Field of Glory Wargaming at The Madaxeman Invitational May 2009

After some rather fine chips and fish at the Seashell it was time for the afternoon game. In another historical matchup, I was facing the Parthians  who's list is available here 

Pictures of Parthian Troops from my Ancients Photo Directory

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The terrain all slid off the edges of the table, and we were left with a virtual billiard save for an oasis that allowed me to close down my side of the table and protect my right flank. 

The Parthians were advancing immediately - with a a line of intermingled light horse and cataphracts, and a huge slab of light horse immediately down the throats of my less numerous cavalry and light horse win on my left.  

The game was a race between the wing and the center to see who could get into combat sooner! 

The Light Horse wing won, and relying on greater numbers they decided to stand and fight against the Roman cavalry. 

In the middle the legions advanced steadfastly, keeping the Illyrians behind for rear support to the average legions instead of pushing them out forwards as for the last game.

The Romans were slightly surprised to find they had a longer line than the Parthians, but they were very conscious that if they charged, they would be down at impact.

The light horse battle was happening very quickly, as the end of the Roman line broke and was destroyed, leaving only one unit of Numidians and some cavalry to chew up the rest. The Parthian plan of trading units and delaying my flank seemed to be working! 

The Parthian cataphracts wheeled into combat along the entire front, ensuring their flanks were no longer available to be charged by the Romans - but the boys in red did have a substantial number of overlaps along the line. A few disruptions after impact saw the Roman line bow against the force of the charge.

The Parthian cavalry on my left were returning to the fray - would they get there before their colleagues collapsed?  Yes they would! The Roman cavalry broke free and started moving toward the middle to support their colleagues.

The combat in the middle was see-sawing back and forth, as one legion unit was swept away, leaving a huge hole in the middle of the line - but the rest of the Parthians were being bounced fairly systematically - and also and were shedding bases and picking up cohesion status marker on the way. Ominously, the Roman cavalry were appearing on the far right of the Parthian line...

Finally the left hand side of the Romans attack gained that little extra edge that allowed them to start to win big - in the form of the returning Roman cavalry ! They hammered into the end of the Parthian line and the cataphract units started to break and flee. 

The Roman cavalry, now playing a far better game than in the morning fixture, continued to run riot and roll up the Parthian right. With Romans hanging on, the cavalry again came to the rescue.

Even so, with the large number of units of light horse, the battered Parthians were still not beaten. It took the returning Parthian Cataphracts - fresh from breaking through the Roman line - to make another repeated charge into the well-drilled legions to finally succumb to the accumulation of casualties. The Romans won!

Post Match Summary

As Caesar, I am pleased to announce a comprehensive victory for my loyal legions.

This was a triumph of arms as I managed to line my troops up in a line, give some of them rear support and advance to fight an enemy committed to fighting me in turn

The bottom line was that our legions were tougher - and more numerous - than the Parthians, and it worked out all OK. 

The Patrician cavalry this time did its job of helping beat up some enemy light horse. And because battle was joined almost in the first available turn, they then had time to get into the middle and make a difference - partly as the cataphract battle dragged on for a long time as they did keep bouncing off our legions. 

We won. Hoorah!

Hannibal's Post Match Analysis

Oh dear. Victory makes one overconfident doesn't it?

The Parthians lined up, and decided to give you multiple overlaps - admittedly instead of giving you a few flanks - and you eventually ground them down.

That's effective, but hardly going to get your the laurels of the Greatest General Ever to Walk The Soil of Italy (admittedly, I have that trophy on my mantelpiece already, so its technically not up for grabs, but in any case you wont even be getting a cheap plastic copy from the shop in the agora, will you?).

My view is that if the Parthians had stuck their cataphracts together in a big lump they would have won - and you would have had no chance save the dice.

Yet again you got away with it. Good job the competition ended there and then.

 

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