This article appeared in Wargames Illustrated 212 May 2005. Wargames Illustrated supports WAB with regular articles. © Wargames Illustrated 2005.

This battle report was written by Rob Broom (Justinian Byzantines) and Duncan MacFarlane (Sassanid Persians).

INTRODUCTION (ROB)
The idea came about as Duncan and I travelled back from an enjoyable days gaming at the Battle Honours store in Evesham. The Warhammer Ancient Battles event, organised by Martin Gibbins with sponsorship by Gripping Beast had also been an opportunity for me to talk about the forthcoming WAB supplement Byzantium: Beyond the Golden Gate, and as Duncan has a significant sized Sassanid army, the idea of a battle report featuring the Justinian Byzantines versus the Sassanids was born. Unsurprisingly, I got to command the Byzantines.

In order to get the most from our gaming we decided on a 3000 points per side confrontation, on a 8' x 6' table. We agreed the table set up would feature some gentle slopes and some broken ground towards the flanks, so we could then determine our army selection. Note: as the book was still in editing during this report, some of the minor details regarding rules and points values may have changed by the time you read this.


JUSTINIAN ARMY SELECTION AND THE GRAND PLAN (ROB)
Whilst I have played many games of WAB, I have never used Byzantines, and to compound matters further, not only has Duncan used his Sassanids in many guises during the last year or so, but the play testers early feedback on the Sassanid list in BBTGG was all positive. Many of them were even saying that the list was the best they had seen under any game system, and finally here was a list that gave the Persians a good opportunity to win games.

Still, a quick review of Byzantine tactics during the period allowed me to come up with a plan and army selection, which suited me, both on the way I would execute it, and because of the restrictions I had regarding models I could select. Very few generals have been able to take to war exactly the army they wanted, and I had the same problem, not as much cavalry available as I would like.

So I decided I would take a strong core of Skutatoi spearmen combined with archers (4 units). These would be positioned in the centre, and take advantage of any high ground that may be presented (and as it turned out, there was a nice slope to take advantage of).

I had decided that I would place all my heavy cavalry on one flank, and refuse the other and just cover it with some horse archers, foederati light cavalry and some psiloi.

As it turned out once the table was set up, my right flank became the refused flank. I selected this one as there as a reasonable sized piece of difficult ground that could protect the flank of the skutatoi and the space beyond the difficult ground would take any formed unit some time to manoeuvre around if they were slowed by skirmishers or other light troops.

So on the left, I deployed two units of comitatus, each led by a Merarch, and behind them, I positioned the Bucellarii, led by the Magister and accompanied by his Standard.

The Byzantine cavalry have a special rule where, if they charge and beat an enemy unit, but fail to break them, they can fall back, and then charge again in a subsequent turn, rather than get bogged down in stalemate.

I was hoping to make use of this rule by using the comitatus to wear the enemy down, and follow up with a hammer blow from the Bucellarii.

On the extreme left, I positioned a unit of Ghassanid light cavalry, led by a Phylarch, who were going to move between the ruins, which consisted of several blocks of difficult ground. These ruins were going to initially protect the flank of my heavy cavalry and the once beyond that, the Ghassanids could occupy any enemy troops that might be around.

Between the heavy cavalry and the Ghassanids, I also postioned a unit of psiloi, just to ensure the Ghassanids had some back up if things got difficult and they needed some support.

SET UP AND THE FORCES ARE REVEALED
Once the armies were both deployed I was pleased to see that we had a fair balance in the way we had deployed. Duncan’s army was very cavalry orientated, and his sole unit of levy infantry were placed on a hill in the centre. Plenty of them, but all poor quality troops. To Duncan’s right, and facing my left were two units each of 20 clibinarii, the pride of his army. Fortunately for me, they were faced off against my best troops, so honours equal there.

On my right, the skutatoi could see a couple of elephants and some light clibinarii, and on each flank, Duncan had positioned Huns.

Overall I was content. The elephants could be a worry for the skutatoi, but it would take a number of turns for them to get there. On the flanks, it would be a classic match up of light troops and both sides would be kept occupied for some time.

To my immediate left, the engagement of the heavy cavalry would undoubtedly determine the outcome of the battle, and I was hoping my plan for my cavalry would pay off, especially as I could bring both comitatus units to bear on one of the clibinarii units.

THE SASSANIADS (Duncan)
SHAHANSHAH (King of Kings), armed with hand weapon, kontos, composite bow, heavy armour & buckler, mounted on a half-barded horse.

ARMY STANDARD BEARER, armed with hand weapon, heavy armour & buckler, mounted on a half-barded horse.

REGULAR CLIBANARII, armed with hand weapon, kontos, composite bow, heavy armour & buckler, on half-barded horses. Two units, one of 20 figures, one of 19 (the ASB will fill in here), both with full command of leader, standard bearer & musician.

LIGHT CLIBANARII, armed with hand weapon, thrusting spear, composite bow, light armour & shield. Two units of 10, both with full command.

LIGHT CAVALRY, armed with hand weapon, composite bow & shield. Nomad cavalry, expert horsemen with feigned flight & Parthian shot capabilities. (I used the stats for Parthians - but I see these as Sabiric Huns, sadly not represented in the list of Sassanid allies & mercenaries.) Three units of 9, each with a musician.

LEVY SPEARMEN & ARCHERS, armed with thrusting spear & large shield, and composite bow respectively. One unit with 24 of each type, plus standard & musician.

Two INDIAN ELEPHANTS, each with a crew of three archers in the howdah. (Also armed with javelins, shields & light armour.)

The Sassanid list allows only every second clibanarii unit to have the kontos, so the two small units of lights and the two large units of regulars were dictated by the figures I had available. I had reservations about 20-strong cavalry units, but thought at least they’d simulate the lack of flexibility the Sassanids are accused of by some Roman authors. I did consider an all cavalry army, but in the end opted to have some infantry levy and elephants. The aim was to get the elephants very close to the enemy, and keep the levy as far away as possible!

DEPLOYMENT
A standard ‘infantry centre, cavalry wings’ deployment suited the terrain very nicely. A good hill in the centre of my baseline to sit the levy on. (The extra +1 for uphill of all enemy would be useful should the worst come to the worst and the levy actually get involved in the fighting!) Clibanarii to the flanks, the lights on the left bolstered by the elephants, and nomad horse on the wings. My idea was for a refused left and a powerful right hook, but Rob’s initial dispositions and preliminary moves reversed this, so I would open with a ‘left jab’!