Zionist Collapse at the Post Office

Long time readers of this blog will recall that a few weeks ago, king Bobu Deva of the Kushans defeated the schoolboy king Nashur III, and assumed the title of King of Kings. He was then challenged by Whatagasses, a former holder of that title. For most of the battle it appeared that Bobu would easily see off the challenger, having crushed his largest command and surrounded his allies, but then a sudden and unexpected collapse of the Kushan left flank, saw the army defeated and Bobu Deva forced to make an undignified tactical redeployment to the rear.

Having thoroughly reviewed the video tapes of that battle, the Kushans came to the conclusion that the only possible explanation of the collapse was witchcraft*. However, with the witch king Whatagasses having finally been killed in another battle, the scene was clear for Bobu Deva to reclaim his rightful title, secure in the knowledge that his tactical brilliance would no longer be thwarted by the foul arts. This would mean another battle with Nashur III (all hail him in his shorts) of the Sassanid empire.

Some adjustments to the previous army list were required for the upcoming battle, since while witchcraft was undoubted the main cause of the previous defeat, the small commands and piecemeal deployment of vulnerable fast light horse, had been contributing factors. The Kushan army was thus reorganized with a smaller ally, and more robust commands. Since Nashur would be aware of the threat posed by Kushan elephants and deploy counter-measures, these would be neutralized by not having any elephants. The Kushan plan then was to hold a section of the line with cheap pikes, while riding down the Sassanids with a line of armoured cataphracts. A Hyrkanian Rebel Parthian ally was enlisted to provide yet more cataphracts making a total of 15 including generals. The vulnerable light horse would be kept behind the lines.

However Nash had been muttering darkly about surprises and new construction, so some perusal of his army list was required to try to guess what this might be. The most likely candidates seemed like a fortified artillery tower, or a frontier wall (which makes some sense in a campaign battle where you're garaunteed to defend). To allow for this contingency a treachery stratagem was selected, and the no elephant rule relaxed for the C in C, just in case he needed to assault a gate.

The Post Office

The battlefield was largely open, with gentle hills on each baseline, and a marsh towards each flank. The center was crossed by a long road, where Nash placed his surprise, which turned out to be an isolated tower occupied by an artillery piece. We dubbed this the "Post Office".

The Sassanid army had also undergone some reorganization, with a large Jewish contingent of superior hordes having been enlisted, and Nashur himself mounted on rather spiffing platform as a Bge(S) army standard.

Anyone who has seen the movie "300" will immediately recognize the authenticity of this model

The Kushans deployed with a command of pikes to the left of the post office, with two commands forming a wall of steel to its right. The Hyrkanian allies were deployed behind the right with the task of preventing any Persian flanking move to the right of the marsh.

The Sassanids deployed with a long line of horde as their front line (28 IIRC) with Jewish Hd(S) on their left, and Hd(O) on their right. The CinC with two elephants was behind the center, and  a small group of Cv(S) was behind the right. However, the bulk of the asavan in two commands were drawn up in a left facing column on the hill on their left.

Our drone wasn't functioning, so this is the best view we have of deployment.

The Sassanids opened the battle by sending most of their two cavalry columns to make a wide move around the marsh on their left, while holding in the centre. The Kushans rapidly advanced their cataphract line, and moved up the ally and some light horse to head off the Sassanid outflanking move. On the left the pikes advanced slowly, as many pips were used to marshal an assault on the post office.

Opening moves

Although an arrangement had been made to bribe the occupants of the post office, they reneged on the deal (rolled a 2 on the treachery die roll), and repelled all assaults until almost the end of the game.

The main action kicked off on the Kushan right with their cataphracts crashing into and mostly destroying the line of Jewish horde in front of them, while the cataphract command immediately right of the post office held back a little, wary of the elephants in the Sassanid center. Despite the success of the charge, the right hand Kushan command found itself in some difficulties. The left end of its line had strayed too close to an elephant and a cataphract and a light horse were lost before the pachyderm could be brought down, lack of pips meant that the only protection for the right end of the line was Bobu Deva himself, and the four light horse that had gone forward to slow the Sassanid flanking force had trouble withdrawing and took losses.

Kushans prepare to charge

Meanwhile the Sassanids let the horde go impetuously in the center,  and they crashed into the auxillia who were protecting the cataphracts from the elephants. Eventually the auxillia triumphed, and the pikes on the Kushan left reached and slaughtered the horde opposite them. The few Sassanid Cv(S) who'd been left behind on the right tried to counter attack, and did indeed kill another cataphract before being dispatched. The whole Sassanid front line had now collapsed, leaving Nashur III on his mobile platform, and his remaining pet elephant looking a little embarrassed, and lacking pips to withdraw. Nashur's platform was surrounded, and destroyed, leaving only the baggage and the leftmost group of cavalry in the center. Being out of command range, and facing two untouched commands, the latter seemed doomed.

Kushan cataphracts and auxillia close in on Nashur

However, there were still some anxious moments for the Kushans. On the extreme right the Sassanid cavalry continued to advance, and the ally general (Wayne) commanding the Hyrkanians tasked to slow this, was given strict instructions to "not lose his command by getting all the light horse killed". Something must have been lost in translation though, as two turns later, five out of six were dead, and his command was demoralized. Still with just a few more kills needed to finish the Sassanids the Hyrkanian cataphracts were committed against the Persian cav. A loss on a 3-3 though saw the Hyrkanian command break, and the knock on effect also broke the right hand Kushan command. There was some frantic counting, but with two almost untouched commands, the Kushan army just survived the knock ons.

This left the situation with the Kushans having two essentially untouched commands on the center and left, with one cataphract from the broken right hand command in contact with the Sassanid baggage, and king Bobu Deva himself patrolling the hill on his elephant preventing the Sassanid general moving close enough to the isolated group of cavalry to command them effectively. The Sassanids still had two commands, on their left, but both had taken heavy cassualties and the army was near breaking. In the end the coup de grace was given by the lone cataphract defeating a baggage F, causing a whole column to flee off table.  (took a bit of rules checking that one, but it appears that the table edge doesn't count as impassable terrain for fleeing elements). With other damage inflicted, this broke the Sassanids, and the rightful King of Kings returned to claim his throne.

So another hard fought battle, but in the end the Sassanids had no answer to the cunning Kushan tactic of lining up all their heavy troops and charging up the middle. One pattern that is becoming clear, is that one shouldn't rely on ones ally general not to get himself into trouble by overcommiting when he's supposed to be in a holding role. More executions needed methinks.

Along the lines at the start.

This battle eliminated Nash from the campaign. The final battle will see Wayne and his Parthians try to retake the throne. Winner take all. Watch this space for a report.







* Wayne was recently bitten by a strange millipede, which may have given him special powers.