Hail Caesar - Maharajah Trophy Practice

The Maharajah Trophy is Camp Cromwell's annual club championship - fought as a knockout series.  For the last few years it has been fought using FOW, but this year we are doing it with a mix of Hail Caesar & FOW.  The Hail Caesar games will be 700 points (including command points as in P&S).  The FOW games will be 2,000 points.  All games on 8x6 tables.

Steve's Sassanid Persians
v.
Jim & Mike's Early Imperial Romans

700 points including house rule command points.  The Romans had 2 large infantry divisions & 1 cavalry division.  The Persians had 2 cavalry divisions, 1 infantry division & an elephant division - it isn't quite kosher - too many cataphracts & elephants according to the list - but it looked too good to complain.

The Romans (on the left) tried to advance in echelon left forward.  Their cavalry was slow to activate & the Infantry got ahead.  The Persians tried to advance their elephants on their left, but this also was delayed by poor command dice.  Their main line waited, bows at the ready.

Both side's plans are starting to take shape as their left flanks eventually get going.  The Persian bowfire has driven most of the Roman skirmishers back in the centre.  (Note how much better the pics look after I remembered to turn the flash off - less light, better pics ?!)

On the far flank the Persian foot division's centre has been broken through despite their bowfire stopping one cavalry & one infantry unit.  In the centre the legionaries are facing up to a wall of cataphracts.

On the far flank the Persian foot has broken under combined infantry and cavalry attack.  In the centre the legionaries are giving ground, but holding on.  The Roman right is looking very vulnerable and they are pulling a light infantry unit back to defend the camp.

The victorious Roman left is rushing back to help their comrades, less one light cavalry unit sent to pillage the enemy camp (the scenario rules have it that the loss of the camp counts as losing a division in the army break test).  The Roman left is being crushed by cataphracts & elephants.

For a while things had looked black for the Romans.  The light cavalry were strangely unenthusiastic about getting to the enemy camp and their right was doomed.  But the right had bought some time and the Persians now had their right flank exposed to the returning Romans.  The Persian cavalry division on their right was attacked in flank and broken.

The victorious Persian left turned right and counterattacked the other infantry division, but it held on until the light cavalry finally got their act together and took the Persian camp.  That meant that the Persians had lost 2 of 4 divisions plus the camp which meant the army broke.  The Romans had lost 1 of 3 divisions, but had wisely defended their camp.  It was a close run thing with the 2nd Roman infantry on the verge of breaking but just hanging on long enough.