NKE v Palmyrans

[dave_r]

No pretty pictures I am afraid. But given the pasting that the NKE seem to be getting of late I just thought I would post a brief report from last night's game.

Fairly Typical NKE consisting of (in the order of march)

1 IC, 3 TC's
1x8 Javelinmen (LF, Javelin, Lt Spr)
1x6 Javelinmen (LF, Javelin, Lt Spr)
1x6 Bowmen (LF, Bow)
1x6 Close Fighters (MF, Protected, Drilled, Average, Lt Spr, Swd)
2x8 Bowmen (MF, Unprotected, Drilled, Average, Bow)
2x4 Light Chariots (Lt Chariots, Drilled, Superior, Bow)
1x4 Sherden Guard (HF, Armoured, Drilled, Impact Foot, Swordsmen)
1x4 Egyptian Guard (HF, Armoured, Drilled, Lt Spr, Swordsmen)
2x10 Sherden (MF, Protected, Undrilled, Impact Foot, Swordsmen)

Facing Palmyrans (best guess)

4 TC's
2x6 Archers (LF, Average, Bow)
5x4 Cataphracts (Cataphracts, Superior, Drilled, Hvy Armour, Lance, Swd)
1x4 Cataphracts (Cataphracts, Superior, Undrilled, Hvy Armour, Lance, Swd)
4x4 Horse Archers (LH, Average, Bow)

I had the initiative and chose hilly, with maximum difficult going. Most of which finished on the Palmyran side of the table....

My opponent only deployed 9 BG's with the horse archers on each wing and some LF with cataphracts behind in the middle between two steep hills. I decided to ignore the Horse archers (never going to catch them) and then put all my foot in front of the cataphracts daring them to charge whilst my LF cleared the steep hills.

The flank march arrived first turn, which caused a brief panic when it was discovered to be three BG's of Drilled Cataphracts, but with practically all my troops being drilled and having an IC I very quickly moved all my troops well away from the flank march and continued with the plan. The flank march arrived between two areas of rough going and I immediately placed one of the large warband blocks (oops, sorry, undrilled impact foot) in the rough going pinning one of the Cataphract units, leaving the other two to plough through the uneven ground at 3" a turn.

In the middle my plan worked perfectly, my massed Javelinmen scared off the enemy skirmishers - breaking one BG that didn't flee far enough . The massed javelinfire then caused a base loss on a cataphract unit which promptly charged the Armoured Guard units. This BG broke in the melee phase with me having 8 dice against 2 (although at minus).

The victorious Javelinmen pursued into the enemy's camp, collecting what looked like some very heavy and potentially useful armour....

My perfectly drilled Bowmen then manoevered behind the flank of another Cataphract Unit who failed their test to not charge, smashed them in the flank and broke them in the ensuing melee phase. I was about to pursue into some Light Horse who could not evade at which point my opponent resigned. Game over in 1hr 40 minutes. I lost one unit of Chariots, making the score 23-2 to the Boys from Egypt.

It being fairly early still, we decided to have another game!

This time the evil Palmyrans invaded and chose the Steppe There was one gully right in the middle of the table (a part in each players half) which was the only meaningful piece of terrain. My opponent placed three ambush markers in it!!!

I deployed with all my LF opposite the gully, with the main mass of Egyptian foot to the left and Chariots on the right. My opponent had Light horse on each wing again, 3 BG's of cataphracts missing and the other cataphract units dotted around - one on the left, one in the middle and one on the right.

I ran forward and got to 1" of the ambush markers in the gully - hey presto - three BG's of Cataphracts appear!!! There was a general Egyptian advance now that we knew there was no flank march...

The fun begins The cataphracts charged my LF. Who stood to receive the charge The cataphracts were severly disordered in the rough ground so were down to 1 dice per base in the impact phase (i.e. same as me) but since I had a Javelin I was actually at plus ... One of the Cataphract BG's went disrupted. It was a bit better for the Cat's in melee as they were at double plus, but I had loads more dice due to overlaps. All the combats were drawn and the Catties had to break off, leaving them further back than when they started, right in the middle of the gully....

All the suddenly Linford Christie like Egyptian MF and Chariots were drawn inexorably to these floundering cataphracts and eventually all three BG's were completely destroyed by either flank charges or being forced to fight in rough going against Chariots who weren't (even at plus having 8 dice against 2 is not pleasant...)

Familiar tale elsewhere with Egyptian foot manoevering round the side of lumbering cataphracts then flank charging when they failed their CMT...

This was a closer game though, I lost both units of MF Unprotected Bowmen (who accounted for four BG's of Drilled Cataphracts through both games) making the score 22-3.

Thoughts:

NKE is a good army - in my opinion, you need to treat it as a pin and punch army, use the large blocks of Sherden keeping the enemy honest whilst your Drilled chaps go running around the sides. Accept that the MF Bowmen's primary function is to get around the sides and charge, whilst occasionaly shooting and they will fare well. Light Chariots are excellent at keeping LH busy whilst you let your infantry do their thing. The IC is essential.

[lawrenceg]

Thoughts:

NKE is a good army - in my opinion, you need to treat it as a pin and punch army, use the large blocks of Sherden keeping the enemy honest whilst your Drilled chaps go running around the sides. Accept that the MF Bowmen's primary function is to get around the sides and charge, whilst occasionaly shooting and they will fare well. Light Chariots are excellent at keeping LH busy whilst you let your infantry do their thing. The IC is essential.

In this case I assme IC is an abbreviation for "opponent who ensures three of his best battlegroups either don't participate in the battle or fight in disadvantageous terrain".

[dave_r]

Althought the flank march did arrive first turn, so they weren't out of the battle any more than the other Catties.

I think the ambush in a gully is a tactic my opponent won't be trying again anytime shortly...

[lawrenceg]

Althought the flank march did arrive first turn, so they weren't out of the battle any more than the other Catties.

I think the ambush in a gully is a tactic my opponent won't be trying again anytime shortly...

So you think if they had been deployed in the most useful on-table position possible they still would have made no contribution to the battle?

[dave_r]

The no pictures is a bit frustrating. Because I picked four large pieces of difficult going and they all ended up on my opponents half of the table, this meant that they would probably have largely been ignored wherever they were.

In the middle it is likely they would have suffered the same fate as the one BG already deployed - there was then two 12" Steep Hills on either side, which I was trying to get my army into, so yes, they probably wouldn't have contributed anything to the battle.

My Camp was very close to the table edge, so they could have quite easily sacked my camp (I wasn't defending it), but when it became clear that that wasn't going to matter very much we just started again as my opponent was trying to see if this was a viable competition army.

[philqw78]

Not enough cataphracts to be a viable competition army.

[lawrenceg]

The no pictures is a bit frustrating. Because I picked four large pieces of difficult going and they all ended up on my opponents half of the table, this meant that they would probably have largely been ignored wherever they were.

In the middle it is likely they would have suffered the same fate as the one BG already deployed - there was then two 12" Steep Hills on either side, which I was trying to get my army into, so yes, they probably wouldn't have contributed anything to the battle.

My Camp was very close to the table edge, so they could have quite easily sacked my camp (I wasn't defending it), but when it became clear that that wasn't going to matter very much we just started again as my opponent was trying to see if this was a viable competition army.

If you use three BG of Cats to do a job that 1BG of LH can do, then no army is a viable competition army.

[davem]

You show that NKE can be effective vs a mounted army, albeit hampered by deployment, but how do you think you'll fare vs an army with decent foot played rather better than the Parthian?

[dave_r]

I think they can do OK. They will shred a WoTR or 100YW army, but, obviously all armies have a weakness and massed armoured foot will cause the NKE a problem, although not unsurmountable in my opinion.

[MatthewP]

Dave, when you say your plan worked perfectly. Was this the plan were you never role less than 5 with all your dice. If so i remember it well from last week.
matthew(still whinging)

[dave_r]

Good Grief. Are you still moaning about that?

I think it was about average that my Knights got five hits out of six dice charging your steady spearmen. It also wasn't my fault you threw a four for your motivation test

[philqw78]

He made up for it on Monday though

[davem]

I think they can do OK. They will shred a WoTR or 100YW army, but, obviously all armies have a weakness and massed armoured foot will cause the NKE a problem, although not unsurmountable in my opinion.

I'd be very interested in how you propose to take a WOTR down with NKE.......

[dave_r]

The two large blocks of impact foot?

20 Bases should have a frontage of 8 bases - probably enough to get three WoTR bow units. That is about half the army... The armoured Guard units are very good as well for protecting the flanks.

[davem]

The two large blocks of impact foot?

20 Bases should have a frontage of 8 bases - probably enough to get three WoTR bow units. That is about half the army... The armoured Guard units are very good as well for protecting the flanks.

Hmmm, that's my issue, I don't rate Impact foot. I've tried it and it always dies horribly. Agree about the Guard units, but 2 of those at only 4 bases each is fragile. I tend to run at least 3 LCh BG's.

[dave_r]

Large blocks are good - tens on a four frontage are fairly safe from bowfire. Not that bothered about the odd base loss either.

The good thing about bows is that they don't evade Double plus at impact is always nice and two generals go a long way when you have two blocks of ten. You should be looking at six dice against nine, with generals in for the NKE would mean five hits and probably three coming back from the WoTR (who probably can't afford to put a general in). With a general and rear support that give a net -1 on the cohesion test meaning that they will disrupt about 60% of the time.

Because you have hit three units, those odds get better as the generals can't be with every unit.

[Mithras]

Large blocks are good - tens on a four frontage are fairly safe from bowfire. Not that bothered about the odd base loss either.

The good thing about bows is that they don't evade Double plus at impact is always nice and two generals go a long way when you have two blocks of ten. You should be looking at six dice against nine, with generals in for the NKE would mean five hits and probably three coming back from the WoTR (who probably can't afford to put a general in). With a general and rear support that give a net -1 on the cohesion test meaning that they will disrupt about 60% of the time.

Because you have hit three units, those odds get better as the generals can't be with every unit.

For purposes of comparison, Dave, have you fought any in period opponents yet? Just curious about how that's gone.

-M.