When I first set out wargaming ancients with veteran figures I organised my hoplites in the manner favoured by Charles Grant and illustrated in The Ancient Wargame. That meant phalanxes of 36-40 figures. As you can see from this photo of these early Garrison 20mm and S Range Spartan units lined up on a ridge such units - even when based 2-deep - cover quite a frontage. The width of the units makes them unwieldy and hard to manoeuvre, which didn't seem quite right to me. So I cut the Hoplite units down in size to 24 figures (an alternative - one that would have looked good - was to base them three deep) while keeping the "Barbarians" in big Grant-style units of 40. Now the Persians are the awkward clumsy ones, while the Greeks are cohesive, their commander able to concentrate his forces more easily. The photo shows the first ancient battle Clive Norman and I ever fought. Based on a Charles S. Grant scenario it was fought using WRG 3rd edition. A vague recollection is that the Persian commander launched these S range Assyrian charots up the hill at the Spartans. They were - unsurprisingly - rebuffed, fled the field and - under the WRG morale rules covering irregulars - took most of the rest of the Persians with them.
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