Parthia (Hannibal) vs Later Carthage (Alexander)... aka Start badly and go down hill from there!
Probably the 1st mistake was the fear of the spears... well, not strictly, spears are to be feared with a largely horse army, it's more my reaction to them that questionable.
Having viewed my opponents options I figured he'd go max on HF and Elephants to counteract my cavalry threat and some cavalry for chasing down my skirmishers. Not having much in the way of infantry options to compete with plenty of HF, and being concerned of anarchic cats charging to their doom on massed ranks of spears, I decided to minimise my Parthian cats and go for more Arab allies to give some normal cavalry and some MF to take adavantage of any terrain that the mixed battlefield may provide. It also gave me the option of some Camelry cats which would do well versus any horse cavalry. I'd then max out on skirmishers to whittle down the ranks opposing so that when the inevitable cruch came then I'd have a fighting chance.
A nice idea... but the reality is that the skirmishers are making little impact on the masses against them and they are being herded into an ever-decreasing space and with so many skirmishers involved the permutations of chain charging (where a unit charges along the line of touching units, often beyond its normal movement range) is causing my head to explode!
This has meant that on a few occasions some skirmishers have become trapped and fodder for the HF and cavalry.
In addition about a 5th of my army is in danger of being isolated in the bottom left corner because of restricted movement caused by poor camp placement (Why didn't I place my camp behind the terrain instead of in the open?) A Dunkirk-type scenario is now unfolding whereby a rear guard fight is taking place by Camel Cats (fighting spears not the planned horses), Arab cavalry (ditto) and LH to try to allow many of the trapped LF and LH (and hopefully the cats and cavalry) to escape certain annihilation. Some will escape and so we, in true British mentality, will turn a disaster into a PR positive!
At present the score is about 14 losses to Parthia and 6 to Carthage with both armies in the late 60s (I keep forgetting to note the scores!), but the prospects for Parthia don't look good. I can only hope Hojo has a brainstorm and does something really daft, but experience tells me that is a forlorn hope.
Ian, I fear the hopes of Hannibal lie with you...
