Slitherine

Having just finished a great Pen and Sword book on the military history of Heraclius and Yazdegerd's attempts to hold back the Muslims (War of the Three Gods) I needed some catharsis. I always identify with lost causes, and I must say my experience using the late Sassanid army vs the Conquest army of the Arabs in the TT mod is sublime and incredibly difficult.

One might think that having all those elephants and horse archers and heavy horse would allow you to surround and annihilate the presumptuous Arab foot, and in an immediate sense that is correct. But the wonderful and, I think, accurate way FOGII has chosen to depict the Muslim foot makes this more challenging than it may appear. The superior-quality Muslim Veteran Spearman is a warrior who will always hold firm, pass every cohesion check, and fight until at half or less strength without fail. Not once has a fallen general yet caused a disruption among the main-line spearmen, and even if one gets lucky in an isolated combat the Muslims often recover from disrupted and even fragmented.

The Sassanid heavy foot is really not a bad unit, especially once their quality increases as they get some experience, but they must be used in conjunction with combined arms; ideally with heavy support from massed foot archers. The armies of the Prophet blow through Persian formations with ease. The victories I have achieved have been hard-fought, and usually my infantry are forced back and must hold until my armored horse archers attempt to renew Persian arms. The sole hope of my forces has been the Dailami impact foot, the only unit that can really win a battle against the Arabs on its own terms. And even then, luck is required and often the ferocious charge is not enough to force back the Muslims.

And forget Elephants. The Muslim spearmen eat them alive, and their utility is only as a reserve or a flanking unit; I felt Rostam's fear at Qadissiyah and Bahman's at Nehavend. It's hard not to come to the conclusion that the foe is blessed by their new God.

But the Persian throne, creaking as it may be, has not yet fallen and the invaders will be driven back into the desert wastes from which they came!

Seriously, huge thanks to the FOG team for their incredible work in modeling these two armies. Their strengths and weaknesses feel utterly true to the sources. Same to Paul and the TT mod -- I cannot live without it.

Many thanks, your praise is much appreciated.

The TT Sassanid list is made even harder by your superior horse archers being not maneuverable and having to stand and take impacts at a disadvantage.

I'll admit I was skeptical of having an army where basically the whole infantry body is superior grade but given the historical context and the effect against contemporary armies it does work quite well.

Gaznak wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:15 pm The TT Sassanid list is made even harder by your superior horse archers being not maneuverable and having to stand and take impacts at a disadvantage.

I'll admit I was skeptical of having an army where basically the whole infantry body is superior grade but given the historical context and the effect against contemporary armies it does work quite well.

Agreed. But I like the challenge.

I think it simulates the combat effectiveness of the Conquest era armies with sincere fidelity. They're a terrifying force, as they should be. I think the legions of Caesar might have struggled against Khalid al-Walid's almost Alexandrian instinct for the correct moment and place to exploit and flank.

When reading about the Sassanid effort to throw back the Muslims, it's really, really hard to fault their efforts. Tactically their individual units performed extremely well, and men like Rostam Farrokhzad often achieved successes at various points in the battle at Qadisiyya. And if the Persians had the morale and wherewithal to push harder after their remarkable tactical victory at the Battle of the Bridge (which the Byzantines, for all Heraclius' acumen, were unable to equal at all), they might have driven the foe out of Mesopotamia entirely. Another real defeat might have shaken the Arab coalition enough to break them entirely. And Muslim forces were annihilated in Tabaristan and a full field army very nearly was defeated in detail during an overambitious thrust into Fars.

I almost think that the Persians' more respectable performance on the battlefield against the Arabs may well have given them a fatal overconfidence. Yazdegerd could have withdrawn behind the Zagros range and adopted guerilla tactics like the Byzantine with the Taurus. But the Sassanids thought that they could genuinely beat these guys in the field, and they may well have been correct. It was a gamble, and they lost.

But at the end of the day, the Muslim foot and cavalry just seem indefatigable and rarely gave into the disorder or disarray that their opposite numbers often did when things went badly. I think this is amply represented in the game. I feel I have earned my victories against them some far -- and i'm only at 5 battles out of 15. We'll see if I can keep it up.