Plataea BattleDay Special no. 1

Flats for Plataea

This is just to kick off a series non-shows posts which will hopefully support the build up to next year's BattleDay, the featured encounter being

PLATAEA 479BC
THE FINAL DEFEAT OF MARDONIUS

Yes, the end of Xerxes's expeditionary force.

Readers will know that I acquired a substantial collection of flats at the weekend, and there is enough to put together a version of the battle - there are a hundred and fifty or so heavy infantry each for the protagonists, plus some cavalry and countless light troops ...

(flats: an immediate sorting aside of the Greek and Persian figures)

So, I have a little over 4 months to ...
Decide what's important in depicting Plataea ...
Decide which rules to use and develop the appropriate adaptations ...
Construct a miniature battlefield ...
Refurbish all the troops necessary for the reconstruction ...
Then make it all work.
It begins.

Starting positions ...

I will use the flats, and the first experiments will be using some or all of Tony Bath's original Society of Ancients rules. They will almost certainly be mangled and rewritten (we have the best part of 50 years experience of doing this sort of thing since Tony developed his earlier rules, and my assumption is that we have learned a lot in that time): I am not intending to bring to life a fossile, just to start with a system that originally had flats in mind.

(Persian infantry in Greece ... these might be styled on later the Cardaces?)

We shall see if it works.

Plataea was a vast infantry match. Although the Greeks had masses of lighter troops and the Persians an extensive cavalry army, these seem to have cancelled each other out to some extent, leaving the Heavy Infantry to sort it out. I therefore intend an infantry fight.
(some of the Heavy Infantry: urgently in need of rebasing before trial games can commence)

Enough of assumptions for now.

Some questions ... (and this is not just thinking aloud, answers are welcome, in person, as comments, by email - if you think you can help, help away ...):

Terrain ...
... green or brown, rolling or 60s style contour pieces?
... trees, temple components etc. flat or solid (1960s depictions sometimes show flat trees, sometimes solid modern - well railway scenic - types ... I have always assumed they used whatever they could get hold of. I have the luxury of aesthetic choices, so what do you think?)?

Basing ...

(Median infantry: closely arrayed like this the appearance is quite appealing)

... I've decided that the figures will be based, and probably in multiples after the same fashion as modern stands. But I'll probably remove a stand when that many figures are eliminated by the mechanisms - and so a gap which needs to be filled will open up. But (a) I need to decide what the battlefield will look like before deciding what basing finish will be appropriate, and (b) how many figures on what width base? How tightly should they be packed (flats, of course, can be packed very tightly indeed if desired)?

(Hoplite Phalanx: rough and ready - these figures are less tightly packed than the Persians in the previous picture)

Extra figures ...

(a drawer full of Greek cavalry: this should more than cover the requirements for Plataea)

... anyone know where I can get more of these figures - have a look at the pictures ... who makes and sells them? Or am I going to have to go to 'toy soldier' events to track them down?

Well, there's a few questions to get thing going.

Oh - and those Persians are going to need a barricade of shields ... or will they - what would you do?

(some of what's left after the Greeks and Persians have been selected ... there's another project or three still left I would think - but I must focus on Plataea for now)