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!
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