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.

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.