House Rule for Reducing Heavy Infantry Combat Factors

Were there enough Thebans/hoplites to warrant 2 elements of 4Sp? What about allowing 8Sp option?

From what I’m reading on Wikipedia, there were quite a lot of Greek allies to the Persians but not sure how many were hoplites vs light troops or cav.

Random idea: take away side support from spear but allow them 4cv vs foot always.

It worked quite well when I tried it Greedo.
But don’t take my word for it...give it a playtest and see what you think.

And Primuspilus me old matey...you can have a sizeable reliable force of Hoplites fighting for the
Persians at Plataea....just use the I/62 ‘allied’ Hoplites and call ‘em Greeks.

So at Marathon (490 BC): the Persians have 1 unenthusiastic Ionian Hoplite, and 11 other elements.
And at Plataea (479 BC):  the Persians have 1 Hoplite plus 2 Allied Hoplites (who can all support each
                                      other), and 9 other elements.

(Yes, I know that the army lists calls the I/62 Hoplites ‘Lykians’, but a rose by any other name would
smell as sweet...same elements, just a different name.
In my defence I can only say...”I didn’t write the army lists”  )

Oh come on, Greedo, do it. You know you waaaant tooo... Send it, come on, mate.

I'm 41, and yet still somehow intimidated to write an email to such a famous "grownup"

The only documented account I can find is possibly that of Marathon Greedo.
(For those that are unaware of it, read the account here:-
Source: www.historyguide.org/ancient/marathon.html , by Herodotus, section 113)

In this battle the Persian Sparabara broke through the Athenian Hoplite centre...
...although whether this was due to bowfire or hand-to-hand combat I cannot say.
Probably both, as the Persians would want to use their advantage and shoot, and
the Hoplites use their advantage and get into a hand-to-hand melee.

When using the reduced HI combat factors (so Sp is CF 3), and using a piece of
rough going to simulate the thinned-out weak Athenian centre (so no side-support),
the shooting chances out of 36 are as follows:-
3 x 8Bw (with shooting CF 2) v Sp (CF of 3) = 12 chances of the Sp recoiling and 9 of being destroyed.
With the rough going slowing the Sp, the Persians get 2 or 3 shots at them before they make contact,
resulting in usually one, and sometimes two, of the Sp being destroyed...and the Sp would be equal
to the Persians in close combat (Sp CF 3 with no side-support v 8Bw CF of 2 +1 for being double-based).

With the current rules in exactly the same situation the chances are:-
3 x 8Bw (with shooting CF 2) v Sp (CF of 4) = 11 chances of the Sp recoiling and 4 of being destroyed,
meaning that the Sp are unlikely to have any killed and have the advantage (Sp CF 4 v Persian CF 2 + 1
for being double-based) when they get into close combat...so the Persians can only break the Athenian
centre if they are extremely lucky.

I think that most would agree that the first scenario fits Herodotus’ account better the current rules do.

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As for the Greek ‘Allies’ at Plataea...well, some of them were Thessalians (big on mounted unlike most
Greek city-states), plus these newly acquired ‘allies’ were only temporary friends of the Persians, and
were soon welcomed back into the Hellenistic fold once the Persian invaders had been chased back
over the Bosporus.

(In other words, they were still a bit politically independent and not slave subjects of the Persian Empire
...so they needed to be treated carefully in order not to piss them off.
So I think that having them as semi-independent ‘allies’ is about right)

It is done through the Greek player (commander) never knowing precisely how beat up his phalanx is getting (something no pre-electronic age generally really reliably knew) so that suddenly, "oops, a hoplite regiment just broke and crumbled, I guess they've suffered enough wounds and frustration to just ditch" can happen apparently out of nowhere. Which history says it was like, being a hoplite commander.