Thursday, August 6, 2020

Jaxartes River 329 BC - Command and Colors Ancients



Saka deployed on the left, Macedonians on the right



Opposite end



Macedonian right flank with Companions led by Alexander



Macedonian centre



Macedonian left flank



Saka left flank



Saka centre



Saka right flank



View of the table from the Macedonian left flank



View of the table from the Saka left flank




Last Wednesday afternoon I played another solo Command and Colors Ancients (CCA) game out in the shed. The scenario was Jaxartes River with the Macedonians under Alexander taking on the Saka under Satraces. I made a few changes to the scenario making the Saka all light bow cavalry, except for one medium cavalry unit, Satraces' nobles, who were also bow armed. I also used the Parthian shot special rule introduced in Command and Colors Medieval (CCM) for light bow cavalry and the Saka medium cavalry were also able to use this when evading. 

This rule allows a unit to evade two hexes while firing with two dice and it can only be hit with the appropriate coloured dice ignoring all other results. The only change to the Macedonians was to allow the light cavalry Prodromoi to hit on swords as well, reflecting their use of the sarissa. Missile fire across the river was possible only for Alexander's catapults but troops crossing the river could fire and were targets themselves. 

In retrospect the Parthian shot rule was overly effective as the the Macedonians never managed to make any headway and a double flag dice result on the Prodromoi, a retreat of eight hexes and a casualty for every hex beyond the base line they were unable to retreat, seemed to typify their luck in the game. In the end the Saka slaughtered the Macedonians 7-2 victory points. This was a totally unexpected and rather unsatisfying game, given the complete reversal of the actual historical result. While the Parthian shot rule reflects the tactics of steppe nomad armies it may be better reduced to a single dice for CCA scenarios, as moving light bow cavalry normally shoot with only one dice anyway.




Macedonians attempt to cross the river in the centre



Macedonian javelinmen are forced to retreat



Macedonian pike cross in the centre with a double time card



Alexander launches an attack on the Macedonian right flank



Companions advance, Saka evade and cause heavy losses



Companions suffer under heavy bow fire



Casualties mount on the pike in the centre



Macedonian left flank launches an attack



Side view



Macedonians are destroyed or forced to retreat

12 comments:

  1. Your CCA games always look so good, Mike. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jonathan, it was an unexpected result!

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks Michal, always fun to get the troops out.

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  3. These are my favorite posts by you. I am seriously thinking about not doing this for myself in 28’s, but instead with Pendraken 10’s for a more Army feel, plus I can do a table top paint job and have a chance to finish them before I die (well I’m not getting any younger).

    Totally agree with reducing Parthian shot down to 1 die, especially when using C&CA.

    Thanks as always for sharing
    Kevin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kevin, smaller scale figures you definitely get more of an army look and it's easier to crank out the units and fit terrain and building in the hexes. I plan on doing Carrhae at some stage and will try 1 die for the Parthian shot with that. No worries.

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  4. Lovely looking battle, does sound a bit one sided!
    Best Iain

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Iain, it was, a rather strange result.

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks Biblicrafts, took a while to get enough Scythians painted for a game.

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