Scenario 8 Dead Ground

WTF happened to 2023? One moment it's May, and I'm contemplating playing this scenario over the Victoria Day long weekend, and next thing it's gone Christmas and I've done nothing hobby related other than build an Italeri church. I guess 'real life happened' is the answer, and after a blizzard of house guests, trips to see family, a vacation (3 whole days of camping) and work, work, work, the dust has finally settled. Momentarily, at least.

Those Byzantines have been back from Sri Lanka and all based up since this time last year, so they're ready for the first battle to feature them against the Sassanians. 

Typical Canadian winter terrain welcomes our new arrivals from Sri Lanka

Taking a leaf from the book of Ken Riley, the Yarkshire Gamer, I am making this battle as big as possible, by basically sizing it to use the maximum number of the units I possess. In practice, this leaves only a couple of Byzantine cavalry, some skirmishers and an odd unit of Sassanian archers, off the table.

Byzantines (Blue)

1 general

1 captain

2 units buccelarii (heavy cavalry)

4 units regular cavalry

3 units horse archers

6 units infantry (bow and spear mixed)

2 units skirmishers
3 units slingers
2 units artillery           

Sassanians (Red)

1 general

3 units cataphracts (armoured cavalry)

3 units savaran (noble cavalry) 

3 units dehgans (lesser noble cavalry)

3 units horse archers

3 units slingers

2 units archers
6 units levy infantry

3 units elephants

The Byzantines are looking a little outnumbered, especially in terms of heavy cavalry (and elephants!) But fortunately, their commander has a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it etc.

It may not be a big game by Ken's standards (for starters it's not even in 28mm) but with 48 dice in the bag it's really going to test my capacity for soloing Sword & Spear.

This is what it's supposed to look like...

Grant's original instructions are to lay out the table without the middle valley and stream, but rather make the ground rise steadily from A to B, and only reveal the presence of the valley when the Red forces get to A. To the great relief of my limited collection of terrain tiles, I am not going to bother with that and just have the Sassanians feign surprise when they get onto the first ridge. So my table looks like this:

The ‘tyranny of the tiles’ means the dead ground is much wider than Grant’s

Grant dictates that the Blue defenders position most of their infantry and at least half the cavalry on the eastern ridge, so the (fordable) stream will be held largely by light troops but include a nasty surprise in the form of the buccelarii. Their aim will be to take advantage of the Persians' surprise at stumbling across the river valley to disrupt the advance, so that by the time it reaches the main force it will be disorganized and fatigued.

The Sassanians deploy with multiple ranks of cavalry to deliver their traditional strategy of repeated waves of mounted archery until the enemy is sufficiently disrupted for a charge home with the lance. Light troops aim to clear the flanks while the elephants and levy infantry provide a solid base for when the main battle line needs protection to reform and recover. The big question is: how well can they adjust to the sudden change in terrain? Taking advantage of doing things solo, I skip the ponderous march from XY and deploy the Persians at line A where they crest the first ridge and see what awaits them in the unexpected valley.

The nice (if poorly painted) buildings to the east are also from the Forged in Battle range

With the dice bag full to overflowing and the table groaning under the weight of all that metal it's time to get started.

The sight that greets the Persian army as it crests the ridge

Rather more than a delaying force

Having overcome his ‘surprise’ at finding an area of dead ground between his army and the village, occupied by Byzantine forces, the Sahansah reacted quickly, moving the second line of cavalry, made up of the savaran, to the right to confront the buccelarii. Resplendent in a pink silk outfit (have to admire a man who goes into battle dressed like that) he led the dehgans forward to cross the stream and brush aside the small force of infantry defending it.

Stylish, yet comfortable, what the well dressed Sahansah is wearing this year.

Except it didn’t quite go like that. The disruption of crossing the stream, either by ford or bridge, meant the Persians lost most of their impetus and the dehgans bounced futilely off the Byzantine shield wall. Even the unit of dehgans who wheeled around and charged the Byzantine infantry in the southern flank were badly mauled. But when their exposed flank was in turn charged by buccelarii led by the Byzantine commander, they also inflicted more damage than they received. (Note to self: flank attacks don’t work if you can’t roll dice for toffee.)

That reprieve was short-lived, and the flanking dehgans were routed by the buccelarii, as was the unit led by the Sahansah. Fortunately he was able to escape to the safety of the cataphracts of the third line. Soon after, the Byzantine infantry put the final unit of dehgans to flight, and while the savaran battled back and forth with the buccelarii, things were not looking good for the Sassanian army.

A lot, and I mean a lot, of heavy cavalry having a bash at each other 

Things looked better on the flanks, where superior numbers told, and the Byzantine skirmishers were driven off for minimal losses. Even a reinforcing unit of horse archers sent forward from the main force was wiped out by massed archery from the Persian mounted bowmen.

Now the Sahansah led his cataphracts into combat. After some to and fro they routed one unit of buccelarii, and when the other unit, led by the Byzantine general, pursued a routing unit of savaran, the cataphracts countercharged and routed them, the Byzantine general dying under the hooves of the armoured Sassanian juggernaut. The unit led by the Sahansah drove off the Byzantine infantry defending the bridge, but their compatriots managed to rout the attacking cataphracts, and, as the dust settled, found themselves to be the only surviving unit of the Byzantine delaying force.

They had sold themselves dearly, costing the Persians over half their heavy cavalry, and delaying them for a good 9 turns. But the flanks were firmly in the hands of Sassanian light troops, and the elephants had continued their ponderous advance.

“Are those elephants getting bigger, Ted?”

“No Donal, they’re getting nearer.”

There was now a short pause, as apart from the need to attend to work, a dishwasher repair guy and sundry other domestic duties, I also had news of an extra gamer headed for the fray. The son of one of my wife’s clients had been most taken by the contents of the glass fronted cabinet that holds my painted figures on a previous visit. I had plied him with back issues of Wargames Illustrated and he left demanding that his mother drive him straight to our nearest games store, despite it being in completely the wrong direction. Subsequently I heard that the initial enthusiasm had not lasted, and I chalked it down to youthful exuberance. But knowing that his mum had an appointment coming up, and there was no way this game would be done by then, I mentioned that he would be welcome to come along and hang out with me and the pointy sticks. So, the second half features additional, if inexperienced, generalship and a few rules simplifications to keep things moving. (Also less narrative coherence, as taking notes was impossible, so I relied on my faulty memory.)

Ready for the restart on Day 2

Persian tactical brilliance - a day late and a few dehgans short

I needn’t have worried about my visitor’s tactical acumen. He immediately spotted the need to keep the Byzantine centre pinned with cataphracts, while a sweeping right hook by the savaran turned the flank. (Not in those words exactly, but he had the general idea.) Although first blood went to the Byzantine artillery, routing some Persian horse archers, the plan went pretty smoothly.

Cataphracts give as good as they get, pinning the Byzantines for multiple turns

The cataphracts engaged in a long drawn out melée with the Byzantine infantry line, losing half their number (the Sahansah making his escape, once again) but taking a unit of Byzantines with them before finally succumbing to a flank attack. By then, the remaining horse archers had cleared the ridge of artillery and skirmishers and the savaran had wheeled up onto the hill and charged the rear of the Byzantine line.

Slingers are nothing but spectators as the savaran wheel past on their way to the Byzantine rear

Over on the Byzantine right, the first line of cavalry had routed in the face of a storm of arrows and slingshot. The second line had acquitted themselves better, routing the skirmishers, but then their pursuit took them into the Persian levy infantry, fresh from crossing the stream, who outnumbered and outflanked them. It was the loss of one of those cavalry units that finally tipped the Byzantines over their break point, which was lucky because the Sahansah’s mum had finished her appointment some time ago and was anxious to get going.

The elephants never did get into action, but their presence certainly stopped the Byzantine cavalry attacking the flank or rear of the cataphracts.

Observations

It’s been a long break, but well worth the wait. I can’t put my finger on what it is about Sword and Spear, but for all their abstraction, they really do make me feel like I’m fighting an ancient battle. Maybe it’s because we know so little about what actually happened, that our imagination does all the work, so abstraction gives the best canvas for that.

The Persians, under my command, made a real mess of clearing the first line of Byzantines. I still have not figured out how to recreate the Sassanian tactic of softening up the opposition with horse archery before charging home with the lance once they start to falter, in Sword and Spear or any other rule set for that matter. Do any readers have ideas? Please put them in the comments, I need all the help I can get.

Under their younger commander, the Sassanians redeemed themselves entirely with a ‘pin and hook’ move worthy of the great Khosrow I. A bit late to claim a full victory, but definitely a winning draw against the forces of Eastern Christendom, and it was a real pleasure to have another gamer along for the fun, even a complete novice. I hope he had a good time, it’s hard to tell with teenagers.

Up next on the schedule is a Sharp Practice double header. It would be nice to fit that in before the blog’s second anniversary, but work is currently generating the kind of stress which makes it hard to justify time off. So no promises, but hopefully the next game isn’t 8 months away.