Charles S.

Grant "Unfair," you may say, "these were beaten

troops in the aftermath of a major battle." All
behind, to protect and bring up his slow moving
siege train, while he pressed on against the
presents the first part right, but there are numerous other examples Parthians. This detachment was attacked by
of the last Teaser in during this period for example the French
Army in Egypt, largely infantry against the
the Parthians, the Armenians deserted and the
remainder were destroyed. Forced, by the lack
the series — infantry Mamelukes. Remember too, that many of siege train to retire, Antonius extricated his
wargamers do not represent full scale battles army only after numerous skirmishes and two
versus cavalry . . . but smaller engagements between detached major battles at a cost of about 30,000 men.
and not necessarily representative forces of We have, therefore, a period, let us say from
A field army would of course, be crippled two armies. On these grounds alone such a the 1st Century B.C. until the 5th Century A. D.,
and worthless without the services scenario may be justified. well suited to an infantry versus cavalry
which feed, ammunition, tend the sick, We may, however, go further into the past scenario,
transport and repair or maintain its and find armies which consisted almost Who then, will be our cavalry army? The
equipment. Despite this, it is the teeth entirely of one arm or the other and which are choice of nationality will inevitably influence
arms or combat arms which do the
fighting, win or lose the battles, and
consequently are seen to determine the
struggle. Through the centuries the teeth
arms have been grouped into infantry,
cavalry and artillery (the engineers being
considered for the greater part of that time
as part of, or performing duties for, the
artillery), in consequence of this grouping
of arms many generals have become
known for their preference for, or ability to
use one in particular. This predilection
may have stemmed from early service,
training or natural flair for operating that
particular arm. This tendency, in particular
to be a "cavalry" or an "infantry" genera!,
is carried onto the wargame table.
Armies of a specific nationality may, of
course, favour a particular arm during a
period of history as a result of natural or
geographical phenomena The army of
Maria Theresa, for example, made ample
use of the national talents to provide
jager or light infantry. Of course, one
associates Huns with horses, Alexander
with the Macedonian phalanx, Rome with
the legio, and Medieval England with the
longbow. The examples are endless. The
nationally representative. We will look at some the composition. For a light cavalry army a Hun
artillery arm seldom predominates but its
of these nations shortly, but first, a few case force would be well suited. This would consist
importance will fluctuate depending on
histories. largely of light horse archers with possibly
the commander (Napoleon, of course,
In 53 B.C. a Roman army under Crassus, some heavy cavalry provided by pressed or
was a gunner), and the national expertise.
consisting largely of infantry, suffered greatly allied nations such as Goths or Germans. The
Each arm had advantages and
at the hands of the Parthians at Carhae. The Goths themselves, in particular the Ostrogoth
disadvantages. Nowadays, most
Parthian force consisted of 1000 cataphracts armies of the 5th Century, were largely cavalry
commanders would attempt to achieve
(armoured heavy cavalry) and 10,000 horse orientated. If a heavy cavalry army is desired
something approaching a balanced force.
archers. The Romans, on the other hand, had then Sarmatians, Parthians or Sassanid
Such a force would have an inherent
28,000 heavy infantry and 4000 or so light armies all offer a good choice. The former
flexibility which would enable the
infantry. The 10,000 Roman cavalry were tended to be cataphract and heavy cavalry
commander to meet ail threats and to
effectively reduced by 6000 when the Arab while Parthians could be about 4:1 cataphract
deploy his force to suit the terrain. For
cavalry deserted leaving a largely infantry to light horse archers. Sassanid armies offer
example, cavalry would be to the fore
army. From this period, until the battle of largely armoured cavalry on partly armoured
over open ground while infantry would
Adrianople (Hadrianopolis) in A.D. 378, there horses with some light cavalry and some
be preferable in close country. This idea is
were a number of battles, not all so completely armoured cataphracts. This very
all very well if one's force is balanced but
unsuccessful, between Roman foot and brief synopsis is only intended to set the
one may not be so fortunate. This
Barbarian horse armies. At the aforemen- scene and does not pretend to be
"Teaser" intends to put the extreme case.
tioned battle, a force of 60,000 Romans, of comprehensive. However, for those to whom
On the one hand a virtually all-cavalry
which two-thirds were infantry, were routed ideas such as Kontos, cataphract, Sarmatians
force and on the other the almost all-
by the actions of the Gothic horse. This steady and Ostrogoths are new and interesting, I
infantry army. "What nonsense" you say,
trend in mounted armies gradually led to the would recommend a Wargames Research
"unrealistic, it never happened!" Well
increase in cavalry in the Roman army parti- Group publication ‘The Armies and Enemies of
before setting our "Teaser," a few words
cularly from the 4th Century A.D. Imperial Rome’ which provides an interesting
in justification of this scenario are
There were, of course, less successful study of the organisation, tactics, weapons and
provided.
examples of “cavalry" armies taking on infantry. dress of the period.
While modern armies tend to work in
At Taurus, in 39 B.C., the Parthian horse Finally, the period we are considering is a
balanced forces, one does not have to delve
archers came off the worst, although it must be broad one and the Roman infantry were
too deeply into the past to find incidents
said that the slingers in the Roman force did themselves an evolving force, it therefore
of combats between a force of
much of the damage. The following year at behoves us to note briefly the type of legionary
predominantly one arm against a force of
Gindarus, the result was much the same weapons for whatever period of enemy we are
another arm. The pursuit of the Prussians
despite an increase in Parthian cataphracts. In dealing, in general terms the pilum, along with
after Jena, for example, saw Murat's
36 B.C. at Urumia, Antonius foolishly left his the gladius (short sword), was the armament
cavalry outdistancing the infantry support
Armenian cavalry with a couple of legions up to the late 2nd, or early 3rd, Century A.D
and taking on large groups of infantry.
 This was replaced by the lancea (light
spear) or a mix of lancea and pila. By the
late 3rd Century, these in turn were
overtaken by the spiculum, a heavy
throwing spear, and verutum, a light
javelin. Finally, in the 4th and 5th
Centuries the weapon was a spatha or
long thrusting spear, usually with throwing
darts, or a javelin. The Roman legionary
was therefore, not the straightforward
schoolboy's notion, and "one Roman pilum
might be another's javelin."
Enough of these preliminaries — now to
the Teaser.
Terrain
The table is laid out as shown on the map.
Depending on the armies chosen (see
"Period") it can be an area of the Eastern
Mediterranean or Central Europe. The
south east side is bounded by a broad and
impassable river along the north bank of
which runs a road of sorts. In the north
the foothills begin to rise into the
mountains. Two passes are clearly visible.
The first contour level is a terrain factor,
the second is impassable to cavalry.
Period
The introduction has already set a period
between the 1st Century B.C. and 5th
Century A.D, The two cavalry armies given
below set the period more specifically at
A.D 450 for the Hun army, or in the case
of the Sassanid force, somewhere in the
3rd or 4th Century A.D. Of course, this
need not constrain the wargamer from
doing his own thing, such as a Parthian
army of the 1st Century B.C. or some
completely different period.
Red Force (Roman)
Ref. Force
A. Four cohorts of a Legio (40figures
+ officers per cohort);
B. One unit of light archers;
C. One unit of Auxilium, light
medium infantry (30 figures +
officers),
D. One unit of light cavalry, javelin
armed (20 figures + officers).
The cohorts would be medium infantry,
and in the case of both armies below, if we
assume the 4th or 5th Century A.D. would
be armed with long thrusting spears and
darts or javelins,
Blue Force (Barbarian)
Two options are given for the Blue force,
one predominantly of light cavalry, the
other of heavy cavalry. Take your pick.
(a) Hun Cavalry Army (light)
 Five units of light horse archers/javelins
(15 figures + officers in each unit);
 Two units of Goth medium cavalry
with javelins and spear (20figures +
officers in each unit);
 One unit of javelin-armed medium Goth
infantry (30 figures + officers).
(b) Sassanid Cavalry Army (heavy)
 Two units of super heavy cataphracts, no Little more needs to be said. The play is quite
bows or shields but armed with kontos (10 straightforward and no special rules are
figures + officers each); needed. One point worth noting is that if a
 Four units of extra heavy cavalry with bow light cavalry army is used, the Roman column
and kontos (15 figures + officers per unit); should be further away, that is beginning at
 Two units of light cavalry, with bow, point P on the map. This is so that the superior
javelin and shield (15 figures + officers per light cavalry move cannot allow the whole of
unit); the cavalry army to interpose itself between
the Romans and the hills by a speedy flank
 One unit of mercenary light archers. (30
gallop.
figures + officers).
That said, it only remains to lay out the table
Situation — General Outline and let battle commence.
Assuming cavalry army (b) is chosen but the
general idea is the same for both. Next month, with the Editor's permission, I will
tell you how we at Dover fared with this one.
The Roman force (Red) has been marching
south west down the north bank of the river to
reinforce the main army some days' march
away. In the early hours of the daylight,
having started early to avoid the heat of the
day they are surprised to see a cloud of dust
ahead.
Scouts yesterday reported no enemy activity
and the column, therefore, halts without
deploying, to let what they assume to be a
sand storm, subside. As the dust settles the
horrified Romans see before them the
glittering ranks of Sassanid cavalry halted and
deployed no more than a mile away.
Roman Force
The Roman force is badly placed with a flank
on the impassable river, a wide plain about
them and still in column of route (see map).
The commander knows that to survive he must
get his force, or as much as he can of it, into
the relative safety of the hills to the north. To
bolt and run for it would be a disaster; his
troops would be cut down long before they
reached the hills. On the other hand he knows
that he lacks the strength and position to meet
and beat the full Sassanid force. Somewhere
between the two he has to compromise. A
series of holding actions while his army
withdrew in good order must be the answer.
The steady movement with a rear guard would
work to his advantage as the slow moving,
heavy cavalry would be pressed to match him.
Whatever has to happen, last light must see
the army in the foothills.
Roman Aim
Your aim is to conduct a fighting withdrawal
north wards to reach the foothills with the
army by night fall.
Sassanid Force
The Sassanid force has moved through the
previous day and early this morning to reach a
blocking position to bring the Roman column
to battle The aim has been achieved — now
for the execution. I know how I would set
about it — how about you? I'll say no more
except that the Sassanid army is drawn up on
the line X-Y on the map.
Sassanid Aim
Your aim is to destroy the Roman column
before it can reach the safety of the hills.
The Game