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Pass Clearance (3 January 2021) Pass Clearance. Belisarians 1,750 points - Sassanids 1,250 points. We decided to play twelve turns and the game ended in a slim Sassanid victory.  Looking back on it, I think I was too timid with my Kataphraktoi early on in the game.  I did not want my expensive cavalry shot up by a bunch of Sassanid light troops, and thought I could win an archery duel with my Skutatioi, Huns, and Psiloi before bringing the elite Kataphraktoi and Goth HC to bear on the Sassanid Clibanarii and medium infantry.  As it turned out I lost every archery duel I fought.  To be fair, on this day I rolled HORRIBLY for saving throws while Scott rolled really well.  But still, I should have pressed with all my elite cavalry earlier than I did.  It was a really good game and a fun way to spend an afternoon with pretty figures on a nice table.   The terrain for this iteration of the scenario was different than the first time we played it. The basi...
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 Crossing Point (26 December 2020) This is Scenario Six from Charles Grant's book on Programmed Wargame Scenarios.  River Crossing scenario from Charles Grant’s book. Sassanids were the attackers at 1,750 points vs Belisarian defenders at 1,500 points. The Belisarians had 30% of their troops on the board at the beginning & had to wait for reinforcements until turn 10 (!!), and then I had to roll a 6 on a D6 for my reinforcements to show up. Scott’s army came In piecemeal as well. The game ran for 14 turns before we called it a draw.   The battlefield w/the Byzantines deployed n the south side of an unfordable river. I picked two units of Skutatoi and a unit of Psiloi to start on the table.   These Ewoldt figures are for his Nikephorian army, but are close enough to work for my Belisarians until I get my Belisarian Skutatoi done.     The Byzantine advanced guard holds the bridge.     Scott’s army had to come on in random order...
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 Holding Action - redux (23 December 2020) So, we decided to refight the scenario we played last Saturday.  I had made up a more infantry heavy army and wanted to give it a try to see if I could do better against the Sassanids.  Same terrain, same points: 1,500 for the Belisarians and 2,000 for the Sassanids.  The dismounted elite Kataphraktoi are tough units and fought well against the Sassanid EHC.  This day the victory belonged to the Belisarians.   Same terrain as on Saturday last. Rather than just have big blocks of infantry I decided to break them up in x16 for the Kataphraktoi and x12 for the Skutatoi, except for the purple Skutatoi who had x15 men in the unit.  Once again I stood on the high ground and in the village of Mundopolis.   All of that Byzantine infantry arrayed on the hills does make an impressive sight. The Byzantines interspersed their dismounted Kataphraktoi (the yellow/red shields) with the Skutatoi of lower leadership. ...
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