Late Romans vs Sassanid Persians (Lion Rampant Variant)

The pictures are from a recent game between Late Romans and Sassanid Persians. My friend a I used a variant of Lion Rampant.

The scenario was an adaptation of one in Lion Rampant. The Romans had to cross the gaming board (4' by 4') diagonally with Persians on both sides.

It turned out very one-sided. The Persian heavy cavalry were all double-armed with bows. The Persian infantry consisted of two units, one of which was levies and the other bow-armed. The Sassanid cataphracts were not double-armed.

The Romans had two units of heavy cavalry, one unit of javelin cavalry, one of Roman horse archers, and one of mercenary Huns. They also had one unit of Auxlia and one of Legionaries, neither of which were split units that featured archers. The third Roman infantry unit was archers. They did serve to protect the other Roman infantry units.

The Romans (me) suffered from horrendous dice. We use the one activation failure rule, which determines whether you are done for the turn. Many do not like this rule, but I prefer the uncertainty associated with it, even though I had three consecutive turns that paralyzed an army whose goal was to exit the board! 

I have no complaints.

My most effective unit was the Roman light cavalry with javelins. When they could fire and move, they were very effective. The Hun unit got shot to pieces early, and the Roman horse archers did little better.

The Roman heavy cavalry started out well, giving as good as they got, but the paralysis came into play, giving the Persian heavy cavalry ample opportunity to shoot with impunity.

The Roman infantry, slow to begin with compared to the cavalry, basically occupied space that was not useless but accomplished little, given the paralysis. 

My friend Jim commanded his Sassanids (superb paint jobs!). He placed all his light troops (protected by a stream) on one flank and the heavy units on the other.

I threaded the needle between the two but never gained much traction. In retrospect, trying to force the stream may have been the better option, but that would have meant enduring the Persian heavy cavalry on the other flank. I thought it better to try and destroy the heavier troops before the lighter troops could make much of a difference.

Whether we win or lose is not really important. You try to attain the victory conditions, but in the end, it's all about a fun set of rules and a parade of finely painted miniatures.

The scale of the figures for the game was 1\72, and all are plastics from Zvezda, Hat and Italeri.

Lion Rampant is a fine set of rules, in my opinion. Ordinarily, I do not like picking a game force using a point system, but when my opponent is my friend, Jim, it works very well since neither of us suffers from the all-too-common temptation to field super armies. In other words, upgrades are rare.

However, within Lion Rampant, there are just enough upgrades, especially regarding weapons, to allow a gamer to field a force suitable for whatever the enemy is.

In that sense, a Late Roman army was far more versatile than a Sassanid one.

After the game, I painted up another unit of Auxilia, but this time it's a split unit ;-)

Enjoy the pictures!

Roman Auxlia (Italeri)

Roman Heavy Cavalry (Hat)

Hun Mercenaries (Hat)

Roman Legionnaires (Italeri)

Roman Lt.  Javelin Cavalry (Hat)

Roman Auxiliary Archers (Italeri)

Two units of Roman Heavy Cavalry (Hat)

Sassanid Cataphracts (Zvezda)

Sassanid Heavy Cavalry (Zvezda)

Sassanid Heavy Cavalry (Zvezda)

Sassanid Lt. Cavalry Horse Archers (Hat)

Sassanid Levy Infantry (Hat)

Sassanid Lt. Infantry Archers (Hat)

Sassanid Heavy Cavalry (Zvezda)

Roman Light Cavalry attempted to flank the Sassinids.

Roman Heavy Cavalry attempted to hold the hill.

Roman Cavalry attempt to break out!

Romans and Macedonians Collections

 

My interest in the Macedonian and Punic Wars dates back to the publication of Phil Barker's book of the same name. Back in those days 25mm metal Minifigs were standard but were supplemented by other manufacturers who did figures in 25mm scale.

My first armies are long gone (sadly). I've spent the last ten years giving the period new life with as many vintage figures as I could find, as long as they were compatible with the numerous plastic 1\72 sets appropriate to the period in question.

The intended rules are a fan-created variant drawn from Lion Rampant. 

Back in the day, I had a number of Macedonian Brescia Miniatures. I was fortunate to find quite a few on eBay and they became the nucleus of my late Macedonian Army.

As you can see from the pictures below, they and the Polybian Romans have been supplemented by HAT and the excellent Newline figures in 20mm.

Brescia were always small, 25mm, compared to the chunkier Minifigs and Hinchcliffe, so they fit well with 20-22mm figures in separate units.

These were the standard Macedonian Phalanx by Brescia. They were not fancy, having a leather jerkin rather than metal. I always thought they were perfect for a late Macedonian army.

These are Brescia Cretan archers. By today's standards a bit crude but I love them.

I supplemented my phalanx with the excellent plastic set from HAT. With HAT you get a great assortment of styles. What I like about the HAT set is the ability to put armored phalangites in the front rank and lesser armored behind.

These are Brescia Hypaspists. The Brescia Macedonian line was intended to be Alexander's army. In my army, I use the figure to represent the transition from a lightly armed peltast to a more heavily armed type capable of standing in the line of battle. They are painted up to represent an elite.

Brescia also made an armored phalangite with a crested helmet. I got just enough to make an agema type unit.

These figures are HAT cobbled together from Alexander's Companions and Thessalian sets. They represent standard heavy cavalry in a late Macedonian Army.

Brescia peltasts. Based on Barker's book, I painted them up as Thracians. He recommended a black tunic for Thracians who served as mercenaries in a late Macedonian army.

These are my "wild" Thracians, figures by Newline. When it comes to 20mm scale, Newline figures are simply excellent. I have an unpainted unit of Newline phalanx waiting in the wings!

These are Minifigs given to me by a friend. I use them for a command unit.

Newline Triarii for my Polybian Romans

Newline Hastatus

Newline Principes

HAT Hastatus. I did these before I became aware of Newline. They are early HAT sculpts and not as good as other ancient figures done by HAT later. Still, they are pretty cool!

HAT Principes

HAT Triarii

A HAT command stand and a Newline command stand.

I thought the Strelets Velites were very cool, so I did a unit.

HAT Velites

Newline Roman Heavy Cavalry

HAT Italian Allies

I have more units that didn't make the photo shoot, but the pics are a pretty good sample of two armies.

Italeri 1\72 ACW

 My 1\72 ACW collection is large and features plastic miniatures from Italeri, HAT, Accurate, Revell, and classic Airfix.

I also have metal ACW figures from Musket Miniatures in 22mm and 20mm figures from Newline and Irregular.

When I got back into the hobby in 2014 and wanted to do ACW again I did the Italeri figures first. With very few exceptions, Italeri figures rank among the best in 1\72 plastic.

The Italeri ACW collection has an early-war look to them.

Confederate Cavalry. I painted them up to represent Hampton's Legion.

Union Cavalry. I use this unit as US Regulars.

Union Infantry. The two bases in front are skirmishers. 

Confederate Infantry. I painted them up to represent and early war South Carolina Brigade.

A better look at the Union Infantry. I usually use them for early-war generic Union units.

Confederate Infantry with the South Carolina flag more prominent. 

Two regiments of South Carolina rebs.

Most of my Italeri ACW collection. The Zouaves from the Union set have found there way into a composite Zouave unit consisting of HAT and Italeri miniatures and so did not make the cut.

IMEX AWI Artillery

The figures are 1/72 IMEX from the British and American artillery sets. I used some from each set. They are painted as Continental artillery although the British uniform is not much different. The poses are excellent imo, but the guns that come with the sets are terrible. They are way to small which is to bad because it’s a howitzer in the British set. I tried to make them work but no go so I salvaged two guns from an IMEX set of Mexican artillery for the Mexican American War.