Post by ken on Mar 29, 2017 19:13:12 GMT
Assyria decided that the Syrian upstarts need to be put in their place and set out for the Syrian plains to do just that.
Martin won the initiative and decided to attack in the plains where their chariots and cavalry could be used to best effect. Unfortunately for them, the Syrians took up a strong position with plantations covering each flank (left flank and centre right flank – the extreme right flank having a dry river bed and road which played no part in the battle) and a field, fronted by a gully in the centre.
The Syrians deployed with their strongest command, consisting of MI Spear and MI Impact swordsmen in the open ground between the left flank plantation and the centre field, with their two skirmishing bows in the plantation, and the armies solitary skirmishing light horse watching their front. In the central field they deployed their mediocre MI spear fronted by mediocre bows flanked by javelinmen and screened by two skirmishing bows. The right flank was covered by bowmen and a solitary skirmishing bow watching the exposed right of the plantation, with the javelinmen in a group to their left awaiting the Assyrian attack.
The Assyrians deployed in the open with their heavy infantry and one medium cavalryman in column in the centre, flanked on either side by commands with two Heavy chariots, two Heavy, and one medium cavalryman. Their right hand command also had a skirmishing light horse.
Battle commenced with the two Assyrian wing advancing, their right flank going for the spear in the open whist the left flank moved out towards and along the dry riverbed. Meanwhile the heavy infantry deployed into line to their right centre and their skirmishing foot moved into the gully with the light horse covering their right from the outside. In return, the Syrians advanced the light horse through the plantation, and in their next turn moved towards the exposed flank of the heavy cavalry. In the centre the skirmishing foot moved forward to engage their opposite number and half the bows and one spear moved up in support. On the right flank, the bows wheeled slightly to face the threat from the river whilst the javelinmen moved cautiously to the front edge of the plantation.
These initial moves set the scene for most of the battle, with Martin getting close to maximum command points on most turns, whilst the Mighty 1 returned to form with an almost constant stream of 1’s and 2’s for command points, which severely hindered the development of the Syrian plan (yes I really did have one).
The Syrian light horse did their job perfectly drawing towards them the Assyrian LH and the medium cavalry from the central command. They withdrew into the plantation where they were joined by the skirmishing foot in some ineffectual shooting on both sides. In the centre the skirmishing foot engaged in shooting each other eventually resulting in the demise of one of the Syrians. Poor command roles meant that the javelinmen seemed to take for ever to move up in support, but when they did the Assyrians withdrew allowing the javelinmen to take shots at the Assyrian right flank HC. These had earlier begun to advance against the Syrian spears in the open, but when the latter charged, the Assyrian cavalry evaded back towards their chariots who had initially hung back. A further advance by the spears led to another evade which took the HC and MC back again either side of the chariots.
On the Assyrian left flank they split their forces; the chariots continuing to move against the Syrian right, whilst the cavalry moved against the Syrian troops in the gully. Galled by the fire from the gully, the two of the cavalry from their right flank charged into javelinmen in the gully, whilst one from the left flank hit the javelinmen in flank. With factors being low due to disruptions and the negative factors for fighting in rough, the cavalry did not do particularly well, the javelinmen hit in flank survived and even caused a disruption, allowing them to turn to face for the next round; whilst on the other side, despite support, they only managed to inflict one disruption.
By this stage, the Syrian bowmen had managed to move into range of both groups of chariots and began shooting, although with little noticeable effect as those few hits achieved (as the chariots were elite armoured knights they had a +1 protection, +1 armour and a +1 if they threw below 3 on the dice) were usually promptly removed next turn due to Martin having plenty of command points to spare most turns.
Casualties on both sides were low as a result of the Assyrian quality, and the rough ground most of the Syrian troops were in. Martin continued to react to Syrian threats and eventually charged his chariots on both flanks, but without any real success. On their right as the Syrian spears chased off another cavalry attack they moved past the flank of the right most chariot, and given their lack of success against the spears, even suffering one disruption, the next turn Martin decided to break off the attack and withdrew 3 Unit Distance (UD).
The chariot charge on the other flank were held and in my subsequent turn I was able to charge both chariots in flank due to the fact that curve in the line left me with units behind the chariot front line, and in range. This led to an immediate disruption to both units. Due to the time this was the last move so I charged my spears forward again into the chariots, who now being up against their spear could only evade one. Martin chose to fight with both to avoid a double overlap on the one that would have remained trapped against his spear. In the subsequent melee my spears took out one of his chariots, but couldn’t break the others.
Final result was a draw, with Martin gaining 12 points to my 11, so he got 3 points for 12 or more casualties to my 1 point for being under 12. So in their final battle the heroic Syrian City states; whilst living to fight another day, lost their premier position to armies they had beaten previously.
Well done to Martin in a close fought battle where the dice god was certainly on his side. I had made him react to me for the whole game, and gradually managed to whittle him down so that he was only 7 points from breaking; but it was not to be, I just couldn’t do enough damage against his quality troops when he kept throwing 5/6.
Final score 5 to Martin, 2 to me.
Martin won the initiative and decided to attack in the plains where their chariots and cavalry could be used to best effect. Unfortunately for them, the Syrians took up a strong position with plantations covering each flank (left flank and centre right flank – the extreme right flank having a dry river bed and road which played no part in the battle) and a field, fronted by a gully in the centre.
The Syrians deployed with their strongest command, consisting of MI Spear and MI Impact swordsmen in the open ground between the left flank plantation and the centre field, with their two skirmishing bows in the plantation, and the armies solitary skirmishing light horse watching their front. In the central field they deployed their mediocre MI spear fronted by mediocre bows flanked by javelinmen and screened by two skirmishing bows. The right flank was covered by bowmen and a solitary skirmishing bow watching the exposed right of the plantation, with the javelinmen in a group to their left awaiting the Assyrian attack.
The Assyrians deployed in the open with their heavy infantry and one medium cavalryman in column in the centre, flanked on either side by commands with two Heavy chariots, two Heavy, and one medium cavalryman. Their right hand command also had a skirmishing light horse.
Battle commenced with the two Assyrian wing advancing, their right flank going for the spear in the open whist the left flank moved out towards and along the dry riverbed. Meanwhile the heavy infantry deployed into line to their right centre and their skirmishing foot moved into the gully with the light horse covering their right from the outside. In return, the Syrians advanced the light horse through the plantation, and in their next turn moved towards the exposed flank of the heavy cavalry. In the centre the skirmishing foot moved forward to engage their opposite number and half the bows and one spear moved up in support. On the right flank, the bows wheeled slightly to face the threat from the river whilst the javelinmen moved cautiously to the front edge of the plantation.
These initial moves set the scene for most of the battle, with Martin getting close to maximum command points on most turns, whilst the Mighty 1 returned to form with an almost constant stream of 1’s and 2’s for command points, which severely hindered the development of the Syrian plan (yes I really did have one).
The Syrian light horse did their job perfectly drawing towards them the Assyrian LH and the medium cavalry from the central command. They withdrew into the plantation where they were joined by the skirmishing foot in some ineffectual shooting on both sides. In the centre the skirmishing foot engaged in shooting each other eventually resulting in the demise of one of the Syrians. Poor command roles meant that the javelinmen seemed to take for ever to move up in support, but when they did the Assyrians withdrew allowing the javelinmen to take shots at the Assyrian right flank HC. These had earlier begun to advance against the Syrian spears in the open, but when the latter charged, the Assyrian cavalry evaded back towards their chariots who had initially hung back. A further advance by the spears led to another evade which took the HC and MC back again either side of the chariots.
On the Assyrian left flank they split their forces; the chariots continuing to move against the Syrian right, whilst the cavalry moved against the Syrian troops in the gully. Galled by the fire from the gully, the two of the cavalry from their right flank charged into javelinmen in the gully, whilst one from the left flank hit the javelinmen in flank. With factors being low due to disruptions and the negative factors for fighting in rough, the cavalry did not do particularly well, the javelinmen hit in flank survived and even caused a disruption, allowing them to turn to face for the next round; whilst on the other side, despite support, they only managed to inflict one disruption.
By this stage, the Syrian bowmen had managed to move into range of both groups of chariots and began shooting, although with little noticeable effect as those few hits achieved (as the chariots were elite armoured knights they had a +1 protection, +1 armour and a +1 if they threw below 3 on the dice) were usually promptly removed next turn due to Martin having plenty of command points to spare most turns.
Casualties on both sides were low as a result of the Assyrian quality, and the rough ground most of the Syrian troops were in. Martin continued to react to Syrian threats and eventually charged his chariots on both flanks, but without any real success. On their right as the Syrian spears chased off another cavalry attack they moved past the flank of the right most chariot, and given their lack of success against the spears, even suffering one disruption, the next turn Martin decided to break off the attack and withdrew 3 Unit Distance (UD).
The chariot charge on the other flank were held and in my subsequent turn I was able to charge both chariots in flank due to the fact that curve in the line left me with units behind the chariot front line, and in range. This led to an immediate disruption to both units. Due to the time this was the last move so I charged my spears forward again into the chariots, who now being up against their spear could only evade one. Martin chose to fight with both to avoid a double overlap on the one that would have remained trapped against his spear. In the subsequent melee my spears took out one of his chariots, but couldn’t break the others.
Final result was a draw, with Martin gaining 12 points to my 11, so he got 3 points for 12 or more casualties to my 1 point for being under 12. So in their final battle the heroic Syrian City states; whilst living to fight another day, lost their premier position to armies they had beaten previously.
Well done to Martin in a close fought battle where the dice god was certainly on his side. I had made him react to me for the whole game, and gradually managed to whittle him down so that he was only 7 points from breaking; but it was not to be, I just couldn’t do enough damage against his quality troops when he kept throwing 5/6.
Final score 5 to Martin, 2 to me.