The Arabs defended anchoring one flank on some bad going (putting archers in it), and restricting the Parthians to a frontal assault. The line of hills caused command and control problems, with action taking place on one side of them and both generals on the other.
Both armies pushed their Riders forward around the hills.
The Parthian cataphracts charged in the centre.
True to form, their general forged on ahead, his +1 in combat making him too effective compared to his supports.
A Parthian Riders was forced to retreat off the board.
The Parthians attacked up the hill.
And the armies pushed back and forth, a swirling mass of light cavalry and camels.
More Parthians died.
And some more.
In he distance the Parthian general reached the Arab infantry line and could almost smell their stronghold beyond it.
More Parthian cavalry was destroyed.
And another.
In fact that last was enough to break the army (I think I missed photographing one kill). Here's the position at the end of the game.
The cataphracts were ready to charge, but they'd left it too late - light cavalry losses elsewhere destroyed the morale of the army.
The battle was won on one flank where the outnumbered Arab Riders were able to whittle their Parthian opposite numbers down, element by element. The Parthians lost six Riders. The Arabs lost nothing. The Parthian Knights didn't really have any significant effect on the battle.
This is a combination worth trying again, though.
Hi Kaptain,
ReplyDeleteI have always had a soft spot for Arabs and Pathians so thank you for this report! The Pathian cataphracts need to get into action asap as invariably the horse archers get chased off. Timing is crucial with this army but when it works it is a thing of beauty and a joy forever....;-)
As an aside - do you have any HOTTs thoughts on wild west armies?
All the best,
DC
Obviously in HOTT the Parthian horse-archers are a little meatier, but then so are the Arab camels. The problem for the Parthians was that one Arab flank was a 'fortress' and that bad going on the other flank made it hard for the Parthians to quickly deploy and turn that Arab flank. A counter-attack by the Arab camels and cavalry stalled the Parthians and poor PIPs meant that they were spending most of their time fighting around the hill instead of pushing forward to assault the main line. The Arabs were able to spend PIPs on their main effort, the Parthians weren't.
DeleteAs for the Wild West I'm not sure. Riders, Shooters and Heroes sounds like a good place to start, whether you go for Outlaws, Posses, Indians or Cavalry. But I'm sure it's been discussed a few times on the HOTT Yahoo Group, if you can find the posts :)
DeleteA personal favourite of mine - knight generals! I'm surprised the general wading in and getting cut off from his supports didn't result in the Parthian loss.
DeleteAs for Wild West, didn't Antigonus One-Eye use a Battle of the Little Bighorn army which consisted entirely of shooters or riders depending on the random roll of his opponent?
ReplyDeleteSomething like that, yes.
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