Game 1, Sassanids v Alexandrians 25mm 800 points.
Friday 24th Nov 06
Our aim was to try to use as many different troop types as possible to get a feel as to how they perform.
Sassanid list
4 x 4 BGs of Noble cavalry
1 x 4 BG of Cataphrates
1 x 4 BG of Elephants
1 x 6 BG of Light horse
1 x 8 BG of Protected archers
1 x 8 BG of Hill tribesmen
1 x 6 BG of Slingers
1 x 8 BG of Levy spearmen
1 x 8 BG of levy mob
1 x FC general
3 x TC generals
Alexandrian list
2 x 4 BGs of Companions
1 x 6 BG of Paeonians
1 x 8 BG of Hypaspist pikemen
2 x 8 BG of Foot companions
2 x 6 BGs of Thracians
1 x 6 BG of Agrianians
1 x 6 BG of Cretans
1 x 8 BG of Ally Hoplites
1 x IC general
2 x FC generals
Alexander won the invading dice throw.
The Sassanids chose Steppe terrain.
We agreed to use some terrain to see how this effected troop movement. 1 x Sl, 2 x BG and 2 x B. All of this landed in the flank sectors.
Alexander??™s +2 on his scouting role ensured he out scouted the Sassanids, despite the 15 to 26 element count.
We had agreed not to ambush in our first game, so the Sassanids began to deploy. The Sassanids deployed some troops right to the edge of the table with only one gap in their line. And this only to avoid the elephants upsetting their own cavalry.
The situation after deployment can be seen in the picture below. Overall impression was very good
1st Move.
Not much happened, both armies moved forward. The Sassanids making more second moves, making the maximum use of their extra general.
However, we did find a problem at this point. No movement rate for Mobs! We agreed it would probably be the same as Heavy foot.
2nd Move
Alexander halts the foot skirmishers on his right taking advantage of the hill. On his left the light horse fail a CMT and so continue their move towards the flank. (I think this may be wrong, not sure why we made them take a test).
The Sassanid line advances and the slingers shoot at the javelinmen. Despite getting 3 hits with 3 dice the javelinmen survive the death roll. On their left the Sassanid light horse are unable to get into shooting range. Less than half an inch out! (Is everyone using inches or mm??™s).
3rd Move
The javelinmen on Alexander??™s right decide not to chance their luck with another round of shooting and charged the slingers. The slingers opt to evade but throw a ???1??™ and are caught by the javelinmen who throw a??™6??™ for their variable moves. We struggled with the rules at this point, as we could not find anything that specifically covered this. We decided that the slingers turned around and fought (troops caught in rear section). The result was that the slingers routed, but only after a round of melee later in the move. This did not feel right to us, we felt the javelinmen should have had an unopposed impact phase and then if the slingers past their cohesion test, they turn around and fight in the melee phase.
The slingers routed in the Inter Bound and the javelinmen pursued into the supporting troops. Did the javelinmen have an option not to contact the supporting troops? We could not find it.
On the left the light horse not risking another failed CMT and the closing Sassanid cavalry, charged the Sassanid light horse. The Sassanids opt to evade, successfully this time. They shoot to their rear but miss.
In the Sassanid move the light horse rally and with the aid of the shooting from a Noble BG, the Alexandrian light horse fail their cohesion test and loose a base.
On the Sassanid left, their general joins the Hill tribesmen in the front rank. The Alexandrian javelinmen loose the impact to the Hillmen and draw with the archers. They fail their test and drop a cohesion level. In the melee they loose again, this time dropping two cohesion levels and routing.
In the centre the Sassanid levy spearmen advance with the elephants, but loose a base to shooting from the Cretan skirmishers. They pass the cohesion test.
To the left of the elephants a battle line of 3 x 4 noble BG??™s and a general close to shoot the BG of allied Greeks. The Greeks pass their shooting casualties cohesion test with the aid of the attached general. They loose one base due to number of hits and save another in their death roll.
The Cataphrates are trying to redeploy into the gap between the elephants and Nobles.
(Do your own elephants disorder you at the same distances as the enemy?).
In the inter bound the Hillmen and archers pursue the broken Javelinmen.
Sorry this is all for now as the taxi service is required to take my daughter dancing.
Will hopefully get a chance tomorrow to finish off the report. How will the battle line of nobles do against the Allied Greeks and will the elephants trample the pikemen.
Don M
