The annual BadCon competition in Burton-upon-Trent has just been and gone. The MeG theme this year was "Armies and enemies of the Greeks, Medes and Persians from 670 BCE to 357 BCE". I took a version of my Early Carthaginian.
To see how it fared, read on ...
The theme period, whilst a really good one in my view, did rather limit my choice of armies. In fact, out of the list of allowed armies I only have 2 possibilities; Later Sargonid Assyrian and Early Carthaginian. As I felt the former would be on something of a hiding to nothing I went with the latter.
I usually field a Numidian ally with my Carthaginians, however, the dates of the theme did not allow this and so I went with the following list. This involved buying and painting 3 units - the mercenary hoplites, Greek cavalry, and Spanish javelinmen.
The list was thus:
There isn't much direct "punch" in the army, although the mounted troops and the Sacred band are pretty effective. It is more of a grind them down army. The Balearic slingers can cause a lot of trouble being Skilled shooters, and the Spanish javelinmen can be very capable in terrain.The first round draw matched me up against Philip Powell who was using Royal Achaemenid Persian. So I could expect a good wodge (technical term) of good cavalry plus Immortals and other Sparabara, with the Immortals bei8ng Skilled shooters. I could also expect to be outscouted. I would really need at least 1 flank secured by some terrain.
The terrain selection part of the PBS went about as well as I could hope. I invaded and terrain fell on both flanks which meant that the manoeuvre room for the expected cavalry horde was reduced. There was a Wood on my left with a patch of Rough Ground in front of that, and a couple of pieces of Forest on my right. This left the centre open. I think Philip may have liked some Rough terrain in the centre for his infantry to use, and would certainly have liked less on the flanks.
Scouting saw me completely outscouted and so I had to deploy my whole army before Philip deployed anything. As I've done this to opponents many times with my horse archer armies I guess I can't complain when it happens to me 😉
I chose to deploy nearly all of my infantry on my right, then my mounted troops and finally the Ligurians and Spanish javelinmen on my left. The main infantry block had the Spanish and Libyan javelinmen on the right somewhat protected from possible cavalry attack by the Forest (the Spanish being Loose infantry and so a tad vulnerable to cavalry), then the African spearmen, then the hoplites and finally the Sacred band on the end of the infantry line.
The mounted were deployed starting a bit back with the Greek cavalry, then the Campanians and finally the chariots. The Balearic slingers deployed next to the chariots to add "fire support" to what was my best mounted unit.
Philip deployed a mass of Loose cavalry opposite my big infantry block, his Immortals and Sparabara next to the Rough Ground angled back and a Saka ally of Flexible cavalry in the Rough - these were deployed as Skirmishers and so were not too badly affected by the terrain. The cavalry were a mix of Average, Superior and an Exceptional unit.
So, at this point before we started to move it looked like this:
My plan was pretty straight forward - not that I think this army is really able to do anything too clever.
The infantry mass on the right was to advance, and keep advancing as best it could and try and force the Persian cavalry onto its base edge and then, hopefully, kill it. Of course, I would be being shot all the time and with only 2 units with Shield Cover it could all go horribly wrong, but realistically you have to do it.
The cavalry would aim to go and ride over the Persian infantry. If I get the timing right they should only be shot at once, but the Immortals especially could cause significant damage even with one shot. However, if I can get in mostly unscathed the cavalry should win fairly handily. However, it would eb good if I could distract one of the Persian infantry units so as to take some shooting out of the equation.
On my left I am not unhappy with seeing the Saka in front of me. The Spanish javelinmen are very handy against Unprotected cavalry and the Ligurians have Experienced javelin shooting. I am reasonably happy that I can drive them off.
Philip was relying on his cavalry being able to wear down my advancing infantry with the combination of shooting aided by Slows from the shooting enabling him to get more shots in. Any gaps appearing in my infantry line could be exploited. His infantry would avoid contact as long as possible and I think he was hoping that his Saka ally could bring pressure on my mounted. I think with the latter he may have underestimated the Spanish and Ligurians facing the Saka.
The first moves left us like the following picture. I have had poor cards on both flanks and so have not been able to advance as far as I would like. However, the 2 units with Shield Cover are quite happy to push forward as fast as they can as they are so much less affected by shooting.
The subsequent move saw more rubbish cards and I can more or less only consolidate my advance. Philip moves his cavalry up to shooting range obviously. I do, however, get my Balearic slingers in a position to shoot at a Saka unit. We now look like this - not that much different.
My poor(ish) cards carry on for the next next couple of moves, but they are matched by ineffective shooting from Philip, although I am slowed - so equals out I guess 😂
My infantry wing push as fast as they can - not very - to try and get close enough to charge the cavalry and have a chance of catching them should they roll badly on their evade moves. My cavalry more or less stay where they are as I don't want to push on too far ahead of the infantry in case Philip can engineer something fancy with his cavalry to get on my flank. I am also waiting for the right cards to advance on the Persian infantry to charge them whilst being able to press through their shooting. In retrospect I was being a bit too cautious here.
One area where things are going to plan is my left. Some Saka are drawn out of the terrain and I am able to get up close to shoot them next turn. Now looks like this.
I start to be able to charge with the infantry on my right. Whilst this does cause my line to start to break up a bit it is also pushing the cavalry back. Casualties are light but we are slowed all the time.
On the left a Saka unit suffers badly from shooting and the Spanish javelinmen advance to really pressure the other Saka units. My successes here have drawn one of the Sparabara to detach itself from the Persian infantry line as I had hoped.
The badly damaged Saka unit is destroyed quickly and the other Saka units really don't want to get into a fight with the Spanish javelinmen - sensibly in my view - and run away when charged; they will end up in open terrain where the Spanish may feel a bit less secure.
The infantry carry on as they have been and I finally move the mounted up to be able to charge the Persian infantry, although they do fall back to maximise the distance I have to charge. Not ideal for me, however, I need to get a move on as I have waited a bit too long really.
Picture from the other direction this time.
The mounted go in and the chariots pretty much ride over one unit of Immortals without noticing them. Cue me thinking "Why didn't I do this earlier?" ... 😝
The infantry once again keep on pressing forward and the table edge is now coming into play and casualties have been pretty light. The most advanced on my infantry units manged to catch a cavalry unit that rolled badly on its evade and after its pursuit is may be able to hit another 2 next move. Apart from taking a long time it has pretty much gone as well as could be expected here. But time is running out of the game ..
Before time was called was chewing its way through the Immortals and Sparabara left in the Persian infantry line. My infantry did catch more cavalry but didn't do much initially.And then time ran out.
Score was 10-2 to me. I didn't lose any units, however, I didn't break the Persians which is, after all, a real aim of the game. Still, thoroughly enjoyable - which is the main aim of the game 😁
An account of the second game can be found HERE.
Here are some additional pictures of the armies after they have deployed.
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