Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Mark Stone]

--- On April 27 Ewan said: ---

>
> Mark, any report from your Romano-Brit / Sassanid matchup?
>

Sure, I'll try and provide a fairly full report here.It may provide some
fodder for useful/educational tactical discussions, albeit at my expense.

First, some background. The most active players in Northern California right now
are myself and Lenney Hermann. Like me, Lenney has returned in recent years
from a long, DBM-induced slumber to playing Warrior. He and I face off about
once or twice a month, which is 90% of the non-Cold Wars, non-Historicon gaming
I get. Lenney is a solid player, one who can be beaten but only if you're
focused and on top of your game. Both of us intend to travel back east for
Historicon this year, and play in the theme tournament. Lenney will be playing
Sassanids, and I will be playing Romano-British (it's all I have figures for in
this period), and last night began a series of practice games between us.

Here's my list:

CinC w/2 stands Irr B HC JLS,Sh
Sub w/2 stands Irr B HC JLS,Sh
1x 2 stands Reg C HC JLS,Sh
1x 4 stands Reg D LC JLS,Sh
2x 2 stands Reg D LC JLS,Sh
1x 6 stands Reg C LMI JLS,Sh
2x 2 stands Reg B LMI JLS,Sh
2x 6 stands Reg C LMI B,Sh/B
2x 6 stands Irr B LMI JLS,Sh
1x 4 stands Reg C LI JLS,Sh
3x 8 stands Irr D LI B
2x 4 stands Irr B/C HI/MI HTW,JLS,Sh/JLS,Sh*
6 elements' frontage of ditched palisade

*one with ally general

Lenney's list was something like this:

Command 1 -
1x 12 stands LI B
1x 8 stands LC B
3x 2 stands EHC/HC L,B,Sh, one unit with subgeneral

Command 2 -
1x 2 model elephant unit w/CinC
1x 8 stands MI LTS,Sh/B
3x 2 stands EHC/HC L,B,Sh

Command 3 -
1x 8 stands LC B
1x 12 stands MI B
3x 2 stands EHC/HC L,B,Sh, one unit with subgeneral

My assessment:
The basic problem for me is that he has an abundance of shock troops that can
beat _everything_ in my army, namely the EHC lancers. I don't dare let my JLS
guys end up on the line faced off against these, and I have to be careful about
putting the LMI Bow guys on the line too. And my close order foot don't really
want to fight his lancers either. So that means my line is going to have to
consist entirely of light troops, and if I want to extend my frontage beyond
what the lights can cover, I'll need terrain to do it. Fortunately I have
pretty decent light troops. So it's going to come down to my ability to use my
light troops to enable my army to out-maneuver Lenney's army, since the
straight up matchups tend to break all in his favor.

Terrain picks:
I know Lenney is going to pick three opens and a hill. I've played against cav
armies of his before, and this is always his terrain approach (and not a bad
one).

My hope is to get a minor water feature and a marsh along it somewhere. If I can
pull that off, then I can (a) cut down the frontage, and (b) have the marsh as
a zone in which my loose order foot can freely operate. As a backup I'm taking
two hills.

Lenney wins the die roll for terrain picks, but I have a water feature. So I go
first, and then he rolls his first two picks. We're in his home climate.
Naturally, I roll a 1, so no minor water feature for me. Lenney, of course, gets
his two opens, and fills most of each flank with them. I get my marsh, which
I'm just able to tuck in one corner of my rear zone; if Lenney had been a bit
more precise with his open placement he probably could have blocked this. He
gets his third open and fills my central sector with it. I fail to get my first
hill, rolling another 1. Lenney sticks a small gentle hill in a corner of his
rear zone, and I get my last hill in a flank sector.

An oft-overlooked feature of hills is that they do _not_ have to be 240p across;
the minimum dimension for a hill is 120p. That means they are an excellent
counter to an open-slinging terrain picker like Lenney, as you can often slip
in a 120p-wide feature where adjacent opens have blocked out anything that
needs to be 240p across. So I put a long, thin, steep hill along one flank, and
partly on my side of the table, partly on Lenney's. My intention is to use this
as a "channel" that my loose order foot can use to get into his side of the
table.

Deployment:
I have a ditched palisade on my list, which in theory (list rule) can go in my
forward zone. Under Jon's latest clarifications, however, I can't put it inside
or within 60p of an open space (or any other terrain feature). So, scanning the
table, I don't see anywhere forward to put my ditched palisade.

My plan, then, is to put the ditched palisade about mid table in my rear zone,
and deploy the bulk of my army on one side of it. What I'm aiming for is a
skirmish line of LI and LC that runs on an angle from the palisade to the steep
hill. I have a few gimmicks up my sleeve, however.

Lenney sets up in a conventional manner, with his elephants and infantry in the
middle, his light troops on either flank, and his lancers spread out behind.

At this point, you'll want to take a look at the illustration in the Files
section (Sassanid_battle.jpg).

I've force marched my JLS,Sh unit of LI to grab the steep hill. I've also force
marched 2 2-stand units of LC just to buy some space. I'm also anticipating
that my left flank -- the one anchored to the palisade -- is going to be my
weak flank, so stalling on that side is important. Finally, just to keep Lenney
on his toes I've stuck my 6 stand unit of Reg C LMI JLS,Sh way over in the
corner in the marsh. I figure anywhere in the open it's vulnerable, but I also
figure he can't completely ignore it. Finally, I have a 6 stand unit of Irr B
LMI JLS,Sh on a flank march on my right flank.

The Battle, Opening Moves:
Initially, all goes according to plan for me. I end up strung out in a long
skirmishing line. No one actually occupies the palisade. Starting from just
inside it, I end up strung out in a long skirmishing line of: LMI B,Sh - LI B -
LI B - LI B - LC JLS,Sh - LC JLS,Sh - Reg B LMI JLS,Sh - LI JLS,Sh (on the
steep hill). My other Irr B LMI JLS,Sh is slowly marching towards the steep
hill. I have my HC, my other LMI B,Sh unit, and my other Reg B LMI JLS,Sh in
reserve. The Saxon contingent -- HTW,JLS guys -- is looking longingly at the
Sassanid infantry and elephants, and marching up behind my left-most LI unit.

Lenney is having problems. His whole 3rd command is hung up trying to deal with
my pesky LC unit that I've force marched in front of him. His other two
commands swing forward to line up with my battle line, but we're going to close
on my right flank well before he completes this maneuver because (a) my left
flank is pulled back, and (b) his elephants and infantry are slow.

On Bound 2 he realizes I have a flank march, and is somewhat unnerved by this.
He knows all my scouting points are on table, so whatever is flank marching has
to be an infantry unit. He looks at the 3 Saxon HTW,JLS guys angling towards my
left, and the LMI unit lurking in the marsh, and realizes he's over-extended if
the flank march comes in on my left. So he slows down his advance there, all
the while still trying to dislodge my LC.

On my right flank a subtle but important development has occured. Initially
Lenney's end units consisted of an LI unit on the outside, and LC unit on the
inside, and an EHC lancer behind them. However, he has swung forward with the
two light units, and held the EHC in reserve. His LI gets charged by my LI
JLS,Sh unit, and his LC unit gets charged by my Reg B LMI JLS,Sh unit. Because
they have swung forward at an angle, they evade back at an angle. This means
that his EHC unit is no longer in reserve behind them, but has become the end
unit next to them on his left flank.

In the middle, Lenney is pressing hard. He realizes he's going to have to suck
it up and charge my LI with his cav, otherwise he's never going to get to the
vulnerable units behind. He throws some lancers forward with this aim, and
draws over his MI LTS,Sh/B so that it can suck off some of my LI bow fire away
from his EHC.

The Battle is Joined:
After a couple of bounds of skirmishing back and forth, we get down to serious
business. In the middle, Lenney charges my right most LI unit with his LC unit,
beats it but fails to rout it, and follows up next bound with the EHC
subgeneral for his Command 1, routing the LI. I move an HC unit and a Reg B LMI
JLS,Sh unit up to be ready when the LI unit evaporates, and move my reserve LMI
B,Sh unit up to bolster the line.

On the my left, Lenney has finally shot the LC unit into exhaustion (20 CPF, to
be exact), and charged it, whereupon it fails a waver and blows up. Now he
begins pressing harder on my left flank, and I bring the LMI unit out of the
marsh, forcing him to leave an LC unit and an EHC in reserve. His elephant and
big bow block are finally closing in on my line.

On the my right, I have my Irr B LMI JLS,Sh that has finally made its
way up to the front of the steep hill, and Lenney has moved his EHC unit
forward to oppose it.

In the next bound, several things happen at once; there's the good, the bad, and
the ugly.

The good: I roll a 5 for my flank march, meaning it shows up right on the flank
of Lenney's EHC unit. He's going to get hit simultaneously by 2 Irr B LMI
JLS,Sh units, one of which will be on his flank, and there's nothing he can do
about it.

In the right section of the middle of my line, the dust has settled with Lenney
having an EHC general rallying tired and disordered after having destroyed my LI
unit. On one flank it has one of my HC units, and on the other flank is my LMI
JLS,Sh unit. Behind this, covering Lenney's line at this point, is an EHC unit
faced of against my 4 stand LC JLS,Sh unit.

The bad: On my left flank, all rational thought deserts me for a fleeting but
critical moment. I see the possibility of unloading on Lenney's elephant CinC
with 24 LMI B,Sh (at long range) and at least 8 of 16 LI B (at close range).
Eager to pursue this opportunity I fling my LMI B,Sh unit forward, unhinging it
from the anchoring palisade. I overlook that (a) his elephant only needs to
make a counter (2/3 chance) to avoid this, and (b) I've hung the flank of my
LMI unit
within reach of an EHC unit. I have no idea what I was thinking; I just screwed
up. When you make a plan, stick to it. That's one lesson. When you're near
lancers, always measure that 320p zone (160p approach and 160p charge). That's
another lesson.

The ugly: In the left section of the middle of my line, all hell is breaking
loose. Lenney is going to charge an LI unit and my other LMI B unit with his
lancers. To cover the flank of his lancers, however, he's had to pull his MI
LTS,Sh/B unit far enough forward so that it is within charge reach of my
Saxons. To enable at least one Saxon unit to reach it, I'm going to have to put
another Saxon unit covering the flank within charge reach of another of
Lenney's lancer units.

Going from my right to left, here's the upshot of all this: I rout the EHC unit
on the end of Lenney's line. His LI fail the waver test for this, and since
they are being charged again by my LMI unit must take another test, which they
fail. Towards the middle, I rout the EHC subgeneral rallying tired and
disordered. This causes Command 1 to go into retirement, and causes the EHC
unit faced off against my LC to test (and fail). It gets charged and routed next
bound.

In the middle, my LI and LMI both waver test and both pass for being charged,
and both evade successfully. His lancers charge and beat, but do not rout, one
of my Saxon units. I charge his MI with another Saxon unit. I need to roll up 2
to rout him at contact, but only manage to roll up 1.

On the end of my line, my LMI fails its waver test for being charged in the
open, he hits me in the flank, doesn't do 3 CPF, but does do another waver test
which I fail, causing me to rout. The adjacent LI unit fails its test, but --
for the moment -- everyone else passes.

At this point the entire left side of my line is in danger of collapsing. I have
one Saxon unit losing in combat, another winning but with a flank exposed, and
a routing LMI unit.

I have one chance to salvage things. In reserve I have another Saxon unit and my
CinC HC. The Saxons have already tested and passed for the routing LMI. If the
CinC can pass the test for the LMI, then I can charge the EHC through my LMI
with the CinC and simultaneously charge the flank of the EHC with the Saxons.
This is risky; even if my CinC passes the waver he may well be routed by the
lancers. But if I can avoid routing, break his lancers, and get Lenney to fail
a couple of the ensuing waver tests, then I may be able to stabilize the left
flank long enough for my victory on the right to carry the day.

Alas, it is not to be. My CinC rolls a 1, failing his waver test for the routing
LMI. In the same bound the Saxons that beat the MI get charged in the flank and
routed as Lenney rolls up 3 with his lancers. This happens to be the Saxon
ally, causing two waver tests for the other two Saxon units. They both fail,
one of them is beaten in combat by mounted, must waver for second cause of
disorder, and fails, causing it to rout, causing additional waver tests, some
of which I fail....

When the dust settles my CinC's command is under retirement and my Saxon ally is
under retirement. Lenney has Command 1 under retirement. I lost roughly 750
points out of 1600, and Lenney lost roughly 450. Lenney wins an exciting and
bloody 4-3 victory.

By the way, we played at a fairly leisurely pace and completed 8 bounds in 4
hours. A lot of this is because we're both experienced players, and we're
experienced at playing each other, meaning that we can get through terrain
picks, deployment, and the first 2 bounds in under an hour. From then on it's
20-30 minutes per bound.

I should have never come out from next to the palisades with my LMI bowmen, and
I should have rolled better dice on terrain picks. Lenney needs to drop the 48
figure bow unit in favor of more -- and better-armed -- lights, and perhaps
take fewer lancers. I'd say in general he should take more elephants, but since
this is specifically for the Roman theme tournament we both think a lot of
elephants aren't going to be useful.

All in all an enjoyable game. Sassanids is definitely an uphill battle for the
Romano British, but I don't feel as hopeless about the Brits as I first did
when looking at the list and realizing this is what I would have to play. I'm
looking forward to the theme tourney at Historicon.


-Mark Stone

--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, Mark Stone <mark@d...> wrote:
> All in all an enjoyable game. Sassanids is definitely an uphill
battle for the
> Romano British, but I don't feel as hopeless about the Brits as I
first did
> when looking at the list and realizing this is what I would have to
play. I'm
> looking forward to the theme tourney at Historicon.
>
>
> -Mark Stone

Excellent report Mark. Sounds like the battle went much as
anticipated with so much open and a mobile enemy.

Just curious why you didn't put the LMI B/sh guys into play earlier
and use the LMI J/sh regulars as your fire brigade?

BTW, you'll be happy to know that as my Marian list takes shape, the
bulk of my army aside from HI is LI JLS/sh. :)

wanax

Mark, I played John Baumann's Bactrians with a Saka ally last night with my EIR
(it did not go well......most of my mounted ended up getting taken out on both
of my army's flanks, enough to give him a 4-0 victory). I am supposed to play
Lenny's Sassanids tomorrow night with my EIR. I will try and post a battle
report afterwards as it should be interesting to see how the new Legionary rules
from Imperial Warrior work against all those lancers........ . Richard

Mark Stone <mark@...> wrote:--- On April 27 Ewan said: ---

>
> Mark, any report from your Romano-Brit / Sassanid matchup?
>

Sure, I'll try and provide a fairly full report here.It may provide some
fodder for useful/educational tactical discussions, albeit at my expense.

First, some background. The most active players in Northern California right now
are myself and Lenney Hermann. Like me, Lenney has returned in recent years
from a long, DBM-induced slumber to playing Warrior. He and I face off about
once or twice a month, which is 90% of the non-Cold Wars, non-Historicon gaming
I get. Lenney is a solid player, one who can be beaten but only if you're
focused and on top of your game. Both of us intend to travel back east for
Historicon this year, and play in the theme tournament. Lenney will be playing
Sassanids, and I will be playing Romano-British (it's all I have figures for in
this period), and last night began a series of practice games between us.

Here's my list:

CinC w/2 stands Irr B HC JLS,Sh
Sub w/2 stands Irr B HC JLS,Sh
1x 2 stands Reg C HC JLS,Sh
1x 4 stands Reg D LC JLS,Sh
2x 2 stands Reg D LC JLS,Sh
1x 6 stands Reg C LMI JLS,Sh
2x 2 stands Reg B LMI JLS,Sh
2x 6 stands Reg C LMI B,Sh/B
2x 6 stands Irr B LMI JLS,Sh
1x 4 stands Reg C LI JLS,Sh
3x 8 stands Irr D LI B
2x 4 stands Irr B/C HI/MI HTW,JLS,Sh/JLS,Sh*
6 elements' frontage of ditched palisade

*one with ally general

Lenney's list was something like this:

Command 1 -
1x 12 stands LI B
1x 8 stands LC B
3x 2 stands EHC/HC L,B,Sh, one unit with subgeneral

Command 2 -
1x 2 model elephant unit w/CinC
1x 8 stands MI LTS,Sh/B
3x 2 stands EHC/HC L,B,Sh

Command 3 -
1x 8 stands LC B
1x 12 stands MI B
3x 2 stands EHC/HC L,B,Sh, one unit with subgeneral

My assessment:
The basic problem for me is that he has an abundance of shock troops that can
beat _everything_ in my army, namely the EHC lancers. I don't dare let my JLS
guys end up on the line faced off against these, and I have to be careful about
putting the LMI Bow guys on the line too. And my close order foot don't really
want to fight his lancers either. So that means my line is going to have to
consist entirely of light troops, and if I want to extend my frontage beyond
what the lights can cover, I'll need terrain to do it. Fortunately I have
pretty decent light troops. So it's going to come down to my ability to use my
light troops to enable my army to out-maneuver Lenney's army, since the
straight up matchups tend to break all in his favor.

Terrain picks:
I know Lenney is going to pick three opens and a hill. I've played against cav
armies of his before, and this is always his terrain approach (and not a bad
one).

My hope is to get a minor water feature and a marsh along it somewhere. If I can
pull that off, then I can (a) cut down the frontage, and (b) have the marsh as
a zone in which my loose order foot can freely operate. As a backup I'm taking
two hills.

Lenney wins the die roll for terrain picks, but I have a water feature. So I go
first, and then he rolls his first two picks. We're in his home climate.
Naturally, I roll a 1, so no minor water feature for me. Lenney, of course, gets
his two opens, and fills most of each flank with them. I get my marsh, which
I'm just able to tuck in one corner of my rear zone; if Lenney had been a bit
more precise with his open placement he probably could have blocked this. He
gets his third open and fills my central sector with it. I fail to get my first
hill, rolling another 1. Lenney sticks a small gentle hill in a corner of his
rear zone, and I get my last hill in a flank sector.

An oft-overlooked feature of hills is that they do _not_ have to be 240p across;
the minimum dimension for a hill is 120p. That means they are an excellent
counter to an open-slinging terrain picker like Lenney, as you can often slip
in a 120p-wide feature where adjacent opens have blocked out anything that
needs to be 240p across. So I put a long, thin, steep hill along one flank, and
partly on my side of the table, partly on Lenney's. My intention is to use this
as a "channel" that my loose order foot can use to get into his side of the
table.

Deployment:
I have a ditched palisade on my list, which in theory (list rule) can go in my
forward zone. Under Jon's latest clarifications, however, I can't put it inside
or within 60p of an open space (or any other terrain feature). So, scanning the
table, I don't see anywhere forward to put my ditched palisade.

My plan, then, is to put the ditched palisade about mid table in my rear zone,
and deploy the bulk of my army on one side of it. What I'm aiming for is a
skirmish line of LI and LC that runs on an angle from the palisade to the steep
hill. I have a few gimmicks up my sleeve, however.

Lenney sets up in a conventional manner, with his elephants and infantry in the
middle, his light troops on either flank, and his lancers spread out behind.

At this point, you'll want to take a look at the illustration in the Files
section (Sassanid_battle.jpg).

I've force marched my JLS,Sh unit of LI to grab the steep hill. I've also force
marched 2 2-stand units of LC just to buy some space. I'm also anticipating
that my left flank -- the one anchored to the palisade -- is going to be my
weak flank, so stalling on that side is important. Finally, just to keep Lenney
on his toes I've stuck my 6 stand unit of Reg C LMI JLS,Sh way over in the
corner in the marsh. I figure anywhere in the open it's vulnerable, but I also
figure he can't completely ignore it. Finally, I have a 6 stand unit of Irr B
LMI JLS,Sh on a flank march on my right flank.

The Battle, Opening Moves:
Initially, all goes according to plan for me. I end up strung out in a long
skirmishing line. No one actually occupies the palisade. Starting from just
inside it, I end up strung out in a long skirmishing line of: LMI B,Sh - LI B -
LI B - LI B - LC JLS,Sh - LC JLS,Sh - Reg B LMI JLS,Sh - LI JLS,Sh (on the
steep hill). My other Irr B LMI JLS,Sh is slowly marching towards the steep
hill. I have my HC, my other LMI B,Sh unit, and my other Reg B LMI JLS,Sh in
reserve. The Saxon contingent -- HTW,JLS guys -- is looking longingly at the
Sassanid infantry and elephants, and marching up behind my left-most LI unit.

Lenney is having problems. His whole 3rd command is hung up trying to deal with
my pesky LC unit that I've force marched in front of him. His other two
commands swing forward to line up with my battle line, but we're going to close
on my right flank well before he completes this maneuver because (a) my left
flank is pulled back, and (b) his elephants and infantry are slow.

On Bound 2 he realizes I have a flank march, and is somewhat unnerved by this.
He knows all my scouting points are on table, so whatever is flank marching has
to be an infantry unit. He looks at the 3 Saxon HTW,JLS guys angling towards my
left, and the LMI unit lurking in the marsh, and realizes he's over-extended if
the flank march comes in on my left. So he slows down his advance there, all
the while still trying to dislodge my LC.

On my right flank a subtle but important development has occured. Initially
Lenney's end units consisted of an LI unit on the outside, and LC unit on the
inside, and an EHC lancer behind them. However, he has swung forward with the
two light units, and held the EHC in reserve. His LI gets charged by my LI
JLS,Sh unit, and his LC unit gets charged by my Reg B LMI JLS,Sh unit. Because
they have swung forward at an angle, they evade back at an angle. This means
that his EHC unit is no longer in reserve behind them, but has become the end
unit next to them on his left flank.

In the middle, Lenney is pressing hard. He realizes he's going to have to suck
it up and charge my LI with his cav, otherwise he's never going to get to the
vulnerable units behind. He throws some lancers forward with this aim, and
draws over his MI LTS,Sh/B so that it can suck off some of my LI bow fire away
from his EHC.

The Battle is Joined:
After a couple of bounds of skirmishing back and forth, we get down to serious
business. In the middle, Lenney charges my right most LI unit with his LC unit,
beats it but fails to rout it, and follows up next bound with the EHC
subgeneral for his Command 1, routing the LI. I move an HC unit and a Reg B LMI
JLS,Sh unit up to be ready when the LI unit evaporates, and move my reserve LMI
B,Sh unit up to bolster the line.

On the my left, Lenney has finally shot the LC unit into exhaustion (20 CPF, to
be exact), and charged it, whereupon it fails a waver and blows up. Now he
begins pressing harder on my left flank, and I bring the LMI unit out of the
marsh, forcing him to leave an LC unit and an EHC in reserve. His elephant and
big bow block are finally closing in on my line.

On the my right, I have my Irr B LMI JLS,Sh that has finally made its
way up to the front of the steep hill, and Lenney has moved his EHC unit
forward to oppose it.

In the next bound, several things happen at once; there's the good, the bad, and
the ugly.

The good: I roll a 5 for my flank march, meaning it shows up right on the flank
of Lenney's EHC unit. He's going to get hit simultaneously by 2 Irr B LMI
JLS,Sh units, one of which will be on his flank, and there's nothing he can do
about it.

In the right section of the middle of my line, the dust has settled with Lenney
having an EHC general rallying tired and disordered after having destroyed my LI
unit. On one flank it has one of my HC units, and on the other flank is my LMI
JLS,Sh unit. Behind this, covering Lenney's line at this point, is an EHC unit
faced of against my 4 stand LC JLS,Sh unit.

The bad: On my left flank, all rational thought deserts me for a fleeting but
critical moment. I see the possibility of unloading on Lenney's elephant CinC
with 24 LMI B,Sh (at long range) and at least 8 of 16 LI B (at close range).
Eager to pursue this opportunity I fling my LMI B,Sh unit forward, unhinging it
from the anchoring palisade. I overlook that (a) his elephant only needs to
make a counter (2/3 chance) to avoid this, and (b) I've hung the flank of my
LMI unit
within reach of an EHC unit. I have no idea what I was thinking; I just screwed
up. When you make a plan, stick to it. That's one lesson. When you're near
lancers, always measure that 320p zone (160p approach and 160p charge). That's
another lesson.

The ugly: In the left section of the middle of my line, all hell is breaking
loose. Lenney is going to charge an LI unit and my other LMI B unit with his
lancers. To cover the flank of his lancers, however, he's had to pull his MI
LTS,Sh/B unit far enough forward so that it is within charge reach of my
Saxons. To enable at least one Saxon unit to reach it, I'm going to have to put
another Saxon unit covering the flank within charge reach of another of
Lenney's lancer units.

Going from my right to left, here's the upshot of all this: I rout the EHC unit
on the end of Lenney's line. His LI fail the waver test for this, and since
they are being charged again by my LMI unit must take another test, which they
fail. Towards the middle, I rout the EHC subgeneral rallying tired and
disordered. This causes Command 1 to go into retirement, and causes the EHC
unit faced off against my LC to test (and fail). It gets charged and routed next
bound.

In the middle, my LI and LMI both waver test and both pass for being charged,
and both evade successfully. His lancers charge and beat, but do not rout, one
of my Saxon units. I charge his MI with another Saxon unit. I need to roll up 2
to rout him at contact, but only manage to roll up 1.

On the end of my line, my LMI fails its waver test for being charged in the
open, he hits me in the flank, doesn't do 3 CPF, but does do another waver test
which I fail, causing me to rout. The adjacent LI unit fails its test, but --
for the moment -- everyone else passes.

At this point the entire left side of my line is in danger of collapsing. I have
one Saxon unit losing in combat, another winning but with a flank exposed, and
a routing LMI unit.

I have one chance to salvage things. In reserve I have another Saxon unit and my
CinC HC. The Saxons have already tested and passed for the routing LMI. If the
CinC can pass the test for the LMI, then I can charge the EHC through my LMI
with the CinC and simultaneously charge the flank of the EHC with the Saxons.
This is risky; even if my CinC passes the waver he may well be routed by the
lancers. But if I can avoid routing, break his lancers, and get Lenney to fail
a couple of the ensuing waver tests, then I may be able to stabilize the left
flank long enough for my victory on the right to carry the day.

Alas, it is not to be. My CinC rolls a 1, failing his waver test for the routing
LMI. In the same bound the Saxons that beat the MI get charged in the flank and
routed as Lenney rolls up 3 with his lancers. This happens to be the Saxon
ally, causing two waver tests for the other two Saxon units. They both fail,
one of them is beaten in combat by mounted, must waver for second cause of
disorder, and fails, causing it to rout, causing additional waver tests, some
of which I fail....

When the dust settles my CinC's command is under retirement and my Saxon ally is
under retirement. Lenney has Command 1 under retirement. I lost roughly 750
points out of 1600, and Lenney lost roughly 450. Lenney wins an exciting and
bloody 4-3 victory.

By the way, we played at a fairly leisurely pace and completed 8 bounds in 4
hours. A lot of this is because we're both experienced players, and we're
experienced at playing each other, meaning that we can get through terrain
picks, deployment, and the first 2 bounds in under an hour. From then on it's
20-30 minutes per bound.

I should have never come out from next to the palisades with my LMI bowmen, and
I should have rolled better dice on terrain picks. Lenney needs to drop the 48
figure bow unit in favor of more -- and better-armed -- lights, and perhaps
take fewer lancers. I'd say in general he should take more elephants, but since
this is specifically for the Roman theme tournament we both think a lot of
elephants aren't going to be useful.

All in all an enjoyable game. Sassanids is definitely an uphill battle for the
Romano British, but I don't feel as hopeless about the Brits as I first did
when looking at the list and realizing this is what I would have to play. I'm
looking forward to the theme tourney at Historicon.


-Mark Stone


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