Saturday, June 29, 2013

Impetus: Battle Report: EIR Romans vs Palmyra


Hey Folks,

I have recently done some work on my 28mm EIR Romans that I have had for AGEs but haven't done slot with. A recent game vs Jamie's Eastern Romans was super fun but I relied heavily on Proxied Batavians - which isn't too ahistorical but I did want a more "Roman" feel to the army.  To this end I've finished 3 bases (our 8cm frontage) of Praetorians (inc a General) and another two Legion bases, including another General and the Legions Eagle. 

With my new reinforcements split into two commands we journeyed to somewhere in Syria, also known asAndy's place...
    
More of Andy's great terrain. 
The Legion marching in Collumn with their destination in sight...
But a horde of Arabic Horse, Camelry and Cataphracts (eek!) appear to our right flank, so Legionary General Cassius Orders line of Battle.
Arabs stream towards Cassius's position (that's him in the red cloak)...
Hordes of Archers supported by Horse Archers
More Arabs...supported by FOUR units of Cataphracts armed with Kontos and Mace
The Arabs advance cautiously...which has something to do with the Scorpion in the centre of the Roman line
The Roman Line advances en masse while the Arab light cavalry feigned forwards 
The Roman Cavalry holding the left wing is penned in by the walls of the town and the massed ranks of the legion. Arab horse Archers and Javeliners start to take a toll though the Romans "Mauri" light cavalry get a few solid (read lucky) hits on their opposing number - scattering them  
The battle lines continue to close...
The Praetorians Contatorium cavalry storms through a unit of skirmishing Createn archers suffering minor disorder...their Arab archer targets start to tremble...until deadly accurate enfilading fire from another Createn Archer unit almost wipes out the gallant Preatorian Cavalry who are quickly overwhelmed by the surprised Arab archers. The Shame!
Another rash Heavy Cavalry charge sees a Cataphract unit take on the entire Preatorian guard by itself...and somehow survive the halo of pilium and stabbing short swords to hold them in position 
The cattle is starting to break up into isolated combats...
And the Praetorians flank the Cataphracts but they STILL won't break!
Holding the Praetorians long enough for the Arab King and his Household to charge home. Once again pilium fly, Kontos reach in to be deflected by tall oval shields and short swords stab but the combat remains deadlocked. Preatorian General Lucius (not known for his martial ability) is somewhat concerned... 
As the Preatorians hold the Cataphracts General Cassius sees his chance and leads his legion into the teeth of the Arab Archers...
Routing them and breaking their command...which starts to see the disintegration of the Arab army...
The Arab King sees his right wing break and realises the day is lost. Being mostly mounted the Arabs fade away into the arid plains while the tired Roman forces lack sufficient Cavalry to mount a serious pursuit. General Cassius and General Lucius confer and move the troops into the town to recover...and fortify the defenses as the Arabs will be back...

Thanks for the game Andy, it's and interesting list and once you get all the elements working this will be a mincer!

Cheers
Jason

5 comments:

Phil said...

Very nice report, your armies are really impressive!

Craig C said...

Good looking game guys.

The Kiwi said...

Great report. It actually makes me want to do more work on my EIR stuff.
cheers

Unknown said...

Thanks.

I know what you mean The Kiwi - I have had these EIR for simply Ages (like three years) but I have only now been prompted to actually finish them.

Its a fun army to use

Unknown said...

Good one Jas, we had some moments of brilliance from the crap troops and the heavys were pretty unlucky both sides. I have re-worked my list so next game will be legit!!
Next time maybe my Romans vs your Germans... I have plenty of trees ;)