Spartan Army The Spartans are perhaps the most well-known of all the Greek armies. Hopefully my version of their army is more historically accurate than some of the portrayals in films and books. The Spartans had a disciplined and structured society much different to other Greek states of the time and that is reflected in their army. The core was formed around the elite Spartiates. But these were never very numerous and were supported by various lower castes, slaves and allies. My Spartan Army has gone through several changes to reach its current configuration. The Army is commanded by King Leonidas who is classed as Royal and is a Reliable and Strong commander. He also has a reputation for frequently dying in battle. The Army is split into 4 Corps: - The first Corps consists of the true Spartan contingent. - The second Corps is formed by their Tegean allies. - The third Corps is formed by their Messene allies. - The fourth Corps is formed from allies from the lesser Laconian settlements. The Teagans and lesser Laconians are classed as Allied, but the Messene are Forced allies.
Corps 1 The Spartans This is directly commanded by Leonidas, the Army General, and consists of 5 Divisions. The first three Divisions are formed of hoplites, in decreasing levels of quality, and the last two Divisions of generally poor quality lighter troops. The first Division (on the left in the photograph) is formed by the Spartiates and is the very elite of the army. It consists of 2 Units (known as Mora) each of 600 Guard quality hoplites in medium armour. They are supported by 200 Trained skirmishers. The second Division (on the right) is formed by the next layer in the hierarchy, the Laconians. This Division has 2 Units of Elite quality hoplites in medium armour. They are supported by 200 Trained skirmishers. The Army second in command leads this Division. The third Division (on the left in this photograph) is the weakest of the main infantry Divisions. It consists of a Unit of 600 Standard quality hoplites in medium armour and a Unit of 600 Raw unarmoured spearmen. This Unit represents some trained helots (the lowest caste) pressed into service. These Units are supported by 200 Standard skirmishers.
Corps 1 continued The fourth Division (on the left in this photograph) contains an odd mix of Units. The first Unit is 300 Elite quality unarmoured peltasts with long spear. Their officer acts as third in command for the Army. There are references to unarmoured Spartan hoplites dashing out to chase off skirmishers and this is my representation of them. The second Unit is 300 Volunteer quality unarmoured peltasts with javelin. The third Unit is 300 Volunteer quality cavalry in medium armour armed with javelin. Spartan cavalry does not get much of a good press, hence the weakness of this Unit. Finally there is a Unit of 200 Volunteer quality skirmishers with sling. The final Division (on the right) was added after articles associated with the Society of Ancients Battle Day indicated that the Spartans made more use of the helots than I had represented. It was also an attempt to reduce this Army s weakness for getting beaten on the flanks. It contains a Unit of 150 Standard quality unarmoured peltasts armed with long spear (more light hoplites), a Unit of 100 Volunteer quality light cavalry with javelin and a Unit of 900 Pressed quality unarmoured peltasts with javelin to represent the helots. This gives a total of 6,400 men to represent the true Spartan component of the Army.
Corps 2 Tegean Allies This Corps is commanded by the Tegean Strategos and consists of a single Division. The Strategos is classed as Rash but otherwise is generally competent. The Spartans seemed to have a high regard for the Tegeans, hence their classification as Allied. The Division has 4 Units (as shown in this photograph). The first Unit is 600 Elite quality hoplites in medium armour. The second Unit is 600 Standard quality hoplites wearing medium armour. The third Unit is 150 Standard quality peltasts in medium armour armed with long spear and javelins, and the fourth Unit is 150 Standard quality peltasts with light armour and armed with javelins.
Corps 3 Messene Allies This Corps also consists of a single Division and is led by their Strategos, Aristomenes, who is classified as Cautious and Dubious. The whole Corps is graded as a Forced ally. The Messene Division has 4 Units. The first is Aristomenes mercenary guard of 300 Standard quality peltasts in medium armour and armed with javelins and long spear. The other Units are formed of Messene citizens and are: a Unit of 600 Raw quality unarmoured hoplites; a Unit of 300 Pressed unarmoured peltasts armed with javelins; and 100 Volunteer skirmishers armed with slings. The combination of the low quality of their troops, the characteristics of their Strategos and the whole Corps being treated as a Forced ally is to reflect a recollection that Messene was not too happy about being subject to Spartan control. So whilst they will turn out to fight, their hearts may not be in it if the going gets rough.
Corps 4 Lesser Laconian Allies This final Corps is aimed at representing the other smaller states from the area and was added to bring the Army up to a reasonable fighting size and to add a bit more quality into the hoplite line up. It consists of 3 Divisions and is led by Pausinas who is a competent and reasonable Strategos. This Corps is classed as Allied. The first Division (on the left in the photograph) contains their best troops: a Unit of 600 Elite quality hoplites in medium armour; a Unit of 600 Standard quality hoplites in medium armour; a Unit of 150 Standard quality peltasts in medium armour armed with long spear and javelins; all supported by 100 Volunteer quality skirmishers. The second Division (in the middle) has 2 Units of 600 Militia quality hoplites in light armour. They are supported by 200 Volunteer quality skirmishers. The third Division contains the lighter troops in 4 Units: a Unit of 300 Militia quality unarmoured peltasts with long spear (light hoplites); a Unit of 300 Volunteer quality unarmoured peltasts armed with javelins; a Unit of 200 Volunteer quality light cavalry; and a Unit of 200 Volunteer quality skirmishers with slings.
This makes the overall Spartan Army 13,100 men strong. It is nearly the largest of my Greek armies and is ranked fourth overall of all armies. It is one of my popular armies having taken part in over 20 of the 60 battles I have fought so far taking on a variety of opponents but so far without the success that might have been expected. Their performance is improving of late which might be due to a mix of tweaking of the rules, re-classification of some troops and a general increase in the size of the Army. Against this half the Army is made up of allies which does seem to impact on their willingness to get involved if the going gets tough. And also any Greeks fighting them seem to up their game (i.e. throw high dice). On the battlefield, Leonidas tends to adopt the standard, if unsuccessful, tactic of placing himself at the extreme right of the line with all his hoplites on his left, then the Tegeans, followed by the lesser Laconian allies. He deploys his own light troops on his right flank to protect his Division from flank attacks. He has learnt from his early defeats and no longer deploys the Messene in the front line and has started to use them to support the light troops on the flanks. Surprisingly, they seem to be quite good in this role. The main weakness appears to be that the Spartan light Divisions are unable to put up a sustained defence. This leads to the main Spartan hoplite Divisions coming under missile fire, losing their skirmishers and then having the hoplites whittled down. So when they come into contact, they are already reduced in strength and whilst hurting their opponents, it is not quick enough to counter their own losses and they often go down fighting to the last man.