Monday, 18 April 2022

Darius remains undefeated! Battle report from Dirk Heinsius, 12 April 2022

Darius Still Remains Undefeated.
At the Hutt Club this weekend, Darius took on the might of Imperial Rome under the Emperor Julius Didius (aka Russell Briant)
This is a bad match up for the Persians, as close order superior foot are practically invulnerable to bowfire, and the Blades quick-kill most of the Persian foot.
The Persians had their usual composition, comprising a Cavalry strike force, an small Immortal command, and the bulk of the army under Darius in a big command including Assyrians, Sparabara, Psidians, Mysians, Egyptians, and the Levy hordes.
The Romans had a large Praetorian command, a small delaying command, and a third command of Legionaries, Superior Auxilia, Cavalry, fast Knights, and of course the customary 2 guided missile launchers.
Frankly I knew that if would be all over if the Blades got into my infantry, so the plan was to extend the line, work the flanks, and hope the the cavalry could exploit any gaps. To this end I deployed with the bulk of the foot held back, swarms of Psiloi to the fore to hopefully delay the inevitable, and a strike force of cavalry on my far left to work the open flank and hopefully overwhelm the Roman delaying command.
Everything started well, high pips with the mounted command allowed the horse archers to sneak around the flank, but of course the Romans with a paved road in their deployment area were able to quickly redeploy, to counter the Persian deployment. This was the right thing to do but did leave the Roman line stretched a little thin in places.
My cavalry command, fairly quickly overwhelmed the Roman delaying forces, thankfully these weren't in difficult terrain, so I could catch them on a gentle hill, and my cavalry could work it's magic. This forced Russell to have to use his Praetorians to block my cavalry, which was fine with me. I'd much rather have the Bd(S) facing off my Cv(O), than attacking my Bw(X).
Crunch time finally came as the Legionaries came for my Sparabara, and the Superior Auxilia hit my Psiloi in the rough going. I was expecting holes to appear in my line everywhere, and my centre to start crumbling....
However at that moment Ahura Mazda, blessed the Persians, and at the same time the Roman Gods, clearly looked the other way. In one bound I threw a series of 5s and 6s whilst Russell threw 1s and 2s all along the line. At the end of the bound, the Romans had lost 3 Legionaries, and 2 Superior Auxilia, for no losses on the Persian side. It was a pretty appalling round for Russell, and now because the Romans were stretched so thin and the Praetorians were tied down by the Persian cavalry, there were no Roman reserves to plug the gaps.
We called it at this point, as the Roman attack had been stopped in it's tracks, Persian Cavalry and Light Horse, were around the Roman flank and rear, the Praetorians were effectively immobilized, and there were no Roman reserves, whilst the Persians had lost only one horse archer, and it was clearly heading for a 25-0 to Darius.
Clearly the blessings of Ahura Mazda, played a major part here, and whilst I'm experienced in using the Persians, it was only Russell's second game with the Romans, which saved me.
If the dice had gone the other way, or the Romans had left the delaying command to it's fate, and come straight forward, into my inferior troops it would have been very differently.
Anyway a great game, and many thanks to Russell for being a great opponent. Hopefully those dice have been exorcised of their bad luck now, before Nationals this weekend 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/groups/824840264342234/posts/2043431502483098/ 

The Roman attack, after the devastating round of combat dice.


  • Rob Grange
    25mm or 28mm chariot?
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    • Dirk Heinsius
      28mm from T&R Miniatures. Matches the Victrix figures size wise
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  • Ben Vartok
    I see the Roman problem, they are dead.
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    • Dirk Heinsius
      Yes and further back you see my Chaladean Archers behind their flank, and targeting Kn(F)
      Muhahahahahaha!
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  • John Way
    Romani ite domum?
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  • Russell Briant
    🎶 something’s missing in my line…
    To have a plan that doesn’t survive first contact, you first need a plan.
    The novice Imperator was led by his decidedly Roman nose throughout the game as the King of Kings played the tune…


The beautifully painted Praetorians pictured whilst the Roman columns, come marching down the road.

Kaspian Light Horse sneaking around the flank.

The initial Roman deployment, being faced down by my Egyptian Levy Horde.




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