Back to MEG and this time Huub's Nikephorian Byzantines will meet a Later Sargonid Assyrian list ( George Pakos's list from IWC 2020 hy George ).
This time The Nikes did bring some varangian guards, were heavy on battle infantry but they never faced Assyrians and did not susoect that assyrian infantry was very tough ( sup, short spear, integralshooters oh and an exceptionnal guard unit )
Terrain was fun with a steep hill in the middle and I oustcouted the Byzantine incaders by 40 %
Assyrians to the left and Nikes to thr right , a coffe cup in the background . I kept my DC chariotry back not knowing where to sent them .
Huub wondering what he will do . He has deployed in a much more compact way .
A small drilled highly efficient assyrian army and in the background another cup of coffee
The blue shields, the exceptionnal guard unit
Well let's go ..My CIC with mostly white tokens just advance ( the infantry ) . My shooty cavalry, some sup other some cimmerian boys with a certain inkown Conan with them are eager to shoot !
Ok it is a mediocre general but 2 black tokens did not help me rush to play on that flank and it will be so for some time .
A better view . By the way the Nikes had only 2 generals but both talented . As you can see Huub made a mistake, there is a gap in his line as he was reluctant to use his presious varangian guard vs the shooty assyrian cavalry . That will cost him the game . Never underuse your best units !
Going forward and I was expecting a furious charge from the skutatoi to push my shooty cavalry back so protected my flank . But that charge will never happen ! The chariotry is advancing as ease . I have a plan ...and you know what happens with plans ...
The other flank !My loose order infantry is short spear and integralshooters, the BYZ LS armenians are affeted by terrain so no LS bonuses ...he is reluctant to charge and I want to protect my guard infantry that is facing some kataphracts ...this will take some good timing ...
He went in, I lost a base from his shooting ( charge only ) but got the upper hand at impact . The fight is on and my general goes in .
Playing on the left
So He rushed forward with his infantry . So I took the opportunity to rush mine forward to blok his tagmata,themata and skutatoi from coming too quickly and managed to move a sup, DC chariot unit in his flank . he moved too quickly and did not think about my moves . In MEG never forget to think about your opponent's moves .
He also forgot to put real pressure on my feeble right wing.
So I charge his skutatoi who wer charging my infantry and ouch ..it did hurt (Sup, Short spear,DC, flank and moving infantry )
Impact was pretty hard on that skutatoi TUG . Now he knows how tough assyrian infantry can be and his dice were not really good and mine yes ! His lancers were busy vs my sup infantry and skutatoi came to their help ..the race is on !
Kataphracts and assyrian guards are having fun but very inconclusive even with a byzantine green dice ..
The loos of the skutatoi unit triggers some very interesting KABs ..The Karaphracts are now on a very thin line just a wound from breaking
One turn latter my infantry is still facing his 3 TUGS but I did sent some reinforcements ...his dice were really friendly to me ...and yes one tagmata file did charge my chariots ..he could not stop them
The last of the kats ..They will kill a base, kill the general, bring the guard down to 5 bases ( from 8 ) but it will not be enough they break and I kill their general
So the Byzantine's center is destroyed ..the armenians in the hill had to test twice ( Routed unit and killed general and I did doll skull and wound ) My loose infantry who did not even notice the death of their general just pursued into them ..I will roll 2 skulls at impact and rout the armenians )
And amazingly the infantry will break both the tagmata and the themata ..the Nikes are routed ! but honestly my dice were quite good ..most of the time !
I hope you enjoyed, please sometimes say you like it and if there are things you thing I should change, say so . Have a nice day . ...Oh and yes Huub will win he already did once so no reason for him not to crush me another day .