The Roman World, To the Strongest, 28mm

Sean is one of the few archaeologists who hasn’t much time for the Romans. So, for this game, my second with these new figures, opted to lead the Sassanid Persians into battle against a small Late Roman force. The clash was set against the backdrop of the Emperor Julian’s invasion of Persia, and focused on the side campaign by the Roman general Sebastianus, who invaded Armenia, to keep the Sassanids there away from Julian’s main army. In this game, set a few miles from the Roman city of Amida (now Diyabakir in Turkey), Sebastianus came up against a strong and mobile Persian force, led by Prince Ardashir, brother of King Shapur II ‘the Great’. The two sides met in open country, which of course really benefited the Sassanids, whose army was largely made up of clibinarii and cataphracts – heavily-armoured men mounted on equally well-protected horses. Sean had five of these very colourful and deadly units, backed up by two units of horse archers, plus a unit of Indian elephants, with a light infantry escort. Essentially it was an army designed for all-out charges – a bit like my Gauls, only with a lot more armour. The Romans force was made up of two legionary units, three auxillia units – one of which was an archer one, two heavy cavalry units and a single unit of javelin-armed light cavalry. The battle began with the Sassanids charging all along their front. The elephants were first in action, charging a cohort of the Legio Joviani Seniores. In the last game, the elephants were shot to pieces by archers, but it this one they managed to charged home. The legionaries held them, and the melee continued. However, a unit of clibinarii then joined the melee by charging into the Roman left flank, disordering the beleaguered cohort.This wasn’t good – not good at all! That disorder though, was only the start. On the Roman right flank the heavy cavalry ala was charged by another clibinarii unit, and comprehensively defeated. today, those Sassanid armoured horsemen were proving unstoppable! That of course, meant that my right flank could now be outflanked on two sides, as the loss of the cohort in the centre had stripped them of their flank support on the left. It then went from bad to worse. The auxiliary cohort on my right stopped the charge of another unit of clibinarii, thanks largely to the intervention of the Roman sub-general Procopius (above). This breathing space proved fleeting though, as the unit was then charged in the flank by the clibinarii who’s wiped out my cavalry, and the auxiliaries broke and ran. My army was coming apart! Even what remained of my centre was disordered, and there the Joviani Seniores and the archer unit fell back to the fortified camp, to try and rally. That though, left the Roman right hanging in the air. It didn’t last long. the lynchpin unit there was the legionary unit of the Legio Herculanii Seniores. It was charged in the flank by those damned elephants, and disordered, while on their right the Sassanids chopped up the auxiliaries of the Iovii Seniores. By this stage all I had to show for the battle was one scalp – a unit of Sassanid horse archers on their left flank, wiped out by the Iovii Seniores. Moments later the Roman auxiliaries were swept from the field. the more resilient legionaries held their ground though, but the loss of the auxiliaries meant they were on their own. The legionaries fell in the face of a flank charge by clibinarii, while fighting the elephants to their front. That meant my army – what remained of it cowering in their camp –  was almost out of victory tokens. You give ones up whenever you lost a unit, and when the stash was gone, your army loses the game. I only had one left. Still, I also had a trick up my sleeve – a stratagem card gave me the chance to launch a flank attack by my last unit of heavy cavalry. They appeared on the Sassanid right flank, and headed for the Persian camp.If I took it, I’d get three tokens, which would go some way to evening up the score. Alas it wasn’t to be. Prince Ardashir himself, leading the Sassanid reserve of the cataphracts, blocked their path, and in the brutal melee that followed, the Roman cavalry were routed. That was it – game over! Sean played a blinding game – as he said, fully-armoured cavalry suit his style of play! As for me, I’ll have to go home and figure out how to stop them! Both the Sassanid Persians and the Late Romans are quite pretty armies, even though most of them in both armies are plastic. the main thing is, Sean thoroughly enjoyed chopping up my Romans, and has a new-found admiration for elephants, which proved unstoppable!

Tags: To the Strongest