Clubbing it! Middle Imperial Romans vs Mid-Sassanids, Capture the Baggage Train Scenario Part II

Into the Valley of Death Rode the Clibanarii!

I was excited to be able to continue last weeks game, the face off between the forces of Emperor Galerius Middle Imperial romans and Shah Narseh Sassanid force; a race to capture the prize of the Roman baggage train and a chance to deprive the Roman army of much needed supplies, thus preventing any further Roman incursion into Persia towards Ctesiphon.

Scenes from the week before we took up the game again. 

The defenders of the Roman Camp begin to pour out in support their heavier pals, the Legionaries. Roman torsion engines rain down death.

Sassanid Skirmishers and Horse Archers continue to whittle down the unit of Roman Equites Alares.

The Roman Lights continue to advance and loose at the advancing Sassanian army. 

A more rounded view of the Roman Right flank/Sassanid (sort of) Left Flank.

The battle for the baggage begins!

Another view of the struggle for the baggage.

Week Two Begins..... a general overview

The Sassanid Light Infantry and Cavalry continue to rain down arrows onto the Equites Alares who, after attempting a last ditch charge, panic, run away never to bother the bows of the victorious Sassanians again.

Those pesky Drilled Roman Legionaries just keep on advancing and passing their saving throws despite massed volleys of archers loosing as they head in their direction.

A moment of glory for one unit of Clibenarii who eventually smash the baggage guard (after an epic fail to do so on the charge last week!), chase down the guard, catch and destroy them! Hurrah! They were lucky to roll enough on the dice to get their flank out of the way of the faces of those Legionaries! 

Another view of a brief moment of Sassanian glory!

And again!

Oh no! Stop it! Not another one!

Roman Equites Sagittarii and Equites Mauri move up hurling javelins, loosing arrows taking and gradually chipping away at the Clibenarii.

Clibenarii and Lights keep trying to take out the pesky roman Light Cavalry 

but sadly to no avail. 

Then get "javelined" and route! 

The former Clibenarii unit, thinking themselves blessed by Ahura Mazda, veiled in glory for raiding the baggage train and depriving Emperor Galerius of his porn stash (among other things!) reformed in order to try to force the issue with the Roman Lanciarii.

Feeling deprived of glory a small unit of Clibenarii decide to stand when charged by the Roman Pretorian Guard. Yep, big mistake! They lose the combat by a long way, route but just get away.

An ever dwindling unit of Sassanid Horse Archers try one last time to get some kills in but the Legionaries just shrug it all off and continue their advance!

I can only say, we should have given more thought to the Sassanian deployment as we seem to have found ourselves in a bottleneck with very little room to manoeuvre! I take most of the responsibility for this blunder.

Roman Sagitarii keep felling the Sassanid cavalry one at a time. It all adds up! At least three units of Horse Archers have fled off the battlefield at this point!

Clibanarii fail to rally and route straight off the tabletop. 

Shah Narseh was getting seriously desperate at this point. He orders yet more Horse Archers forward to attempt to tackle the Roman Light Cavalry. They had one job! Just one!

Shah Narseh's one and only unit to have garnered any elan during the battle so far hit the baggage in a final attempt to regain some reignite their pride and glory. 

Hmmm.... the archery thing seems to be a mugs game! The Legionaries survive mostly intact and keep on with their inexorable advance.

The Roman Lanciarii put the Sassanid Clibs attempting to take control of the baggage to flight! It might have been written a millennia later but, "Oh shame, perdurable shame eternal shame!" seemed rather apt!

The last unit of Clibs outside of the Shah Narseh own and one other unit legs it off the table this ending a very enjoyable and rather frustrating game (for the Sassanid players). I expect the Roman players were rather pleased! 

Until next time, Cheers!

Late Roman Cataphracts (Back Rank)- Unit Complete!

What a month! I'll leave it at that.

Painting time has been slim on the ground of late and varnishing conditions much less so! It's actually rained for more "40 days and 40 nights!". ) One could not make it up. I did manage to get the back rank of my Late Roman Cataphracts finished which, given that I have to spray the last few layers of varnish on, the indifferent rainy conditions, along with other stuff was quite a satisfying achievement. I'm usually much more prolific, but hey ho.....

I hope you enjoy them. They were painted with deliberate rapidity, so are not my finest- but they will certainly do for a game or twenty! I actually do not have very much time to talk/waffle  except to say that I've got another cavalry unit on the way as well as some back rank Archers for a unit (started two years ago but stopped in their tracks by the only disastrous varnishing accident I have had in my life!) It was bad, see quick pic below:

Details of the Varnishing disaster and what put me off going back to painting my Late Romans can be found HERE!

That was the one and only time I have ever strayed from my current varnishing technique!

Late Roman Cats:

Late Roman Cataphracts compete! 

(For now! I've decided they need another rank of 6!)

Cheers

Clubbing it! Middle Imperial Romans vs Mid-Sassanids, Capture the Baggage Train Scenario Part I

"I marvel that you have sent so few of the riches all of which will shortly be ours. For the time being, For the time being, keep all those things in which you take such pleasure. If ever we wish to have them, we know how we ought to get them.", Emperor Galerius

We were a bit pressed for time to get the game going and with that allied to a game of roughly 4000 points a side we needed a scenario that would make the numbers  of miniatures avoid looking sparce on what is a very large. In the end we opted for a Capture the Baggage scenario as this would fit the terrain and the miniature count nicely.

The Romans, snug in their Marching Camp would be rudely awoken by the yelps and screams of the Sassanian Horse Archers. The Romans were given a large area behind a river in which to deploy, the Sassanids a small area on what would be the right flank (for the Sassanids) as the game developed.

Above and below; the horse archers of the army of Shah Narseh spread outward in order to screen the advance of Shah Narseh's Savaran. 

Shah Narseh's Savaran and three other units of Clibanarii make their way towards the Roman baggage along their own table edge,

The roman baggage rolls maximum for movement twice in a row. A mighty 20 inches in total! 

As the Sassanian army races to gain an advantageous position as do the Roman light troops. Here they pour across the river as their Drilled Legionaries advance over the bridge and fan out to create a battle line.

As the Sassanids near the baggage train, out popped eten fully armed Legionary guards and pepper the Sassanid horse archers who panic and scarper, never to play another part in the struggle! 

Above View:

They look like very well armed baggage guards to me!

Matt's Sassanid horse archers:

 

Roman Legionary Light Infantry:

Sassanian missile fire were to reduce the Roman Equites Alares down to three models but somehow they found a way in which to stay their morale. 

Things are hotting up. It's probably pertinent to point out that that the WAB V.2 Armies of antiquity V.2 Sassanid list has Noble Cavalry/Clibanarii at BS3, which is the basic BS for any troop type. This has to be one of the major flaws in the lists. It actually renders the armies missile component as ineffectual unless one was to choose to keep an all Cavalry army stationary so as to not suffer the -1 to hit. It sounds like a small hitch but when you consider that in the (Medium to) Late army this is across the board, it does nullify the functionality of the army. I'm sure that was not the intent, but it is the outcome.  

The roman lights continue to move up and hassle the Sassanids. 

That's it for Part I of the Capture the Baggage Train scenario. We will continue next week as things get violent on the tabletop!