FOG 300 - Parthians vs Principate Romans circa 220 ADR

At the instigation of the Imperial Legate in Coele Syria, the governor of Osroene in Edessa has dispatched elements of Legio III Parthica east.  Anicetus Caecus, Tribunus Militum, has been tasked with pushing the frontier into the lands of the Parthians. Slipping across the border from Amida in the early hours, his column surprised the Armenian town of Salmas.  Leaving a small garrison, the advance turned south towards Arbela where Artabanus IV, one of the two claimants to the Parthian throne was holding court.  News sped ahead of Anicetus Caecus and Artabanus had time to gather his forces to meet the Romans on the road north.

Parthian List and Host:

White Cataphracts have the white flag.  Green cataphracts have the green and white flag.  All mounted figures are Old Glory 15s.  Cataphracts are a mixture of PA02, SA02 & ES03.  Light Horse are from LA10.  Camp figures are all from Xyston (Camels - ANC20282, Holders - ANC20282 & ANC20056).

Principate Roman List and Host:

These are actual Marian Romans but hey its what I've got.  All figures are Old Glory 15s.  Legionaires are from  MR02 Legionaires Advancing.  The cavalry are from MR04.  The Auxiliary are actually the Javelinmen from the Thracian pack TH03.  They were originally painted to be the Greek City Militia for my Parthians but they will work as Thureophori too.  The camp is a scratch built affair I picked up at Bayou Wars years ago.  All of the legionaries, cavalry and leaders were painted by Thomas Demers of SMAC.

The Parthians ended up winning the initiative and chose Agricultural from the Roman terrain choices.  The Romans wanted to clog up the field as much as possible and chose the compulsory open field, an enclosed field and a gully.  The Parthians wanted minimal terrain and chose the Open.  The open field ended up on the right flank of the Roman line while the enclosed field ended up on the opposite side of the table on the Parthian flank.  The gully was picked up.

The view of the Roman line from atop on of the Parthian camels in the camp.  Romans deployed with the White Legionaires on the left, Tan Legionaires in the center, the cavalry next to them and the auxiliary on the right end of the line with the Roman leader.

Parthian light horse on the left next to the enclosed field followed by the Green flagged cataphracts then the White flagged cataphracts with general.  The right side of the Parthian line has another light horse on the outside and a BG of bow cavalry on the inside.

The Parthians won the roll to move first and opted to go straight ahead.  The cataphracts with general in tow moved 8" forward with a one base shift shift to their right.  The light horse next to them shifted 1 base right and advanced 5" into the enclosed field.  The Parthian bow cavalry moved 5" forward and shifted 1 base towards the Parthian center.  The light horse next to them moved 7" forward and shifted 1 base towards the center.  There was no shooting and no melee so the turn ended.

After the Parthian 1st turn.

The Roman 1st turn saw the auxiliary move 4" forward towards the enclosed field.  The two legionaries moved 3" forward and the cavalry moved with them to stay on line.  Again there was no shooting.  In the joint action phase, the Roman leader moved to the Tan legionaires in the center of the Roman line while the Parthian leader moved to the Green cataphracts thus ending the Roman 1st turn.

After the Roman 1st turn.

To begin the Parthian 2nd turn, both cataphracts charged forward slightly angered towards the center. The Roman leader attached to the Tan legionaries while the Parthian leader jumped in with the Green cataphracts.  In impact, the Green cataphracts scored 2 hits on the cavalry and 2 on the Tan legionaries.  The White cataphracts managed a total of 2 hits on the White legionaries.  The Roman cavalry scored 1 hit on the Green cataphracts while the Tan legionnaires scored 1 hit on the Green cataphracts and 4 on the White cataphracts.  Both generals survived the impact.  The Roman cavalry lost a base to the death roll and then disrupted.  The White cataphracts survived the 4 hits but dropped to disrupted on the cohesion test.  In the maneuver phase, the Parthian light horse in the enclosed field moved 4" forward towards the auxiliary.  The Parthian bow cavalry attempted a CMT to expand but failed and instead advanced to 4" of the White legionnaires.  The remaining Parthian light horse moved 5" into the open field and turned 90 degrees to shoot at the White legionnaires.  In the shooting phase, the Parthians scored 1 hit on each flank for no effect.  In the melee phase, the White cataphracts scored 1 hit on the Tan legionnaires who gave 1 in return.  The White legionnaires in overlap failed to hit.  The Green cataphracts scored 2 hits on the Tan Legionnaires (who missed completely) and 2 hits on the Roman cavalry (who also missed completely).  The Romans did not score enough hits to scratch the armour of the Parthian general and the Parthians were not able to hit the Roman general either.  The Tan legionnaires lost a base to hits and the disrupted on their cohesion test.  The Roman cavalry also lost a base to hits and fragmented on their cohesion test.  Both generals were tied up in combat and the disrupted legionnaires kept both cataphracts stuck in.

After the Parthian 2nd turn.

To begin the Roman 2nd turn, the auxiliary charged the Parthian light horse to their front.  The Parthians evaded 6" back and the auxiliary pursued 2".  In the shooting phase, the Parthians at the other end of the table scored 1 hit to the White Legionnaires to no effect.  In melee, the White Legionnaires scored 1 hit on the White cataphracts from overlap while the Tan legionnaires also scored 1 hit.  The White cataphracts scored 3 hits in return on the Tan legionnaires.  The Tan legionnaires scored 1 hit to the Green cataphracts as did the Roman cavalry.  However, the Green cataphracts came back with 1 hit on the Tan legionnaires and 2 on the Roman cavalry.  The Parthian leader survived combat yet again but the Roman leader was bashed into a bleeding lump by the mace of a Parthian cataphract who punched through.  The Tan legionnaires lost a base to the death roll and then double dropped to broken on their cohesion test.  The Roman cavalry survived their death roll but the death of the CinC pushed their cohesion test modifiers to -6 dropping them to broken.  The White legionnaires did not like the tribune anyway and emerged unscathed.  The auxiliary dropped to disrupted when the Roman cavalry broke.  The end of the melee phase saw the Roman army break ending the game.

After the end of the melee phase in the Romand 2nd turn.

Armoured Romans are expensive, hence the use of average legionaries in the list.  I will have to play with the list to find a way to get some superior ones.