Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

The Early Achaemenid Persian list in Spearpoint IX-2 was a great
revamp of a long overlooked army. I offer the following comments:

a. A case for the early use of shields by Persian HC can be
made in comparing contemporary depictions of Babylonian and Assyrian
cavalry. In addition, Xenophon occasionally (but not consistently)
ascribes the use of light shields to Median and Persian cavalry
(Cyropedia I-9, I-13, IV-22). It may be that the use of the cavalry
shield by Persian forces was declining in Xenophon's own day.
Certainly, the cavalry shield was no longer used by most armies by
the time of Alexander the Great. Following all this logic, it would
seem to be more appropriate to place the use of the cavalry shield
early in the Empire rather than later.

b. Head believes that there were extra heavy cavalry in the
Persian army as early as 470 BC (Head p 35); this (perhaps coupled
with the rise of the cavalry lance) may actually be the reason for
the decline of the use of the cavalry shield. Head's evidence would
support some EHC in the decline period discussed in the SPEARPOINT
list.

c. The written evidence for the presence of camels in the
early Persian army is more consistent. Both Herodotus (I-79) and
Xenophon state that the camels used by Cyrus against the Lydians were
taken from the baggage train; therefore, it would be more appropriate
to provide camels to mount infantry rather than a specially
designated camel corps.

d. When Xerxes left Mardonius in command of the
expeditionary force in Greece in 481 BC, Herodotus states that
Mardonius was given his choice of the best troops (VIII-115). Among
these were Egyptian marines (IX-29). An option to upgrade the
Egyptians in the SPEARPOINT list as Regular C marines would therefore
be in order.

e. To discount out of hand the use of the scythed chariot by
Cyrus the Great as described by Xenophon seems to me to be a little
parochial. Xenophon was, after all, closer to the events described
than is Duncan Head (Xenophon's most vociferous current critic). It
may very well be that this rather over rated weapon (at least in WRG
7.5) was invented around the time of Cyrus the Great. There was
certainly a rapid decline in the employment of the normal chariot in
favor of cavalry at this time. There is some evidence to support the
theory that Darius brought his scythed chariots out of mothballs as
it were to face Alexander at Arbela (see Peter Green, Alexander of
Macedon, p 282). At any rate, on the off chance that Xenophon
actually did know what he was talking about, I suggest including
scythed heavy chariots. Besides, I've got six of the little beasts
and would like to use them occasionally rather than convert the lot
to, say, Babylonians...

f. The use of battle wagon mounted towers by Cyrus the Great
as described by Xenophon is less credible as there seems to be no
other reference to such use by any ancient author. It is possible
that these were in reality siege towers that Cyrus had copied from
the Assyrians, that were merely being brought forward for the antici-
pated siege of Sardis (although Xenophon does go on to say that Cyrus
could not reduce Sardis due to a lack of siege engines). This
mystery remains to be solved, and the scant evidence currently at
hand may not warrant their inclusion; however, once again, Xenophon
was much closer to the event than are we, so why not include them?

Given all the above, I offer the following changes to this
list:

Add Line 18.5: Extra to give Sh to Persian Cavalry @2 points (K,E)
any

Add Line 19.5: Extra to upgrade Kinsmen without Sh to EHC @2
points (D) up to 1/4

Change Line 41 to read: Baggage camels used to mount Regular
Persian infantry @5 points (E) up to 16

Add Line 62.5: Extra to upgrade Egyptian Foot to "Regular C"
Marines @1 point(E) any

Add Line 79.5: Four horse scythed heavy chariot with "Irregular A"
crew or unarmed driver @24 points (E) up to 2 ( D) up to 4

Add Line 79.6: Four oxen drawn towers with "Irregular C" crew of 3
with bow @29 (E) up to 4 (see note)

List Note: Four oxen drawn towers defend as HCh, but the crew's
field of fire is 360 degrees.