Tuesday, April 15, 2008

FOG 800pts Sassanid Persian vs Dominate Roman

FOG game today vs Stephen

Using my Sassanid vs his Late Romans.




Sassanid
1 FC
2 TC
2 BG of 6 Armd/Supr HC Bow/Swd
2 BG of 4 Armd/Supr HC Bow/Swd
1 BG of 4 LH Unprot/Avg Bow
1 BG of 4 Cat HArmd Lance/Swd
1 BG of 6 LF Unprot/Abg Bow
1 BG of 6 MF Unprot/Avg Bow
1 BG of 6 MF Prot/Avg Lr Spr
1 BG of 8 MF Mob/Poor LtSpr
2 BG of 2 Elephants

Romans (estimated)

1 FC
2TC
4 BG of 4 Legionaries with 2 LF Bow
2 BG of 4 MF Auxulia with 2 LF Bow
1 BG of 4 Cataphracts
1 BG of 6 MF Archers
2 BG of 4 LH Jav
2 BG of 4 Cav Lt Spr
1 BG of 4 Slingers
1 BG of 6 LF Javelin

Persian gained initiative and used Developed terrain with a River on left flank. My compulsory village ended up on Roman left edge and all other terrain ended up in my half with a small GH near river and my left bunged with large Enclose Field, a Vineyard and a Plantation.

Romans deployed with Legions massed in centre flanked by Aux on left with Archers and slingers and Cataphracts to their right with a BG of LH providing support to rear. Roman right comprised 2 BG of Cav with a BG of LH and BG of LF archers.

Sassanid placed an ambush of LF archers in the enclosed field with Hillmen in plantation also in ambush.

The MF archers deployed in the enclosed field with Levy. The Clibanarii deployed centrally with Cataphracts and on Persian. To their left the 2 BG of elephants were arrayed with a BG of LH on the GH with BG of Clibinarii behind.

Initial moves saw the Romans advance all along the line and Persians essentially matching them.

On Persian left and exchange of missiles between the LH saw the Persians go fragmented without losses and then evade Roman charge (they played no further part in proceddings ) Persian Cav charged with a General into oppossing Cav with their general and several rounds on inconclusive fighting ensued (Romans lost a base and went disrupted but recovered) with Roman LH charging ineffectually into Persian flank.

The Elephants charged the oppossing Roman LF and narrowly missed hitting a BG of Cav in skirmish order. Next turn the Elephants charged again and caught the LF (Cav evaded) and routed them. Nothing further of note occurred on this flank.
On Persian right the Persian LF Archers gained upper hand vs the Roman MF archers causing a loss. The Hillmen emerged from ambush to chase off enemy slingers. The Persian MF Archers shot with no effect at the Aux bearing down on them. The Aux then charged into the field and after some initial resistance the Persian archers routed.



The key central combat saw generally poor shooting from the Persian mounted and the Romans passed any Cohesion tests with ease. Persian lancers failed a CMT to not charge and broke off Disrupted from 2 Legion BGs.
The Legions charged enmasse into the lines of Clibinarii and usual grind occurred with Romans gaining slight advantage. Major turning point was death (by double 6) of a Persian General in frontline combat ! the Cohesion tests caused by this saw one Persian BG go Fragmented and another rout. This rout then Fragmented another BG and wavered the Inf in the field. Subsequently the Persian centre collapsed as did the right wing and their arrition level (12) was equalled ending the game in Romans favour

A decent game and played to completion in about 4 hours including several of our usual discussions.

FOG is definately in our experience a less decisive game than DBMM and I still feel it lacks a lot of 'flavour' of ancient warfare as such. But it is definately a more balanced game and will I think be main competition set eventually.
Mounted Bow is not very potent generally and Sassanids had problems dealing with Armd Romans with supporting Psiloi. They can option to use skirmish and frustrate the HF but still no real punch and evading Sassanid HC does not really seem very historical ?

FOG is growing on me slightly as very playable but it does seem a tad bland overall.




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