Alala! at Devizes

Joining the Society of Ancients stand, I brought Alala! to the Devizes Wargames Show last weekend.

I ran four participation games of Spartans vs. Athenians using the Tanagra Scenario which can be freely downloaded from my website here. This scenario uses relatively few units and is simple enough for an introductory game  for 1-2 players per side.

The Athenians have more hoplites and cavalry but the Spartan hoplites are of higher quality.

We were joined by a couple of enthusiastic youngsters who quickly got the hang of the game. Both they and their Dads had great fun and in both cases they won their games. It was interesting that when give the choice of sides they unhesitatingly opted for the Spartans.

The first three games saw Spartan victories. In one the Spartans crashed through the Athenian line like a knife through butter and it was all over quite quickly.

In most of the games the skirmishers and cavalry cancelled each other out but in one game the  Spartan cavalry surprisingly not only managed to stay on their horses without falling off but they drove back the Athenian cavalry. Then the Athenian player drew the scenario specific ‘god card’ which resulted in his Thessalians changing sides and riding off to loot the Athenian camp (as happened historically).

Young Alfie learned that by shouting ‘Alala!’ before rolling his dice he would end up with a fistful of sixes.

The result being that he got his helots around the Athenian flank and when his Spartan hoplites charged they utterly crushed the Athenian allies.

When the last game of the weekend began it was 3-0 to the Spartans and they were beginning to look invincible. The cunning Athenian player decided to hold his hoplites well back to give him time to boost their aggression before the Spartans could crash into them.

The Athenian cavalry and psiloi on the right defeated their opponents and swung around to harass the Spartan Theban allies as they advanced to contact.

When the hoplite lines met, the Athenian Argive allies held the Spartan charge, killing Nikomedes (the Spartan leader) in the fight. The Spartans were shaken and began to fall back.

On the other flank the gods were with the Athenians. Rolling 12 dice, the Spartan Theban allies failed to manage a single hit and they retired in disorder to be picked off by the Athenian psiloi. The Athenian victory proved that if the gods are with you (and you have a cunning plan), the Spartans are not invincible!

It was a most enjoyable couple of days at Devizes. Apart from the games played there was lots of interest in Alala! and the rules were very well received.