Burn the Mole

The Siege of Tyre (a brief history)

The Phoenician port of Tyre is located on the coast of what is now Lebanon, though at the time of Alexander (332 BC) it was in fact an island with a channel between itself and mainland of some twenty feet in depth and half a mile in width. Located as they were on their impressively walled island with a wide channel of turbulent sea separating it from the mainland, it is not then unsurprising that the Tyrians had little fear of being attacked. That was until Alexander the Great started to build his mole.

Initially during his conquests Alexander didn’t seem to have any intentions of attacking Tyre and indeed after his victory in Sidon he was warmly welcomed by the Tyrians and it appeared there would be peace between them. This would quickly be turned around when Alexander desired to perform a sacrifice at the shrine of Heracles in Tyre and his wish was declined by the Tyrians and he was forbidden from entering the city. This, however, did not cause him to attack and he still sued for peace. He sent ambassadors to Tyre, but they were murdered by the over-confident Tyrians and thrown over the city walls. Alexander was not best pleased

Alexander’s first forays against Tyre were defeated by the city’s excellent defences and the prospect of a lengthy siege was not welcome. The Tyrians had a constant supply of fresh water and huge stockpiles of food prepared that would last them for years. The Tyrians were no strangers to being besieged, having survived three previous attempts to conquer it.

The city of Tyre was surrounded by a massive stone wall that ran for two miles around the island. For 12 years the Babylonians tried, and before them so did the Assyrians, twice, the first for four years the second nine. Without a substantial navy at his command conquering Tyre was going to be exceptionally difficult, but nonetheless Alexander wasn’t going to let the insult lie.

He ordered the construction of a mole to bridge the channel from the mainland to the island city. This was going to be a mammoth feat of engineering with the mole needing to be half a mile wide to cross the channel and over twenty feet in height to clear the sea. Reports vary as to how wide the mole was but at least initially the mole can be said to have been at least 200 feet wide.

On the mainland the old city of Tyre proved to be an ample source of stone and wood for the mole’s construction and Alexander’s men systematically tore the city down. During the early stages of the mole’s creation the Tyrians found the seemingly impossible task ridiculous and laughable. Whether they expected Alexander to give up or fail is uncertain but it was a while before they started to take the threat seriously. By then, it was all a bit too late.

The Tyrian ships made repeated attacks on the mole builders and when Alexander had two protective towers built the Tyrians used a ship loaded with oils and other combustible items and rammed it into the foremost point of the mole, where two towers were built. The fire-ship attack was successful and for a short time at least Alexander’s approach was slowed. But history has shown that Alexander was anything but a quitter and the loss of a couple of towers and some of his men did little to deter him. The construction continued with the mole being widened and with more towers being raised.

Still, the mole alone would not be enough so Alexander set about recruiting ships from different conquered lands and was able to muster a navy to create a blockade around the island. Now protected from attacks, the work on the mole was relatively unhindered and as soon as the mole was long enough for artillery to be effective Alexander had his war engines attack the city. This went on for some time before the main attack began and Alexander’s ships began smashing holes in the city wall with specially built battering rams.

Alexander’s ships had potent war machines on board with which they could attack the Tyrian defences. During the siege the Tyrians made cunning naval raids that ultimately did not avail them. Eventually the walls were breached and Alexander’s forces spilled into the city, slaughtering the defenders.

All told the siege lasted seven long months and cost the lives of thousands of Tyrians. Alexander’s casualties however were pretty insignificant. Alexander had the city’s inhabitants, some thirty thousand, sold into slavery. He finally got to perform his sacrifice and also found the time to have two thousand captured Tyrian soldiers crucified.

Introduction

As previously mentioned the Tyrians were successful in their attempt to burn down the mole’s protective towers. In this scenario one player, controlling the Tyrians, gets to try to do just that while the other, playing the Macedonians, attempts to stop him.

The Map

A four foot square table is required for this game with no scenery other than the mole itself necessary. Unless you happen to have a miniature representation of the mole in your model collection it’s going to require some makeshift representation. A piece of plywood will suffice, or just some painted card with something on the end to be the towers and the soldiers therein – a pair of Macedonian archer miniatures would do nicely.

The mole itself should be about six inches in width if possible and twenty inches long, positioned in the centre of the table. It is impossible for ships to cross it under any circumstances.

The Tyrian Setup and Order of Battle

The Tyrians have dispatched a fleet of triremes out from their harbour, two of which are towing the fire-ship as it (unsurprisingly) doesn’t have a crew of its own. The pair of triremes towing the fire-ship should be deployed six inches from the edge of the board with the fire-ship itself on the edge of the board, six inches behind. The other triremes in the fleet all start along the edge of the board.

The objective for the Tyrians is the destruction of the two towers at the head of the mole. This can only be done with the fire-ship and to this end the ships towing it have extremely proficient crews are hand-picked rowers to allow them to close the distance to the target as quickly as possible. Use a single card in the turn deck to for both the triremes and the fire-ship. The latter always stays directly six inches behind the triremes. When rolling for Full Speed, both triremes need to be successful to achieve Full Speed. In such cases just roll the D6 once for how many additional inches are moved.

The moment the fire-ship makes contact with the front of the mole it automatically explodes, setting the towers ablaze. From this point on use a separate card to represent each of the triremes, who now operate independently. Should both towing triremes be destroyed before the fire-ship can strike it continues to move at a rate of 6” per turn on account of the momentum it has already achieved.

When the fire-ship makes contact with the mole it is necessary to determine how much damage it inflicts, but the intention here is to cause damage to itself, thereby better spreading its fiery cargo to cause more destruction to the towers. Perform a ram as normal using the triremes ram score, plus any modifier for moving at full speed. But instead of rolling against the TN of the towers, refer to the below table for the result.

Ram Result Effect

4-6 The fire-ship sets fire to the towers, but does no immediate damage. At the start of the next turn the towers loses 1 Hull Point.

7-9 The fire-ship smashes against the mole causing 1 Hull Point of damage to the towers.

10+ The fire-ship is obliterated, causing 2 Hull Points of damage to the towers.

The Macedonian Setup and Order of Battle

The Macedonian force is numerically superior to that of the Tyrians, but the individual ships are of less quality. In addition the Macedonians are able to make use of the towers on the end of the mole as they are garrisoned with archers who can use bows just like those on a ship could, though obviously they are unable to move. All Macedonian ships are deployed along the table edge.

Once the fire-ship has struck the towers take damage similar to a normal ship. Each round the crew must try and control the fire as per the rules for a damaged ship, except that the damage cannot be stabilised nor ever repaired above 4. However, because of the fire the towers may take damage each turn in addition to any otherwise taken, beginning on the next turn after the fire-ship has struck. Roll a D6 and consult the below table.

D6 Roll Effect

1-2:

The towers take 1 Hull Point of damage and lose 1 unit of either crew or archers (Macedonian players choice)

3-4:

The tower takes 1 Hull Point of damage.

5-6:

The tower takes no damage.

Tyrian ships may shoot at the crew of the towers to prevent them controlling the fires. This works in the same way as shooting at oarsmen and once 4 units have been killed the Crew Quality is reduced to +0. If all crew are killed then the roll is subject to a +1 TN penalty. Ultimately the Macedonian ships need to keep the Tyrian ships busy so that the crew can keep control of the fire.

Ending the Battle

The game lasts 10 turns and if at any point during that time the towers are reduced to 0 Hull Points then the Tyrians achieve their goal and are victorious. However, if after 10 turns the towers are still standing, no matter how damaged, the Macedonians have managed to put out the fires and the Tyrians plans have been thwarted. Alternatively the Macedonians can win by sinking all the Tyrian ships, though this is extremely unlikely.