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?