Roman & Classical in Patras 2019
Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Middle Imperial Roman
Game 1 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Middle Imperial Roman
Game 2 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Republican Roman
Game 3 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Classical Indian
Game 4 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Middle Imperial Roman
Game 5 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Han Chinese
Up in the hills, Ian Dickie had somehow managed to find us all yet again, and so we all romatically took in the sights of Patras in the dark before our upcoming meal
The secluded quiet local family owned restaurant where we were eating half a whole lamb was inexplicably popular that evening - probably because half of southern Greece coud almost certainly smell the roasting lamb emanating from the kitchens
Every foreign trip involves an act of extreme bravery and herois - this time it was boldy and unquestioningly eating this starter of unknown provenance. Many of those who tried it were expecting to see Abt and/or Dec appear from behind an Australiasian tree at any moment and divulge the ingredients, however luckily the Greeks kept it to themselves as the hapless foreigners chowed on down
The first game the next day saw the Assyrians taking on yet another Imperial Roman army - and yet again one with artillery as part of its plan. The lists for the Assyrian Empire and Sargonid and Middle Imperial Roman from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Patras can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
There are good uses for Artillery, and they can be a clever tactic. But the risk is always that the player who takes them becomes obsessed with the tactic or trick, and loses sight of the rest of the battle plan. Most opponents will react out of all proportion to the real threat, especially from heavy artillery - which cannot move. This is OK if your plan is to engage them with the rest of your army based on that assumption, but if the owning player becomes too focused on getting the artillery to shoot this can then end up meaning they focus on this, not on beating the enemy army.
Holy Halloumi! With mousemat printed terrain on full display (or possibly my opponent had just found a mousemat with a really odd pattern on it looking at the size of the two fields), the Romans had a strong defensive position into which to project their Auxilia. The positioning of their Legions also suggested that their plan was to draw the Assyrians into a fruitless frontal assault in ground of Rome's choosing, all the while peppering the Assyrians with artillery fire.
Sizzling Spanokipitas! With much of the terrain making the table favourable for the Auxilia (who were generally better than the Assyrian infantry because of their "Impact" capability) the Assyrians chose to deploy in a lopsided fashion, and soon were steaming down the mostly unopposed right flank to try and turn the Roman army on its axis and fight the battle at 90 degrees to the normal line of attack.
Legions on the march
The Romans were bemused at the swirling mass of Assyrians arrayed before them but seemingly just tantalizingly out of reach
Even as their own cavalry fell back behind a protective wall of Legionaries in the face of the Assyrian advance into their flank zone, the Italian Auxilia inched forward cautiously into the field they had recently dug and planted and which even now was already bearing fruit in the warming Greek sunshine
Gardening was a very popular hobby in the digging-obsessed Roman army, however taking up a position where they felt safe from Chariot attack was even more important to these Auxiliaries at this precise point in time.
What's Going on Here Then?
The Romans have set up in a defensive position seeking to draw the opposition into range of their artillery, however the Assyrian army has largely failed to take the bait and instead is moving in a wide circling envelopment to establish a position on their right wing from which to safely attack
With the Romans terrain-hugging troops forming an almost unassaultable bastion in the well positioned field the Assyrians have been forced to play a waiting and holding game across much of the rest of the park, daring the Auxilia and archers in the Roman army to come out into more open ground where the presence of a handful of Assyrian horsemen would even up the odds considerably
Flipping Feta!
The Roman Cavalry Choirmen ended up utterly fleeing the scene, seeking easier pickings on the opposite flank to the one they had started deployed on as the Assyrian mounted horde descended on the Roman baseline like wolves falling upon lambs in the fold.
Nervously the Legions next the baggage train began to consider that they might even end up having to fight in this battle - not something they had planned at all.
The Assyrian plan was all about pulling the Romans out of shape, and out of their defensive redoubt with pace and diversionary attacks on a wide frontage.
Even as their horsemen swept round the Roman left, the balance of the Assyrian force was forming up again to their front. Horsemen darted in and skirmished back, unleashing volleys of arrows in an attempt to draw the Romans into rash and unhelpful charges to as the Winged Lion Warriors unpicked the Tiberian knot that was the Roman redoubt.
HaT Chariots
The Roman Auxilia had thought themselves most smug for taking possession of the mousemat field into which the Assyrians dare not venture.
But, slowly the realisation started to dawn on the Auxiliaries that whilst the Assyrians dare not come into the terrain, they themselves dare not step into the open ground around it for fear of being run down by enemy cavalry and chariots.
This was in theory a viable trade-off, but one which started to seem less appealing with each Assyrian volley of archery fire which rained into the field, slowly sapping the morale and strength of the Romans arrow by arrow.
As the sound of plates being smashed echoed off the hillsides in the distance, and with the Auxilia now sufficiently threatened that they almost certainly dare not emerge from the field the Assyrian army started to put the squeeze on the Romans.
Assyrian Chariots boldly advanced into the strip of open space in the middle of the Roman setup, confident that they were the most potent units on the surface of the tabletop that morning.
The Romans didn't fancy fighting so far away from the protective screen of their artillery and promptly ordered their infantry to fall back out of range - leaving their somewhat overmatched Cavalry to hold the fort whilst the slower moving components of their army got back into better shape and formation
What's Going on Here Then?
With the flanking force now in position the Assyrian army presses the "GO!" button and moves forward in two coordinated attacks, both led by Chariotry, against the rear and centre of the Roman army. The potential flanking position occupied by the Roman Auxilia has pretty much been neutered by the presence of Assyrian infantry lurking outside the field, ready to punish any Roman troops who dare to present a flank to them as they go to the aid of their soon to be embattled cavalry
The need to leave screening forces to pin the Romans into the terrain has however stripped the Assyrians of quite a serious part of their attacking forces, and the two assaults do look a little underpowered as they start to advance. Getting good pips to swiftly bring up reserves is going to be vital.
After much planning, thinking, marching, countermarching and deep strategy suddenly it was time for battle!
Led by the Chariots, the Assyrians launched a series of assaults on the Roman centre and right wing, throwing all of the hastily assembled force they had on this part of the table into combat simultaneously
At the same moment the rest of their army made sure the Roman Auxilia in the central field remained safely ensconced among their root vegetable collection, unable to contribute to the growing conflagration of combat unfolding just to their left.
L'Art de la Guerre hint - in the foreground Assyrian Javelinmen take on Roman Impact Auxilia, not normally a great matchup. However, in this case the Assyrian Light Foot Bowmen have managed to hit the Romans in the flank.
As the Assyrians are Light Foot, this only counts as a normal overlap - there is no loss of cohesion for the Romans, and no reduction of their combat factor to zero either, but because the Light Foot have contacted the Romans flank with their front edge, the Romans do lose Impact (top of p57, first paragraph).
This in turn - in this case - then allows the Assyrian Javelinmen to claim their own first-round Javelin factor, which would otherwise have been cancelled by the Romans Impact - effectively a 2-factor shift in favour of the Assyrians.
As the Chariots fought on the Romans fed more units into the breach in a valiant attempt to halt their wheely advance towards Rome's baggage train.
But this was only part of the story - as the attention of both sides swirled around the Chariotry, the rest of the Assyrians were making good progress at sweeping up the exposed and incautious Roman Auxiliaries who in seeking to support their legionary colleagues had unwisely strayed out of their own self-planted agricultural area and been promptly mugged in the open by Assyrian horsemen and skirmishers
Roman Auxiliaries - the Evolution
Both sides were being sucked into an ever-expanding battle line as step by step more units were fed into the maelstrom in increasingly frantic steps to secure vital overlaps and killer flanking positions.
With the Auxilia in the main field distracted, the Assyrians had also pressed forward on the Roman baseline, sending a somewhat shot-up Chariot forward to take a crafty run at the Roman artillery park.
What's Going on Here Then?
The Romans have been stretched beyond breaking point as the Assyrians move the focus of their attacks rapidly across the width of the table, and at both ends of their long, curved defensive line the Roman army has simply run out of men to match off against the numerous Assyrians. Unit by unit, the Romans now finds themselves being outflanked
With two simultaneous attacks, and continued harassing probing of the Auxilia force seemingly marooned in the field the Romans are also being tested in the command and control stakes by the mobile and flexible Assyrian force. The Roman legions now need to outperform in combat if they are to halytthe Assyrians from punching some seemingly fatal holes in their line in multiple places
Surrounded on all sides by enemy forces, the Chariots life expectancy was not likely to be much longer, but in dealing with it the Romans would be forced to commit even more resourced away from their once-coherent defensive line.
The main frontal attack from the other Chariot strike force was turning into more of a Miners Strike than Blitzkreig, as the combats dragged on without resolution as the two equally matched sides refused to give any ground to one another. Whoever could engineer an outflanking position first would surely be the one to break this brutal stalemate
Aaaaand that'll be the Romans then. Hey, what's a Chariot anyway - we can just cut down some trees and build a few more!
Build Your Own Chariot
But, in concentrating their attention on stopping the Chariot Pairing the Romans had lost focus on other areas of the battlefield - allowing the swift and decisive Assyrians to complete their envelopment of the self-certified-static Roman Auxilia in their field-shaped fortress - and prison.
What's Going on Here Then?
The Assyrians ability to launch multiple attacks from all sides against the self-imposed static position adopted by the Romans has started to bear plenty of juicy fruit, and whilst some of the Assyrians initiatives have stuttered (most notably the attention-grabbing chariots) this has merely created more space and drained more command and control away from the Romans, aiding more mundane Assyrian forays elewhere.
The Roman army is suffering casulaties at a rate of knots, and their tight internal lines of communication have been turned against them as with each breakthrough the Assyrians are finding more opportunities. In response, where the Romans break Assyrian units there seems to be little in the Assyrian army for them to follow up against. Victory is close for Assyria
Shooting into a barrel full of enemy Auxilia had proved fruitful for the Assyrian archers.
But, more significantly the peppering of losses the Assyrian archery had inflicted on the Romans had paved the way for a crushing attack on the weakened and morale-sapped Auxilia by the Assyrian combat infantry, almost removing them to a man from their positions.
Surrounded and out of men and material the Romans expired - a fourth victory for Assyria, and a second over Rome to boot!
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Assyrian Empire and Sargonid Commander
Death To Our Enemies! A Plague on all of Their Houses and Descendents for One Thousand Years! Victory Is Mine And I Am Victory! The Lord of War Sits Before You - Bow Down At My Militaristic Countenance! And, amazingly, even after that absolute feast last night I am still rather tempted by the oppotunity for some more cake-based sustenance, as after all I only had time and room for quite a small breakfast in the hotel buffet this morning, and it would also be rather rude not to.
The Romans here loved their artillery, but I fear that the love they felt for the machinery was in the end their undoing as it did rather commit them to a defensive posture which my speedy men and horsemen managed to circle round in dramatic fashion to un-nerve and ultimately unseat the opposiing forces from their redoubt.
That field in particular looked so clever, but with nothing really pushing out of it of substance it became more of a prison than a platform for jumping to victory.
This was also probably the first time my Chariotry didn't act in concert, which is a surprising development but one which utterly vindicates my brilliant decision to copy someone else's list design and keep them in two separate commands. I am sure the lessons I have learned will mean that I Can Again Be Victory. I Will Be The Winged Lion of Assyria and Fly To The Summit Of The Gods To Claim My Undefeated Prize!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
You sure rode your luck here, like a bucking bronco tied to a 4 horse war chariot - it wasn't pretty, but it was difficult not to watch.
Losing pretty much all of your cutting edge elite strike force of Chariots in frontal charges against mostly legions is a strange way to play, and although in this game it did appear to distract the enemy enough for you to then score more heavily with your infantry and javelinmen, as well as the odd cavalryman I remain unconvinced that sacrificing your best troops in a diversionary assault will stand up well in the military schools of future Assyrian armies
At least however there is no immediate prospect of another full lunch of copiousl amounts of roast lamb in the near future. That will have to wait until after the next round - leaving plenty of time for a few more cakes no doubt
I do wonder if this carries on whether you may actually become too fat to take part in the next game?
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
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Game 1 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Middle Imperial Roman
Game 2 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Republican Roman
Game 3 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Classical Indian
Game 4 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Middle Imperial Roman
Game 5 Assyrian Empire and Sargonid vs Han Chinese
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