Monday 23 July 2018

A hat-trick of victories for the good guys...

Action from the eastern empire
The NWS Saturday games day provided Steve and I the excellent opportunity to play a 200 points a side battle of To the Strongest at the club.  We decided to bring out the old favourites in the Sassanid Persians, or Sassanians in Simon Millers lists, up against the Eastern Empire Late Romans.


Steve's initial set-up.  He does like that sturdy Roman infantry however in this case it is all auxilia

My left flank command with Paighan infantry and bowmen to support

A closer view of some of the excellent Gripping Beast Sassanid figures


Lovely A&A command with LBMS Banner

All hand painted shields on the Sassanids

Steve has an affinity for the Huns and always uses them well.  In this case they were to be
part of Simon's command and they performed admirably.

Clever Steve has made up these resin sabots so he can still utilise some individually based figures.  He intends
to paint, flock and suitably dress them up shortly.  They work very well.


The central Sassanid command complete with messy treasury and camp!

The right flank of the Sassanid's.  We intend to sweep upon the wing of the enemy and kill them dead!

Will my elephant's do the job this time?

A view down the table to give a reflection of relative dispositions

A fourth command from the Romans? Unheard of!!!

Advancing rapidly on the right

The Huns force a redeployment on the left of the Persian lines


A view across the centre

Hope we can turn around in time

Advancing upon the Roman centre- all those foot armed with extra bow as well

Another view showing the Elephants advance.




Not a great place to be here for the light cavalry


Auxilia doing a number on the Cataphracts that hit them


Another shot of the pressure on the Persian left from Simon's rapidly advancing Huns

A great shot of the action

The sage rush battle mat from the BIGREDBATSTORE is sensational

The bowmen take the heights to fire all six rounds in one turn and fail to wound or disorder a soul.

In the centre the push of lance on auxilia shield is proving a tough encounter.  On the right the Veteran escorted
 elephants are being held up by cavalry.

A very shambolic and uncoordinated advance

So you move your General over to give you the second chance in case you draw a 1...


Hun nobles hit the flank of a Cataphract unit

Yet they fail to destroy it...a lucky break or what?

The centre is proving an amazing tussle

"If only I can get into the rear of those auxilia"




Can these lads actually do something useful.....please!




A close up view of some lovely Roman cavalry in Steve's collection

A smashing breakthrough in the centre - auxilia destroyed by Cataphracts with Saravan heavies
ready to exploit the gaps.


A slightly blurry view showing the pace of the breakthrough :^)

A view showing two ammunition rounds left for these bow armed light horse

Still hanging on over on the left

A cloud of arrows have been falling on these units all battle and finally one is destroyed

A view from the Roman lines as the Sassanid cavalry look to exploit their success however a run of poor
command rounds make them slow and ineffectual and vulnerable to enemy skirmishers of poor breeding and even
less moral fortitude and courage.




Like trying to turn a Tiger Tank!

Looking back upon the Persian left where the formation has been forced to anchor under a storm of bow fire


Roman veteran auxilia supported by their raw compatriots await the next assault



Roman skirmishers unleash flank attacks and fire




Ammunition resupply...loose!

Only one more hit to take and this deep unit is gone as are three victory medals.  Its getting
very close as the fighting swings back and forth across the entire front

Now that's more like it lads

A wider perspective shows another Paighan unit scurrying over to the left, just in case the worst occurs.

Te Romans continue to fight a running battle in the centre with auxilia and light troops


The Paighan, raw deep shield wall troops advance to shore up a gap in the centre.




A wonderful battle concluded with the Saravan finally getting the better of some by now very exhausted Roman foot.


We had a great time and Simon managed to get a second game of TtS in inside five days so well done him.  Next on the agenda is finishing the bases on those El Cid Feudal Spanish and them perhaps a bit of basing of some irregular style big and hairy barbarians.


Until next time...