Parthian Civil War III: The final chapter ?

After last week's skirmish and treachery, Watagases was abandoned by his allies from the steppe, and fled to Hatra, where he apparently still had friends, as they provided him with a new contingent to replace those that had previously deserted. He augmented these with a large force of nomadic Arabs, and moved to continue the war. Bobarsaces now fielded 3 Parthian commands, together with the Hatreme contingent that had previously changed sides. So in the fall of 36, they armies lined up for a decisive confrontation.

A large force of Arab bows and blades was a surprise.

Once again Watagases moved aggressively, forcing Bobarsaces to deploy first. The terrain was fairly cluttered along the center line, with a BUA on my left, then a command sized gap, then an olive grove, some scrub, another gap, and finally a marsh on the far right. With not much space to maneuver,  I decided to flank march my light horse command, push through the right hand gap with my C in C and his cataphracts. The Hatremes with there bows and auxillia took care of the rough and the olive grove, and the small cataphract command was hung out on the left, looking small and pathetic, and not quite big enough for the gap it had to cover. An impression I reinforced by placing a couple of its light horse in ambush behind a hill on the baseline. The main ambush was in the olive grove though, with a bunch of Hatreme light troops, and two cataphract camel elements whose impetuosity would otherwise have been a problem.

Bobarsaces on the left.

Watagases deployed in more or less opposite fashion, with his Hatreme allies and the main cataphract command poised to push through the left hand gap, his Arab allies covering the rough and extending into the right hand gap, and a smallish horse archer force guarding their flank. Unsurprisingly, Watagases himself was as close to the table side edge as possible.

In the opening moves, Bobarsaces moved his cataphracts to the right to avoid the Arab bows in front of them, and maneuvered to attack the horse archers on the ride. On the other side of the table, Watagases took the bait hook line and sinker, and surged forwards with his cataphracts, leaving his (this time reliable) Hatreme allies behind. He also sent most of his command's light horse across to support the other flansk. As his line passed the olive grove, the cataphract camels surged out, though a couple of light horse send to protect the flank, prevented them from getting straight into the rear of the cataphracts. Nevertheless, over the next few turns they stripped off the flank support, rear ended one cataphract, and caused considerable anxiety and expenditure of meager pips before being dispatched.

Watagases charges forwards

And presses on despite the ambush

On the other flank, the flank march rolled onto the table on turn 4, and good pips allowed it to advance quickly, linking up with cataphracts and forcing the opposing force to retire. The threat to their flank, held up the Arab advance as they desperately tried to turn some bows round protect their flank.

Flank march rolls forward quickly

With things not looking good on the other flank, Watagases had no choice but to go for broke, and push forwards, despite his hanging flank, and camels in his rear. He still appeared to have local superiority, and the Parthian general on the far left of the line looked vulnerable. However, the latter rolled well to get a lucky kill, the ambushers behind the hill spring out to flank lock another cataphract, and another light horse worked round the open flank and killed another cataphract from the rear, leaving Watagases own command disheartend and close to breaking.

On the right, Watagases forces scrambled to make a line between the flank of the Arabs and the rear table edge, but started to take losses from their heavier and better organized foes. The final straw came when the horse archer command's general was six one-ed, breaking his command, and the knock on command breaking Watagases own command due to the reinforcements he'd vainly sent across.

The final act

 The six one finished the game a turn or two quicker, but I don't think it affected the final result much. Watagases himself wasn't able to slip away so easily, due the BUA and close presence of enemy cavalry. While he's presumed dead, his body was never found.

All in all, I was very pleased to have the ambush and the flank march work so well, and it's nice to win by low cunning. We've had three games of Parthian on Parthian now, and it's a tribute to DBMM that all three have been different. The first was a straight up the middle slugfest, the second was as much diplomatic negotiation as battle, and the third featured more deception and maneuver.