲ
παῖδας, γυναῖκας, θεῶν τέ πατρῴων ἕδη,
θήκας τε προγόνων: νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀγών!

Battle of Salamis to begin the gaming season, this September marks 2500 years form the actual battle so I thought that it would be a great way to kick off

The greeks have advanced from the bay and attack the persians at the mouth of the straits

Capitalizing on their strenghts the hellens launch several boarding actions

A persian trireme rams, gravely wounding her prey that would quickly grapple and subdue her

The first ship to strike is a persian, under assault by no less than two greeks

After the first line of achaemenid ships has fallen the rest backs water

The persians also gang up on  a lone greek that is slaughtered

But hellenic quality triumphs all over the board and more and more persians surrender

The lightly armoured oreinetal marines have no chance against the heavy hoplites

Some greek loss but not enough to turn the tide of battle

The battle went downhill for the persians from there, my camera gave out and the victorious greeks retreated into the strait leaving the invaders defeated