TTS AAR: Akkad versus India
/Time for another game of To The Strongest: I would play the Akkadians, friend John would play the Classical Indians.
The Classical Indians were of the Republican variety: normal rather than heavy chariots (two units); loads of longbows (five units); a unit of Maiden Guard javelinwomen (questionable historically, but lovely figures, pun intended); two units of elephants escorted by light infantry (hard to kill); and two units of not very good cavalry.
My brave Akkadians consisted of a couple of units of battlecarts (four-wheeled proto-chariots drawn by equids: as manoeuvrable as that sounds); lots of citizen spearmen (five deep units); three units of regular soldiers (two carrying axes and one armed with bows); and four units of fairly scummy light infantry (two units of slingers, two units of archers).
My plan was simple. Battlecarts on the left would smash through the enemy cavalry then wheel round into the rear of the rest of the Indian army. The rest of my troops would advance steadily forward, spears to the front, weathering a storm of longbow fire but pinning his troops in place until the battlecarts arrived. What could possibly go wrong?
Opening Moves
Accidental advance in echelon
To answer the previous question: quite a lot actually. Firstly, my various brigades refused to advance together and I ended up moving forward in echelon.
Secondly, the enemy cavalry, which should have folded before the might of my battlecarts, proved stubbornly difficult to break: in fact, at one stage it looked as if it would be my battlecarts that were smashed from the field!
On my right, enemy chariots smashed into one of my spear units and drove it and its accompanying light infantry from the field. I should have been able to support the spear unit that broke with another brigade of troops, but they were at the back of the field stubbornly refusing to move forward.
Two against one: my “BLUE” spearmen are about to leave the field
That meant that John could advance his elephants in the middle of the field, attempting to defeat each of my brigades in turn.
two against one again: elephants and longbowmen combine against my “turquoise” spearmen
The game was definitely starting to look in the balance. Although I managed to hold the centre, with both sides taking a lot of casualties, my left wing battlecarts were bogged down in melee and on my right wing the Indian chariots threatened to run riot into the flanks of what remained of my centre.
All was not lost, however, as an extraordinary passage of play was about to occur in which the Akkadian Royal Household Axemen, previously stuck miles from the action as part of the brigade that had stubbornly refused to advance, finally got forward and set to work.
Facing two Indian chariots units, they destroyed both and killed the Indian general commanding them. They then resisted attack after attack from the elite Maiden Guard despite already being Disordered.
The Royal Household axemen: heroes of Akkad!
This success gave me time to reorganise my centre and to get things sorted on my left wing. The battlecarts were reinforced with some infantry and finally broke through the enemy cavalry and swung round, as planned, into the enemy rear.
With their centre hit from the rear and under pressure from a reinvigorated Akkadian army, along with the Royal Household Axemen who were still clamouring for more, the Indian army collapsed and fled the field. Victory was mine.
Aftermath
Well that had been a close run thing! At the moment when the battle was truly in the balance, a rather convenient run of luck with the cards on my part swung the day in my favour, and all centred around one unit.
the situation at the end of the battle
A great game!
