Well, That Didn't Go Well (Parthian Civil War Part2)

Points learnt today:-

* The gods are not yet ‘green’ - if you are going to sacrifice virgins to the dice gods don’t use re-cycled ones, they seem to demand the real McCoy.

* Don’t smirk at your opponents mis-fortune until you have utilized it to the fullest. 

* Unused opportunities are so quickly lost.

* Indecision is your greatest enemy.

A tale of woe was had last night, but because I, the great survivor King of Kings Watagases I of Parthia, again lurked near the table edge all game I was able to slip away at the end of the disaster and live to write this tale.  This civil war will go on until one of us is killed on the field of battle (there’s no glory here!!).

The CinC is here - hiding on the flank.

The massed iKnF gambit was only going to be a surprise once* so the Samaritans weren’t re-employed and this time the Hatrene bowmen were.  The field was to be more open than last time with, if possible, a split table and a denied flank with the bowmen corralling the enemy heavies to fight and die, or forced into time consuming maneuvers. 

As the rightful owner of the highest throne we sallied forth in search of the usurper (that is we invaded again) and chose a field with a marsh just our side of the table centre and slightly offset to the right.  Another was further away and to the right with orchards beyond the marshes in Bobasaces deployment zone on his far left (our right).  The disappointment was a BuA that appeared on our left flank as we have only allied bowmen to take action in any terrain.

We came upon Bobasaces already deployed, Armenian allies, mainly foot and mainly in the open clearly going to rush forward into the BuA and thus threaten our left flank.  Some Samaritans, recognisable from the previous week*, lurking at the rear left (as we looked at it) clearly in fear of the likely ‘anti-fragile’ options available to the great King of Kings.  From the left and on across the centre up to the right side orchard was the great cataphract ‘wall of steel’ from two commands, with a few LhF advanced pickets.  Beyond the orchard was an unsupported but reasonably sized group of LhF.

Our allies were to deploy front and centre as with the nature of these unfortunate necessities of man power, they are prone to being unreliable at the most inopportune times and are best placed where their fear of the advancing enemy prompts them into remembering their commitments.  Reactivating unreliable allies is simply so unlikely and PiP intensive that I rarely try it in game time as it destroys any initiative you may have.

On the left I had my Sub General with a almost total LhF command who it was decided should meet the Armenians in the open ahead of the BuA rather than bottle them up in there, if only because we were moving first and wanted the initiative.  As I said allies were front and centre but the right of our table was interesting.  I, the great leader, had a mass of cataphracts, even more LhF in support and paths between the terrain features which were NOT occupied by unreachable foot.  By putting the KnX to the fore and advancing between the terrain we would sweep the lesser number of enemy LhF before us (or destroy them) and there was nothing to stop us appearing clear on the flank/in the rear of the enemy.  It was an opportunity to great to ignore.

The deployment left us happy.  Our centre was secure, the left could be fought or delayed by choice and in response to the enemy actions and the right was a goldmine of great options even though the distances involved meant it would be a reasonably slow progression. 

With four out of the eight commands on the table being allies you kind of knew something was going to be unreliable.

Bob rolls first PiP dice and the allies come up ‘snake eyes’, both commands are standing around contemplating their navels.  At least his iKnF weren’t going to be haring off at an inopportune moment!!  I smirked, I shouldn’t have but I did.  And the decision was made for me on the left flank, advance up into the open but don’t activate the enemy and force his remaining commands to try and manoeuvre the un-manoeuvrable ‘wall of steel’.

Foreground left, unreliable Samartans, foreground centre, unreliable  Armenians.  Rear right, BuA (without houses but with dice) defended by freely maneuvering LhF.

We also had even more time to chase the isolated LhF on our right flank, corner them and break them (where upon some KnX in the centre would also quit the field).  It was not a quick result plan but it would be a slow press with an unbreakable wall and there was nothing to stop it.  The enemy LhF turned and ran around the marsh as their best hope of delaying the inevitable but we had the numbers to cover both exits, they would be eventually caught and crushed.  We were confident. 

The chase around the marsh (with very wet centre) begins.

 Our opening PiP roll was taken and another unreliable ally, the Hatrenes feeling unappreciated (that’s 3 out of 4 on table allies being unreliable) but their job was to block the centre of the table and shoot things that passed by.  They could do that without ever advancing so it wasn’t such a loss.  The Scythians anti-cataphract teams accepted their pay and were rearing to get on with it.

We were actually over-confident.  The Sub general mucked around getting the perfect line up to deal with the Armenians when the time came and I, as a KnX general the great smasher of LhF, couldn’t decide which way around the march to chase the enemy (the cataphracts went left and the LhF went right but I tried to go both ways with my one element!!) and ended up doubling back and wasting three bounds. 

Bob' few LhF crossing the Armenians to tempt  my  LhF forward.

Bobasarces used his few central LhF to try and provoke my Sub general into action and come close enough to activate his allies.  In addition he spent a huge number of PiPs trying to unsuccessfully activate them by negotiation.  We weren’t going to be sucked into getting to close but with our superior numbers and position felt we could quickly crush the enemy provocateurs and so charged in.

Bob's largely outnumbered LhF (now with recently self activated Armenian support) about to destroy my LhF due to incompetent wielding of weapons (dice).

This is where appeasing the dice gods correctly comes into play**.  At no point were our PiPs beyond good, usually below average but the charging Parthians combat dice were shocking!!  And again the next bound, and the next.  The Armenians finally reached a negotiated activation and joined the fray.  Quickly my Sub General’s command went disheartened while the Scythians had passed through the Hatrene line and become stranded mid-table so as to not to go impetuous. 

The shortage of LhF that were blocking access to the BuA is clearly obvious.
"Dice gods, give me back my Lh command"

Next bound, the sub-general broke, the Hatrenes switched sides which left the Scythians completely surrounded with bows in their rear – Game Over!!  (I slipped two element widths to the right and personally left the table)  The entire game decided on a small frontage (about 8 elements wide) mostly in a flank zone, luckily for Bobarses the opposite one to where I had stationed myself - if I’d been there things would have been different!!.

Centre, in three groups, are the Scythians with enemy cataphracts in the foreground  and the switched side Hatrene command to their rear. Surrounded - game conceded. 

That's the CinC, flags flying & that's the table edge.  Okay, exit stage right (return next week).

Once again I survived so I will be back – as Bob said “It’ll have to be the best of five”.

I wasn’t beaten by the enemy***, I was beaten by missed opportunity and indecision.  Having been handed a golden opportunity to attack on two fronts, one almost unopposed I’d dithered, reversed my decisions and missed the no-going back point too often.  (At one point I held the Scythian iKnF when I should have turned them left into column, and then released them to go headlong into the unprotected Armenians flank, a move Bob had no troops capable of intercepting.  But I just missed it while focusing on the lost opportunities).

Next weeks cunning plan already devised, fire-alter installed and OoB written.  It'll be make or break time and no flank sitting by the CinC either - well maybe not, we'll see - unless its essential.

* = See Part One of the Parthian Civil war.

** =  Further research indicates Parthia didn't sacrifice virgins (recycled or otherwise. It appears I'll need a new army for those activities).  

*** = Okay, not strictly true, he did take good decisions to keep me as engaged and off balance as possible from the position of weakness he started with.