Alexander And The Arabs

I'm currently rereading  'The Thousand Nights and One Night', which is a great collection of stories but very lengthy and a hard slog in a number of places. But since I'm currently deep into a lengthy tale that features the heroic armies of Baghdad fighting numerous battles with the evil forces of Constantinople, I thought that the time had come to get my Hollywood Arab HOTT army out again. I don't have a suitable Byzantine army with which to oppose it, so I grabbed the closest thing I could find - my Renaissance Alexander army.

And so here they are. 

The Arabs were attacking with 4 x Riders, 1 x Blade general, 1 x Cleric, 1 x Sneaker, 1 x Flier, 2 x Shooters and 2 x Hordes.

Alexander defended with 6 x Spears, 1 x Hero general, 1 x Knight, 1 x Rider, 1 x Lurker and 1 x Artillery.

The terrain closed down the Arab deployment area, forcing them to attack in a tight group that would have to expand once it was clear.

Alexander pushed his army forward as the Arabs advanced, leading with their riders on their right flank.

The Arab riders crested the hill and one was immediately destroyed by Alexander's artillery. So that was a good start for the Arabs.

The other riders charged. To be honest they were out-factored all along the line, but the aim was to (i) survive and (ii) draw the knights out to destruction. There was also a small chance of destroying teh artillery, of course.

The rest of Alexander's army advanced, aiming to catch the Arabs before they could extend their line.

The Arab cavalry, supported by some warriors on flying carpets, destroyed Alexander's artillery. This left Alexander's left flank looking a little shaky

But in the centre Alexander's infantry was beginning teh process of grinding down the main body of the Arab army.

But this sneaky assassins were now in Alexander's rear.

Alexander in trouble. But generally a hero can see off a couple of riders. And did.

The Arab centre slowly collapsed under pressure from the phalanx. Although their riders could still pull off a lucky win, it wasn't looking good for the Arab army.

The assassins headed for Alexander's stronghold.

Alexander's knights fell to an attack from the front and rear.

But the Arab centre now consisted of their blade general and a couple of hordes. And the army was only a couple of AP away from breaking.

Another attempt to kill the now completely isolated Alexander failed.

But the assassins reached the stronghold ...

... and took it. An instant win for the Arabs, who were 2AP away from breaking.

Alexander lost a mere 5AP. The Arabs lost 10AP. But a captured stronghold is a captured stronghold.

Alexander did have an element of riders out on the right flank. But they ended up providing overlaps for teh bloodbath in the centre rather than chasing off after the sneakers. That was probably a big, big mistake, although it did look like Alexander was going to get a win on points before the assassins could get there. And they had a less than 50% chance of capturing the stronghold even when they did attack it. Next time I think I'll chase the sneakers, though.

The Arab army is an odd one. The four riders are really its main strike-force, as the rest of the army is a mix of various types that don't really work that well together. But riders do lack punch; you need to get them into a position where they can outflank, and that's quite hard for this army. Still, the army looks pretty.