August 07, 2022

TTS AAR: Sassanids Win Three Out Of Three

August 07, 2022/ Robert Avery

So with Bevan having defeated me twice in quick succession, it was my turn to take the Persians and his to take the Gauls.

Having watched the master at work, I knew that the best tactics were just to get forward as fast as possible, get my horse archers shooting quickety-quick, and charge home with the heavies as soon as I got the opportunity!

The terrain forced the action into three separate channels: the left past the woods, the centre, and the right past the woods.

On the left, two of my heavy units backed up by the elephants faced the Gauls’ three main cavalry units. The heavies quickly chewed through the more likely armed Celts, but the elephants had to divert to protect the rear from a marauding Gallic warband. These Gauls weren’t up to much snuff, however, and the elephants quick sent them packing.

On the other flank, I used another unit of heavies and some horse archers to quickly dispatch his final unit of horse: things weren’t going too badly at all!

Regular readers will know that usually when I say that, it presages an immediate reversal of fortunes and a catastrophic defeat…but not this time.

The two centres clashed, and I scored an immediate success as a unit of veteran clibanarii smashed an enemy warband off the table!

My line wasn’t (unfortunately!) a solid wall of heavy cavalry, so Bevan pushed forward hard at the sections held only by horse archers. These naturally danced backwards, which was fine except for the fact that it meant that the Gallic warbands concerned now had a chance of taking my camps.

One of the good things about having a cavalry army, however, is its ability to move rapidly around the table, including to head backwards to head off travel.

As one of my heavy units headed for the Gallic camp, another headed straight into the rear of one of the warbands threatening my camps. The hit was, as you might imagine, devastating: the warband shattered and I had won the game!

So one game back for me, making the day two for Bevan and one for me…but three-to-nothing for the Sassanids.

This must make them one of the best armies under the To The Strongest system, at least where the battlefield is fairly open. Must be time to re-base the Sassanid infantry as well then!

August 05, 2022

TTS AAR: Gauls vs Sassanids - the Re-Match

August 05, 2022/ Robert Avery

Having been sliced and diced in under and hour in our first game, the Gauls had plenty of time for a re-match against the Sassanids. Bevan and I played the same sides again: me taking the brave and heroic Celtic underdogs again, him taking the Persians.

Both sides set up in a fairly similar fashion as last time, although the Gauls did split their cavalry between the two wings rather than concentrating on just the one.

As the game opened, once again the Sassanids shot forward rapidly, effectively clearing half the battlefield before the poor Celts had even had time to finish their croissants.

Out in front were the two wings of each army, and the first action was therefore clashes on the left and right.

On the left, two units of Celtic horse (the third had hung back for some reason) faced a unit of Sassanid Clibanarii and, led by a Boudicca type in her chariot, smashed the first unit from the field. They then went on to engage a second unit behind and quickly disordered them too. Yes they disordered themselves in the process, but things were certainly looking promising on the left!

On the right, I also achieved what I saw as an advantage: another cavalry unit and some Gaeseti fanatics effectively got the drop on another lot of clibanarii, getting a two-on-one advantage, and although some horse archers had slipped through my line, things looked promising here too.

Meanwhile, in the centre, my main group of warbands had hit the enemy line (a combination of horse archers and heavies) and pushed it back. Okay, the horse archers were evading away rather than being broken, but his camps were soon in sight, and they were worth a lot of victory medals!

Although I had taken some casualties, I was on the cusp of victory: all I had to do was survive the next, Sassanid, turn, and I would presumably finish off one or two enemy units, take his camps, and therefore win the game.

As you may already have been guessing, the salient part of that last paragraph was “all I had to do”!

Although Boudicca survived another round of combat, my infantry units heading for the Sassanid flanks were now hit in the flanks by those horse archers that had danced away from their advance. I wasn’t too bothered: deep warbands can soak up a lot of damage…but not, unfortunately, enough!

One was dashed from the field, the other disordered, effectively curtailing its advance next turn.

On the right, where my horse supported by infantry had been mullering his clibanarii, the fortunes of war suddenly turned against me. I went from two undamaged units facing a disordered enemy heavy cavalry unit to a lone, disordered warband facing two enemy units!

Finally, and to add insult to injury, that lone unit of horse archers that had slipped through my lines managed to get into my camp and ravage my Gallic baggage. That cost me three victory coins and the game!

I had, however, actually come quite close to winning the game, and had certainly lasted longer than last time!

Even better, next game it was my turn to run the Sassanids!

July 31, 2022

TTS AAR: Gauls versus Sassanids

July 31, 2022/ Robert Avery

Having re-based all my Sassanids, I couldn’t wait to get them onto the tabletop…and fortunately friend Bevan was available to help me do so.

The real question was who to pitch them against: the Sassanids are one of the most successful armies under the To The Strongest system: the combination of horse archers and chunky lancers giving everyone except a similar army real problems. I eventually decided upon the Gauls as suitable opponents: lots of big warbands that could soak up damage, not as fragile as the Ancient Brits, and with some decent cavalry of their own. Chuck in some Gaeseti fanatics, and on paper it looked like it might be a good match.

On paper.

Despite the fact that I had re-based the Sassanids, I elected to take the Gauls first time round. Outscouted, I decided to put all my cavalry on one wing: probably a mistake as that allowed Bevan to get his elephants opposite my horse…and if there’s one thing Gallic horse don’t like, it’s the look and smell of nellies!

The Sassanids opened proceedings by sprinting up the battlefield towards my line. Most unusually, the elephants shot out in front of the already fast-moving Sassanid line and stomped into the forest that I had thought I might use to protect my flank.

This looked like a good opportunity to me, so I sent a unit of Gaeseti fanatics into the woods to root the pachyderms out. Surely this was a couple of points I could secure before the rest of his line arrived.

Apparently not.

The elephants proved their worth and soon my fanatics were reeling backwards, with my CinC falling heroically in the melee!

Also on the left flank, the first charge of the Gallic cavalry versus the Sassanid cataphracts had taken place. Despite having the initiative, my horse had failed to dent the armoured horsemen at all, and another of my generals died!

Worse, some enemy Clibanarii were working their way down the flank and needed to be dealt with before they got into my rear!

Meanwhile, on the right flank, I had taken possession of the hill in front of my line. My thinking was that I could soak up a bit of horse archer fire, rallying if necessary, and then be uphill when the enemy lancers went in.

This didn’t really work either, as the Sassanid horse archers were having a very good day, and soon my two warbands looked like pincushions…and, you guessed it, I lost a third general!

So thirty minutes into the game, the situation looked like this:

The Gauls look pretty solid, but that’s an illusion. Next turn, the Gaeseti got mullered by the elephants, the lead cavalry unit got smashed off the table by the cataphracts (foreground action in the pic above), and I also lost the unit of cavalry next to the fanatics and one of the warbands on the hill. That, plus the three officers, was it: I was out of victory medals and out of the game!

Horrendous: Bevan had expertly sliced and diced the Gauls and served them for Sassanid tea!

April 06, 2021

TTS AAR: Roman Revenge!

April 06, 2021/ Robert Avery

Regular readers will know that I’ve recently suffered a series of defeats at the hands of the Marian Romans. One of my regular opponents, Peter, has crushed my Classical Indians twice and then the Sasanid Persians twice; my other regular opponent, Bevan, had beaten the Summerians twice. This despite the fact that I’m regularly told that the Marian Romans aren’t that good (too much heavy infantry, not enough cavalry) and certainly not a tournament army.

Well you could have fooled me!

It was obviously time for me to have a go with Caesar’s boys and see whether I had managed to learn anything from the somewhat painful lessons described above: for our next encounter, I would use the Marian Romans and Bevan would play the Gauls.

This was the second clash between the two, with Bevan winning the last game (I have been going through a bad patch lately!) fairly decisively.

At this point I must confess that rather than put together a list myself I used Peter’s Marian Roman army list: 130 points of veteran infantry with three camps, a standard, and three units of cavalry.

I set up as you can see, above, with my camps in one corner and my Roman infantry in a fairly tight block. That was lesson one: keep your legionaries where they can mutually support each other.

There did seem to be an awful lot of Gauls facing me: six warbands liberally sprinkled with heroes, and four good cavalry units.

As I suspected, the Gauls attempted to lap their cavalry around my main battle line. My cavalry were tasked with holding the right flank, with a unit of legionaries turned that way as a back up, whilst the rest of the army beat the Gauls in the centre. The Gallic cavalry on my left flank would have to be dealt with by the infantry.

The two sides advanced towards each other fairly smartly, with Bevan suffering some unlucky cards with his left flank cavalry meaning that they were delayed getting into the fight. This was excellent news, as I didn’t think my outnumbered and outclassed cavalry would be able to hold the opposition for long once battle was actually joined.

On my left flank, two units of Gauls had started lapping round, but my infantry snapped to face them and dealt with the flanking units fairly easily. His cavalry was still late to the party on my right, giving me the chance to disorder one of his warbands without breaking formation.

The Gallic cavalry and warband at the front of the picture are about to be mullered by my legionaries

The main battle lines were now joined, but the superior quality of my troops meant that in the centre I had now killed one warband, and disordered two more. One legionary unit had, however, been lost and, over on the right, another was being hit front and rear at the same time. I desperately needed to get my successful units on the left over into the centre.

rushing back to the centre! thank jupiter the romans manoeuvre well. note the legionary unit fighting front and back top right!

If there’s one thing the Romans do very well, it’s march: and before anything had had a chance to happen on my right flank, I had four legionary units pushing back warbands on the left and centre.

the left and centre legionary units are grinding down the opposition

Meanwhile the legionary unit on the right wing that had been attacked front and back had actually managed to repel both units: driving the warband back and destroying the cavalry: these Romans can fight as well as march!

Unbelievably, my cavalry were still holding their own: the lights kept evading and returning, and my one decent unit was still around despite being attacked in the front and flank at the same time.

With the four main Gallic warbands now disordered and my legionaries almost unscathed, it was now just a matter of time. The cards fell evenly, but with me hitting on a 6+ and saving on a 5+, and the disordered Gauls hitting on an 8+ and saving on a 7+, the advantage was all mine. One warband after another broke and fled the table until all the Gallic victory coins were gone.

Aftermath

My losses amounted to one legionary unit and one light cavalry unit so a pretty colossal victory for the Romans

The tactics I’d employed, learnt the hard way, had worked, and Peter’s army list with it’s six veteran legionary units had proved its worth.

Now I need to prove that this wasn’t a fluke!

February 07, 2021

TTS Remotely: Marian Romans versus Gauls

February 07, 2021/ Robert Avery

Having now played in three remote games, I decided that I should try and run my own: seems only fair that I should host once in a while! I recruited a willing volunteer (thank you Bevan!) and set about, er, setting up.

With the wargames room turned into a yoga studio until fitness clubs are open again, I had to set my tables up upstairs: plenty of room, but not as much light as usual. On the plus side, however, the wardrobe-like cupboard doors provided a useful place for the overall table camera to sit. This would give a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield whilst close up images were provided via a mobile ‘phone.

Connectivity was via Zoom. The laptop that you can see in the picture hosted the meeting, with the mobile ‘phone calling in as another participant. The overall camera gave a pretty rubbish picture, but it did at least allow Bevan to see everything that was happening, but his moves were mainly made based on the mobile ‘phone “roving camera” which I hovered over the table wherever the action was.

Testing the Set Up: this is what the remote player would see

I had decided on To The Strongest as the grid-based system would mean no measuring and would be easier for Bevan to judge what to do. It would be a suitably un-anachronistic clash between my Marian Romans and Bevan’s Gauls.

In order to help Bevan keep track of his troops, I had bought a whole load of little stands to carry numbered tags. Although not really visible on the overall camera, they worked very well in close up, and allowed me to call out unit numbers rather than long explanations involving “this unit that’s near this thing” etc.

The Sides

The Marian Romans consisted of four commands. The Proconsul commanded two legionary units (one veteran) and a unit of light archers. His first Legate also commanded two legionary units (one veteran) but with a unit of ballistae artillery. His second Legate once again commanded two legionary units (one veteran) but with a unit of eastern horse archers. Finally, he had an alae of two units of veteran auxiliary cavalry allegedly from Macedonia. I usually use Gauls as the auxiliary cavalry, but they were on the other side of the table so that I had to use some Persian-looking types instead.

Note the markers allowing Bevan to see which units were which

Bevan’s Galling Gauls also had four commands. Two commands consisted of three deep warrior-warbands bristling with heroes; one command consisted of three cavalry units; and the final command was two units of iouantoues (youths) light infantry with javelins and another unit of cavalry.

There did seem to be an awful lot of Gauls!

The Battle

The battle opened with the entire Gallic line thundering forward, with the Romans advancing more cautiously towards them.

The Gauls had their warbands on the left and centre, their light unit just to the left of the trees in the middle of the battlefield, and their cavalry on the far right.

The Romans had their Macedonian cavalry on the left, then a long line of legionary units with their associated light troops in front of them, except for the ballistae that were opposite the camp.

First action was on the Roman left, where the two cavalry forces clashed. The trees meant that the Gauls couldn’t use their superior numbers, and my horse was veteran, so I was hoping for some success here.

Regrettably, the Macedonians were obviously not enjoying the rather damper climes of Gaul, and were either pushed back in disorder or just disordered. Not a very good start!

Meanwhile, the two battle line drew together.

I quickly lost my light bowmen and horse archers to rampaging hairies, which meant that I would be one unit down in the main clash. On reflection, I should have sent my light bowmen into the trees on the right to threaten the left flank of the Gallic line, but unfortunately I didn’t think of that at the time!

Once the two lines clashed, it was actually all over pretty fast!

Although I held my own on either of the side combats you can see above, the warband in the centre moved forward towards the artillerymen (who were having a very bad day). I snapped one unit of legionaries backwards and left to plug the gap, which was quite impressive and shows the Romans’ manouevrability, but poor cards lost me a Legate and the nearest legionary unit.

Meanwhile, my left flank was crumbling. My usually impressive veteran horse were being very unimpressive, and the legionaries were getting surrounded. A foolish decision to help the cavalry didn’t help, and I lost the last of my coins to a charge from the rear!

Below is the position at the end of the battle. My left flank is just about gone: the legionaries having tried to help the cavalry out with, er, fatal results. My centre is holding, but Gauls have punched through and are about to engage the artillery hand-to-hand and then take my camp. My right could go either way.

Aftermath

All in all, a fairly conclusive drubbing for the Romans, but lessons learnt and I’m sure they will do better next time!

On the plus side, however, the “remote gaming” side of things worked nicely, and it is something I will run again…and I got to push some lead around a table for a change!

Robert Avery