"Derby AAR 2 - The Road to Nineveh

For the second round, our team were up against "State Your Team" who we were in joint 11th place with. My opponent was Pete Card who had also lost 25-0 in the first round. He'd brought a Middle or Early Neo Assyrian (before 890 BC) army:

2 x Field Commander, 1 x Troop Commander
2 x 6 Light Foot (Average, Unprotected, Undrilled, Bow)
4 x 8 Asharittu* (MF, Average, Protected, Drilled, front rank = light spear/swordsmen, rear rank = bow)
1 x 8 Hupshu (MF, Average, Protected, Undrilled, front rank = light spear, rear rank = bow)
5 x 4 light chariot (Superior, Drilled, bow)

*one of these was in ambush in the gully, but Pete revealed it after I'd finished deploying when it was obvious that I wouldn't be sending any troops anywhere near it.

Pete won initiative and decided on Hilly terrain.

Assyrian right wing - 4 lots of chariots screened by light foot; Asharittu in broken ground

Assyrian left wing - chariots in the open, 2 lots of Asharittu on the steep hill, with rear support from the Hupshu

I decided to concentrate my deployment in one half of the table. My superior foot are on the right flank with the heavy chariots next to them. A unit of average swordsmen are in the brush to protect against a possible flank march (the ambush marker could have been a dummy and that was the only obvious route for a flank march). My centre and left wing have the rest of the average swordsmen and my skirmish screen.

My left wing moving forward into the brush to defend my army's flank against the chariots. Part of my skirmish screen is delaying his centre chariots.

The advantage of deploying in one half of the table - I can take a pic to show my whole army! My superior troops are advancing rapidly on the right wing to tackle his troops on the hill. The average swordsmen's job was to protect my flank.

Closing in on target....

Curse his rear-rank bowmen! My heavy chariots have wheeled slightly to threaten his light chariots.

 

Over on my left flank, one of the MF units in the brush decided to chase away the light foot who had taken 2 bases and dropped them to disrupted. Unfortunately their die roll for the charge move took them into the chariots. I'd be on evens in the combats, but with less dice and he would be re-rolling 1s and 2s. I would need to (somehow) win or draw or I'd be taking cohesion tests on several misuses.

Back to the right wing. I hadn't wanted to charge in, but the right hand guys ignored orders and managed to double-drop after losing the impact. My heavy chariots have run off Pete's light chariots.

Somehow, despite being fragmented, I managed to inflict 2 hits in the melee which allowed me to try to kill his general. I'd lost the melee, so needed a 12 - magically I rolled a double 6.

I forgot to take pics for a couple of turns. The right hand unit held on just long enough for their neighbours and the chariots to join in, then broke with just one base loss. Here you see the effects of the melee - both Asharittu units have broken (the one not facing chariots for seeing the other break). The Hupshu behind managed to roll snake eyes for seeing the break and double-dropped to fragmented. The Asharittu on the left of the pic then routed through them which dropped them to broken. So, that's three Assyrian units down....

Following my pursuit up onto the hill, my chariots have turned to menace his light chariots again. My superior swordsmen have also turned, but it will be a few turns before they can get into any fights.

Back to my left flank. The MF who charged out have broken and their neighbours are now fragged. I can't remember whether that was all from shooting or whether they dropped for seeing the break. They will automatically break in Pete's next impact phase as he has light chariots which will flank charge them.

I managed to get them back up from broken to fragged.

4 heavy chariots vs 2 fragged light chariots - Pete has wisely decided to turn his Asharittu to try to get them out of the way of the inevitable rout and pursuit.

The broken retinue have been rallied back to disrupted. At the moment it looks like I have 3 units broken (2 vanished off the table, one being chased by some light chariots). Things aren't looking too good for my flank guards.

Pete's lights have broken and my heavies have decided to try to make it to his camp. The Asharittu did manage to get clear of the rout and pursuit, but in doing so managed to get caught up in a fight with some of my average swordsmen. My protected superiors have moved up into position to flank charge them on my next turn.

This is the last pic I took. I must have fragged those Asharittu and had one of mine somewhere dropped to fragged as I'd taken 9 points from him and he'd taken 7 from me. That was enough to give me an 11-9 win.

This was a good game. Although Pete wasn't as chatty as Guillaume, he was a decent player. He was very unlucky though as, in theory, I shouldn't have won in the battle of the hill. However (apart from the initial charge by the unit that ignored orders), the dice gods smiled on me and I broke 3 of his units for just one of mine broken (although I did rally it back to disrupted later on).