Grasping at Straws

"How to surround - Come from all points of the compass"

An alternative view to the battle report "Surrounded" here.

The Petra(shop) Boys have their first shot at the “top table” tonight but need to invade Btobemy I in Damascus, a task they are not suited for and a repeat of two games ago which ended in defeat.  A record emulated last week as well so confidence is not high.

The Ptolemies are a moving mass (okay, quite small mass) of unstoppable (from my perspective) pikes, superior auxilia and single wedged knights plus some light troops and maybe an elephant or two.  Frontally, without us hiding behind the stone walls we would be stream rollered in short order.  So should we just build more stone walls??  No way!!  Let’s do the opposite and lower the wall count and do the things that are so unpredictable as to be .................. well, outright mad.

So how to halt pikes without walls?  Psiloi – the Aramaeans can bring the many compulsory bowmen as skirmishing psiloi bowmen which will delay the pikes out of the battle if used well and in co-operation with terrain and cavalry to protect them from the auxilia.  This frees up quite a number of APs (resource points used to calculate an armies efficiency, we play to 400AP) to use on the other mad idea.  We’ll bring an ally of, and our own (almost never used) maximum, of fast light horse so that we can get around the smaller enemy mass and pick at him from all angles.  But wait, there’s more!!

I have years and years of history of flank marches that fail to arrive, having stopped using them in the old country because they just hate me.  On the few occasions I’ve tried them here in BKK they have, true to form, failed to arrive.  Hence I never use them and Bob knows it.

So tonight I’ll use two!!  Each a fast light horse command to attack from the rear, one being a sub-general using the top PiP rating to give plenty of scope for action.  Last week Anthony stole my thunder and used the recently discovered (well, for me anyway) concept of using the delayed battle stratagem to maximise the odds of arrival, the very trick I had been agonising over for days, calculating the odds of a mix of sub or ally generals and with or without the delay and if adding an exaggerated size stratagem would mask the plan or not. 

But tonight well find out if it works for me (like it worked for Anthony last week).  Part two to be written at a later date.

Desperate situations call for drastic means!!

Post Battle Survivors Tell the Tale

(while dining on elephants steaks courtesy of two elements of Ptolemic pachyderms)

We couldn’t quite find the battle field we desired (due to terrain generation vagaries) but we weren’t too unhappy with what we got.  Even though one side was a bit restricted for entry points we put out both flank marches so only had two commands on table.

Deployment was defensive with defended dunes on the left and plenty of psiloi in the open in the centre to act as pike delayers.  As expected Bob’s pikes were front and centre although angled a bit and he was offset to his left (my right) with most of his support troops.  Two inferior elephants were almost on his base edge so far away that they looked like they had no interest in getting involved while his knights in wedge formation were on the other flank also way back in reserve mode.  These two rather strange deployments plus no 4^th command set my mind racing looking for a cunning plan.  I went ahead and called delayed battle, worrying that it might give my plan away.

Imagine my surprise when my Skythian flank march made its appearance on only the second bound!!  Things were looking better although it would be a tight squeeze to get on between the terrain and I’d have to deal with the knights almost immediately which would mean swamping them with numbers.  To this end I went in column around the terrain, accepted that Bob would get first charge (depending on his PiPs) but would then be in position to hard flank elements and move around into the rear of the knights.

Bob, unlike me remembered that light horse flee from knight, so pick only a single fight head on with the column.  When you have a fast light horse general the best place to keep him alive is at the rear of the formation so they are safe from the light horse lottery effect combats.  So that’s where my Skythian was properly positioned.  Until the column fled with (ahead of) the element that was beaten and the last element, the general, fell off the edge of the world/table and was lost!! 

The stinkiest piece of smelly cheese we’ve seen out here for a long while!!

Being a small command and with the general’s loss having such a big effect they didn’t stay much longer and apart from one knight destroying half of the Ptolemies baggage they did no damage.

In the centre of the table I was just mucking around and stalling for time and slowing pushing the psiloi across to intercept the pike blocks.  Maybe I was too reckless with the light horse here and took casualties for nothing in return although I’d taken risks against the PiP dice that had caught me short a couple of times.  I choose not to mention Bob’s artillery damaging my exquisite stone walls with such abandon and ease, to say nothing of killing the elements so easily.

Then the earth shattering news!!  Despite my track record almost all flank marches arriving in subsequent games, this time the second flank march arrives and 19 light horse march on the table as far as they can almost into contact with the three cavalry posted by Bob as pickets on my right flank.  As this was Bob’s low PiP allocation command I think Bob was restrained when he said in an even British voice “Oh, this could be really quite bad, it could”.

Of course it wasn’t.  The three cavalry diced they way to survival too many times and while we split off some horse to catch and dispatch the elephants (from the rear both times) the flank was only ever a threat rather than a danger.  We took a cheap shot at a general with hard flank contact via the DH but it didn’t come off either and we stalled. 

The psiloi from two commands of the main force had come up to put on pressure on Bob’s rescue teams and by turning elements, maximising no recoils and at times co-ordinating with the light horse were causing casualties.  The psiloi were also able to push into a gap that had opened in Bob’s line looking to exploit hard flanks and rear attacks.  To prevent this Btobemy himself (the CinC) was the only available counter so he went stomping on the peasants and buried himself unsupported and unprotected in the mass of light troops. 

I got in two attacks with double overlaps and hard flanks in consecutive bounds, needing to roll two-up on the dice to have our javelins skewer Btobemy (we were PsS to his front not PsO as Bob noted, these being the flanking elements) but we failed to do it on either occasion.  Time was called and we had to resort to book-keeping to get a campaign game victor.

For all it ended in ultimate failure, I was very pleased with the way the overall plan had turned an expected mundane beating into a surprisingly close run thing.  There is something to be said for bizarre plans.

Battle 3 – Romans vs Parthians (again)

A battle report by the brave scribe Dubius Factus.

Following his unsuccessful defence of Damascus (due to the demise of inexperienced sub general and the ever-pathetic Skythians) Legatus Rolus Asixus Prope Fraxinum had made a tactical withdrawal to well established Roman territory. The overly facial haired Parthians saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of what they considered a weakened Roman army. Once again, the barbarian trips on his long moustache!

The Roman Legatus, well aware of the Parthian strengths and of course their many weaknesses, once again sought to impede the barbarian advance by choosing a suitable place at which to bring them to battle. The Parthians obliged altogether too easily. Legatus Rolus Asixus, informed his scouts to find a field of battle with heavy terrain on at least one flank and broken ground in the centre. His plan I am told was to close the battle field with two plans in mind. The Parthians with their highly mobile horse archers and their effective heavy horse would either be channelled into narrow lanes from which their flanks could be harassed by light troops in difficult terrain, or they would be tempted/force to conduct a flank march, thus drawing part of their army into a trap.

The Roman scouts did a job worthy of Jupiter, finding a suitable location that in truth provided both of their general’s demands. The Roman left flank was secured by a steep hill with a small town in its shadow, The Parthains were forced to deploy with a large marsh dominating their centre and another steep hill on the Parthian left. This left only two small lanes of good going for their horse men, which could be easily defended and exploited by the cunning Legatus and his brave legion.

The head of the Prope Fraxinum household drew his plans sending his distant cousin Devius Impetus on a wide sweep away from the Roman right to counter and entrap any barbarous attempts to encircle his army. His command including legionaries (regular oridary blades), heavy cavalry (regular ordinary cavalry), and Thracian light horse (irregular light horse), with a few Cretan archers (regular ordinary Psiloi) The rest of the army was deployed to cover the two channels with legionaries and heavy cavalry, and with light troops (auxillia and psiloi) to challenge and retain the marsh and the steep hill. Our illustrious Legatus himself retained command of a reserve of Thracian Peltasts and African elephants, ready to deploy wherever needed most. The other commands being a small force of Spanish Javelinmen (8 irregular superior Psiloi) led by Ristus Dextrus,  and a mixed force of legionaries (regular ordinary Blades), heavy cavalry (regular ordinary Cavalry) and mercenary Theorophorae (regular superior Auxiliaries) along with a unit of Antisignati (regular superior Psiloi) under the command of Pipus Bonus.

The marvellous Roman deployed and awaited the hairy hordes. As envisioned the moustachioed invaders deployed their heavy horse in the gaps and their inferior light troops in the marsh. Surprisingly, and much to their shame, they left the steep hill uncontested. Knowing that the cowardly Parthian horse would not enter the gaps without first securing their flanks, the legions advanced to fill the space. The marsh was well defended but the Romans sought to oust the invaders through weight of numbers and superior quality. The hill was taken by our mercenary Theorophoroi (auxiliary) and Antisignati (psiloi). The Roman cavalry on the right flank were faced by a disorderly group of cowardly Skythians – dubious in reputation but possibly dangerous none the less. Therfore, they erred on the side of caution, awaiting the arrival of their allied flank march. And thus the battle began. 

The Spanish Javelinmen were pushed into the marsh to clear the Parthian foot, whereupon they stumbled upon a small ambush of light archers (ps o). Undeterred the Javelinmen charged hurling their missiles and to their shame took heavy casualties (2 ps s lost in the first round of combat). It seemed the foe had chosen his ground well and these losses left a hole in the Roman lines. The Legatus pushed the Thracian Peltasts along the road and into the marsh. Alas, the Parthians were aware of this advance and brought horse archers and auxiliaries to harry their flanks, effectively blocking the assault on the left. Clearly the middle of the marsh was where this encounter would be decided, so Asixus moved some Peltasts across and along with the Javelinmen they fought a hard battle which with the help of 1 or 2 legionary cohorts they eventually won.

On the opposite (right) flank, the Skythians were proving to be as dubious as their reputation foretold. They were advancing but very slowly and disorderly (low pips and impetuous knights causing problems). They were, however starting to look a little threatening to the small number of Roman cavalry deployed on the flank. The steep hill was clearly in Roman possession and the mercenaries were splitting to threaten the peripheral areas of the terrain on both sides, making it difficult for the Parthians to advance.  

As the Skythians moved forward they were suddenly dismayed to see clouds of dust and flashes of sunlight glinting on polished armour – the brave Devius Impetus and his flanking troops had arrived at a most timely moment (by the roll of a 6). The Skythians on seeing this, lived up to and beyond their reputation and immediately fled directly away from the flank march. The knights fled across the front of the troops on the hill, and the horse archers ran for the relative safety of their Parthian allies. But to no avail – the two Roman commands leapt upon them from every angle, scattering them to the wind. That is, except for their general who bravely charged ahead taking out a cohort of auxiliaries and alae of cavalry before his heart gave and he too fled the field (his command becoming shattered and him being removed).

Directly after seeing the arrival of a large force on their flank, the hairy barbarians tried to outfox our gallant hero with futile stratagems. First they tried to contest the hill with the help of some traitorous local guides. Their horse archers (fast light horse) charged headlong up a secret path and attacked the Antisignati in the flank. Undeterred by this and secure in the difficult terrain, the brave specialists shook off their attackers destroying them outright and taking the fight to all that opposed them. The second attempt at cunning was a delayed command waiting somewhere to the rear of the battlefield. This command appeared directly before our flank attack (in fact, they rolled a 6 in the following turn but due to the arrival rules they came on first) but was too little too late and unable to deploy in time to avoid being out manoeuvred and outclassed.

By this point in the battle, the shaggy invaders had taken quite a pounding and their largest command having taken losses in the marsh, on the hill, and been tempted to engage the elephants (who they did manage to kill but by doing thus freed up the flank of the cataphracts), was on the brink of collapse. The coup de grace came when the Theorophorae on the hill attacked the completely static cataphracts in the now unprotected flank, and by turning them, forced them to fight up the steep slope. Subsequently, the heavy knights were overthrown and the second and largest command broken. That, plus casualties on the newly arrived command ensured the rout of the whole army (the army had received more than 50% casualties) and the end of the battle.

The Romans had lost hardly any of their force (less than 10%) and Legatus Rolus Asixus Prope Fraxinum had completely crushed the invaders. He was quoted at the end of the day, ’They came. They saw. They capitulated.’

Tactical Notes (at the risk of giving far too much away):

The Romans have a regular command structure and predominately regular troops. The Parthians are irregular across the board. This gives the Romans advantage in manoeuvre even though the Parthians are generally faster. However, on an open battlefield the Parthians should be able to get around the Romans and outnumber them as regular troops are more expensive. The Romans have a mixed force of heavy foot suitable for standing in the open but equally capable of defending in difficult terrain (they are too slow to move effectively in difficult terrain), lighter but skilled auxiliaries and psiloi that are very good in terrain, and manoeuvrable cavalry. They have a few light horse but nowhere near as many as the Parthians. The Roman cavalry is not strong against knights, being easily killed by them in the enemy’s turn. Roman generals, being regular, get a free movement point (pip), which increases the army’s speed and flexibility.

The Parthians have a strong core of cataphracts (knights), supported by masses of highly manoeuvrable but slightly weak in a fight horse archers (Light Horse-LH). The Knights are very strong against Roman cavalry and foot, quick killing them in their own bound (beating them by 1 rather than having to double them on dice rolls).They can also opt to take light infantry (auxilia) which Anthony seems to favour against the Romans. The Knights should be the hammer, and the LH should be the anvil sweeping around the enemy to pin them. The auxiliaries are good in difficult terrain but are not strong troops. They rely on strength f numbers and attrition to be successful – cheap and cheerful!

The Roman tactic therefore was to negate the Parthians numerical advantage and speed by narrowing the table with difficult terrain which is unsuitable for the Parthian horse. We Romans are quite happy to take the fight into the terrain where our regular efficiency will allow us to out manoeuvre the irregulars (moves cost us 1 pip against their 2 pips).  By narrowing the table and forcing the enemy to fight where we want them to we can stop them from riding around us and if the knights attack our foot, engage in a battle of attrition in which we should win (knights cost more that blades). Therefore, I opted for the largest and most difficult terrain pieces at my disposal. Imagine my delight when Anthony obliged by providing two difficult hills! J

The marsh was down first and landed in the middle of Anthony’s deployment – quite a good location. Next were his 2 hills, one on each flank and one on each players side – great! The road fell quite well and I was able to place it diagonally across the table which allowed me to place the BUA between one hill and the marsh, effectively completely denying one flank to the enemy and opening up the temptation to flank march on the other flank. Perfect!

Central to this plan was the success of Anthony’s flank marches in his previous game. There was a good chance he might try that again, and in fact this is what I wanted. My flank march was there to drive his back. I used a large command to ensure that my flank march would be bigger than his and subsequently drive it back onto his side of the table. This would mean I would chase his command onto the table and hopefully and while it was in disarray, be able to hit it in the rear. It was a little risky but after weighing it up I thought it was worth it. Of course, the added advantage to this was if we both had flank marches on the same side there was double the chance of them coming on – both of us would be rolling. As soon as either of us rolled a 6 they would come on, the larger flank march pushing the smaller one back. As it turned out Anthony had tried something different and I was fortunate that I rolled a 6 and my attack came on when it did.

Overall I was very happy with my performance in this battle. The plan was sound. My Order of Battle was appropriate. I followed through with my plan and didn’t get distracted. And most of all, my generals stayed well out of harm’s reach (the loss of 2 generals through carelessness and over confidence cost me the game last week)!

The result: I lost less than 10% of my force (8 ME) and Anthony was routed. An astounding 25-0 victory!

Next week is a new challenge. I am fighting Wayne and the Petrashop boys. Sledge hammers and ladders maybe?

Surrounded

So week three of the campaign, and having mugged Nash last week, I was now King of the Table and had to defend my position against Wayne and his Nabateans. Having defeated them earlier in week one, I wasn't expecting too much trouble, and was probably a little overconfident.

 I did however, prepare one little surprise for him, rebasing some models that I'd painted 30 years ago and never played with. I was thus able to field three elements of artillery O. Now if you've read the previous posts about this campaign, you'll know that one of Wayne's hobbies is building walls (TF) across battlefields, and if you're familiar with the finer details of the purple tome, you'll know that not only do artillery shoot at bows with a factor of 4 vs 2, but temporary fortifications don't count against them. I wasn't sure if Wayne knew the last point or not, but was looking forward to him finding out.

As per my right as reigning King, I chose to defend. Since Wayne had chosen one of the two available sand dune terrain pieces, I elected to use a 2 FE dune which fell on the left round about the center line. A BUA and a rocky hill protected my right flank, and a difficult hill was in the middle of my deployment area on the back edge. Wayne's left flank was protected by another dune a little way in from the edge.

Now in the previous game, Wayne had deployed a large light horse command, which could present some dangers, and my left flank was a little open. OTOH I didn't want to sit on the defensive, as I wanted to logorate his bows with my artillery. Therefore I angled my pike a block a little, so that it could push out into the center, but keeping the gap between it and the rear hill a reasonable size that the the cavalry command to the left could protect. The artillery were on the right of the pikes, and the rightmost command would protect the right, and use its peltasts to clear the dune protecting Wayne's left flank.

Position after first turn

Bows out, psiloi in

Now in the past Wayne has struggled to put together an Aramean list that suits his style, but this time he'd come up with something that might just work. Gone was the massive bow line and wall protected it, this time what appeared on table was a few bow behind a short wall anchored to the dunes on his right, and many of the compulsory bow elements in the army had been converted to psiloi (O), a large swarm of which occupied the center of the table. More light troops and some camels were in the dune, and on the right of his line were some Ps(S) and Bow(I). There were a few cavalry and light horse in the center too, but clearly a lot of troops were missing.

I should probably have stuck to my plan of anchoring the left of my line on the hill, but I favour an agressive approach to the game, so decided to push forward quickly and try to defeat the one table forces before the expected flank march arrived. I wanted to be able to move the artillery into position so gave the middle command of pikes and artillery the middle pip dice, the command on the right took the high one so that it could sweep the dunes, and the flank guard on the left took the low one. The latter was to cause problems later.

Skythian flank march arrives

The initial moves then saw me push forward into the center with the pikes and artillery, and push forward aggressive on the right with my peltasts with a few cavalry in support. Wayne moved his light horse across to fight with the peltasts, and I managed to bag a cavalry with my bolt shooters. The big surprise was that Wayne's flank march rolled a six* on the second turn, and he announced that it would arrive on my right, rather than the more open left

Skythians advance

The flank march turned out to be a Skythian ally (obviously under new management after the demise of their general last week), comprising a a bunch of light horse and a couple of noble knights. I hurriedly turned around my own column of knights from the right command to act as a fire brigade, and hopefully keep the Skythians contained behind the hill until a enough force could be summoned to deal with them properly. Meanwhile the Skythian knights advanced towards the baggage (subsequently killing half of it), and the light horse formed into a long column snaking around the hill, with their general in the rear.

Skythains flee

Now in my experience, Skythian ally commands seldom fare well**, and so it was to prove as I unleashed cheesy move of the year, hitting the front of the light horse column with a knight, and forcing the leading element to flee. This pushed back the whole column forcing the whole thing flee, and resulting in the general at the end fleeing off table and being lost ***. Next bound I was able to flank and kill one the nobles, and that was enough to break the command.

Holy ****

However, my relief was short lived, as Wayne announced the arrival of another flank march on my left. This turned out to be a huge force of 18 horse archers, plus a general. To the three elements of Galatian cavalry mercenaries that I had thrown out as a picket on my left, it must have seemed like a scene from a French Foreign Legion movie as the whole horizon was suddenly filled with hostile cavalry. The tried to flee, but were quickly caught and surrounded. However, they put up spirited rear guard action fighting back to back, and killed several enemy elements before succumbing. This gave me time to throw together some sort of line, using the peltasts from the left command, and some pikes from the center, but the response was hampered by the command on that side having the low pips.

Flank march and response

The leftmost command also contained two elephants, which I could find little use for, so had left at the back so that at least wouldn't be in the way. These were quickly surrounded and dispatched by the onrushing mass, demoralizing the leftmost command. Wayne then moved his light troops from his right wing to attack my left side peltasts hoping to finishing them off quickly. They held on for a while though, allowing reserves from the right to arrive and counter attack killing enough of the flank marchers to demoralize them too.

Open fire!.  All Weapons!

Meanwhile on the right Wayne's light horse had been driven off, allowing my artillery to advance and shoot at the archers behind the wall. The latter, feeling themselves safe, were clearly dismayed by the heavy bolts arriving from afar, with the first two shots being six ones in my favour.

Gap in the line

Madness

It was at this point that I almost made a fatal mistake. With the peltasts and the left part of the phalanx having been send to deal with the flank march, a gap had opened in my line, which Wayne attempted to exploit with his psiloi, placing heavy pressure on the left hand peltasts, who could collapse at any moment. So being short on reserves, I send King Btobemy himself to intervene, and in a moment of stupidity charged him into the long column of psiloi attempting to come through the gap. Now another of the lines of fine print in the purple tome says that if you are a knight wedge element, you must pursue if you win, and since the Egyptian King surrounded by his finest, tend to do quite well against light archers equipped only with a bow and tunic, King Btobemy kept advancing leaving his flanks to be attacked by all manner of scummy commoners. One bad die roll, and his glorious reign would come to an ignoble end. Of course I mounted my own "Saving Private Ryan" effort, but to no avail.

Luckily by now, we had reached the time limit for the game, and King Btobemy remained on his horse. Wayne's pressure had finally broken my

Btobemy lives

leftmost command though, so we had to do some counting up to determine the victor. As it turned out we'd both lost 30%,  but Wayne also had a demoralized command, so I scrapped through seven to six, and retained my grip on Syria.

This was a tough game, and Wayne had a much better battle plan than me, and for the second week in a row I just scraped through, being particularly lucky in seeing of the Skythians so easily. The newly constituted lightweight version of the Nabateans is much more dangerous than before, and could now be a real contender.

Next time, I will be challenged by Anthony and his Parthians. There has been some feverish diplomatic activity with both sides sending large bags of gold (the campaign rules allow you to use your bonus APs to boost your rating with allies) to the Rhoxolani, in an attempt to secure their services, but in the end they elected to keep the cash, and join neither side. Now we both have some time to consider our plans, as unfortunately due to upcoming commitments, we won't be able to fight this game for another three weeks.

* Wayne has notoriously bad luck with flank marches, and is usually happy if they arrive by the end of the next game. Any plan that relies on his flank march not turning up will usually succeed.

** The Skythians were also in action on the side table this week, where thing also went badly for them.

*** I had actually intended to make the whole column flee which would buy me some breathing space, but hadn't reallized this would send the general off table.

Parthians Visit Nabateans: Syrian Campaign Round 2 Side Table

While the main game was going on (see previous post), Anthony (Parthians) and Wayne (Nabateans) had a secondary skirmish on another table.  These second table games ensure that all protagonists can have a game each week and can perhaps strengthen their armies for future encounters by gaining victory points that can be converted into army points.

The Parthians arrived in summer when the days are long and the nights are short, meaning flank marches are more likely to arrive on time. Initially. it looked like battle would commence about an hour before noon, but Veletri the Valiant delayed by about three hours to give his flank marches even more time to get behind the enemy.

For his part, Waynazab deployed most of his bowmen in a long line behind a wall outside a small fortified town in an attempt to draw the Parthians forward before unleashing his fast light horse in an ambush from the town into the Parthians rear. The Nabateans also had more ambushers in the dunes on their left, and a command of light horse behind those dunes that would sweep round to focus the Parthian attention (and further expose their rears to the town).

The Parthians had brought a Galatian ally of mostly warband, but with some cavalry.  The warband deployed away from the town opposite those bowmen unprotected by the wall. Their mission was to blow away those bow and then roll up the enemy behind the wall.  Unfortunately, some had to start in the dunes near the centre of the table, which would have a series of repercussions.

Meanwhile, a mass of Parthian light horse would protect the warbands' flank and discourage the Nabateans behind the wall from jumping over it.  Then further back, the massed ranks of cataphracts would come slowly forwards until the flank marches arrived and be the anvil against which the Nabateans would be smote.

The Galatians had a bit of trouble getting out of the dunes - just enough to use all their PIPs and prevent their cavalry from advancing for a couple of bounds, which also gave the bow to their front time to move out of their way and the reserve Nabatean knights to fill the gap. However, the Parthian left flank command threw a five on the first turn, so although they were still some way from supporting the Galatians, they were able to quickly come on to the Nabateans rear in the second bound.

In the centre, some Nabatean camels jumped into the dunes, which tied up some Parthian light horse that policed the perimeter, ready to jump on them if they came out.  On the other flank, the Nabatean light horse swept round and some Parthian light horse moved to intercept.

At this point, Waynazab played his trump card and his fast light horse came pouring out of the town gates. Emboldened with six PIPs, they swept round the rear of the Galatian cavalry, but it was arguably a mite too soon for that cavalry was able to turn and first pin, then engage and finally destroy the ambushers.  Had the warbands not chewed up all the Galatian PIPs in the early bounds, obliging the cavalry to stay put, that cavalry would certainly have moved off, leaving the Nabatean light horse with a free run at the Parthian's baggage and cataphracts' rear.

The warbands themselves had more than a little trouble with the knights opposing them at first with at least five elements going down without reply. But with the line now uneven, one knight pushed too far forward and was killed, creating that all-important gap in the Nabatean line allowing for at least one flank attack on the next knight. Also, the timely arrival of the Parthian light horse into the rear of other knights meant they soon crumbled.

On the other flank, the Nabatean advance showed up the Parthian cataphract line to be one deep, their stratagem of stirring up dust to make it look like there were more being uncovered. With the weight of numbers now in the Nabatean favour, things looked dicey for the Parthians. Undeterred, Veletri diverted increasing numbers of cataphracts to the fight on the hill, wondering all the time when his troops marching around on that flank would arrive. He even became involved himself at the far end as both sides tried to outflank each other. This in turn encouraged some Nabatean bowmen to leave their defences and advance on the hill in Veletri's rear. It was a do-or-die move - either kill Veletri and take the field, or die trying.

Indeed, at this point, the main Parthian command was in danger of going under as the F factor had caused more than one light horse element to be destroyed bringing them and the cataphracts perilously close to being disheartened and would have gone straight to being broken with Veletri's death. Fortunately, the well-overdue flank command arrived and close enough to move onto the hill from the opposite side and up behind the light horse facing Veletri. Although some were ambushed by the Nabatean psiloi waiting in the dunes and a series of poor die rolls by both sides resulted in no significant deaths, the complexion of the fight on that side

had irrevocably changed in favour of the Parthians. Shortly after, the do-or-die bow died at the hands of Veletri and another cataphract, effectively ending the battle.

The main Nabatean command had already suffered heavily against the Galatians warbands and further against the Galatian cavalry; thus, the loss of four bow elements was enough to dishearten it. The knock-on disheartened their light horse on the hill, so with only one fully functioning command, Wayne was ready to concede. His PIP dice were like-minded and came up with 2, 1 and 1. With his third general in combat, that effectively meant he could not move and the battle was over.

This win was undoubtedly down to the Galatian ally. Their ability to take casualties yet remain effective was the key in their fight against the Nabatean knights, and it was they who did most damage against the huge Nabatean main command. The Parthain main command was constantly under pressure as it had to send light horse to protect the warbands' flank, keep the camels in the dunes and engage the enemy light horse on the hill. It was also very fortunate to have the Galatain cavalry around to deal with the ambush from the fortified town. Ultimately though, the deployment of two flank marches proved successful with one getting into the rear of the Nabatean line and their baggage.

Final result: Parthians 23, Nabateans 2.




  

The Protagonists IV - The Petrashop Boys

"On a hiding to nothing..."

As readers of this blog may remember, we DBMM’s in Bangkok have played out three mini campaigns over the last few years and the battle reports were posted for all to critique.  (See reports from February 2012 to September 2014).

Miraculously, I have come out the victor in all three previous events (okay, the first two had only win or lose options!) and with a few more potential but inexperienced players joining the next mini-campaign it would be a bit embarrassing to make it four in a row.  In addition, having played the last two events as Parthians, it was frowned upon to use them once more.

So in a move of unexplained (and out of character) sportsmanship I suggested playing the toothless Arabo-Aramaeans [Bk 2/22] as the only non-Parthian alternative army I possessed that fitted into the 1^st century BC Syrian area campaign that was proposed.  As an army it is singularly without any attacking virtues and reliant on using it’s very low aggression and terrain options to absorb enemy attacks and counter-attack at the weakened enemy.

As it turned out the campaign rules subsequently went through some modifications, the number of players dropped to four and the selected armies became possibly the worst conceivable combination to face as each contained significant numbers of my natural enemies.  Furthermore, the re-arranged campaign rules for selecting allies*, while clever in themselves, further played against my army as it increased the number of my natural enemy elements in play while my own high minimums restricted my ability to use the stronger/more expensive allies.

However, we encourage cunningness and deviousness so that became the path I would have to follow, with unusual terrain layouts using uncommon terrain selects to try an cause the enemy to engage on my terms so that I could then strike back at their weakened areas.

I had to make a choice on the sub-list restrictions so chose the Nabataean city of Petra.  This gave me a mostly irregular army with regular generals and the option to switch the few non-LhF (light horse archers) mounted troops between fast Knights or Cavalry on a game by game basis.  I gave up the option of cataphracts (iKnX) because I saw no benefits in fighting any of the three known enemy armies with these type of knights.  I did, however, think the rare ability to bring significant ‘dry stone walls’ (TF-temporary fortifications) with this choice of city as being another unusual weapon in the arsenal.

However we also had a campaign structure that had the campaign won (or lost) on the “top table” while other preparatory games had other benefits but not directly able to win the campaign.  Because of the draw I was to engage in two preparatory games prior to a chance at the “top table”.  My tricks and ploys would be saved for the top table battles, earlier games being used to test other options.

By some devious date setting I got onto the bottom of the table of players so would be the last to challenge on the “top table” and had the two “side/preparatory” games to experiment in, the first against Bob’s Ptolemies and the second against the loser of the first top table game.

So for this campaign I am Wanazab the Ay-Rab, Emir of Military Affairs for the Nabataean city of Petra, assisted by the other Petrashop Boys,  Sal-Ah-Noyz (as audibly enabled as his later more famous descendant) and Ali Sheap Bleet (of the past flying carpets merchant fame family).  We really just want to guard our cities peace and regulated market places and our trade routes but the faceless council of greedy elders have decreed that we should be expanding vigorously.  This can only end in tears.

First Game

In a build up game Petra, for reasons unknown but most likely to do with disrupted trade, headed south to chastise the muscle flexing Ptolemies.  We meet on the banks of the upstream Nile in a battle where the centres didn’t engage and the artist-scribes were scared from the field very early (that is we didn’t take photos). 

The tactic to be tested here was an unexpectedly large light horse command, big enough to look normal with 8 elements also in ambush.  The Aramaeans are not expected to field the LhF in large numbers due to the high numbers of compulsory bow and to do both, plus a couple of decent stretches of stone walls I gave up taking an ally at all.  The idea was that the Ptolemies being a mostly pike and expensive foot army would be vulnerable to the 18 LhF sweeping around and behind them.  I was also gambling the their compulsory terrain (S or WW or Rv) wouldn’t be chosen as a river as either the sea or waterway would secure a flank and draw them to deploy in that direction giving scope to go wide on the opposite flank.  Besides the pike block the enemy would bring knights in a light wedge formation (rKnFsbw) which while deadly against foot in the open, doesn’t allow them the normal knightly destruction of cavalry (QK = quick kill effect) so my heavier mounted were classed (equipped) as cavalry not knights as a blocking agent.  To protect my foot I planned to use stone walls in their front, very effect against all that the Ptolemies could bring, with camel and psiloi infested dunes on their flanks.  My mounted would be in reserve or sent to win by outflanking the enemy.

Actually not a very strong plan in an aggressive sense but should be sound defensively.  Unfortunately, games aren’t won on the defensive, an issue I would have all campaign.

In the game the terrain fell well for the defensive approach although I would have to advance into a dune area in the centre of the table a small distance (two base widths) from the waterway to secure my left flank.  Unfortunately my cavalry was on the wrong flank to engage the enemy knights, a matter made worse when Bob unexpectedly decided to push the knights between the waterway and sand dunes which if successful would create havoc behind my lines.  I rushed a large group of light horse into the area where he would emerge from the gap but held them in station to threaten to envelop the knights rather than take them head on.  My camel riding scouts (LhI) and psiloi in the area immediately pushed into the dunes, with the triple purpose of avoiding the knights, threatening their flanks and also threatening the flanks of the pike block should they actually charge the troops defending the wall.

An additional surprise was Bob’s entry into the dunes with six superior auxilia (plus two psiloi) in two columns with a clear intention of clearing it of threats.  I expected my camels to be up to the task as they had plenty of psiloi support themselves but once combat was engaged the factors weren’t as clearly in my favour as I expected.  In the end, even against the poor odds that came as a surprise to me, after some hard fighting (and Bob’s unfortunate dice) we still finished the battle in possession of the dunes if only due to some luck.

However it became clear that this flank was the focus of Bob’s attack so I shifted, at great PiP cost, the cavalry from my right flank to the left.  The knights came out of the gap to fight and while I took a number of light horse casualties the “L” shape defence I used allowed the light horse to slip in a couple of rear attacks and in the end all knights but the general were destroyed and the enemy command broken.

But my right flank was now weak and the small number of light horse trying to delay the remainder of Bob’s mounted from outflanking us were eventually caught and then collapsed quickly (and broken due to the casualties inflicted on the command by the knights on the other side of the table) leaving the wall defensive position out-flanked.  A sterling effort was put up by the defenders but it wasn’t long enough to allow the cavalry to again transverse the table to the rescue, and with mounted in front, flanking and behind them they took enough damage to break.  Game over 6-19.

So having been caught out by Bob’s attack on my left where it wasn’t expected and needing the light horse to deal with the threat I never got to try the massed light horse outflank idea I had originally planned.  Maybe next time.

Second Game

Anthony had tried to use the Parthians in an uncharacteristic way on the top table and had (to the surprise of a couple of people) nearly pulled it off.  But in the end, after mutual CinC destruction, Nash’s woeman’s had secured a narrow victory so Anthony picked up the lowest spot on the table and got a ‘side’ game against Petra’s finest.  In the non-standard invade/defend rules the campaign utilises Anthony chose to invade (a “Dry” enemy) in the summer!!  I couldn’t work out why.

My pre-game planning involved swapping the cavalry into (regular) knights to prevent them becoming cataphracts fodder and maybe even give the cataphracts a fright themselves.  Give the invasion in the summer a thirst event was on the cards so I decided I must have a BuA (Built up area) and in fact took a two element square fortified BuA on a difficult hill I’d custom built for the previous campaign (where it failed to have positive effects) from which I could ambush six light horse.  Its placement was still a bit random but it was to go where it would cause the maximum discomfort for Anthony’s deployment and be manned by bowmen to keep it influence real.  Otherwise the list remained much the same as the previous game.

On the day the terrain fell favourably and deployment was quite straight forward.  The weather didn’t throw up the hoped for (against all odds of course) “thirst” condition.  Anthony appeared with only two commands on table, one with such an oversupply of cataphracts that it had to be an exaggerated sized command and he also actioned a delayed battle stratagem which I was less than familiar with and it didn’t register that it meant a flanking (or delayed) command.  His other surprise was the use of his Galatian ally, massed warband with a few cavalry which while needing to cover a lot of ground had a juicy bow and blade target directly ahead in my line.

Battle on, and I moved the warband targets, plus CinC, out off in-front of the warband but these were on low PiPs and while they got away didn’t do much else in the game.  I filled the gap they created with my few regular fast knights to receive the warband and pushed the camel scouts into the dunes in the centre of Anthony’s deployment area where he had no answer to them (instead he used troops and PiPs all game to keep them there rather than have the camels catch him in the rear).  Lastly, I send the large group of light horse (with high PiPs) wide around the left flank to threaten the cataphracts flank and rear and to burst their bogus numbers.  This move Anthony countered with three light horse of his own which we meet on a gentle hill and expected to use our numbers to sweep them aside but his dice held up very well and we were stalled until he had time to get the cataphracts into play piecemeal. 

About this time Anthony’s masterplan became evident, flank marches on both flanks and I fell for it.  I released the ambush from the hill fort to run wide and into the Parthian’s rear but got the march move mechanisms wrong and the Galatian cavalry, still hanging back due to lack of PiPs, was able to nullify it’s effect and I was also surprised how ineffective my knights were in dealing with the massed warband, even though we match the frontage and had secure flanks, as the knightly quick kill was uncommon due to the combat factors being so even.  So we bogged down and eventually the “F” effect cost us an element and the line was breached.  By that time we had Parthians in the rear over 40% of our line and we were well beaten,  2-23.

Anthony came with a total plan, executed it well and as a result out played me completely.  Well done!!

Now I must face Bob’s Ptolemies on the “top table” next, having also previously lost to them and confidence is not high.  Thus queue – bizarre plans!!

* =      List allies are ignored (unavailable) while a local area list of eight allies (those we had enough figures for!) were available to all but are ranked by player so that through a couple of campaign rules we have a sub-game where it is possible to manoeuvre allies away from your opponents and into your own camp.  

Luck of The Egyptians: Syrian Campaign Round 2

Last week's game saw Nash and his Romans defeat Anthony and his Parthains to secure Syria and grab the position of King of the Table. This week it was King Btobemy's turn to play on the challenge table and try to unseat the reigning KotT. As per the campaign rules, the attacker and defender were determined before picking an OoB and with Nash electing to stay home and mind the goats, I would be the attacker.

King Btobemy trying out a new mount

In addition to the usual things to think about when planning a battle, the campaign adds two extra elements to consider, bonus points and ally selection.

The winner of each game (on either challenge or side tables) gains a number of bonus points equal to their score using the standard game system (so 13 to 25) which can be saved up and used in future games. They may be used to buy stratagems, TF or PF, up to six horde elements, or elements from the army list at double cost.

Unlike the previous campaign, we don't use the allies from the army list, instead their is a common pool of eight allies that we all choose from. In order to prevent both sides picking the same ally, and to add a very simple element of diplomacy, we all ranked the allies in preference order at the start of the campaign. For any given battle, you may only use those allies you've assigned a higher preference to than your opponent. There is the additional wrinkle that if you lose a game while using an ally (or win but the ally is shattered) you can't use that ally again.

So what should I pick to defeat Nash. His Romans are a very tough versatile army, and he has a lot experience using them. It was no major weaknesses, but there are some avenues of attack. His legions might with a bit of luck be swept away by knights or warbands, the large cavalry wing he habitually employs might be defeated by knights (but not the knight wedges in my army list), and I have more difficult terrain troops. Nash was obviously well aware of the dangers posed by the Sarmatians, picking them as his top ally and thus denying them to me. I'd picked the Galatians as my top ally with the intention of using them against Nash, but elected to keep them in reserve for games in later rounds. I also thought about using a Rhoxolani command to boost my cavalry which would otherwise be outnumbered, but in the end I stuck with a three command army from my own list, very similar to the one from the last game. However, I dropped one of the elephants and instead employed 4 elements of Galation (Warband S) mercenaries to boost my chances against the legions. I spend 19 of my 34 bonus points on scouting and ambush stratagems and and additional 4 points on troops (as my total troop elements came to 402 points).

I picked two sand dunes for my terrain (as they narrow the central portion of the table more than a Waterway) and Nash had a couple of oil wells (minimum size marshes) a BUA and a gentle hill. Most of the significant terrain fell on the right side of the table, with just the hill and the oil well to the left. This gave the Romans a bit more space to run around in than I'd hoped, but at least allowed me to secure one flank the various bits of bad going on the right.

Deployment

 

My plan was to crush the legions with my phalanx and Galatians, and to this end I split the Galations into two pairs with each having a phalanx block on both flanks, the idea being that the pike blocks would push things back giving the Galatians a double overlap and a great chance of a kill. The maximized my offensive potential, but meant that wheeling would be more difficult with irregulars mixed in, and I'd lose my free march move with the pikes.

I expected the terrain on the right to be lousy with Roman light troops, so decided not to waste pips fighting there, but to mask it with the peltasts from my right hand command. The cavalry from that command would be sent to assist the left, and knight wedges would also go left, or attack the legions if they overlapped the right of the phalanx. On the left was a mixed force of peltasts cavalry and a lone elephant whose job was to protect the left of the phalanx, and not to lose to quickly. Many elements were thrown forwards to delay the Romans marching around my left flank.

The Romans deployed with the legions on their left, with a small pip dump command of horde and a couple of blades on their left flank. To the right of the legions was a massed command of Roman cavalry lead by the C in C (Rollius Sixus) and an elephant. On their far left, was the surprise package, a Skythian ally with horse archers and four noble knight elements. I was quite happy to see the latter, as previous experience has shown they meet far more death than glory.

Relief Column

The game opened with the Roman cavalry advancing on my left, and the legions forming column and moving away from my phalanx. I pushed forward with the phalanx, but it suffered a dearth of pips all game, and I was never able to re-orient it properly towards the legions. On my left I withdrew my pickets, and began moving the mounted from right across to reinforce.

It was clear that this going to be one of those games that turned 90 degrees and would be fought along the long axis. With the legions getting away, I pushed the phalanx forward as fast as possible, even at the expense of allowing a flank attack on the left of the line by Roman light horse. It was 3 vs 3, but I lost and had to remove two elements of pike. Still it was a big command, and the Roman cavalry had been lured into a fight.

A messy fight now developed between the Roman cavalry and my peltasts and the leftmost elements of the Phalanx. My elephant did good work bagging a couple of horse, but the Romans had the numbers, and that began to tell. Meanwhile my phalanx command scored 1 on its pip dice for five bounds in a row (it was assigned the lowest dice, but even so it should only get a one about forty percent of the time), and in order to prevent more losses from flank attack, I had to allow the Galatians to rush off impetuously, to their doom I feared.

At this stage, things weren't looking good. My right wing wasn't in the fight, my phalanx was stalled, split into multiple groups nowhere near their target, my left flank was starting to crumble and the Skythians had finally got around the left, and their knights were poised to sweep away my cavalry at the end of the line. However, their was one glimmer of hope, in that the Roman CinC who'd been bringing the elephant up was now in line with it, and a gap in the line allowed my cavalry to flank the elephant, turning it round and placing him in the death zone. One good roll, and the elephants would stampede trampling Rollius Sixtus into the ground. Nash rolls his dice ... a one... maybe I'm still in this, but then I roll mine and it comes up two. Three would have been enough, but Rollius Sixtus lives to scurry away. All seemed lost.

Final Attack on Legion

At this point, Fortuna decided to take a hand. One pair of the Galatians who'd rushed off ahead of the army had been dispatched, but the others were nearing some legionaries. Not wanting to take any chances, Nash moved out his cavalry general in command of the legions to confront them, apparently unaware that cavalry flee from warband if beaten, and failing to leave enough space for them to fully recoil. A bad die roll saw the general defeated, forced to flee, and dying for lack of recoil space. The victorious Galatians then piled into the legionaries, killing a pair of them, and with the C in C King Btobemy himself who'd come up in support, killing another, the legionary command was broken.

Psiloi win the day

On the left my good fortune continued. The Skythain general charged into combat with my cavalry, and promptly died to a six one result. I then counter attacked flanking and killing another Skythian noble, and a dishearten psiloi attacked the Roman elephant, killing it and another Skythain noble behind. With two commands down, the Roman army was defeated, and somehow I'd won the game.

Phew !!!.




So now Btobemy is King of the Table, and awaits the challenge of Waynazab and his Nabateans.

The Protagonists III: The Great Parthian Family of Artemita

Piriteze the Irritable of Artemita (a name not to be sneezed at - look it up) declares his intention to rid the Western borders of Parthia of wimpy moustache-less foreigners and unite the lands of bronzed moustachioed manliness in the name of King Mithradates II, the King of Kings. He is therefore assembling a mighty force of gallant Parthian horsemen that will soon be riding on Damascus to secure this jewel and the lands surrounding it (especially a little bay just to the north of Tyre that is absolutely gorgeous and looks like the ideal spot to retire to and top up the suntan from time to time).

Update from the front:
Scouting revealed a horde of Romans marching from the north as Piriteze approached Damascus.  He therefore boldly moved to intercept and destroy them. The Romans, hearing of his advance, started to quake in their sandals and called for more Roman reinforcements.  (A dastardly trick if ever there was one.)  But this did not deter brave Piriteze and he gave battle amongst the hills and orchards on the road to Damascus.

The Romans, though, are full of dirty tricks and one moustache-less creature crept up behind him and stabbed him in the back.  With their general down, the Parthians wavered and were forced to concede the field.

Latest:
After hearing of Piriteze's demise, the clan in Artemita has vowed to avenge his death and have amassed a new army to be led by Piriteze's younger (and, many say, more able) brother Veletri the Valiant. His determination to avenge his brother's death and secure Damascus in his name is second only to the length of his moustache - a mindset that will inevitably spread fear amongst all who stand in his way. 

The Protagonists II. The Ptolemies

Since cataphracts featured so heavily in the last campaign, we wanted some different troop types for this campaign, and hence the conflict in Syria more or less chose itself as the only arena where we could field enough compatible armies.

I figured I'd be something Hellenistic as I had suitable figures to use from the Bactrian Greek army. There were only two Hellenistic powers standing by this date though, and with the Seleucids having too many cataphracts, and being but a shadow of their former selves, that left the Ptolemaic Egyptians. So I shall give battle as king Btobemy of Egypt, the first (and probably last) of his name*.

I've never really looked at the list much before, but it turns out to be a handy army. The core of pikemen is augmented with lots of peltasts (Ax(S)) for controlling difficult terrain, cavalry wedges that are excellent at killing Romans, and there's a good selection of mercenaries available from Elephants to ferocious Galatian swordsmen. The standard pikemen can also be augmented with superior guardsmen (Pk(S)) but that'd mean I'd have to paint them, so they'll only be used if really needed.

Battle plans should be pretty simple, some terrain to close down the table, then hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle with the pikey boys. Peltasts, elephants and wedges will deal with anyone wanting a nibble at their flanks.

That then was the plan in their first outing, a side table** game against Wayne's Nabateans, and a waterway on one flank, sand dunes next to it, and a BUA on the other meant the terrain was set up perfectly. However, when Wayne deployed, I found that the cunning Arab had stymied my simple and elegant plan by building a wall (dry stone wall TF) all across the centre of the table manned with two dozen bow elements. A quick check of the rules showed that rather than the factors of 7 vs 3 I'd been anticipating for pikes vs bows, I would now get 4 vs 6. The pikes therefore moved up to just outside shooting distance from the wall and stayed there for the whole game.

Needing to do something different I attempted to seize the sand dunes next to the waterway with my peltasts, while sending my heavy cavalry through a narrow gap between the dunes and the water to outflank the wall. The peltasts outclassed anything in the other army, and I expected them to seize the dunes easily and ease the exit of the cavalry from the narrow gap. However, they failed miserably in their task rolling a whole bucket load of ones, and allowing Wayne to adroitly bottle up my cavalry column by transferring his own cavalry from the other wing. My cavalry wedges tried to bust their way out of the gap, but while doing some damage, the were defeated and broken.

With two plans foiled, and cursing my dice, I switched my attention to the other flank, and tried to work around the wall from that side. Here I deployed more peltasts and some Galatian mercenary cavalry. Wayne's flank was guarded my a large command of horse archers, but as soon contact was made my dice luck switched around and Wayne's flank guard was swept away and broken within a couple of bounds. With their position behind the wall hopelessly outflanked, and no more reserves, the Nabatean's positions crumbled. A nineteen - six win for the Ptolemies then, and nineteen valuable bonus points to use in the challenge game against Nash and Romans.

* Some of you more scurrilously minded folk (I'm looking at you Suetonious's grandad) may be wondering whether Btobemy really married his sister. Well damnright he did, as she's well hot, and looks just like a young Elizabeth Taylor.

** One day someone will make a post about the campaign rules, but basically there are two games each round, a challenge game which will eventually determine the campaign winner, and side table game where you can win bonus AP to use in the challenge games.