Early Armenians Using a Totally New Configuration
Peter K at Essex Warriors wanted to try out his Italo-Ostrogoths and requested I come up with something contemporary for him. I dont have much in the way of Dark Age era armies as its not really an era that appeals to me but I had a look at his list date range and suggested I try the Early Armenians against him. They run up to 627 AD so fitted in nicely.
I didnt have much luck using them at Roll Call but thought that the Cv S version had some merit.
We usually play at 400 AP and I came up with the following using the DBM list.
Command 1
1 x CinC Irr Cv S
6 x Horse Archers Irr LH F
6 x Archers Irr Bw I
4 x Archers Irr Ps O
6 x Javelinmen Irr Ax O
6 x Ibernian Longchoporoi Irr Ax S
29 E/27 EE/9 D
Command 2
1 x Sub General Irr Cv S
6 x Horse Archers Irr LH F
6 x Archers Irr Bw I
4 x Archers Irr Ps O
12 x Javelinmen Irr Ax O
29 E/27 EE/9 D
Command 3
1 x Internal Ally-general Irr Cv S
10 x Cataphracts Irr CV S
8 x Horse Archers Irr LH F
19 E/19 EE/7 D
Command 4
1 x Internal Ally-general Irr Cv s
2 x Cataphracts Irr Cv S
4 a Horse Archers Irr LH F
7 E/7 EE/3 D
Army Baggage
6 x Baggage Irr Bg I
Army Total
84 EE/80 E/40 B
Peters army was in three commands, his CinC 18.5 EE breaking on 6.5 EE
Irr Sub 1 command 28 EE breaking on 9.5 and Irr Sub 2 command 18.5 EE breaking on 6.5 EE. His army totally 65 EE breaking on 32.5 EE. His largest command contained all the heavy foot whilst his other two commands were a mix of knights and bowmen.
I deployed with my CinC in the centre and his reliably sub on the right with that flank refused because his knights were too much of a threat until I worked out where he deployed.I deployed the two internal allies on the left flank with the aim of trying to overwhelm any mounted troops he might deploy on that flank.
For some reason Peter deployed his spearmen opposite an area of rough going but some way back. This allowed my to throw my light infantry forward into this terrain and secure it.
On reflection I was a bit rash and charged out of the rough expecting my Superior auxilia to be able to occupy the spearmen but a series of 1's on combat rolls quickly proved this idea flawed.
I managed to get round his right flank and after a couple of bounds succeeded in rolling up his CinC's knights and breaking the command.On my far right I slowly pushed forward my archers and started to snipe at his knights from an area of rough ground whilst my superior numbers of archers in the centre outshot his archers from this command leaving me with a single knight left to break this command and his army.
In my centre I was gamely holding on with the remaining auxilia as just one more casualty would have broke my CinC's command. As his CinC's command fled towards the rear of the table and I was wiping out their knights and the CinC I finally got the last element on the small knight command to get a hard fought 10-0 victory. In BHGS terms this equated to 30-2 victory
Below are some pictures taking during the game. Note the very empty battlefield on the Ostrogoths side almost totally devoid of terrain.
