The Battle of Dvin, Spring 363 AD

Outside the City of Dvin, March 23rd 363 AD

Vahan Vzur glanced about nervously as he waited for his army to assemble for battle. The morning had seen the accursed Roman garrison march out to face down his army. The siege was still young and his men were spoiling for a fight. When all was prepared, he marched his men forward under the defiant bellow of the trumpets. Ahead, the Roman banners fluttered in the wind, almost beckoning his men forward. Vahan was painfully aware his predecessor had died shortly after attempting to take this city. "His mistakes will not be mine.." he muttered under his breath "These lands will bow to the King."

This battle, the fourth of the Caucasian Campaign, pitted the might of the two great empires of the region, the Eastern Roman forces sallied out from Dvin where they had been besieged by the Sassanid Persians. Johan commanding the Romans set up the terrain in a nicely symmetrical manner with a solitary hill in the middle of the edge of each of the four sides.

Johan's Romans:

General and Bodyguard (10 A Class Heavy Cavalry)
Clibanarii (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
Cataphracts (10 B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry)
Horse Archers (10 B Class Light Cavalry)
Light Cavalry (10 B Class Light Cavalry)
Comitatenses A (24 B Class Heavy Infantry)
Comitatenses B (24 C Class Heavy Infantry)
Medium Archers A (18 C Class Medium Infantry)
Medium Archers B (12 C Class Medium Infantry)
Allied Heavy Cavalry (Western Roman Empire) (10 B Class Heavy Cavalry)

All Roman troops are Regulars

Arvinda's Sassanids:

General (Armoured Cavalry)
2 x Immortal Cavalry (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
2 x Cataphracts (10 B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry)
2 x Light Cavalry (10 C Class Light Cavalry)
Light Slingers (12 D Class Light Infantry)
Hunnic Cavalry (15 D Class Light Cavalry) (Note: Due to my idiocy only 10 of these appeared on the field, not that it made any difference)

All Irregular troops.

Deployment:

Johan's mathematically precise terrain deployment was entirely dictated by his planned deployment. Centering his line on the hill, he deployed his medium archers on the hill, with the Comitatenses regiments deployed at its base to protect them. To their right, he placed his general and bodyguard, the cataphracts and on the far right his horse archers. The left cavalry wing comprised the allied heavy cavalry, the light cavarly and the clibanarii on the far left.

Arvinda deployed his forces in a line between the central hills, from left to right comprising his two light cavalry units, the two cataphract regiments, the two Immortal regiments, the Hunnic cavalry (with the general) and the light slingers deployed on the right hand hill.

The armies assembled and ready for battle.

The Plans:

Johan:

I strategically placed my archers on a hill outside the city walls. I placed my heavy infantry so that the Sassanid scum had to approach within archery range to take on the infantry. I put my fastest cavalry around the outside so that I would be able to encircle the Sassanid scum should they go for my infantry and archers.

Arvinda:

Attack!

The Battle:

The battle began with the Sassanid line sweeping forward and the Romans waiting patiently for them to come closer.

The Sassanids approach the waiting Romans

Soon after, the Roman archers began to fire which started off a hail of bad rolls from Johan who couldn't pass a single kill roll for several turns. Initially outranged, the Sassanids were unable to respond and continued there advance. With the wave of enemies approaching apace, the Roman cavalry wings went onto the offensive. Arvinda sent his two light cavalry regiments smashing into Johan's horse archers on the Roman right.

The Roman cavalry races towards the enemy and the first fights break out.

Unsurprisingly, the heavily outnumbered Roman Horse Archers, who were further disadvantaged being Missile troops fighting Basic type troops, got the worst of the hand to hand fighting and broke with the Sassanid Light cavalry in hot pursuit. One of the Sassanid units had the misfortune to smash into the Roman cataphracts and after a brief fight they shattered and broke off. Meanwhile, Johan's general and bodyguard found themselves facing off with both of the Sassanid Cataphract regiments. One of the cataphract regiments managed to push back on wing of the bodyguard, while the other wing pushed back the Sassanids, effectively splitting the bodyguard into two separate units.

In the centre, arrow fire from the Roman archers and darts from the heavy infantry regiments began to cut into the Immortals, whose return fire was relatively ineffective.

On the Roman left, Johan threw his allied heavy cavalry and his light cavalry after Arvinda's general and the Huns. Faced with an imposing wall of steel heading their way, they wisely chose to fall back. The Roman Clibanarii charged into Arvinda's slingers, shrugging off the barrage of lead missiles from the Sassanid light infantry and hitting them in the rear as they tried to flee. The result was predictable and the slingers routed.

Chaos begins to engluf the battlefield.

In the next turn, the slingers were futher cut apart by the victorious Roman clibanarii, with losses mounting to 50% of the unit's initial strength. Johan managed to halt the allied heavy cavalry while leaving his lights to chase off the Huns and Arvinda's general. In the centre of the field, the Immortals attempted to charge the Comitatenses. One unit passed its morale checks and smashed into the Roman infantry and began to push them back. The other unit, however, failed the checks (spectacularly in a classic example of Arvinda's magic dice rolling) and instead the Roman infantry charged the stationary cavalry and began to cut them apart.

On the Roman right, the Roman horse archers fled off the field and Arvinda was just able to halt his pursuing light cavalry (one of the downsides of irregular forces under the rules is a significantly increased chance of refusing orders). The Roman cataphracts began a half hearted pursuit of the other Sassanid light cavalry unit as they vanished off into the distance. The ongoing fight between the Immortals and the Roman general's bodyguard continued in two halves, with the Roman general and his segment of his bodyguard continuing to push back one regiment of Immortals (with Arvinda rolling poorly and losing by a single point) and the other regiment of Immortals further degrading the other half of the Roman bodyguard cavalry.

Both armies are now more of less fully committed to battle.

In the next turn, the regiment of Immortals that had been charged by the Roman Comitatenses broke and fled to the shame of their reputation. The other Immortals unit, despite heavy losses, managed to shatter the Comitatenses facing them and they broke through the supporting medium archers, demoralising them in the process as the Immortals followed up.

On the Roman left, Johan managed to halt his clibanarii from their pursuit of the slingers and began to draw them back into the central melee. The Huns and the Sassanid general were pushed to the very edge of the field. The half of the Roman bodyguard cavalry that had been losing continued to do so and their morale broke and they fled. Around the Roman general a giant mess ensued as the Sassanid light cavalry closed in from the Roman rear and the Roman cataphracts closed in behind the badly battered Sassanid cataphracts to make a four layer sandwich melee.

The field empties as units flee or are drawn into the central vortex around the Roman general.

The final turn saw the Sassanid general exiting the field with the Huns, the Sassanid cataphracts chasing the routed half of the Roman bodyguard refusing to halt their pursuit and heading off the field after them and the Immortals punching through and routing the large medium archer regiment in their pursuit of the Roman heavy infantry. At this point, Arvinda's only real hope for victory was to kill the Roman general and hope that broke his army.

In the most complicated melee we've had thus far in the campaign, the general's bodyguard took a casualty and (for the second time in the game) Johan rolled one point off the score that would cause that hit to be on the general. The final blow was the rout of the cataphract regiment

With his army collapsing, Arvinda conceded the match. Johan had managed to inflict enough damage on Arvinda's army to gain an additional VP, giving him a 4-0 victory. (Note: I'm thinking of including half the value of routed units to the "killed" VP list to give more of these consolation VPs.)

'Blasted barbarians' muttered Vahan Vzur as he rode around rallying scattered survivors of his army. His anger was with himself, placing himself with the weakest link in his army had meant he had barely any influence over the entire battle and that had cost him. It had cost many of his men their lives, and with this failure he may lose his own life at the hands of the Royal Executioner. 

Perhaps this city of Dvin was a cursed place for his people, he mused as he chased after a small knot of cavalry.

Closing Thoughts:

This battle turned on a few key rolls and moments. Twice Johan's general was nearly killed in the frantic fighting on the Roman right, and if he had fallen it could easily have broken the Roman army, even in the last few turns. At the same time though, the Sassanids failed to make the best of their strengths. As a missile heavy army with high mobility they could have chosen to concentrate on one section of the Roman army at a time, weakening them in sections, whereas they chose to throw themselves at the Romans in big wave across the front, despite being out pointed by around 250 points.

The battle also demonstrated the value of Regulars several times, with Johan being able to bring back several units into the fight after they had broken one opponent, whereas Arvinda had to watch two units of his best cavalry storm off the field in pursuit of broken enemies.

Casualties for both sides in the battle were heavy, with Arvinda losing ~250 points out of 1100 killed and Johan about 160 points out of 1350, a reflection both on the relatively expensive nature of most of the troops involved (a single cataphract or clibanarius figure being worth around 20 points)and the stubbornness with which both sides fought.

Johan:

I lost my horse archers early from a miscalculated charge. Although I easily routed his slingers  as his Immortals approached my heavy infantry I wasn't able to encircle his troops. Arvinda fought very hard and refused to give up even though the odds were stacking against him as his army fled the field.

Arvinda:

Why is it always me?

The Battle of Petra, Spring 361 AD

Outside the city of Petra, 18th February 361 AD

Marcus Alfidus was roused from his sleep by the bellowing of the horns around the camp. The barbarians within the city were pouring out and forming up for battle nearby. Cursing all barbarians, Marcus struggled into his armour as the army was brought to order. Soldiers swore, officers yelled and the servants scrambled to provide all the services needed. 

Presently Marcus was leading his army out of camp to battle. For the past few weeks, the army had been assaulting the city, his men were tired and many were wounded. If he could defeat this army in the field he could reward his men (the Emperor's men he mentally corrected himself, mindful of the presence of several Imperial appointees in his bodyguard) with the sack of a city. All that was needed now was to drive back the barbarians.

He rode out in front of his men, met by deafening cheers and the bellow of horns and trumpets. Over the field the Huns were bellowing their own unintelligible, barely human, language, or the closest they came to it. The thud of their battle drums could almost be felt in the air. "Today, brothers, we drive back the barbarians, in the Name of the Emperor. Cut down the savages, show no mercy!"

The third battle of our Caucasian Campaign, the Second Battle of Petra pitted the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire under Johan, who had been besieging the city, against Joe's Hun garrison who had sallied out. Joe was defending and set up another of his now classic empty battlefields (see here for the first example) with a handful of hills around the edge of the battlefield and a large, open, cavalry friendly area in the centre. The stage was set for quite a game.

Joe's Hunnic Army:

1 x General (Command Value 3)
4 x Hunnic Heavy Cavalry (10 figures per unit, B Class Heavy Cavalry) *One unit suffered from demoralisation due to Roman subversion attempts so was reduced to C Class.
3 x Hunnic Light Cavalry (10 figures per unit, B Class Light Cavalry)
2 x Hunnic Light Cavalry (15 figures per unit, C Class Light Cavalry)

Johan's Roman Army:

1 x General (Command Value 2)
1 x Bodyguard Cavalry (10 A Class Heavy Cavalry)
1 x Clibarnarii (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
1 x Cataphracts (10 B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry)
1 x Horse Archers (10 B Class Light Cavalry)
1 x Comitatenses (24 B Class Heavy Infantry)
1 x Comitatenses (24 C Class Heavy Infantry)
1 x Medium Archers (18 C Class Medium Infantry)
1 x Medium Archers (12 C Class Loose Order Medium Infantry)

Deployment:

Johan deployed on the hilliest side of the battlefield, two small hills dominating the left side of the battlefield. His line from left to right and starting from effectively the centre of the field was made up of the B Class Comitatenses, the Clibanarii, the Cataphracts with horse archers and the larger Medium Archer unit in support. The remaining Comitatenses formed the far right flank with the small Medium Archer regiment supporting them and the general and his bodyguard in close attendance.

In the opposite corner the Huns were formed up in a wide double crescent with four units of light cavalry (two small and two large) forming the forewardmost arc, the other light cavalry unit and the heavy cavalry units forming the rear arc.The general was attached to one of the heavy regiments.

The Plans:

 Joe:

Charge!!!!

Johan:

My initial plan was to advance on Joe, shower him with arrows and then smash him with my cavalry. As Joe failed to cooperate by staying still, I had to improvise and a running battle developed.

The Battle:

The battle began with a general sweeping advance by both sides towards the centre of the field. The Roman cavalry rapidly outpaced the footsloggers, beginning what appeared to be a very dangerous dispersal of the army, while the Huns began to close down the Romans, getting around the cavalry on the Roman left and moving in to threaten the infantry from the flanks.

Cavalry thunder across the field as arrows begin to fly.

The Romans were soon feeling the effects of massed Hunnic bows, particularly the Roman Horse Archers who were far ahead of the other Roman forces and facing rather daunting odds.

An arrow storm descends on the Roman light cavalry.

To try and alleviate the barrage of arrows, the Romans threw their Heavy Cavalry, Cataphracts and Clibanarii at the leftmost Hun Light Cavalry unit, which wisely chose to fall back away from the ironclad horde bearing down on it. The Roman Horse archers charged into another unit of Hunnic Light Cavalry who countercharged into melee. Pressing the advantage with the Roman cavalry fully engaged elsewhere (including almost half of the points value of their army charging after a single low cost Hun unit) Hunnic cavalry swept into the virtually abandoned Roman infantry who were barraged with arrows.

Roman cavalry chase an elusive target back toward the Hunnic rear while Hun cavalry sweep around the exposed Roman infantry.

The Roman infantry managed to swing around to take on the flanking Huns, with the archer units giving as good as they got in the missile fire while the Comitatenses regiment on the left pushed forward towards javelin range in the teeth or Hunnic missile fire and a feint charge. The smaller unit of Roman archers attempted to evade a unit of Huns who charged them and ended up being run down and routed. Meanwhile the mass of Roman cavalry charging off after the Hunnic lights came under threat from Hun heavies on their left flank. The cataphracts were halted and started to reform. The Hun heavies charged into the Roman general and his bodyguard, who managed to swing around and countercahrge. Despite being disorganised, the Roman troops managed with the inspiration of their general win the ensuing melee. The Roman horse archers and the Hun light cavalry in the centre fought themselves to a standstill with both units suffering morale losses and being forced to break off.

Heavy fighting breaks out in the cavalry horde and the infantry stand their ground.

The next round, things went south quickly for the Huns. The unit of heavy cavalry facing the Roman general lost their combat and broke, fleeing through another heavy cavalry unit that was then hit in the flank by the victorious Romans and broke after a round of melee. The light cavalry being chased by the Roman Clibanarii fled the field while the Romans managed to bring the Clibanarii under control and keep them in the game. Although they were inflicting heavy losses on the fleeing Roman medium archers, the pursuing light cavalry disobeyed orders to halt and were heading rapidly towards leaving the field in pursuit of their quarry. Other Hun units were suffering morale losses under fire from the Romans, and Roman heavy infantry waded into combat with some Hun heavy cavalry and drove them back.

As chaos consumed the Hun army, the Huns tried to regain the initiative, surrounding the isolated Cataphracts and hammering arrows into them, to little effect. Unwilling to confront the Roman armoured cavalry openly, the Huns commander conceded the match and the Huns fled into the hills.

In one last push the Huns try to break the Romans as the dice turn on them.

Marcus Alfidus watched as the Huns fled into the gathering dark, his men pursuing them halfheartedly. His shield arm was in agony from the battering it had taken, his sword arm ached and his sword was welded to his hand by drying blood from men and horses. Around him, he could hear celebrations from his men, but other troops were helping the large numbers of wounded men to the camp for treatment. In addition, his men were setting upon any Hun stragglers or wounded and cutting them down, in no mood to show mercy after such a hard fight.

At dawn, he accepted the surrender of the city of Petra. He had given the Emperor a victory and a new city, now he needed to reward the army. "It's yours men!" he cried out to the assembled army. A deafening cheer accompanied the army as they stormed into the city.

Closing thoughts:

This was easily the bloodiest of the battles fought up until this point in the campaign. The Huns had a great chance to inflict a devastating defeat on the Romans. The Romans failed to remain in a cohesive whole, leaving their infantry exposed as their cavalry stormed off into the aether. With a bedraggled line of cavalry exposing their flanks, the Huns tried to take full advantage, slamming into the exposed Roman cavalry and infantry, but they were badly let down by the dice.

Joe:

Gargh! Barbarians don't write!

Johan:

In the end Joe lost the battle partly due to unlucky morale checks and disobedient soldiers and partly due to underestimating the morale of my troops. Several times at critical moments Joe attempted charges that were denied for lack of morale on Joe's side.