Inspired by Anthony Riches’ Thunder of the Gods, I
fashioned a game between a similar compositions of troops but constructed as an
open battle.
Two Roman commands (II/64b) would meet the King of
Adiabene (II/22e) supported by a Parthian ally (II/37) led by the 22nd
son of the King of Kings. The King of Adiabene as defender of his realm (Dry) set
up a position between patches of rocky ground and difficult hills. The initial
deployment had the Romans marching toward the foothills to meet the two armies.
Adiabene fielding more infantry than cavalry would
position its force on the left to take advantage of the rough ground while Parthia,
positioned on the right would have plenty of open ground to maneuver and outflank
the approaching Roman force.
Having a homogeneous army, the Roman general deployed a
smaller command of nine elements (Ax and Cv) to support the main effort
comprised of all the legions, archers, cataphract and light horse. The main body would focus their attack on the Parthians while the smaller command would keep the snake-charmers occupied.
The Roman main body performed their task well enough
despite a few turns with low pip scores. With a steady advance their archery fire frequently disrupts the
Parthian battle such that any thought of a cohesive assault would not be possible.
If an attack were to be launched then this
would be executed piecemeal.
At the very moment Parthia did reform their battle-line
Rome struck (turn 3). Roman legionnaires pushed back vassal knights leaving their King
exposed. The King faced archers, but supported by blade were able to best the
general bringing the score 2–0. The next unit of vassal knights recoiled for
their effort and next to them the light horse were crushed by the Roman
Cataphract, bringing the score 3-0. A last
melee saw two more Parthian light horse succumb to encirclement by legionnaires
and Roman light cavalry score 5-0 and Parthia demoralized in one bound.
Seeing the Parthian banner fall, the King of Adiabene
called for a general marathon run back to the city fortress.
Reading the entrails.
Since starting the Severan Project, this was the first opportunity I had for Rome to meet
Parthia and I was pleased with the results especially as the composition of the
two commands took on a different form than I was used to. Generally, I like to have some legionnaires supporting each command, however, this time a small command of six auxilia support
by three cavalry and the remainder of troop types grouped in the main body.
Interspersed between the blade the two archer elements
could effectively deal with enemy cavalry and this mix of troop types (Bd + Bw) flanked
on either end by Cataphract created a battle-line of eight elements, a very
solid looking front which Parthia could not hope to match if they made
use of LH columns which they did.
This would be interesting to follow up on this with Adiabene hiding behind its fortress walls hoping for a relief force. That relief
force would contain the remnant of this Parthian force reinforced by a new
Parthian army under the command of the 21st son of the King of
Kings. Roman strength would remain the same.
