Battle of Leuctra, 371 BCE, cellular automation

This is a cellular automation that models the battle of Leuctra, where 6,000 Boeotians and Thebans faced off against a hungover, but vastly superior, force of 11,000 Spartans.

The simulation isn't historically accurate, exactly, but it does model all 17,000 combatants individually, as well as the Spartan and Sacred Band cavalry (the fast moving blocks). The original model was from 1992 and ran on a NeXT station over the course of 9 hours. This new one runs in about a minute.

The Thebans stacked their Sacred Band elites (the big green rectangle on the right) on the left side of their formation to block against the sneaky flanking maneuver for which the Spartans were famous. The Spartan main phalanx (the big orange line on the left) shreds after about a minute of pressure from the main Theban phalanx. The far left Spartan line is out of position and worthless---just like real life.

The Spartans broke and ran, and this was the end of Spartan dominance. It was also the last battle of the hoplite phalanx, and ushered in a new generation of infantry formations.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• leuktra
• spartans
• battle
• of
• leuctra
• game
• simulation
• wargame