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.

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.

"The Gods Dislike Cunning Buggers" *

* = Phil Barker (Rules Author & Insightful Icon of the Hobby) #160789 DBMMList 21/07/2014.

“I have no plan, least of all a cunning one, so I expect to be favoured by both the gods and the dice. Also to [be] absolutely sure of victory I'm going to abstain from all forms of buggery over the next two days”.

Bobu Deva (aka Bob) by email to the BKK DBMMers 30/07/2014.

Thereafter the conversation deteriorated and thus can’t be printed on these pages.  The poor taste continued verbally all through game night as well.  J

Whatagases the Indestructible was returning to reclaim the King of Kings status taken by the deceased Nashur II of Persia and then lost to Bobu Deva by his infant son Nashur III but I only had a vaguely cunning idea.  Previously Bob had used a foot heavy version of the army for which I didn’t have a ready answer (having won previously through Bob’s lack of PiPs, thus ignoring his foot troops and his commander falling off his elephant) so I looked for a blade option.  Nash was playing as my sub-commander and as he has Romans, I hired the Marian Roman allies to be a small but highly mobile command to move to wherever they could do the most harm.  Dangerously I added a second ally of mostly bowmen, with a cataphract command group, to add overall army bulk.

Game night arrived a day earlier than originally booked (due to a late class cancellation#) so importantly, Bob lost a whole day of abstinence.  The table wasn’t much, we had an oasis on our side and Bob had a couple of long gentle hills to hide ambushes behind while there was a scrubby patch centrally just on Bob’s side that we could run the Romans into to avoid fighting cataphracts in the open.

Bob’s purity came into play as we overrdiced as invaders and we had to deploy first which upset the plan a bit.  Then Bob deploys and we find he’s left the majority of the foot troops behind.  A superior light horse Chionite ally faced off against our,albeit larger, fast light horse command.  The Chionites appeared in our favourite 16ME (general+10Lh+Baggage) formation but had the advantage of superior against fast horsemen and it wasn’t a fight I wanted Nash to engage in.

Our Romans rushed forward into the scrub to annoy and harass the enemy from a safe(ish) position.  On the right I had an unreliable bow based ally but still went off to scout out the potential ambush positions while the massed cataphracts started an across table manoeuvre to eventually engage the Chionites. 

Nash couldn’t resist harassing the Chionites with his better numbers despite my warnings of bodily mutilations for disobedient sub-commanders and tried to semi-encircle them by running onto a hill from where he might be able to threaten their rear. 

That's an ambush!!  Ouch, here comes superior on
fast graded troops.

At this point we discovered Bob was lying about the lack of cunning ideas!! **  Hidden behind the hill were a further eight Chionites who with plenty of PiPs charged over the crest and hit the fast Parthian horse front and flank.  We had been cleverly deceived and caught totally unawares!!  Well done Bob!!.  (Nash’s threatened bodily damage was upgraded to execution!!)

Bob also threw in two other commands of fast light horse on each side of the roman occupied scrub to put pressure on our position and PiPs allocations.  We were in serious trouble.

The PiPs we had to use were low although the combat dice weren’t and the damage we received was less than the odds dictated.  With this we saw the beginnings of Phil’s wisdom coming through – Bob’s combat dice were lower, as predicted, for using a cunningly devised and deviously hidden oversized Chionite command.

On the right I had five light horse scouting out the other possible ambush positions and they had ended up in the corner of the table on Bob’s side

Bob looks to threaten in all sectors of the table.
We felt this was already game over.

once he’d cut off their option to get around into the enemy rear but a lack of PiPs had seen them remain stationary (I’d wanted to withdraw them from a fight they couldn’t win) while Bob faced them off with six light horse.  Bob was musing about charging in using the one overlap, my F(ast) rating in the first bound of combat and the impending recoil back onto the table edge disadvantage to destroy me.  Nash was actually encouraging him while I was trying to signal Nash to be quiet and threaten him with even more drastic measures.

Bob charged and Nash was upgraded to double execution of his corpse.  So the first combat in the light horse lottery was 1-2 against me due to the overlap – I won.  Bob tried the other end and died!!  On the third combat I recoiled then won the last two.  No losses and I was so relieved.

Elsewhere the cataphracts had caught a few of the Kushan light horse and while Nash’s light horse command (with three cataphracts) disheartened, we managed between us to kill enough enemy in one bound to bring the unreliable Eylamians into the fight, not that they did anything useful before the battles end.

Romans attacked front, left and rear.

Nash’s Parthian light horse command did some damage to the Kushan light horse before breaking at which point Bob lost most of the effective control of the impetuous Chionites who were really too big a command to regroup.  However the Kushans sent elephants, cataphacts and supports into the scrub after the Romans and caught some in the open – the Romans disheartened after two bounds.

Back to the light horse lottery on our right.  In my return bound I engaged all the remaining Kushan light horse except the one that had formed the original overlap.  They all died!!  They died to overlaps and horrid combat dice from Bob – on the last roll, a 6-1, I had to apologise to Bob for the atypical run of numbers. 

From outnumbered & outflanked to undamaged.
Embarrassingly Hot Dice.

The Gods had spoken again!!  They said “oversize Chioite commands in ambush are just too cunning”. ***

Suddenly the Kushan flank was open and their cataphracts exposed.  In our next bound we charged on in and with our cataphracts closing from the front cornered the Kushans with potential fights to our advantage.  In the next bound the Kushans broke the Romans but lost a cataphract to hard flanking light horse, which broke a command which had a double knock-on effect and two other commands broke in sequence.  Battle over with Bobu Deva hiding in the scrub among the dead Romans (from where he escaped to fight another day) while Whatagases was also lurking near a table edge (albeit Bob’s rear edge) ready to slip away as we didn’t realise how close the Kushan were to breaking.

Final Positions - An unexpected outcome from an equally unexpectedly sudden finish.

Nash and I were caught unawares, just like with the ambush, by the breaking of Bob’s army and our victory.  I was looking at our own numbers (42% casualties – all from Nash’s commands) as well because I was in fear of our own position, while Bob checked and confirmed that game was finished.

My final comment would be that this was a scrappy game, lacking some of the tenseness we usually enjoy in almost all our games.  Bob had a cunning, well executed plan and I felt a bit [okay, only a little bit  :-) ] sorry for him when the dice definitely skewed in our direction.  

{Next Game:-  Nashur III of Persia, on school holidays, will make a final invasion attempt to topple the recently returned Whatagases the Indestructible of Pathia & all the civilised world.

** =  We didn’t dare ask about the possibly dishonesty involved in his claimed abstinence.

*** =  They didn’t mention abstinence and/or purity.

# = We prefer Wednesday or Thursday, finding the heavy work day after a late Friday night to damaging, but ever changing schedules sometime prevent all of us being available at the same time on the best nights.

The Fight for Persia - Rules of Engagement

A series of games loosely connected by a narrative and predetermined list of players and armies. 

On occasions the players in our small group of DBMMers in Bangkok like to change our (almost) weekly games arranged by whatever people feel like playing to something more structured.  This also gives the options to get (near) historical match-ups which are sometimes preferred by some of us.

In the past, with just two participants, we have played and narrated both a Kushan civil war and a Parthian civil war.

The rules were very loose and the aim to have interesting games quickly became a breeding ground for unusual and dodgy cunning plans often stretching some of the parameters to there limits.  I enjoyed the numerous surprises that were generated and the inventive narrative that became attached at times.

There also developed via emails a run-up to most games full of 'trash talk', threats, promises and general intimidation along with rule queries, often as 'red herrings'.  Much like pre-battle preparations really.

With a third player now a regular member of the game nights we decided to play a game series again.  With the completion of a Sassanid army all of us had at least one army for 3rd century Persia/Iran that we could play with.  The Sassanids first outing was the first game in the challenge.

We actually played the first three games before we determined to actual Rules of Engagement. Anyway here they are, in case anyone else wants to use them.

But first - Meet the Team

Aren't we a handsome suave bunch ??

Rules of Engagement

• King of Kings starts as holding the table.  The potential rebels determine who will play first any way they agree.

• After a game, which must have a result, the winner stays holding the table.  The loser goes to the end of the rebel/challenger queue.

• The first player on the rebel/challenger list plays the table holder.

• Repeat with the first(only) player(s) on the rebel/challenger list until there are no ‘live’ challengers left.

 *** The table holder who has no challengers is the King of Kings and overall victor.

• The Army Lists must be extant at a set year (our year is AD225) and location (ours is generally Persian [modern Iran]).
• However the Order of battle (OoB) may be picked from the Army List as at any chosen year from its entire time span.  The list restrictions pertaining to the chosen year must be followed as normal. Locales specifically outside the area AND also not in the lists home area aren't permitted.

Wayne is Parthia and the reigning King of Kings (owner of great wealth, power, dashing good looks and harems).  Bob is the Kushan Empire (owner of exquisite sofa coverings and soft furnishings and ample attendants to plump them) and Nash is Sassanid Persia (owner of an uncountable number of fluffy cats, enough floor rugs for them to squat on and slaves to groom them).

• In this story telling series of connected games the players must retain the same army list although the OoB may change between games.

• In the first game The King of Kings (real or temporary) defends.

• Thereafter the King of Kings may choose to be the defender.  
• If he doesn’t choose to do so then the next Rebel/Challenger may choose to invade OR to dice as per the rules.  
• If a dice roll is to take place all army lists are deemed to have the same aggression (nominally 1).

• The determination of invader and defender is made as soon after each game as is practical.  It must be several days before the next game to allow development of cunning plans, threats of horrendous outcomes, name calling, laying of red herrings, deceptions and second guessings.

          Ideally it will occur at the end of the current game night.

• Each player starts with five ‘lives’.

• Each player loses one(1) live if their CinC element is destroyed and they lose the battle.
• Each player loses one(1) live if defeated and they were invading  
• Each player loses two(2) lives if defeated and they were defending.
• A maximum of two(2) lives can be lost per player per game.

• A player that is defeated in any game using an Ally command loses the use of that Ally for the duration of the game series.  If the Ally is shattered yet the game won then it also becomes a lost Ally.

• The King of Kings always plays alone.  The rebel challenger may take as many players as they have commands.  

By the time we got the final Terms of Engagement organised we had all  fallen to three(3) lives in the first three games because the Partian King of Kings was defeated while defending (-2 at maximum so no cost for the destroyed stand-in CinC), Bob lost while invading (-1) and fell off his elephant (-1) and the false King of Kings Nashur III's grandfather lost while invading (-1) and was personally slain by the genuine King of Kings (-1).  No cost for losing Nashur II trampled to death at a canter during a game that ended in victory.

The Parthian Empire

PARTHIA
Generals to the right in front of baggage.  Hatrene ally front left.  Cataphracts and fast light horse make up the rest.

For some details we have the four generals, all cataphract iKnX plus a mass of other cataphacts all irregular. In fact this is a totally irregular army.

Next we have the iLhF with the pointy coloured hats that changed their battlefield performance back in 2012.




Then there are some more iLhF this time without hats but with Parhtian style headbands.  There are four different colours of headband with all four men

on each base having the same colour. This allows commands to be distinguished once they inevitably get mixed together during combat.

The blue and green are too close and are inseparable to my naked eye so I tend to use just three colour groups.

The generally used allies from Hatra. Massed iBwO, a couple of iPsS and iLhF with a cataphract general and his companion element.

These generally hold up a section of table and scare away most fast moving horsemen (although of late they have suffered when charges by rCvS).

Lastly the baggage by itself.  Simple and effective camel trains.

The rear is a mule train only to distinguish the ally's baggage.

This army is actually morphed out of my Kushan army which I generally prefer to the Parthians.  My Arabo-Aramenians supply the Hatrene ally.

On the left is the bulk of the Kushans not required including the elephant corp with the optional elphant mounted general.

And a couple of  Hatrene cataphract camel elements.  These are available to the ally but to date haven't been included in an OoB as yet.

I have modeled the full complement for the Hatrene version of the Arabo-Aramenians but quite frankly their behaviour scares me more than any opponent.


So that's my set of figures.  After the average look of the first 6mm army I did (Khmer with assorted morphs) I am very pleased with the appearance I achieved here, plenty of colour and variety.  On table performance though has been highly variable although always enjoyable.

The Kushan Empire

A selection of Kushan troops

The Kushan Truely Accurate Publicity Department supplied the above photo stock shots.  In the interest of surprise and uncertainty the Kushan Emperor is keeping his troop options very much to himself, especially as he has just acquired the throne of the King of Kings.  

Bob's optional Kushan troops are very different to mine in that he prefers a much heavier foot presence and as such has many of the Indian troops available.  He also usually changes his OoB almost on a game by game basis so you never know what you will face beyond the core compulsory troops.   No doubt, just to make a liar of me, the next battle will see an all mounted Kushan army appear!!

The Sassanid Persians

The Sassanids come in their all regular command form and as such have a very high proportion of compulsory troops.  Add the elephants and the OoB is almost written for you.  Of late, elephants have been scarce and their place taken by more numerous foot and light horse options.

SASSANID PERSIA
An outstanding spread of superior cavalry, elephants, conscript levies, some light horse and a Hun ally.

Asavaran lurking behind the Dailami auxillia.

The elephant corps sheltered by the hordes of conscripted levies

And lastly, some light horse, including a Hun ally for use on the days that the elephants over sleep.

While an army of many parts the high compulsory costs tend to very much restrict a mix and match approach to the OoB, more a this or that option choice.

It'll be a special day to see all the Sassanids on the table at the some time.

Holy Crap BATrianMAN!! – What a Blood Bath!!

Having killed two rebel leaders, one personally, there was a break (a week without a game) while the new leaders tried to overcome their fear of the Whatagases the Indestructable, so he went for a holiday at the lakeside**. 

So the great Parthain Army will be lead by Whatshisnameces, loyal general and some royal cadet branch offspring.  This was reinforced as a sound idea after the pre-game ‘trash talk’ took place and cunning and devious plans were formed and alluded too but the tone went downhill after the rWf(F) put out some embarrassing information*. 

You may have read the SIN (Sassanian Independent News) Article "Rugs to Riches - A Cats Tale" posted in the previous blog.  SIN is really "Sycophantic Information for Nashur" and was of course a simplistic version for the infant Nashur III.  Having lost two generations of kings (CinC elements destroyed) in three weeks the sorry Sassanids are now ruled by a boy only just off the breast!!

In the interest of factual reporting the PPPPPP (Parthian Peoples' Popular Perfectly Precise Press) will provide a brief but picture enhanced version of the Battle of Wounded Elbow Fort.

Firstly the Statistics

*   Five out of eight generals died on the field including both CinCs. 

*  Of the three remaining one was broken and one’s command disheartened, both on winning side.

*  Of eight commands only three remained fully functional, two of these on the defeated side.

*  The victor suffered 49.01% casualties and the loser 55.21%.

At one point two bounds before the end we thought the "knock on" from two breaking Sassanid commands would take the army to break point - a count up showed it didn't by just 1.5ME - all that was needed was a single (QKable by KnX) CvS element.  The moment passed as the "knock-on" effect was lost but it was noted that a single loss from a disheaten command would break the command and give the Parthians a victory.

And the quicker picture version .....

The opening positions.

The BuAf in the enemy side works well and gives flank protection and attack options.
The size of the CvS command was a shock!

Here come the fights!!

On the left we had numbers & position and were confident.  On the right our conscripts were in fear.
But they lived up to Parthia's expectation and sent the CvS packing - initially!!

While hard pressed on the right by the massive 42ME CvS command the Parthians were comfortable that numbers and surrounding the Sabirs and a small Sassanid command would be achieved before the CvS caused to many KnX casualties.

How NOT to kill enemy general with your troops in the rear.

This unraveled in a single bound where on the left we had three combats that the Sassanids had to roll 3up on the dice just to survive (not be destroyed) and two were generals including one with a Parthian LhF in the rear.  

Against the odds we lost all three combats and the Sassanid and Sabir retaliation was brutal and our advantages were lost.

After that we fought a grinding casualty for casualty battle were we were eventually beaten after, as mentioned above, the Sassanids survived the breaking of two commands in one bound plus the disheartening of a third.

Also rolling the odds badly - one dead CinC.

After reigning for just two weeks Nashur II died in battle, cantered over by my (now deceased) KnX general.  The Parthian commander, Whatshisnameces (of previous civil war fame), having failed to run down the overlapped Sabir general was surrounded and shot down with un-manly arrows (CvS and LhF/S).  Now the infant Nashur III will be located and revenge extracted.

Yes, that the most dashing bunch players you'll find in Bangkok!!

Notes:-

* = Besides Watagases wasn’t going out to be ridiculed and tormented by the redels as “naughty daddy” after the rWf(F) had referred to me as such*** on the dreaded ‘facescroll’ message service.

** = And besides,it had also been noted on said ‘FaceScroll’ that it was time I suffered a total drubbing.  So all in all a perfect time for a lakeside retreat for the King of Kings.

***  =  The rWfF calls me “Daddy” after a character in a Thai TV ad for coconut milk who, like me, always needs/bring home a bar of chocolate after work.  

It gets expanded to “naughty Daddy” when I stay out late, play practical jokes of the family or buy even more wargames “little friends” to expand the army options.  This time I posted photos of her asleep in a hammock when she was supposed to be selling melons and coffee in her roadside stall.