Teutonics Try Troubling The Tzar

My Teutonic Orders first outing - invading Russia.

On Thursday night Treβler, Marschal and Hochmeister Vain von Wotz lead the newly completed Teutonics* in their first battle where they invaded proto-Russia and attempted to capture the town of Bobovgorod.  Unfortunately he ended up walking home through the snow drifts in a blizzard.

Even with plenty of foot troops to add bulk this Teutonic Army remains small by any standards. 

Bob rightly suggested that a first outing of such a tricky (both to use and face) army should be a historical match-up and he put together an Early Russian OoB (Order of Battle (see Glossary at the end)) with a Polish ally that required a number of figure morphs from a few of our armies.  For reasons I don’t seem to recall (or I missed the discussion) it was decided to use our long ignored white cloth as a winter ground cover and place the battle in winter as both protagonists have snow bound winters.  I quickly realised that this would, in a cold climate, freeze any marsh into good going and ruin my plan*****.  However on checking the aggression factors (Teutonics=4, Russians=0) they are as wide as possible so it was inevitable that we’d invade Russia but they had even less terrain options than we do and I decided that a wood would function just as well.

As it turned out Bob and Antony bought multiple wood features and they were placed first, as defender and my large wood wouldn’t fit so was discarded.  Not that it mattered, there were four woods on the table and the town on the Russian rear table edge.  The weather threatened a snow storm.

My [vaguely] able Livonian Landmeister Nashonivich took the left wing of the army with the massed levy (10 hordes) to delay anything coming around the woods on that side of the table.  We would mass our knights and smash anything on the left of the town before turning our attention to the rest of the table.  I, as CinC, was to hold a line up the centre of the table protecting our forces which would initially occupy only the left side of the field.

Once the armies were deployed, the Russians were spread across the table so their left (our right) was unopposed and there was a huge psiloi supported spear command directly ahead of our massed knights albeit well back toward their rear.  On the left we were a bit uncomfortable with the stronger than expected enemy cavalry presence which if it wound its way around the woods would quickly overwhelm the hordes/levies guarding that area.  The hordes should hold up light horse for a while but bigger number of cavalry would be a problem.

DEPLOYMENT
And the Teutonics look even smaller when seen with
the unused table area.

Nash and I did discuss the option of using our regular commands mobility to change the point of attack and charge diagonally across the table left to right, ignoring the slow moving Russian spearmen until after we’d dealt to the Poles and Russian cavalry on the right wing.

However, once the Russians made the first bounds movement, I rolled out first PiP dice at 6,6,5,6 (the last being the dummy 4^th dice) which activated the snow storm and the blizzard effects on visibility, movement, command radius and bowshots.  The blizzard lasted almost all game lifted only in the last couple of bounds.

The first ever Teutonic PiP roll.
One point off perfect - but it also started
the Blizzard.

A minor diversion to remind players (and inform others) of the game effects of the snow storm (blizzard). 

·  Visibility is limited to 160p (paces) so you can’t see the enemy as usual and this reduces the blocking of march moves and allows more march (multiple) move options. 

·   Movement is limited to visibility plus 40p so the maximum speed is now 200p which affects the cavalry and light horse of the Russians (and the few Teutonic light horse) while the knights retain their normal 200p.  This will mitigate a bit the danger of cavalry out flanking us. 

·  All troops more that visible range from their general pay +1 PiP as if out of command range.  This changes command range from the usual 800p (2000p for light horse) to 160p for everyone and has a huge effect by using up extra PiPs to perform normal actions.  It counteracts the benefits of the more available march moves but also effects the irregular Russians quite a bit more than the regular Teutonics.

·  Bowmen are affected in two ways, their range is reduced to visible range (160p) and unless the wind/snow is at their back, they take a -1 distant combat disadvantage.  We both had crossbowmen but the storm was blowing from behind the Teutonics.

Overall, we thought it would hinder the pagans more than the righteous! ***

But back to the battle. With that many PiPs plus regular generals and troops we could make 5 march moves with two commands and 4 moves with the low control PiP allocated command!!  Amazing!!  And the visibility and command radius restriction was going to affect the longer distanced and spread out Russians more than us so their counter move would be slower than usual.

The quick discussion about a massed charge was tempered by the danger of Nash’s wing losing their flank guards in the process (I felt he’d left his light horsemen to wide and out of range but hey, it’s his command) and the decision was made – CHARGE into their face and see if they could react.

So we covered almost 50% of the table in one bound. 
They could hear us coming through the snow storm but couldn’t see us!

The view from the Russian side.
Remember that at the bound beginning we had been
on our own deployment line.  Luckily they had deployed well
back as the knights had passed the Russian deployment line.

Bob’s commands with nothing to fight formed columns and set off into the snow storm to find and outflank the Teutonics right.  While holding the impetuous spearmen in place and out of trouble Anthony suffered from a PiP shortage with the cavalry and struggled to turn them to engage with the rapid massed Teutonic knights advance rather than the original plan of marching all the way around the wood.  

Consternation among the Russian General Staff!!
(l)  New recruit to the group Anthony,  (r) Tzar Bob 

A quick about face was all that was possible but at this point Nash spotted an opportunity and turned the lefthand wedge formed knight element outward and caught the enemy general at the head of his column*** of cavalry, killed him (factors were even so a good dice roll was needed to have the instant Kn vs Cv kill kick in) and thus causing even more blizzard bound control issues for that command. 

Hunting Enemy Generals

Rule Error Warning:-  

Yes, the more astute playing readers will note the error, that knights in wedge formation are excluded from the general principle that knights instantly (QK/Quick Kill) cavalry.  Inexperience with wedges cause a universal memory failure on this point and we erred in our outcome.  While a significant error, it was a game of ‘what if’ points so it’s actual effect will never be known.  [Besides we were beaten anyway!!]

A degree of retribution was extracted in the next bound or two, as the knights hit the spear line that DBE element was mugged flank and rear by some unchallenged spearmen and was destroyed.  Here we learned that any player to actual achieve the destruction of a superior knight wedge was entitled to a generous shot of real vodka from Bob’s personal stock.  By the end of the night the debt remained unsettled.  :-)   It was not only the first wedge to be destroyed but proved to also be the only one on the night. 

This left the SBE knights with a harder task, and their flanks now exposed, while breaking into the spear line.  Initially they bounced but the arrival of my small command after clearing some delaying psiloi into the other end of the spearmen saw the Russians start to waver.

Stumbling around in the blizzard - look what we found!

Bob’s cavalry column stumbled out of the snow at reduced visibility into my CinC’s command and was caught with hard flanks as he never had time to redeploy and the only element of inferior ‘guest’ knights in my OoB had a remarkable run, assisted by our brotherhood spearmen, in doing quite a bit of damage to the Russian cavalry. 

But it wasn’t a neat set of combats, more a swirl and the Marschal joined the fray as a flank attack causing more Russian casualties.  Then, unfortunately, the Polish

Trying to contain the enemy column.

knights arrived with plenty of PiPs to use and in return front and flank attacked the Teutonic CinC.  I rolled a combat dice of “1” so he was tossed from his horse into the snow drifts.  Not fatally obviously as his command fought on for many bound but eventually disheartening and later broke.

The Marschal Bites The Snow!!

On the left we were fighting in a dangerously exposed mass with both sides taking casualties although our superior knights were more resilient than the Russians.  We disheartened, then broke, the enemy spear command.  The breaking command moral effect (the knock-on effect) left us 2½ ME from breaking the Russian army so that wasn’t to be.  However it did disheartened the right side Russian cavalry command - and the Poles - and, but for 20mm distance shortage or alternatively a less than 10mm line of sight blocked by the BuA, would have also disheartened the 4^th Russian command also.  A functional army without an undisheartened command would have been a very rare site to see – but that wasn’t to be either.  At this point the snow storm ceased.

Two centres of action both with very open flanks.
However remember at this time the snow storm reduced visibility, movement
and consumed PiPs so exploiting flank options was a hard thing to achieve.

So the last effective Russian command along with the still active Polish knights, proceeded to break my CinC’s command, which by the same knock-on effect, broke the Teutonic army.  The Teutonics are only 72ME over three commands and the knock-on can be devastating.  Without that 2ME penalty we would have survived and won the battle in the next bound****.

An interesting game with the snow storm effects totally changing the decision points although it probably hampering the Russians more than the Teutonics (as generally but unscientificl expected).  With normal visibility and full movement it would have developed much differently, we wouldn’t have made the long charge (I don’t think) and we could have controlled and maintained our flank protection much better.  Likewise the Russians would have used significantly longer movement lengths to outflank us and would not have been caught in columns.  ‘What-ifs’ that will remain unanswered until we get a similar battle in snow free conditions, but there were many such potential ‘what-if’ points. 

The much needed flank protecting ‘tails’***** formed to protect the heavy massed knighthood were never able to be tried and tested.  We did effectively fall to the required hard flank attacks on the knights so the missing protection and ‘tails’ cost us a potential victory. 

This Teutonic army using plenty of wedges is going to be trickier (and more fragile) to use than I first thought. 

Next game we hope will be on a bright clear day and that I can indeed test the predetermined battle plan.  Maybe next week, maybe a week or two later.

* = If correctly named they are the Teutonic Orders (DBMM Army List Book 4/#30) but I have always referred to them, and continue to do so, as (the) “Teutonics”.  This is open to confusion with the Teutonic tribes that moved into and settled the modern German lands over previous millennia.  I apologise in advance if your accurate knowledge of such history causes you any confusion.

** = Righteous but errorous and distinctly dishonest.  In effect just political effective businessmen. 

*** = He had sensibly been at the rear of the column initial but the 180deg turn placed him at the front.

**** = Three wedges of knights including two generals was going to hit the Russian baggage camp, with factors that almost guaranteed breaking the baggage command, for knock-on effect and army total casualties that would have taken the Russian beyond their limit.  All speculative of course, the dice gods could be fickle as shown by wedge formed superior knight generals twice being held to a draw by psiloi in the open during the game.

***** = A delayed blog detailing the development of the Teutonics, which should have already appeared but hasn’t.  In addition to comments on development and intended plans, it will explain the ‘tails’.  Essentially they a semi linear formations of non-knight elements trailing back towards the home table edge designed to minimise the danger of hard flanks on the wedges and outflanking and rear attacks on an army expected to be smaller than any opponent and thus vulnerable to such.

Glossary of Terms
A quick list of terms for the non-players which may assist in understanding the narrative.
Aggression Factor:-    A rating number allocated to each and every historical army within the rules that gives a relative measure of the likelihood of being the invading army.  Range is 0 to 4.
CinC:-  The Commander in Chief of the army.  A singular element in each army with a few special attributes.  We occasionally personalise them.
DBE:-  Double Based Element.  Game slang where two groups of troops a represented permanently group together and often obtain some special advantage (and disadvantage) for doing so.  Some are compulsory.  The term SBE (Single Based Element) is occasionally used to distinguish the normally arranged format.
Landmeister:-  A regional army commander and administrator of a area under control of the Teutonic Orders.  Subservient to the Order's higher hierarchy.
ME:-  Moral Equivalents.  A game mechanism for measuring the strength of an army, or the commands within it, in terms of their ability to overcome negative events.  In short their "staying power" or morale.  They are also used to indicate when an army will admit defeat and quit the field.
OoB:-  Order of Battle.  The list of soldiers to be used by the army, arranged into commands with factors, data and indentities as required by the rules.
PiPs (& Dice/Rolls):-  Player Initiative Points.  A game mechanism that determines the amount of command and control the generals have over the troops at a given point in the game/battle.  Like the real life situations it's randomly variable and managing that is a game skill mirroring the skills of generalship.
Psiloi:- A group of unarmoured, agile and dispersed troops who use bows, slings & javelins to harass, annoy and slow down enemy troops.  They have major disadvantages in face to face fights so avoid these.
QK/"Quick Kill":-  A game slang term for the ability of some troop types to destroy other types in specific circumstances even with a slight advantage in combat outcome.  
Treβler, Marschal and Hochmeister:-  Treasurer, Commander of Armies, and the Supreme Master of the Teutonic Orders, usually three separate people.  After all I have to pay for and paint the models, general them around the table and use the supreme powers to be allowed out after dark to play with our "little friends".

Embroidered Sorcery

So here we are at the final game in the mini series, with Nash eliminated last game and Bob and Wayne both on their last lives - winner takes all, the title, the plunder and mostly bragging rights.

Under our the campaign's rules of engagement (view here) Bob as the recently reinstated King of Kings (KoK) has the option to chose to defend and does so to prevent me fielding a 30 element iPsI (amateur javelinmen***) swarm of elephant killers, that are only available if I defend with a BuAf (fortified town).  Thus I needed a different anti-elephant plan.  With a weeks delay in the game due to Nash's travel schedule**** I had too much time to second guess my own plan.

In general the Kushan and Parthian armies are very similar, core heavy cavalry as cataphracts supported by more numerous fast light horse so they are quite evenly matched.  Except the Kushans get optional elephants (very effective cataphract killers) and some pikemen which the Parthians don't have access to so these must be expected, and countered in the plan.  Both sides have access to numerous allies, of differing abilities, although the Parthians have better graded bow armed allies than the Kushans.  There needs to be a far amount of second guessing as to what allies will be bought to the fight and how to counter them.

My decision was that while some Kushan allies might discomfort me, none were battle winners so I'd use tactics set on the night to deal with them, my sole concern being how to keep the expected elephant corp out of my cataphract line.

As a symbolic marking of the demise of Whatagases the Indestructable (view here) I had removed the orange with yellow sunburst flags and banners from the CinC element and went in search online for

Whatsamarjiqu* the Chosen Second** the New Parthian Ruler

* = a name that will inspire distant descendants (in 7 centuries) in the Antipodes 

** = A auspicious omen as the 'Chosen One" turned out to be a dismal failure.

suitable Parthian replacement emblem(s).  Having developed the 'Publisher' skills to construct my own 6mm flags and banners I found enough Parthianque emblems to do the same for the Parthian CinC but then thought to rebanner the entire cataphract corp in line with a artistic representation (and quotation) on Carrhae I chanced upon during my search.

With the past ability of new colourful upgrades changing some models performance (see the magic hats upgrade here) this became a cunning plan.  Then Bob posted (here) about the magic millipede bite and it became a fixed plan - SORCERY!!  So the minions were tasked with embroidering the silk banners with diabolicly imbued glyphs and designs  [OR I used a Canon Inkjet].

The carnivorous magic inducing strange multipede.
(Originally identified as pre-fang highly poisonous baby snake)

So the night's battle winning tactic was to use the new colourful banners as a magic omen to ensure the dice gods looked on us favourably.  Not complex (nor in line with our usual style of plans).

Magic Banners in 6mm just completed.
(including the Aramenian Cataphract in the rear)

But to deal with the elephants three of the four commands had mixes of about eight AxS, PsS, and PsO (all light troops able to avoid elephants thus delaying them) so we could hold the elephants up across a majority of the table.  Nothing cunning in it at all.  For terrain we wanted one flank secured so took a Oa (Oasis which is difficult going) and a couple of small SF (scrubby area which are less rough that difficult but ignored by elephants) which hopefully Bob would forget our psiloi (very lightly armed and unarmoured) troops could ambush from.

The Parthians all laid out and getting ready to transport to the game.  Hatrene allies to the fore, three Parthian
commands behind, left is the CinC with the cataphracts, centre and right are light horse with light foot support.
The dark green based figures were swapped for correctly based figures on the night.

On the night the oasis fell (location is dice roll determined) as required, Bob adding two marshes, one each before and after it, but the scrubby areas fell to the enemy's side but only just.  Bob added a gentle hill almost between the oasis and his sides marsh as well as a BuA (unfortified town) on the flank opposite the oasis.

After deployment both sides had setup heavily towards their own right flanks so the main heavy troop concentration ended up in diagonally opposite corners of the table.  This was not good as the Parthian plan (set between Nash and I) was to run hard and fast with the light troops up the right flank but this would now meet a mass of Indian bows (bowmen) and blades (swordsmen) which would have taken up a position on the hill by the time we reached them.  Then we realised that actually that Kushan command would have it's flanks exposed if we attacked it via the oasis and marsh, something we were able to because we had a multitude of light foot troops in the area.

Deployment was almost diametrically opposed.  This was not going to be a clash of battle lines.

So Nash was given orders to get around the enemy flank as fast as possible, close up the Hatrenians to engage in a bow duel and then hit them front and side at the same time.  After that we'd have the inside running of being behind Bob's front line once he moved across the table.  We would stall on our left flank and centre.

My left flank command was in danger of having its foot troops overrun by the Kushan cataphracts so they rushed forward into the scrub where their numbers and quality would keep out the few Kushan light troops and the lone elephant accompanying them and where the cataphracts are usually

"Having captured the scrub & being surrounded by
cataphracts, there is no way we are coming out again!!"

disadvantaged in a straight up fight.  This they succeeded in doing quickly, killing a enemy psiloi in the process but then spent the rest of the game standing around watching what went on around them, they never left the scrub and no enemy challenged them.

The rest of the command being fast light horse (archers) but in large numbers were to harass Bob's cataphracts to slow them down but not actually engage them frontally.  As we outnumbered Bob's light horse on that side of the table he'd most likely only fight if he could catch us with the cataphracts at the same time.

Right centre table saw the CinC's cataphract command without much to do expect menace things that tried to move from our left to right to interfere with Nash's attack.  They did send their couple of light horse to assist the delaying tactics on the left, a decision that helped keep the left intact a couple of bounds longer.

On the right, Nash was in fear of being ambushed by enemy psiloi out of the marsh and was way to cautious for my liking (I'd have rushed past and dropped a couple of light horse behind to deal with any psiloi that emerged into the open - and no doubt died) and so our planned developed too slowly.  Bob got some of th Hyrkanian Rebel Parthian Ally and some light horse across to prevent Nash getting cleanly into the enemy flank.

At this point the game became focused on the battle for the one gently sloped hill.  We were weary of the fight going up hill and it proved to be justified as we made little progress, only chipping away

This is going to get messy.

slowly at Bob's troops although Bob did have to make some less than ideal stop gap measures to hold us back in places.  The hill turned into something of a disjointed mess for many bounds.  Both side feeding their PiPs (command control options) and troops into the confusion.

On the left I danced around and held Bob up as planned but also tried to take a few casualties off his light horse but only when I outnumbered him as the light horse on light horse lottery is a fickle (and oft scary) fight to pick.  Well, the lottery was a tame affair with few casualties to either side until Bob final got his cataphracts into the fight piecemeal and then, as expected, things started to turn against me.  I was now urging Nash to hurry up and get over the hill and into the Kushan's rear.

My cataphracts had pushed forward onto the area to the left of the hill fight and with the left flank becoming disheartened and it was clearly going to break and flee soon, plus the fact that a couple of

cataphracts and the Kushan elephant bourne CinC had got through on the left and were slowly (elephants & cataphracts aren't fast) heading behind our lines, meant that we needed some more drastic measures (read desperate) so the cataphracts took the risk and charged the bows uphill, passing through our Hatrene bowmen where required.

The risk came off and in a couple of bounds they had broken the command containing the Indians.  However our left command also broke, one of Nash's commands was an element away from disheartening (and disheartened light troops are as good as dead anyway) while the Hatrene general was fighting a Kushan general uphill while overlapped and his loss would break the Hatrene command and the Parthian army.

Breakthrough acheived - but the battle is still in the balance.

At this point it became a race to catch and destroy enough Kushan elements that were beyond the hill (the ally and an unbroken command) before Bob's elephant led his cataphracts through our cataphract command.  We could still take significant damage to the cataphract's command but not forever and if the enemy in our rear reached us we were doomed.

We couldn't stop the elephant stomping some cataphracts but we held up elsewhere and caught and destroyed enough enemy beyond the shambles left from the battle for the hill to break the Kushan army.  The new Parthian leader, Whatsamarjigu, on the last dice roll of the game personally destroyed the Indian elite cavalry to add to the victory [okay, they're CvI (inferior) but it sounds good].

Final Positions
Both CinC's in the front line for the photo opportunities even if they only fought one combat between them.

So ended the last game in the mini psudeo-campaign for 3rd century Persia, with yet another change of King of Kings (KoK). There were 11 games played, and in only the first two did the King of Kings see off the challenger and retain his throne.  The next 9 games were all lost by the reigning KoK and the challenger took the throne and preceded in turn to lose it in the next game.

However almost all games were close run things and while comment on the two player sides (challengers) having won 9 games only losing the first (using a brand new untried army) being a possible anomaly in our system, I don't think it's a very strong possiblity given the string of victories won by only a thread.  (Note:- the 2nd game was one player a side).

This game series was great fun!!  A few extra pre game decision points and a longer term goal both added more zest to our game nights in comparasion to casual pickup games we often play.  And the off table comments and 'trash-talk', by email and facebook where another additional part of the enjoyment.  The pre game challenges, threats, deceptions and decoys have worked their way into many of our games of late and can be hilarious at times.


** = What's a m'jig.  Close relative of Thingy m'jig, used to identify a known object for which the name escapes you at present.
*** = An attempt in this blog (& a bit in the last) to express the action in terms my non playing friends will understand.  A few of them whom I sent links too have said they like the story, pictures and prose but are lost on the technical stuff.  Hence an attempt to widen the audience and maybe, just maybe, draw some potential new players to the hobby.
**** = As noted by Bob in Zionist Collapse there's a tendency for the challenging ally generals to be unruly and it seems unfair not to take advantage of/be encumbered with Nash's efforts in the last game.

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.

That Fatal "Senior Moment"

Two previous battles with the Sassanid Persians have been reported <here> and <here> and they are a dangerous bunch of highly mobile massed rCvS and a few supports.  The supports they bring are limited due to either the cost of elephants in addition to the high cost of numerous compulsory expensive cavalry or the supports are (again massed) space filling lower grade troops used to bulk out the army and prevent automatic outflanking. 

In either guise they are a force to be reckoned with especially “in period and location” that is a basis of our mini pseudo-campaign.

Synchronized Wargaming - Deployment Event

As Parthians my cataphracts (iKnX) are the answer to the superior cavalry but being slower and clumsier than the cavalry we struggle to corner the enemy more often than not.  The alternative is to use our large advantage in light horse (iLhF in this army) to outflank and get into a devastating position in the enemies rear.  The enemy cavalry, and elephants, will cut apart our light horse so these can’t be used to channel the enemy, that is a job for our foot troops who die much slower and give the cataphracts time to catch the enemy.  Unfortunately in the past neither the bowmen (iBwO) or militia hordes (iHdO) we’ve used before stood up for long so failed at the job.

This week I employed a Commagene ally of swordsmen (rBdI) and bowmen (rBwI) who while of inferior quality were regular and hence more mobile and the blades especially should stand their ground longer.  So the plan was 1) be bigger than the enemy and to use iLhF to outflank and encircle,  2) use blade mobility to get in front of the enemy cavalry and act as the anvil for the cataphracts once they finally arrived to destroy the enemy rCvS,  3) to aid these through area control by using a small fortified fort (BuAf) and terrain options to constrict the enemy into a space to trap and attack him.

This must have been a poor plan.  As we all know plans don’t survive contact with the enemy, but in this case it didn’t even survive sighting the enemy.

Nash’s first surprise was a newly constructed waterway (WW) that interfered with my terrain options and because of the terrain dice made the fort plan so much less successful.  The fort was in combination with a gentle hill (GH) and had been constructed with a platform to hold the fort and then one corner extended to take advantage of the free effect of 1FE GH’s counting as ½ FEs.  Bob then pointed out that it’s shape was probably illegal (due to the 1/3 length = breadth rule) and was too elongated.  This prompted Nash to compare it to my manhood.  Thereafter the conversation deteriorated, much like the previous weeks one about Bob’s celibacy (or not), so unlike the lesser civilized scribes in our group we won’t dwell on the ribald innuendos that remained constant all night and through the propaganda dripping battle report that followed (written by the juvenile Nashur III or his frustrated wetnurse).

The second surprise was the army composition on the Sassanid’s side of the table.  Gone were the regular superior cavalry – replaced by irregular versions (iCvS), cataphracts (iKnX), some elephants and massed of conscripted hordes (HdO).  And on our left wing we opposed a Armenian ally, using knights (iKnF) as an attempted cataphract assassination corp and their own light horse (iLhF) flank guards.

Not only did the plan to be bigger evaporate – we weren’t – but as defender and deploying first, we now faced a wall of enemy that had favourable troop match-ups (apart from the KnX on KnX potential clash) for a general straight up charge and fight battle.  I had been seriously caught out and though I was done for even before the first PiPs were rolled.

When the first PiPs were rolled it got even worse – the Commagene ally was unreliable and was forced to stand in front of a wall of cataphracts and elephants that would simple crush them on contact.  My ambush beside the fort was likely to only face off against enemy hordes so it may need to be sprung earlier than planned so it could then redeploy.

Scary View - The enemy had favourable match-ups all
along their line.  They just needed to charge in.

My new plan was to hold the line, redeploy the Commagene command backwards as far as possible until I could get it back into a fighting (reliable) state and to switch my only attack to our left wing where our LhF outnumber the enemy LhF almost 2:1 and go around the outside.  At the same time I decided to take the risk of attacking the Armenian knights with cataphracts as I possibly had two generals in my line and overlaps (maybe even hard flanks) to use at both ends.  If, a big if, I could turn the left wing I just might have a chance to do some damage in the rear of the enemy before he inevitably charged and overran the rest of my line.

We had horrid PiPs in this game, for both sides of the table, and for both armies some opportunities came and went without being exploited.  In some ways it was a frustrating game.  I made a big mistake in an early bound where I moved troops through a part of my ambush (legal interpenetration) but for some reason left the second rank occupying the ambush space.  I realised this just as Nash and Bob started their bound and retracted the rear rank as quick as I could and offered an excuse.  The excuse had holes in it which meant I then had to admit it had been an illegal move and the reason, so my ambush was identified.  They didn’t know it’s content yet, but that soon followed.

However on the left wing my iLhF got out wide and with the help

Ignoring the endangered flanks the Armenians charge
in - to their almost immediate destruction.

of a mis-judgement by Nash beat up the enemy iLhF and Nash had to send some rCvS over to plug gaps.  The Armenians were engaged and while they punched a hole in the cataphracts the return charge by the Parthians saw their general destroyed, some knights and with the light horse casualties from wider out they went straight to a ‘shattered’ command.  The only challenge left out on that wing was three isolated rCvS which were encircled individually by my iLhF but only two of them were actually destroyed (more on that later).

It was a pleasant surprise that Nash and Bob were more worried about activating the unreliable ally than just charging in and destroying my line, ally and all.  I think with the matchup (and maybe a few more PiPs) if they had simply charged straight ahead it would have been a very short game.  The shattering of the Armenians brought the Commagene ally back into the game but apart from their rKnX general and his companion they didn’t do anything of note beyond just being a mildly threatening presence.

On the right wing, Bob was playing two Sassanid commands. 

The slow fight over the misshaped hill.

He avoided the fort along with my cataphracts that appeared from ambush which he shielded all of them off with hordes and concentrated on picking a hole through my line with his iCvS.  He killed my iLhF, my KnX generals killed his iCvS in a game of manoeuvre in a tight space and progress was slow for both sides as we sort the advantage and the hard flank options to strike the decisive blow.  Eventually my command broke but the enemy had become fragile in the process.  It would have been faster if either of us had enjoyed even average PiPs.

The main Parthian cataphract line hit the Sassanid line of KnX and CvS with overlaps to the left facing an open space into the enemy rear and killed a couple more CvS but as expected the KnX on KnX bogged down to a slogging match.  A(nother) PiP shortage saw Whatagases alone push forward past the Sassanid line looking to catch the enemy CinC (as iCvS) in his next bound. 

After the second PiP score of 1 in sequence the Sassanid CinC didn’t do much although Bob sent an elephant marching behind the line from one of his commands to protect the CinC.  Then in my bound saw insufficient PiPs again to finish the job BUT I also had a massive ‘idiot’ moment and using the CinC’s free PiP pushed Whatagases further forward to again be a threat to the enemy rear AND completely missed that I had left his rear exposed to a lone Sassanid cataphract facing in the opposite direction.  I don’t know how I missed such an obvious and basic error.  In this bound we needed to kill a hard flanked iCvS with iLhF to win the game (factors +2 vs +2) – we drew (with a pair of 1s).

So the Sassanids have enough PiPs this time to take the offered rear.  Combat was +2 vs +3 against me so given Whatagases the InDestructable’s long history of escaping such moments this wasn’t so disastrously bad odds.  They also attacked and hard flanked a couple of other cataphracts.  And we still had the even odd on the iCvS which would break the Sassanids anyway.

The dice, death and removal of
the long lived
Whatagases the Indestructable.

Whatagases diced at 3 vs 5 so exited history!! We had other loses that may break the Parthians (I was unsure and needed to confirm the maths) and so the last dice was the iCvS fight at +2 vs +2 from the last bound.  Mutual destruction was on the cards.  


The dice rolled ....... and came up with the same 1 – 1 as the last round!!  Draw!! 

A Deja Vu Moment.
Identical to the last bound.  Two game 
winning rolls missed.

Quick maths check and it was a broken Parthian army – game over, and the fourth change of King of Kings in as many battles.

A frustrating game in so many ways, and from the starting positions I should have been destroyed but for the surprising Sassanid reluctance to actually charge on in.  By daringly attacking on one wing and exploiting the odd error of judgement I very unexpectedly (and cheekily) came within a dice role (twice) of winning the game.  But in the end it wasn’t to be.  Losing Whatagases himself after such a long run of victories, and defeats, was just another low point.

Next game (in 10-14 days time we hope) is Bob’s Kushans invading Nash’s Sassanids with Wayne subgeneraling.  We are all down to one life left so one of either Bob or Nash will exit the mini pseudo-campaign by the end of the next game.