Skulking on the Silk Road

Recovering for the Tassle Tussle
(Campaign action as introduced <here>)

As noted previously by Vantonigivussakissa (don’t pronounce it sober) <here> the first force of the Deli (Llama) Delivery Service (known world-wide as the Shaggy Horse Excellent Sandwich Supply Service - SHESSSus) had met an uncomfortable end at the hands of low class Hindus with big cleavers while avoiding the pachyderms.  A classic example of a highly manoeuvrable army over doing the parade ground formation changes and getting mobbed.

The remains of the now timid Tibetans now headed south closing up on the equally chastised Hepthalite Hun chieftain Gnash the Gummy (aka the Toothless) at the head of another elephant laden army of apparently all ‘superior’ graded troops, whether the mammoths or the vicious steppe horsemen.

By this stage a major campaign error by Zhayne Yahwot (Hindus can’t spell) the distracted chief sandwich maker of the Deli was blatantly clear. 

While having the best, most attractive, well trained and efficient kataphracts in the whole continent, all the other dishonest lowly rulers contesting the western end of the Silk Road were all, and I mean ALL, packing numerous non-regulation ‘Pachyderm Packs’!!  Just because my alt-life was distracting me from paying sufficient to the campaign preparation didn’t justified a united effort to collect enormous elephant ensembles at all points of the compass.  Clearly there’s no honesty left in the areas around the Roof of the World.

We caught up to Gnash & his “S” graded rabble and challenged him just inside his home territory.  He turned to face.  The winter had passed and spring was upon us.

Our plan, being VERY small but near perfectly trained, was to close the field of battle down and fight frontally with the kats which could take on anything except the elephants which were to be contained by bow, spear and fast light horsemen long enough to push the rest of the enemy off the table.  We bought two super small commands of Ch’iang allies (rCvS + 7x iLhF + 1 Bg = 12ME) to tuck behind the wings to run interference and to die if required.  At 12ME they only produced a single “knock-on” factor and the high non-general casualty count required to break them gives a cheap amount of staying power.

We used two DH (difficult hills) for our plan.  The enemy swamped the area in difficult terrain too, most surprisingly, and we got the weirdest battle field I’ve seen in years - almost totally blocked by difficult going across the entire width of the table!! 

 

For two mounted armies this is plain DAFT terrain!!

Only three openings existed, a 4 element wide corridor on me left, a single element wide one on my right and a road through a BUA (built up area), nothing else.  I had a total of 3 psiloi elements for terrain work and I was sure the Hepthalites had very few as well.

I decided that with my strong manoeuvre abilities I’d sit tight and pick of the enemy as they came through the openings or over the terrain.  My fortified baggage imperfectly added some restrictions to the left flank which was the only side a flank march was viable on.  Nash deployed only two commands, and I was right to stay put and defend against attack although the elephants coming at my left were less than ideal.

Re-positioning by both armies 

I did a bit of re-positioning and waited.  The enemy u-turned on the road and set about a fast attack in support of his elephants on my left.  This was going to swamp my foot so using the regularness I u-turned them and drew up my position tighter.  I also sent the mass of kataphracts under the CinC leftward to past through the light horse and meet the expected superior light horse flank march from the left flank.

But let’s be clear, Nash had a clear strong plan for dealing with my strengths (and his weakness) and had used the terrain brilliantly in a most unconventional way to out play me so far.  I hadn’t understood what he was doing at all until this point when I realised I was trapped.

Trouble Arrives - Pressed from front & left!!

The enemy flank march arrived and contained more elephants!!  But it also looked small and combined with few hordes being on table, I expected hordes to follow it on next bound.  At this point it worried me a lot less than the fact I was going to get attacked on two fronts and chewed up by the on table elephants.  In my mind I had conceded the game but as I’m good at desperate defensive actions and could hang out for a time induced draw, I remained mostly silent.

Gnash came at me slow and steady, not getting strong PiPs and often being conservative in his actions, knowing I wasn’t able to get away and that he had plenty of time.  I didn’t get great PiPs either but with all regular or light troops, I was getting enough PiPs to mount a steady defence and keep my angled line intact.

Fighting for survival but keeping the pressure on.
Tibetan kataphracts scare off Huns in the urban area
without a fight.

This I did by always looking to fight combats at equal or just superior factors rather than go for more aggressive actions that would leave me exposed to enemy counter attacks.  Nash’s combat dice weren’t that strong so it was all staying intact.  I pushed up on his flank marchers forcing him to commit them to unfavourable combats or receive even more unfavourable attacks later. 

With his other commands streaming around me and my troops slowing being whittled down by elephants I was getting further into trouble without an answer and Nash, seeing this, committed his flank marchers but I got the better of the situation locally.  But to survive in the long term I needed to harm the enemy.  I had picked off a lucky kill on an elephant and broken up their groups a bit but never had any opportunities to turn the tide.  Time to start taking the cheap shots as I could no longer survive long enough even to draw.

In a bound with short PiPs Nash had used a CnC free PiP to turn and push an elephant into an annoying position which had stalemated the end of our lines. 

Taking the cheap shots!!
Honestly in fear of the imminent Tibetan defeat.

My bows had held up elephants and recoiled one or two and the area was confused and messy but generally flanks were secure on both sides.

I spotted an outside opportunity to take a cheap shot, by attacking an elephant in the flank with a kataphract and by ignoring his front I could turn it into a no recoil situation up against his CinC (with the fatal behind an El deal if I could pull a kill result).  Another kataphract supplies an overlap while on the other side I needed my LhF (with an overlap) to beat a LhS to remove then provide the second overlap in my favour.  We still needed to roll-up well in combat but I took the risk as we were beaten otherwise.

The light horse won its combat.  The other combats killed the flank marchers general and an elephant and a glimmer of light was coming through as enemy casualties suddenly spiked – Nash was now pensive.

The risks pay off!!  Diced up & defeat turned to victory.

Yep, you guessed it – I rolled up, let out a “yesssss” (sounds just like SHESSus) until Nash called it a draw – which stopped my excitement and we had to recount!!  The no recoil and no benefit of being an “S” elephant in enemy bound turned it into a doubling – destroyed hephalumps and Gnash the Gummy stomped to death underfoot in the ensuring stampede!!  In outright frustration Nash’s dice bounce off the table only to be caught and returned.

Knock-on effects breaks the flank marching command and a totally unbelievable and spontaneous victory is achieved!! 

Despite my own displayed jubilation I really felt sorry for a clearly annoyed Nash who played a brilliantly planned, prepared and well executed action but fell to the adverse vagaries (not even extreme) of combat dice (& the odd inconvenient PiP roll).

The Hephalites were last seen streaming back away the way they had come, towards the Kush where they were sure to encounter the new current Silk Road Surveyor (King of the Table).  In the meantime the Deli have added delectable elephant steak sandwiches to their impeccable menu list.

Surrounded

So week three of the campaign, and having mugged Nash last week, I was now King of the Table and had to defend my position against Wayne and his Nabateans. Having defeated them earlier in week one, I wasn't expecting too much trouble, and was probably a little overconfident.

 I did however, prepare one little surprise for him, rebasing some models that I'd painted 30 years ago and never played with. I was thus able to field three elements of artillery O. Now if you've read the previous posts about this campaign, you'll know that one of Wayne's hobbies is building walls (TF) across battlefields, and if you're familiar with the finer details of the purple tome, you'll know that not only do artillery shoot at bows with a factor of 4 vs 2, but temporary fortifications don't count against them. I wasn't sure if Wayne knew the last point or not, but was looking forward to him finding out.

As per my right as reigning King, I chose to defend. Since Wayne had chosen one of the two available sand dune terrain pieces, I elected to use a 2 FE dune which fell on the left round about the center line. A BUA and a rocky hill protected my right flank, and a difficult hill was in the middle of my deployment area on the back edge. Wayne's left flank was protected by another dune a little way in from the edge.

Now in the previous game, Wayne had deployed a large light horse command, which could present some dangers, and my left flank was a little open. OTOH I didn't want to sit on the defensive, as I wanted to logorate his bows with my artillery. Therefore I angled my pike a block a little, so that it could push out into the center, but keeping the gap between it and the rear hill a reasonable size that the the cavalry command to the left could protect. The artillery were on the right of the pikes, and the rightmost command would protect the right, and use its peltasts to clear the dune protecting Wayne's left flank.

Position after first turn

Bows out, psiloi in

Now in the past Wayne has struggled to put together an Aramean list that suits his style, but this time he'd come up with something that might just work. Gone was the massive bow line and wall protected it, this time what appeared on table was a few bow behind a short wall anchored to the dunes on his right, and many of the compulsory bow elements in the army had been converted to psiloi (O), a large swarm of which occupied the center of the table. More light troops and some camels were in the dune, and on the right of his line were some Ps(S) and Bow(I). There were a few cavalry and light horse in the center too, but clearly a lot of troops were missing.

I should probably have stuck to my plan of anchoring the left of my line on the hill, but I favour an agressive approach to the game, so decided to push forward quickly and try to defeat the one table forces before the expected flank march arrived. I wanted to be able to move the artillery into position so gave the middle command of pikes and artillery the middle pip dice, the command on the right took the high one so that it could sweep the dunes, and the flank guard on the left took the low one. The latter was to cause problems later.

Skythian flank march arrives

The initial moves then saw me push forward into the center with the pikes and artillery, and push forward aggressive on the right with my peltasts with a few cavalry in support. Wayne moved his light horse across to fight with the peltasts, and I managed to bag a cavalry with my bolt shooters. The big surprise was that Wayne's flank march rolled a six* on the second turn, and he announced that it would arrive on my right, rather than the more open left

Skythians advance

The flank march turned out to be a Skythian ally (obviously under new management after the demise of their general last week), comprising a a bunch of light horse and a couple of noble knights. I hurriedly turned around my own column of knights from the right command to act as a fire brigade, and hopefully keep the Skythians contained behind the hill until a enough force could be summoned to deal with them properly. Meanwhile the Skythian knights advanced towards the baggage (subsequently killing half of it), and the light horse formed into a long column snaking around the hill, with their general in the rear.

Skythains flee

Now in my experience, Skythian ally commands seldom fare well**, and so it was to prove as I unleashed cheesy move of the year, hitting the front of the light horse column with a knight, and forcing the leading element to flee. This pushed back the whole column forcing the whole thing flee, and resulting in the general at the end fleeing off table and being lost ***. Next bound I was able to flank and kill one the nobles, and that was enough to break the command.

Holy ****

However, my relief was short lived, as Wayne announced the arrival of another flank march on my left. This turned out to be a huge force of 18 horse archers, plus a general. To the three elements of Galatian cavalry mercenaries that I had thrown out as a picket on my left, it must have seemed like a scene from a French Foreign Legion movie as the whole horizon was suddenly filled with hostile cavalry. The tried to flee, but were quickly caught and surrounded. However, they put up spirited rear guard action fighting back to back, and killed several enemy elements before succumbing. This gave me time to throw together some sort of line, using the peltasts from the left command, and some pikes from the center, but the response was hampered by the command on that side having the low pips.

Flank march and response

The leftmost command also contained two elephants, which I could find little use for, so had left at the back so that at least wouldn't be in the way. These were quickly surrounded and dispatched by the onrushing mass, demoralizing the leftmost command. Wayne then moved his light troops from his right wing to attack my left side peltasts hoping to finishing them off quickly. They held on for a while though, allowing reserves from the right to arrive and counter attack killing enough of the flank marchers to demoralize them too.

Open fire!.  All Weapons!

Meanwhile on the right Wayne's light horse had been driven off, allowing my artillery to advance and shoot at the archers behind the wall. The latter, feeling themselves safe, were clearly dismayed by the heavy bolts arriving from afar, with the first two shots being six ones in my favour.

Gap in the line

Madness

It was at this point that I almost made a fatal mistake. With the peltasts and the left part of the phalanx having been send to deal with the flank march, a gap had opened in my line, which Wayne attempted to exploit with his psiloi, placing heavy pressure on the left hand peltasts, who could collapse at any moment. So being short on reserves, I send King Btobemy himself to intervene, and in a moment of stupidity charged him into the long column of psiloi attempting to come through the gap. Now another of the lines of fine print in the purple tome says that if you are a knight wedge element, you must pursue if you win, and since the Egyptian King surrounded by his finest, tend to do quite well against light archers equipped only with a bow and tunic, King Btobemy kept advancing leaving his flanks to be attacked by all manner of scummy commoners. One bad die roll, and his glorious reign would come to an ignoble end. Of course I mounted my own "Saving Private Ryan" effort, but to no avail.

Luckily by now, we had reached the time limit for the game, and King Btobemy remained on his horse. Wayne's pressure had finally broken my

Btobemy lives

leftmost command though, so we had to do some counting up to determine the victor. As it turned out we'd both lost 30%,  but Wayne also had a demoralized command, so I scrapped through seven to six, and retained my grip on Syria.

This was a tough game, and Wayne had a much better battle plan than me, and for the second week in a row I just scraped through, being particularly lucky in seeing of the Skythians so easily. The newly constituted lightweight version of the Nabateans is much more dangerous than before, and could now be a real contender.

Next time, I will be challenged by Anthony and his Parthians. There has been some feverish diplomatic activity with both sides sending large bags of gold (the campaign rules allow you to use your bonus APs to boost your rating with allies) to the Rhoxolani, in an attempt to secure their services, but in the end they elected to keep the cash, and join neither side. Now we both have some time to consider our plans, as unfortunately due to upcoming commitments, we won't be able to fight this game for another three weeks.

* Wayne has notoriously bad luck with flank marches, and is usually happy if they arrive by the end of the next game. Any plan that relies on his flank march not turning up will usually succeed.

** The Skythians were also in action on the side table this week, where thing also went badly for them.

*** I had actually intended to make the whole column flee which would buy me some breathing space, but hadn't reallized this would send the general off table.

All Roads Lead To Damascus - Battle Report 1

Barbarians Get Awkward in the Orchard

or

Village People Go East

Report by our scribe in the field Dubius Factus.

This week saw a valiant defence of our Republic and the loss of a true Roman hero. Roman soil was soiled by filth of a barbarian horde. The Gods were with us and the horde was sent packing!

The day began well for our illustrious general, Legatus Pulcher Prope Fraxinum, who although late in years was still considered a strategic genius. The invading barbarians with their dodgy facial hair, leather fetishes, and love of anything a little fruity' were easily lead to an area heavy with orchards and steep hills, thus funnelling their advances exactly where our hero wanted them.  Upon entrapping the enemy in this constricting terrain, further advantage was gained by enticing the horde with promises of dancing and sweet drinks at the fable temple of the Blue Oyster. The Parthians in such a hurry to quench their queer desires, deployed first and Pulcher was able to take advantage. The barbarians scouted the area well uncovering our ambushes, but this was planned and accounted for.

The moustachioed villains deployed four commands with their cataphracts and horse archers on the flanks and a mass of light infantry and Psidian allies crammed into the orchard (no doubt trying to locate the fruits of Temple of the Blue Oyster!). The marvellous Romans deployed all 4 commands to their right flank with cavalry and legions ready to advance upon the unwashed heathens.  Two ambushes were prepared, one on the hill to the left flank and another in the orchard to the right flank.

The Parthians had the initiative but in an act of cowardly ignobleness, immediately turned tail (as if already in the Blue Oyster!) and tried to flee the field. Pulcher in turn was hesitant (rolling three 1s for regular commands), expecting some barbarian trickery. His ally general Rolus Asixus however, saw the Parthians retreat for what it was and was quick to charge across the field. Cavalry, Legions and Peltasts all advancing to close the gap and trap the savages.

And thus the battle was engaged. The valiant Romans pushed the attack on their right flank whilst the Parthians sought without success to escape.  On the left flank, the psiloi on the difficult hill proved enough of a distraction and hindrance to effectively negate Parthian efforts. In the centre, the Roman auxiliary were outnumbered but held on.

Having trapped the Parthians from escaping on the right flank, the Thracian light horse (o) pinned the cataphracts in place and launched an attack on the few horse archers (f) guarding their flank. The Thracians did their job and punched a hole in the Parthian line. Trapped and outflanked their days were numbered. It was then that barbarian heavy knights decided to actually fight. The CiC supported one of his brethren against sole Roman cavalry alae.  The barbarians, encumbered by their facial hair, leather and studs, were destroyed with great violence. That was enough to break their spirit!

Pulcher himself at this time stepped to the fray as he felt his years upon him. His closest aids tell us that he saw the battle was won on the right flank and his job was done, thus he wished to end his days in glory upon the field of battle. He is quoted as saying, ‘I am long in years, old beyond reckoning. The fields of Elysium await me. Let me die here in glory!’ as he charged the enemy foot.  The battle raged and he was driven back by a stubborn foe. It was while falling back that old age finally caught up with the old warrior. He slid from his horse, happy in the knowledge that his day was glorious.* / **

With the CiC fallen, his very small command broke. However, there was little effect on the army and on the right flank the Parthian CiC was fleeing with the remnants of his broken command. He was ridden down in eternal shame with his back to the enemy and his (or someone else’s) tail between his legs.  The Roman army was in a fine position to move into the rear of the enemy. The baggage was undefended and the Psidians exposed.  Alas that time favoured the barbarians this time and the battle was forced to end.

The result: a glorious victory for the Republic ***. An honourable death for a long lived and loyal son of Rome. A dark day for the invaders. And the start of a new era for the newly appointed Legatus Rolus Asixus!

*Actually, the cic was 6-1ed by the auxiliary. Now, this should not have killed him but for the fact that I for some reason reverted to DBM (not dbmm) factors! Anyway, the mistake was made and not noticed until sometime later

** It could also be that old age caught up with him as he awaited the Parthians to finish their moves!

*** It should have been a bigger victory. In the end the result was close 14 - 11 I believe.  Anthony is a newish player to DBMM and his plan was too ambitious for his irregular army. In other ways he played well though.

We were fortunate enough to interview Legatus Pulcher Prope Fraxinum prior to the engagement and discuss his plans.

Dubius Factus: Legatus, What is your opinion of the Parthian army?

Legatus Pulcher:  The Parthians have 2 strengths. The first is in their highly mobile and flexible Light Horse. The second is their Heavy Cataphracts. They may also outnumber us.

DF: Does this worry you?
LP: Worry, no. But I do have to consider their strengths and weaknesses. If the light horse envelope us then we could have problems. If the Cataphracts attack our cavalry we will be in trouble. Therefore, I must do two things: stop the LH from going around our flank, and keep their cataphracts away from our cavalry.

DF: How do you plan to do this?
LP: By choosing my ground very carefully and by attacking with a combination of troops, this forcing the enemy into my killing ground against the troops that I want them to fight.  The battlefield needs to be dense with difficult terrain to channel the enemy. If it is an open battlefield we will not be able to stop him. Our troops are better trained than the barbarians and we will be able to manoeuvre more effectively through gaps in the terrain. We will be able to reduce the battle to a small area thus negating his speed and flexibility.

DF: Are the cataphracts a great danger?
LP: Yes. They are deadly against our cavalry and against the legions. However, given the choice, I will attack them with the legions as we should win on attrition. The ideal situation though is to create a situation in which the cataphracts are unable to join battle. Our easiest targets are the horse archers. Although fast, if they can be pinned down they will be destroyed. Again, the terrain is key. We will draw them into our defensive positions in the hills and orchards.

DF: You have a choice of allies, which will you take?
LP: My first choice was to take Sarmatians as their heavy knights (kn f) will be an equal threat to the enemy knights. However, after some deliberation it was decided that this would be too much in the hands of Fortuna. My next choice was Skythians with their unnumbered horse archers, but again that was a risky choice. In the end, I chose to enlist my own nephew Rolus Asixus. With him commanding half the legions and cavalry it would allow me greater numbers and more flexibility with my commands. Regular troops are also more reliable.


DF: What is your opinion of the Parthian general?
LP: I have a great deal of respect for him - I would be foolish not to. But, he will over complicate his plan. I am not sure how, but he will. I will expect him to try to draw us into open ground, but we will force him into the hills. I also expect him to outscout us, but we will set up ambushes anyway. If he brings foot, we will outclass them. If he brings mounted, we will close the battlefield around them. Either way, we will be victorious.

DF: Legatus Pulcher Prope Faxinum, thank you and may Mars smile upon you for the glory of Rome.

LP: Thank you. Ave.