Game Report: A Hill too Far

West of Tayasir, 8 Dhuʻl-Hijjah 608 AH

Munjid al-Zaher, Lord of Irbid, was tired. He had fought his way to his current position from the most humble, pathetic of beginnings, a fight that had seen friends slain, cost him the use of an arm, seen him far from home for most of his life, and now he was unable to even enjoy the fruits of his labours. Threatened on all sides by jealous enemies within and expansionist enemies without, he now had to march once more to secure his lands, and demonstrate his worthiness. 

Ahead, the sun was cresting over the hills around the village and citadel of Tayasir, the ancient ruins beckoning to him. Whether it was a call to glory or a mirage leading to failure and doom would soon be demonstrated. 

The citadel and village of Tayasir before the armies descend upon it

This game pitched two armies against each other as both attempted to exploit the recent demise of the local warlord ruling over the town of Tayasir, which had fractured the armies he maintained between his sons, who had thrown themselves into a fratricidal conflict with reckless abandon. Both the local Saracen and Frank ruler had decided that the chaos gave them the chance to push the borders of their personal fiefdoms and enhance their positions.

Each commander in their armies had their own set of private objectives above and beyond the official objective of the game, which their allies (and opponents) were unaware of. 

The Saracen Force:

Centre Battle:

Munjid al-Zaher

A peasant who arose to power, Munjid needs to secure his position and demonstrate his leadership. Victory is his path to survival.

Objectives:

Seize the town and citadel 30 Glory

Drive back the enemy 10 Glory

Strike down enemy commanders 10 Glory each

Force:

2 units of 4 stands of Infantry

2 units of 4 stands of Archers

1 unit of 4 stands of Mamelukes

Left Battle:

Bashhar ibn Masruq

Bashhar ibn Masruq has lost everything to the ravages of marauding Franks, and he lives now only to kill as many as possible. 

Objectives:

Shatter an enemy battle 15 Glory

Destroy more enemy units than you lose 10 Glory

Slay enemy commander 10 Glory each

Force:

2 units of 3 stands of Horse Archers

1 unit of 4 stands of Arab Tribal Cavalry

1 unit of 3 stands of Mamelukes

Right Battle:

Diya al-Hawami

Diya al-Hawami is a noble, his family have been nobles for generations. Subordination to a peasant like Munjid is an insult he will not let pass. His goal is to undermine his supposed leader, and demonstrate the superiority of his noble blood. 

Objectives:

Seize the town with his own troops 10 Glory

Seize the citadel with his own troops 10 Glory

Cause more morale damage to the enemy than Munjid's troops 10 Glory

Munjid fails to take Tayasir 10 Glory

Forces:

1 unit of 4 stands of Horse Archers

1 unit of 3 stands of Arab Tribal Cavalry

2 units of 3 stands of Mamelukes

The Frankish Forces

Centre Battle:

Jean Barbet, Baron of Nabulus

Recently ascended to his position, Jean needs to demonstrate his capabilities by achieving a victory, and the seizure of Tayasir would be an unquestionable victory, providing him with glory, income and, by expanding the Kingdom's borders, allies at court. 

Objectives:

Seize the town 20 Glory

Seize the citadel 40 Glory

Destroy the infidel army 20 Glory

Forces:

2 units of 3 stands of Men at Arms

2 units of 3 stands of Archers

1 unit of 3 stands of Arbalasters (crossbowmen)

Left Battle:

Guy de Roye

A disillusioned mercenary, who came to the Holy Land to seek redemption and found none, Guy now lives only to make his limited time on the mortal plane as pleasant as possible and to punish the world for his imminent eternal damnation. 

Objectives:

Loot the town 10 Glory

Loot the citadel 10 Glory

Loot the corpses of defeated cavalry units 5 Glory

Forces:

1 unit of 4 stands of Turcopoles

1 unit of 3 stands of Mounted Men at Arms

1 unit of 2 stands of Knights

Right Battle:

Guillaume Barbet

The quintessential resentful younger sibling, Guillaume's only motive is to better his situation, avoiding the fate of being sent to the Church or a Holy Order. If his brother is to fail or fall, he can take guardianship of his nephew and rule in all but name. Unless of course his nephew came to a tragic end.

Objectives:

If the Saracens do not take Tayasir and Jean dies 50 Glory

If the Saracens do not take Tayasir and Jean flees 10 Glory

The Barbets seize Tayasir 10 Glory

His troops seize the town or citadel 15 Glory for each

Forces:

1 unit of 3 stands of Knights

1 units of 3 stands of Mounted Men at Arms

The game pitted the two forces against each other on a constrained battlefield, with the town and citadel dominating the open space between two ranges of hills. Both sides chose to be conservative with their deployments, risking neither night or dawn marches or sending out harassing forces or leaving their baggage behind. As a consequence, both forces deployed without issue and close to the centre of the field of battle. 

Fighting commenced rapidly with the Frankish left storming forward to engage, smashing into their Saracen opponents, becoming slightly disrupted as they galloped forward.

The first blows are struck, neither side gaining a clear advantage

Fighting on the Frankish right continued, with the Saracen forces bombarding the oncoming mounted men at arms with javelins and bows, inflicting heavy casualties before they managed to charge into the Arab Tribal Cavalry. Again, the fighting was indecisive, both forces suffering, but neither yet at risk of breaking.

Fighting on the Frankish right expands to encompass more troops

In the centre of the field, the advance unit of Frankish men at arms took a beating from missile fire, being left with as much disorder as they had bases. The first loss of army morale looked imminent.

An enthusiastic advance leaves the men at arms exposed, and they are punished by missile fire.

Their pain was further enhanced when the remnants of the garrison of Tayasir started lobbing crossbow quarrels into their midst. While this achieved little, the announcement of the garrison's presence was an unpleasant surprise for the commanders. 

All across the field many units pushed towards the town, while archers scrambled for positions high on the hills to gain good lines of fire. 

The northern end of the battle

The southern end of the battle. Frankish forces sweep around the citadel, concentrating on their foe rather than the ancient ruin

Fighting around the town grew in intensity, with both sides throwing forces into the fray, with the Frankish men at arms taking a beating and being left on the point of routing. 

Exposed to fire from multiple directions, the men at arms begin to waver

On the Saracen right, the tempting target of the leading unit of Knights took a hail of arrow fire, disrupting their ranks and leaving them vulnerable.

Guy de Roy's knights are left in a perilous state.

On the Saracen left, battered by the Frank knights and men at arms, the Arab tribal cavalry collapsed, breaking and running.

The devastating blow of the knights' charge shatters the first Saracen unit

In the centre, the exposed men at arms took a further fire from the defenders of the town, and broke in a gory massacre, taking a fair chunk of the Frank's army morale with them.

Bombarded from all sides, the men at arms break leaving their dead and wounded behind.

The next turn saw something of a stalemate, with both sides concentrating on bring back units from the brink, with limited maneuvering around the town as the Saracens sought to exploit gaps where they could.

Mamelukes wrap around the Frankish centre's flank. 

The momentary pause in the battle passed suddenly, with melees breaking out across the field. The Mamelukes on the Saracen right charged down the Turcoples. gaining a slight edge in the fight despite being out numbered. The Frankish knights in turn stormed into the Arab Tribal Cavalry, not having a decisive impact but gaining the upper hand.

Melees tie up the southern edge of the battle

To the north, the Frankish men at arms broke and ran, leaving Guilliaume up to his neck in Saracens, and soon appealing for his brother's aid in knocking off the disorder of and keeping him in the fight. Repeated attempts by Frankish champions to save the situation by challenging the enemy to single combat merely resulted in several brave knights being dismembered by their opponents. 

Guilliaume prepares to make his final stand against overwhelming odds.

The other unit of men at arms and the knights swept into the unit of Mamelukes, the fighting being something of a stalemate, neither side scoring a decisive blow, although the men at arms were left in a dangerous state after the beating they had taken in earlier actions.

The Mamelukes hold their own against a concerted Frankish assault

In the centre, flurries of arrows swept across the ground between the two sides, inflicting loss, but no decisive blows were struck. The local garrison continued to remind their enemies of their presence, shooting at Frank and Saracen alike. 

In response, Saracen archers pushed into the town, eventually running into a brutal hail of quarrels, which broke them and sent them fleeing. 

 Further challengers from Guilliaume's command group met their end at the hands of their Saracen opponents, and once again he had to beg for his brother's aid in dealing with his mounting disorder.

Guilliaume Barbet's position becomes close to untenable, the desertion of enemy forces notwithstanding.

Throughout the battle, both sides had been bleeding morale points with units on the point of breaking. Entering the final turn, both sides had been reduced to single digits of morale. Everyone knew it was now or never to perform great deeds. 

The turn saw a Frankish archer unit utterly destroyed, fleeing in a gory massacre, and Guilliaume Barbet falling in battle, defiant to the last. With these losses, the Frankish force was broken and fled. The Saracens were barely in a better position, with only 4 army morale remaining they would lack the resolve to besiege or storm the citadel, leaving them in control of the field, but the warlord's surviving son in charge of the town and citadel. 

The models used were from Baccus's crusades range, and the rules used were the Soldiers of God wargames rules, as ever they were a pleasure to play with, their eternal conundrums making for an excellent game.

Munjid al-Zaher sat astride his horse, watching his army morosely pick their way across the battlefield, bringing comfort to their wounded brothers in arms, rounding up prisoners and dispatching the enemy who were too far gone to be of use. All were avoiding the area around the town of Tayasir, anyone foolish enough to stray close ending up perforated with crossbow bolts. 

While he had triumphed on the field, the town would remain beyond his grasp, a task to return to another time.

At the end of the game, two commanders Bashhar ibn Masruq and Diya al-Hawami, were both on 20 Glory points, leaving them as the victors of the game, with points earned for destroying more enemy units than they lost and slaying an enemy commander and having Munjid fail to seize the town and from inflicting more morale damage than Munjid's forces respectively.

Hasan ibn Karajuk looked down upon the plains and the retreating army heading east back into Damascene territory. His elite guard in the citadel hadn't even had to draw their weapons as the two enemy forces had battered themselves apart on the plains. Now his independence was ensured, at least for a while, he could turn his mind to rebuilding his armies to ensure the next assault would fail too. 

Father had been called the terror of the valleys. Now he, Hasan, would teach anyone who opposed him would soon learn that they had never experienced terror. The prisoners his men had rounded up, Franks and Damascenes alike, were herded together in the citadel courtyard. A message would need to be sent.

The next few minutes were filled with screaming and pitiful begging.

Game Report: A Desert Brawl

North-East of Al Qosimah, March 4th The Year of Our Lord 1168

Sir Egburt's great march to the south had sounded like such a good plan to him when he'd agreed to raise a force to support it. Now James, Son of Mathew, was becoming to undermine the moniker he had gained. "The Calm" was beginning to feel an increasing frustration at this march, their scouts had seen signs of enemy cavalry moving in the area, but there was no sign they were willing to offer battle. If they couldn't be forced to fight soon the army of Jerusalem would be forced to turn back, short of food and water, having accomplished nothing but expending vast quantities of money. 

A rider came bounding over to him. "My Lord, Sir Egburt begs you join him for a council, the enemy army has been sighted near the town." The Calm reasserted itself.

The Game

This game pitted a Crusader States army against a Fatimid Egyptian army in a straight up fight, using the excellent Soldiers of God rules. An additional complication for the game was the fact that the commanders were tasked with accumulating 'Honour Points', mostly at the arbitrary whim of the umpire, and had to roll on a dice listing the seven deadly sins and seven heavenly virtues, each of which could lead to different outcomes. 

The Frankish force consisted of two units of Knights, two units of Mounted Men at Arms (one of each in each flank battle), two units of archers and a unit of Foot Men at Arms in the centre battle. 

Jerusalemite forces deploy. The left battle will make an uncontrolled move forward under the urging of their commander who was driven by his rage.

The Fatimid forces consisted of two units of Mamelukes, two units of Arab Tribal Cavalry and two units of Horse Archers split evenly between the two flanks, two units of Archers and two units of Infantry forming their centre. 

The army of the Fatimids marches onto the field

The opening moves of the game saw the two armies advance upon each other, before first contact was made when, on the Crusader left, a unit of knights hammered into a unit of Horse Archers they caught in the open, and the Mounted Men at Arms, backed up by their general, smashed into the Mamelukes on the right flank of the Fatimid line. Despite the massive impact of the charges, the Fatimids held on, if barely.

Fighting erupts on one flank of the battle, while other elements close upon each other.

Not to be outdone, the Frankish right flank stormed into the Saracen forces, their knights smashing into the Mamelukes, who were backed up by a unit of Horse Archers, giving them a serious bloody nose in the process. Meanwhile, the Mounted Men at Arms charged into the infantry forming the front line of the Fatimid centre, nearly shattering the unit in a single turn of fighting.

With their cavalry wings fully committed, the Crusader infantry pushes forward.

On the Fatimid right, the Mameluke unit became disordered, breaking up from close order to open order, while, to the astonishment of all, the unit of Horse Archers managed to survived their ongoing melee with the knights.

The knights fail to break the plucky horse archers, while the Mamelukes begin to suffer in their ongoing fight.

The infantry lines continued to close upon each other, exchanging flurries of arrows in the process, meanwhile the cavalry fight reached a critical moment as the Mameluke unit on the Fatimid right collapsed into rout.

The Mameluke unit ends up in dire straits and breaks

On the far right of the Jerusalemite line meanwhile, the knights facing the Mameluke and Horse Archers took an absolute beating, becoming unformed in the course of the fighting.

The knights attempt to hold on after taking a savaging from their opponents

Meanwhile, the Mounted Men at Arms fighting the infantry mass found themselves on the receiving end of several Fear cards from the Fatimids, as well as some dire dice rolls, and broke and fled, leaving Sir James the Calm alone to face the horde alone.

Sir James the Calm puts his moniker to the test again as his cavalry force disintegrates around him. 

On the Jerusalemite left, the Mounted Men at Arms went out of control and charged into the Arab Tribal Cavalry, getting involved in a brutal melee. Both units were battered to breaking point in short order. In a single turn, the Mounted Men at Arms, the Arab Tribal Cavalry and the Christian knights on their right flank all broke and ran, leaving the Frankish right completely open.

Holes appear in both sides' lines as the armies bloody each other.

Going into the final turn, the situation could be best described as precarious, with the Fatimid Army morale at 2, the Franks at 1. In a scrabble for survival, the Horse Archers on the Fatimid right held out against the knights, their stubborn resistance impressing all. 

The final fight of the game took place in the centre, with the command group of Sir John the Calm taking on the infantry ahead of them, both sides inflicting one point of disorder. Both sides then spent their last cards to recover this point. Critically, this left the two Fatimid infantry units with as much disorder as they had bases, taking a point of morale off for each of them. The Fatimid army, at 0 morale to the Jerusalemite 1, collapsed into flight. 

A gallant stand by Sir John the Calm sees off the Fatimid army, much to the relief of the Franks

While it was technically a victory for the Crusaders, they were an utterly spent force, the losses to their cavalry arm undoubtedly rendering the army unable to continue their campaign. 

The final tally saw the commander of the Fatimid right, and the stubborn horse archers, squeaked to first in the Honour Points tally, winning a personal victory even as he and his men made their escape.

The figures used in the game were from Baccus 6mm.

March 6th, Dusk, Outside Al Qosimah

Sir John the Calm's arm ached, his head was pounding, sweat soaking into the lower layers of his armour. Around him lay the broken bodies of men and horses from both sides, the cries of the wounded and dying drifting over the carnage, the sounds cruelly juxtaposed with the silence and stillness of the dead. 

Dust clouds marked where the enemy forces were withdrawing, the remnants of the Christian army were too exhausted to pursue the foe and were staggering around, looting what could be stolen, some aiding the wounded, or disposing of the fallen enemies.

It was clear the campaign was over, so many brave knights lay slain, or with their horses lost. Without cavalry, the army could not advance. A return home was all that could be expected now, after so much blood and gold had been expended, for no real gain. No doubt a great fuss would be made about driving the infidel from the field. Sir John was sure it would be a great comfort to the men lying dead all around him. 

Battle Report: The Battle of Ramla

A while back I got myself a copy of the rules Soldiers of God because the battle plan/card activation system sounded like a lot of fun and I figured I could adapt for my ancients collections. One quick playtest later I was hooked on the rules.

And then I remembered that I'd always wanted a medieval collection for the Crusader era ......

So after a few weeks of misery, painting and more misery I had a Saracen and Frankish army (without flags due to distractions and exhaustion) painted and ready to go. Rustling up some willing volunteers at work I put on a straight up fight for control of the town Ramla.

The armies stare each other down, the Crusaders to the west, the Fatimids to the east and the town of Ramla to the north.

The Crusaders had a defensive Hold the Line battle plan, giving them rally cards on their flanks and a loose card in the centre. Their army began with a morale rating of 23.

The Crusader right, two units of knights, one of three stands and the other with two, with a mounted men-at-arms unit of three stands in support (to the rear of the formation).

Centre battle, front to back two units of three stands of men-at-arms, two units of three stands of archers and a two stand unit of knights.

Right battle: Two stand unit of Holy Order Knights (Templars in this case), a four stand unit of mounted men-at-arms and a three stand unit of turcopole mercenaries.

The Fatimid army began with a highly aggressive All Out Attack plan, giving them the initiative for the first turn, with a charge order for the centre battle and march orders on the flanks. Their initial army morale was 19.

Saracen right battle, a four stand unit of Mamelukes, four stands of Horse Archers, three stand unit of Arab Tribal Horse, three stands of infantry and a three stand unit of archers.

Centre battle: Two four stand units of Mamelukes, a four stand unit of infantry and a three stand unit of Arab Tribal Horse.

Saracen Left: Two units of Horse Archers, one of two stands and another of three, a unit of Mamelukes, Infantry, Archers and Arab Tribal Cavalry, each with three stands.

The battle began with a general advance by the Saracens, on their right the four stand unit of horse archers made it as far as the town of Ramla in preparation to flank the Crusader left wing. Hampered by the lack of movement cards in the battle plan and some poor draws, the Crusader forces did very little beyond pushing their left wing forwards, minus the Turcopoles who were hit with a mercenary grievance special event by the Saracens.

Clouds of dust and sand rise as the battle begins with massed cavalry movement all along the Saracen line.

The next phases saw both sides push closer together, the Crusader left pushing towards the join between the centre and right battles of the Saracen forces, and the Crusader right moving towards the Saracen centre, while the Saracen left moved to outflank them. Once they were in range the Fatimids began to rain arrows on the Crusader forces, to little initial effect.

The disadvantages of not having missile weapons to hand begins to hit the Frankish forces as they enter bow range of the Fatimid forces, mostly in the form of arrows.

At this point, the Fatimid players used a special event to switch their battle plan, changing to a Harass and Advance order, giving the centre battle a March order card, and the two flanks Advance, Loose, Withdraw cards. Using these cards, they began to hammer the Crusader right especially, although in what would become a recurring theme some spectacular rolling resisted all lasting harm, while the centre withdrew out of charge range. Faced with an escaping foe to their front and fire coming in from their flank, the Frank's right battle turned to face the outflanking Saracens hoping to charge them down.

"Sir, the arrows appear to be having no effect. Well, except that they're now mad and coming this way."

On the left, the mounted men-at-arms took a battering from massed fire from the Mamelukes, archers and Horse Archers, but the Franks used a "God Wills It" special event to clear all the accumulated disorder and keep the unit fighting. While this was happening, the Fatimid centre battle's Arab Tribal Cavalry were pulled off the table for a flank march, aiming to appear behind the Crusader lines.

Before the Saracen left could stop it, the Crusader knights launched a charge, with the larger unit slamming into the Arab Tribal Cavalry, where appalling dice rolling saw them only inflict one point of disorder plus their bonus heavy cavalry charging point, while suffering one point themselves as they charged home due to galloping.

Somewhat less impressive results than intended by the knights sees them in a precarious position.

The Frankish attack had exposed their flank and the Saracen centre battle moved to exploit the opportunity, swinging around to line up a charge.

Determined to smash the infidels, Mameluke cavalry move in to smash the knights in the flank.

And without further ado, they charged into the knights, and immediately met the ridiculous resolve rolls of the Jerusalemites, meaning very little damage was caused, and the knights inflicted more damage on the Arab Tribal Cavalry in the fight, which was cancelled out by the use of  God is Great special event. A further round of combat saw the knights and Arab Tribal Cavalry take a point of damage apiece.

Outnumbered, but defiant, the knights fight on.

At the northern end of the battlefield, there was a lot of back and forth as the Saracens hammered the mounted men-at-arms with arrows and good rolling with the rally card removing the disorder before it became too much for the unit to cope with.

The next round of combat on the Saracen left saw the knight unit taking so much disorder they became disrupted, before an excellent roll on a rally card saw them return to action, although still in open order leaving them less effective in combat. Their return from the brink of being routed did not please the Fatimid players. On the plus side, the outflanking Arab Tribal Horse reappeared behind the Crusader right at the first opportunity. A champion from the knights in combat challenged the champion of the Mameluke unit they were in combat with, and dispatched him in a savage duel, although this eventuality didn't phase the rest of the Mamelukes.

Desperately rallying after taking a beating, the knights prepare to make a last stand taking as many of the infidels with them as they can.

"So we're behind them, now what was step two?"

The next round saw the Crusader right come under more pressure, while the Arab Tribal Cavalry executed a swift escape from the melee with the knights, the Mamelukes and their infantry supports inflicted four points of disorder on the knights, enough to rout them if that stayed the same at the end of the turn. The small knight unit managed to charge a unit of Mameluke, although in the fighting the Franks got the worse of it, while the mounted men-at-arms tried to run down the Horse Archers, getting several barrages of arrows for their pains.

Combat rages around the knights, while the men-at-arms begin to take a beating.

A good rally roll saw the three stand unit of knights come back from the brink, although they were still vulnerable, preventing a large hit to the Crusader morale. 

On the Fatimid right, concentrated arrow fire devastated the mounted men-at-arms, leaving them in complete disorder, while the Holy Order Knights slammed into the Mamelukes, inflicting significant harm, but not breaking them. More fighting at the southern end of the battlefield saw the large unit of knights take a hammering again. Both the left flank men-at-arms and the right flank knight unit routed at the end of the turn, causing the Crusader army morale to drop significantly, giving the Saracens the initiative for the first time after the opening round.

In the final turn, the Saracens poured missile fire, using two special event cards to get additional moves with their skirmish troops in addition to their normal fire, into a unit of archers from the Crusader centre battle and the mounted men-at-arms from the Crusader right. Both units shattered at the end of the turn, leaving the Crusader army on -2 morale, giving the game to the Saracens who had lost only a handful or morale points, but none to damage to units, only to special events and cards.

A hail of missile fire from all directions shatters the resolve of the mounted men-at-arms

The battlefield as the fight ends with the Franks beating a hasty retreat from the liberated town of Ramla.

All the players had a good time, even the Saracens who had faced significant frustrations with the astounding toughness of the Crusader troops, especially with added rally cards and some excellent dice rolls to keep them going, but eventually good tactics saw the Sarcens to victory.

Some lessons I think the game brought out:

1. Rally cards can make tough units incredibly hard to shift, knights and Holy Order Knights in particular.
2. Defensive battle plans without move card make it very hard to maneuver, which can hamper options for both sides. A highly mobile foe can easily use this to concentrate on part of your army.
3. Combat is a real card sink, between knocking off disorder and trying to keep units inflicting damage. 
4. Good tactics can overcome ridiculous dice rolls, mostly, which is (I think) a sign of a good rule set.

 This set of rules and figures will undoubtedly be back at some point.

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?