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.

Hindus reign on the Tibetan parade

In the fine spring of 560AD, did the fine Tibetan knights stroll down from their upland pastures keen to secure the ancient silk road and the revenues it would bring the Deli Llama as he sought to create a Tibetan empire. In their way stood the massed ranks of the local Hindus, ready to resist the usurpation of their ancient rights.

Thus it came to pass that the armies of these two civilizations did meet upon a field and join in battle – the first such battle in what came to be known as “the Tussle for the Silk Tassles”.

The Hindus under the eye of their commander Chantony Gupta deployed between a rocky hill and little wood and prepared to face the onslaught of the well-armed and armoured Tibetans commanded by Zhayne Yarlung.

Hindu line

Hindu psiloi block off any flank attack around the hill with mixed foot and mounted ready to move where needed.

Blade are front and centre, supported by elephants.

Bow line up back from the blade, but will come forward on to their flank and supporting cavalry will line up behind. Hordes and psiloi occupy the wood and will do enough to thwart Tibetans trying to come through.

After seeing the Hindu line, Zhayne declined to engage in full-frontal combat, wary of the elephants awaiting his knights in the centre of the field. Instead he paraded up and down in front of the Hindu line probing for a weakness while his light horse tried to find a way through the wood into the Hindu rear.

Tibetan line

Light horse on the Tibetan left will fake left, then come right, then left again.

Bow will advance to face off Hindu bow.

The Tibetan knights will come around the scrub and parade in front of the Hindu blade.

Light horse on the Tibetan right will attempt to cut through the wood.

The killing zone - dead centre of this shot.

The Hindu swordsmen were not afraid to engage and had to be held in check by Chantony, who carefully wheeled them forward as the enemy knights came into sight around the scrubby flat. But one pass by the enemy came too close for the swordsmen to bear and they rushed forward. Seizing the moment, Chantony ordered everyone to attack, catching the Tibetans at a disadvantage. Zhayne valiantly rallied his men and countered, but there were too many of the Hindu horde, and one by one, the knights were isolated and destroyed.

Unable to break through and assist their leader, the Tibetan light horse on the flanks lost heart and fled the field. Result: Hindus 25 – Tibetans 0.

Silk Sash Bash

In a recent discovery at a famous monastery in Bangkok (Wat Yoosamokin), a remarkable document has been found, that describes a little known campaign in the area north of the Hindu Kush around 560 CE*. With the collapse of the Kushan empire, and the Hepthalite Huns being under pressure on the steppes from the emerging Gok Turks, a power vacuum had emerged, and several surrounding powers saw an opportunity to seize control of the Silk Road, and the wealth that flowed along it.

From the west came the Sassanid Persians under the rule of King Bobroes (probably the last of his name), who had long understood that without the army, there was no empire, that without money there was no army, and that without cash from the Silk Road, it was necessary to be nice to the peasants (which left everyone feeling a bit queasy). From the South East, came the Gupta Empire led by elephant and camel fetishist king Vantonigivussakissa (also known as Chantony Gupta in the Indian texts), and from the south came the resurgent Hepthalite kingdom in India, who had augmented their numerous horse archers, with a powerful force of elephants, and hordes of levied infantry. The final contender was a potentate from Tibet (apparently known as the Deli Llama) who possessed a remarkably well trained and equipped force, albeit one too small to actually be considered an army.

In the opening moves of the campaign, King of Kings Bobroes planned to march east and seize Kapisa, but before he could move, news came that a Hepthalite force under a chieftain called Gnash had invaded Persian lands, and Bobroes moved to intercept them. The armies met on a broken plain, with a small village to the Persian left, two marshes in front on the Hunnic position, and a couple of areas of rocky ground in front of the Persians. The Hun left rested on a gentle hill, and their right was secured by a fortified camp.

Position after first Persian (blue) bound.

While King Bobroes was confident his fine Asavaran would easily defeat the barbarians, he was aware of their annoying tactic of running around trying to surround their enemies, and how tiresome (and tiring) it was to chase after them, and therefore enlisted the help of a contingent of Gok Turks to help round them up. He placed the Turks on the right opposite the hill, some infantry in the rocky areas, with cavalry in the gaps, and his main force of armoured horse on the left next to the village. The Huns were divided into three groups of horse archers, with those on their right supported by some Indian cavalry of rather inferior quality, those on the left were supported by some Hunnic noble cavalry, and those in the middle were accompanied by a quartet of ferocious elephants. Hordes of infantry were deployed to the rear of both armies, but these took no part in the battle.

Turkish Allies (left) and Huns square up

The battle opened with Bobroes ordering the Turks to advance quickly on his right, were he expected that with many of them being in closer order than their opponents, they would quickly drive them off. The Huns appeared to be up for a fight, and furiously counter charged, before suddenly turning and fleeing, causing some of the Turks to stop in confusion, while others charged after them, only to be slain as the Huns turned around and renewed the fight. With the heavier Turkish cavalry left behind, a fierce fight ensued between the light horsemen of each sides, and while honours were mostly even, the smaller Turkish force eventually fled, but left the remaining Huns on that wing too weakened to play much further part in the battle.

On the left, the main force of Persian Asavaran armoured cavalry advanced, attempting to surround the Huns in the middle, while the  Persian centre advanced more cautiously, holding the terrain and the gaps between the rough going and marshes. The light horse on the Hunnic right retreated before the advancing Persians, while riding around in the center probing for an opening. Gradually the noose tightened on the Huns, and they were forced to turn and fight. Two of the elephant turned towards their right to confront the oncoming Persians, while another attempted to break through the Persian centre (the fourth had wandered off into obscurity on their left).

The battle unfolds

First to clash were the Persian Asavaran and the Indian cavalry, who proved to be of not such inferior quality, throwing back the former's charge, before eventually succumbing. A deadly swirling melee took place in the centre, with numerous flank and rear attacks, and many falling on both sides. Two of the elephants were slain, but one forged on throwing the Persian lines into disorder, and opening opportunities for the horsemen to attack. Gnash himself was directing the battle from the centre, when two companies of Persians saw him isolated, however Gnash fought like a man possessed (three consecutive sixes on the combat dice), smashing the Persians, and launching a final attack supported by his last remaining elephant, to try to break the Persian army.

King Bobroes

The Persians, shocked by the ferocity of the Hunnic onslaught, wavered**, but held on just long enough to commit their final reserve. At this point Gnash's luck ran out, and as he fell to the ground, a cry of despair ran through the exhausted barbarian army, and it turned and fled.

Meanwhile, King Vantonigivussakissa had brushed aside (in a 25-0 spanking) a raid form the Deli Llama, and occupied Kapisa. King Bobroes prepared to march to meet him, although his Turkish allies were less than impressed with the support they'd received from the Persians, and he was forced to give them all the loot from the battle, and then some, to keep them onside***.

* CE =  Certainly in Error
** One more casualty on the Persian left would have broken the army. It was a hard fought game that might have gone either way.
*** In the campaign rules, an ally that is broken can't be used again, unless VP are paid to restore it. The Persians gained 18 VP (which can be used for various things) by winning the battle 18-7, but had to spend 20 to retain the Turks, diminishing their starting pool of VP.

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.

Battle 3 – Romans vs Parthians (again)

A battle report by the brave scribe Dubius Factus.

Following his unsuccessful defence of Damascus (due to the demise of inexperienced sub general and the ever-pathetic Skythians) Legatus Rolus Asixus Prope Fraxinum had made a tactical withdrawal to well established Roman territory. The overly facial haired Parthians saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of what they considered a weakened Roman army. Once again, the barbarian trips on his long moustache!

The Roman Legatus, well aware of the Parthian strengths and of course their many weaknesses, once again sought to impede the barbarian advance by choosing a suitable place at which to bring them to battle. The Parthians obliged altogether too easily. Legatus Rolus Asixus, informed his scouts to find a field of battle with heavy terrain on at least one flank and broken ground in the centre. His plan I am told was to close the battle field with two plans in mind. The Parthians with their highly mobile horse archers and their effective heavy horse would either be channelled into narrow lanes from which their flanks could be harassed by light troops in difficult terrain, or they would be tempted/force to conduct a flank march, thus drawing part of their army into a trap.

The Roman scouts did a job worthy of Jupiter, finding a suitable location that in truth provided both of their general’s demands. The Roman left flank was secured by a steep hill with a small town in its shadow, The Parthains were forced to deploy with a large marsh dominating their centre and another steep hill on the Parthian left. This left only two small lanes of good going for their horse men, which could be easily defended and exploited by the cunning Legatus and his brave legion.

The head of the Prope Fraxinum household drew his plans sending his distant cousin Devius Impetus on a wide sweep away from the Roman right to counter and entrap any barbarous attempts to encircle his army. His command including legionaries (regular oridary blades), heavy cavalry (regular ordinary cavalry), and Thracian light horse (irregular light horse), with a few Cretan archers (regular ordinary Psiloi) The rest of the army was deployed to cover the two channels with legionaries and heavy cavalry, and with light troops (auxillia and psiloi) to challenge and retain the marsh and the steep hill. Our illustrious Legatus himself retained command of a reserve of Thracian Peltasts and African elephants, ready to deploy wherever needed most. The other commands being a small force of Spanish Javelinmen (8 irregular superior Psiloi) led by Ristus Dextrus,  and a mixed force of legionaries (regular ordinary Blades), heavy cavalry (regular ordinary Cavalry) and mercenary Theorophorae (regular superior Auxiliaries) along with a unit of Antisignati (regular superior Psiloi) under the command of Pipus Bonus.

The marvellous Roman deployed and awaited the hairy hordes. As envisioned the moustachioed invaders deployed their heavy horse in the gaps and their inferior light troops in the marsh. Surprisingly, and much to their shame, they left the steep hill uncontested. Knowing that the cowardly Parthian horse would not enter the gaps without first securing their flanks, the legions advanced to fill the space. The marsh was well defended but the Romans sought to oust the invaders through weight of numbers and superior quality. The hill was taken by our mercenary Theorophoroi (auxiliary) and Antisignati (psiloi). The Roman cavalry on the right flank were faced by a disorderly group of cowardly Skythians – dubious in reputation but possibly dangerous none the less. Therfore, they erred on the side of caution, awaiting the arrival of their allied flank march. And thus the battle began. 

The Spanish Javelinmen were pushed into the marsh to clear the Parthian foot, whereupon they stumbled upon a small ambush of light archers (ps o). Undeterred the Javelinmen charged hurling their missiles and to their shame took heavy casualties (2 ps s lost in the first round of combat). It seemed the foe had chosen his ground well and these losses left a hole in the Roman lines. The Legatus pushed the Thracian Peltasts along the road and into the marsh. Alas, the Parthians were aware of this advance and brought horse archers and auxiliaries to harry their flanks, effectively blocking the assault on the left. Clearly the middle of the marsh was where this encounter would be decided, so Asixus moved some Peltasts across and along with the Javelinmen they fought a hard battle which with the help of 1 or 2 legionary cohorts they eventually won.

On the opposite (right) flank, the Skythians were proving to be as dubious as their reputation foretold. They were advancing but very slowly and disorderly (low pips and impetuous knights causing problems). They were, however starting to look a little threatening to the small number of Roman cavalry deployed on the flank. The steep hill was clearly in Roman possession and the mercenaries were splitting to threaten the peripheral areas of the terrain on both sides, making it difficult for the Parthians to advance.  

As the Skythians moved forward they were suddenly dismayed to see clouds of dust and flashes of sunlight glinting on polished armour – the brave Devius Impetus and his flanking troops had arrived at a most timely moment (by the roll of a 6). The Skythians on seeing this, lived up to and beyond their reputation and immediately fled directly away from the flank march. The knights fled across the front of the troops on the hill, and the horse archers ran for the relative safety of their Parthian allies. But to no avail – the two Roman commands leapt upon them from every angle, scattering them to the wind. That is, except for their general who bravely charged ahead taking out a cohort of auxiliaries and alae of cavalry before his heart gave and he too fled the field (his command becoming shattered and him being removed).

Directly after seeing the arrival of a large force on their flank, the hairy barbarians tried to outfox our gallant hero with futile stratagems. First they tried to contest the hill with the help of some traitorous local guides. Their horse archers (fast light horse) charged headlong up a secret path and attacked the Antisignati in the flank. Undeterred by this and secure in the difficult terrain, the brave specialists shook off their attackers destroying them outright and taking the fight to all that opposed them. The second attempt at cunning was a delayed command waiting somewhere to the rear of the battlefield. This command appeared directly before our flank attack (in fact, they rolled a 6 in the following turn but due to the arrival rules they came on first) but was too little too late and unable to deploy in time to avoid being out manoeuvred and outclassed.

By this point in the battle, the shaggy invaders had taken quite a pounding and their largest command having taken losses in the marsh, on the hill, and been tempted to engage the elephants (who they did manage to kill but by doing thus freed up the flank of the cataphracts), was on the brink of collapse. The coup de grace came when the Theorophorae on the hill attacked the completely static cataphracts in the now unprotected flank, and by turning them, forced them to fight up the steep slope. Subsequently, the heavy knights were overthrown and the second and largest command broken. That, plus casualties on the newly arrived command ensured the rout of the whole army (the army had received more than 50% casualties) and the end of the battle.

The Romans had lost hardly any of their force (less than 10%) and Legatus Rolus Asixus Prope Fraxinum had completely crushed the invaders. He was quoted at the end of the day, ’They came. They saw. They capitulated.’

Tactical Notes (at the risk of giving far too much away):

The Romans have a regular command structure and predominately regular troops. The Parthians are irregular across the board. This gives the Romans advantage in manoeuvre even though the Parthians are generally faster. However, on an open battlefield the Parthians should be able to get around the Romans and outnumber them as regular troops are more expensive. The Romans have a mixed force of heavy foot suitable for standing in the open but equally capable of defending in difficult terrain (they are too slow to move effectively in difficult terrain), lighter but skilled auxiliaries and psiloi that are very good in terrain, and manoeuvrable cavalry. They have a few light horse but nowhere near as many as the Parthians. The Roman cavalry is not strong against knights, being easily killed by them in the enemy’s turn. Roman generals, being regular, get a free movement point (pip), which increases the army’s speed and flexibility.

The Parthians have a strong core of cataphracts (knights), supported by masses of highly manoeuvrable but slightly weak in a fight horse archers (Light Horse-LH). The Knights are very strong against Roman cavalry and foot, quick killing them in their own bound (beating them by 1 rather than having to double them on dice rolls).They can also opt to take light infantry (auxilia) which Anthony seems to favour against the Romans. The Knights should be the hammer, and the LH should be the anvil sweeping around the enemy to pin them. The auxiliaries are good in difficult terrain but are not strong troops. They rely on strength f numbers and attrition to be successful – cheap and cheerful!

The Roman tactic therefore was to negate the Parthians numerical advantage and speed by narrowing the table with difficult terrain which is unsuitable for the Parthian horse. We Romans are quite happy to take the fight into the terrain where our regular efficiency will allow us to out manoeuvre the irregulars (moves cost us 1 pip against their 2 pips).  By narrowing the table and forcing the enemy to fight where we want them to we can stop them from riding around us and if the knights attack our foot, engage in a battle of attrition in which we should win (knights cost more that blades). Therefore, I opted for the largest and most difficult terrain pieces at my disposal. Imagine my delight when Anthony obliged by providing two difficult hills! J

The marsh was down first and landed in the middle of Anthony’s deployment – quite a good location. Next were his 2 hills, one on each flank and one on each players side – great! The road fell quite well and I was able to place it diagonally across the table which allowed me to place the BUA between one hill and the marsh, effectively completely denying one flank to the enemy and opening up the temptation to flank march on the other flank. Perfect!

Central to this plan was the success of Anthony’s flank marches in his previous game. There was a good chance he might try that again, and in fact this is what I wanted. My flank march was there to drive his back. I used a large command to ensure that my flank march would be bigger than his and subsequently drive it back onto his side of the table. This would mean I would chase his command onto the table and hopefully and while it was in disarray, be able to hit it in the rear. It was a little risky but after weighing it up I thought it was worth it. Of course, the added advantage to this was if we both had flank marches on the same side there was double the chance of them coming on – both of us would be rolling. As soon as either of us rolled a 6 they would come on, the larger flank march pushing the smaller one back. As it turned out Anthony had tried something different and I was fortunate that I rolled a 6 and my attack came on when it did.

Overall I was very happy with my performance in this battle. The plan was sound. My Order of Battle was appropriate. I followed through with my plan and didn’t get distracted. And most of all, my generals stayed well out of harm’s reach (the loss of 2 generals through carelessness and over confidence cost me the game last week)!

The result: I lost less than 10% of my force (8 ME) and Anthony was routed. An astounding 25-0 victory!

Next week is a new challenge. I am fighting Wayne and the Petrashop boys. Sledge hammers and ladders maybe?

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.

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.