Romans and Sassanids with Midgard Heroic Battles

 Colin and I tried out a different era with our latest game of Midgard, giving me the chance to dust off my 10mm Late Romans and Sassanid Persians. These haven't seen the table top since a couple of years pre-covid, so it was good to get these little metal men out into the light.

The Persian Wars with the Eastern Roman Empire fits quite well with the ethos of Midgard, as there are numerous examples of single combats, both before and during battles, with fit in with the "Heroic" emphasis of Midgard's leaders. For example there are several mentions of single combats during the battle of Dara in 530. Apparently one soldier had to be ordered by his general not to accept any further challenges, after he had killed two Persian champions, because it was feared that, if he was killed, it would dishearten the army too much. In 371 King Urnayr, a Sassanid ally, specifically asked to be placed in the battleline opposite the Roman's Armenian allied contingent. In the ensuing melee, King Urnayr sought out Mushegh Mamikonian, the Armenian general, and fought him in a single combat. (he lost!).

Some pictures from the game.

The Roman Cavalry get stuck in early.

Cavalry action!

In the meantime the Sassanid centre waits as the Roman infantry plod forward.

                                       

Except for the elephants who move forward.

Roman skirmishers seize the rough ground.

The Sassanid's try an outflanking manoeuvre with some cavalry.

The elephants charge up the hill and crash into a unit of elite legionaries, who do not fare well!

Two Roman cavalry units are destroyed, leaving gaps in the line.

End of turn 3, not many Romans left on the table, although now there are gaps in the Sassanid ranks as well.

The high point of my game, attacking the outflanking cavalry with a unit of auxilia. Let's play a version of spot the ball, where was the missing Sassanid cavalry unit?

Unfortunately this was the last melee of turn 3, which ended with a 1:0 win to the Sassanids.

A very bloody game, at the end of turn 2 it looked really grim for the Romans, but I almost recovered in turn 3. It was quite different compared to our usual game, we had melees starting in turn one! Both forces had a lot of cavalry units and we have got used to predominantly infantry armies.

We will replay this next week, swapping forces to see if we can learn from our opponent's mistakes.