"Rock the Casbah!" - The Wars in Persia, at Roll Call 2025
Sassanid Persian vs Maurikian Byzantine
Game 1 Sassanid Persian vs Maurikian Byzantine
Game 2 Sassanid Persian vs Sassanid Persian
Game 3 Sassanid Persian vs Konstantinian Byzantine
Game 4 Sassanid Persian vs Maurikian Byzantine
Game 5 Sassanid Persian vs Fatimid Egyptian
With two wins and a defeat under the Sassanids belt, Sunday's two games started with a good degree of hope - and a near degree of certainty that the Lakhmid Alliede contingent surely could not start the game unreliable for the 5th and 6th consecutive times?
The opportunity to pop home overnight also allowed me to dig out another light horseman with javelin, meaning that the dodgy substitute of a Medium Foot dismounted cavalry bowmnan would not reappear unless my opponents managed to field elephants (and I chose to dismount some cavalry in response).
So, all was good as I prepared to take on my second Maurician Byzantine opponent of the weekend.
During the 580s, Emperor Maurice initiated significant reforms to the Byzantine army aimed at strengthening the empire's military capabilities amid growing external threats.
One of his most notable contributions was the reorganization of military logistics and strategy. He emphasized the importance of mobility and supply efficiency, instituting more permanent field armies stationed along the frontiers, particularly in the Balkans and eastern provinces. This allowed for quicker responses to invasions and raids, especially by the Avars and Slavs in the West and the Persians in the East.
Maurice also sought to professionalize the army further by reducing its dependence on expensive mercenaries and increasing reliance on native troops. He introduced stricter discipline and training standards and encouraged the establishment of soldier-farmer communities (later seen in the themes system).
Additionally, he wrote the Strategikon, a military manual attributed to him, which codified tactics, formations, and practical advice for commanders—reflecting his systematic approach to warfare. These reforms laid the groundwork for Byzantine military resilience in the following centuries.
The lists for the Sassanid Persian and Maurikian Byzantine from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Roll Call can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
The Byzantines across the table this morning had opted to fight alongside a waterway, narowing the table and in the process presumably creating less space for the Sassanid horse archers to escape from the lance-point charging attacks of the Byzantine Boukellarii
This did of course mean there would be less table for the Byzantines to avoid the Sassanid elephants, which were tee'ed up to charge straight at the enemy baggage, forcing the Byzantines to do something to try and stop them.
In an unsurprising development to anyone who has read any of the previous three reports, the Lakhmid Arabs, deployed yet again on an outside flank (this time the right) decided that Sunday morning was a time for putting up their feet, opening the Sunday papers and flicking through the channels to a repeat of last nights football on the telly. AAAARGH!!
With a mountain (laid by me, as I attacked in Mountain terrain) bifurcating the Byzantine deployment area, the opportunity to move first did allow the huge Elephant corps to lurch forward at some speed, pinning the Byzantine command opposite them into the resulting gap.
Even the Levy spearmen were being utilized (yet again) as front line combat troops here, walking carefully alongside the elephant Death Star to maintain as much width in the Sassanid advance as possible in an effort ot shut the door on any Boukellarii squirting themselves out of the gap in front of the mountain
It wasn't big or clever, but it was wide and it was advancing, and that's good enough for many sets of wargames rules in its own right!
What's Going on Here Then?
This is now, for me, a three part battle, with that fragmentation being dictated by the terrain. The Elephants and Dailami should have enough punch to drive back the Byzantine cavalry defending their camp, hopefully catching a few on the way as they inevitably fall back.
In the centre the enemy's Sassanid ally can be simply outnumbered by my own Cavalry command if I can support it with some of the cavalry from the CinC's Elephant-led Corps, so with that I can rely on simply maths and statistics to outnumber, outshoot and then mop up the turncoat allies.
The Arabs are a dilemma for both me and my opponent - they can't be ignored in case they come back online, so the Byzantine left wing can't fully focus on supporting their Sassanid ally, yet the three camels and 5 LH are enough of a threat that it would not be a simple matter to just attack and expect to sweep them away either. As an added bonus (for me) they are rather detached from the rest of the battle, so even if the Byzantines do commit resources and manage to defeat them, those troops may find it difficult to return to the fray where I should hopefully have the upper hand in the other two sections of the table.
The bifurcated (I've only just started using that word and so now I'm going to get the most use out of it I can) battlefield did however mean that a good 2/3 of the Byzantine army were on the opposite side of the table to the Sassanid Elephant Corps, and the Byzantines could do math.
Outgunning and outnumbering the Lakhmids, the Byzantines swept forward at a rate of knots to trap the Arabs on their starting line, triggering them to action with a volley of archery and a lance-point aimed right at their throats.
The battle was now splitting into three almost-separate mini matchups, with the route of the Elephants the most obvious and visible.
In the centre the second Sassanid command, almost all cavalry, swept forward towards a waiting Sassanid allied contingent who had shamefully decided to take the coin of Constantinople and fight for the mortal enemies of their own Great Shah, as just out of shot the Lakhmids were surprised to find themselves forced into the fight at a much earlier stage than they clearly had hoped or expected
The Lakhmids' skirmishing horsemen had by now fallen back in a rather laggardly fashion through the camels in the face of the Byzantines firmly pressed attack, and now the camels were already involved.
In the centre this did leave the Sassanid on Sassanid shower shooting matchup rather isolated, with neither side keen to initiate the assault until their shooting had eked out an advantage - and with the cavalry component of the Elephant command now in place to help, my Sassanids were conscious of the advantage of numbers.
When the Boukellarii charged, the earth itself seemed to tremble, the weight of their wrath pounding into the soil
The Camelry were however not yet fully awake, and collapsed like a military force who have managed to get 80% deep into a campaign without actually having to test themselves in any meaningful fighting
A dreadful alignment of the Arab's light horsemen, coupled with penetrating Byzantine shooting and a half-hearted evade then resulted in a cascade of catastrophes, as the death of the Camel unit resulted in the routing camelry overrunning the light horsemen behind, for a single combat loss resulting in a 3-unit wave of destruction!
L'Art de la Guerre hint - When a combat unit dies in combat in ADLG, every unit within 1 base width behind them takes a hit - nominally as a result of the routing troops running through them and causing cascading panic.
In this case, as the LH were not perfectly aligned behind the Camels, the death of one Camel unit caused losses on both of the LH who were partially behind it.
Added to the hits the light horse had taken from shooting in the previous turn, this resulted in the death of 3 whole units as a result of one single melee loss
The well-drilled Byzantines took instant advantage of the chaos and space afforded to them by the destruction of so many Arabian opponents, and streaming across the plains they galloped with regal fury, the tails of their horses streaming like banners in the wind to turn on the remnants of the Lakhmid command with speed and fury.
For the remaining few camels, the effect was overwhelming — rather than being a winning surprise, the glinting steel, whirling dust, and unrelenting fire of the Byzantines meant the Camel allied contingent was instantly now facing removal from the table at a very early stage of the battle
With the flank collapsing (or more accurately, almost entirely gone) the game was potentially slipping away at a rate of knots.
With the Sassanid on Sassanid shooting face-off starting to somehow slip away from me too, throwing the cavalry into melee in the centre seemed like the best option to force a resolution before the Byzantines mopping up the Lakhmids could return to tip the scale in the centre too
What's Going on Here Then?
This isn't going to plan at all. The Elephants and Dailami are still struggling to make headway towards the camp in their advance down by the side of the major water feature as the Byzantines are staging a well drilled retreat.
In the centre I appear to have conspired to be losing a battle of identical troops in which I have what should be a material advantage in numbers - the enemy Sassanids are rallying effectively, shooting better than my cavalry, and fighting better as well - and being on all three of those slippery slopes is a recipe for taking a major tumble.
The Byzantines have also devoted far more resources to vigorously attack the Lakhmids than I had expected, and the Arabs have just collapsed under the assault, with an very unfortunate "short" evade by the LH (leaving them in the death zone of several Camels) exacerbating and accelerating the catastrophe.
The battle is starting to look unwinnable without a major change in fortune in the centre.
The ground by the waterside meanwhile was quaking as the Sassanid war elephants advanced, each step a drumbeat of doom echoing across the plain.
The Byzantine cavalry faltered at the sight, horses rearing, riders shouting, and formations breaking up as they fled back piecemeal towards their camp to try and avoid the mighty beasts.
But this was destined to be a mere sideshow, or so it seemed, as the Sassanid on Sassanid matchup resulted in a near total instant wipeout for my forces
As the two lines of Clibanarii clashed decisively, those paid by Byzantium emerged with nary a scratch, and the loyalist forces of the one true Emperor were utterly vanquished, their horses bolting from the field without command, their lines buckled like dry timber under the relentless hammer of the turncoats attacks.
Sassanid Civil War
Fittingly perhaps, the last of the Lakhmid Camels was the final straw.
Surrounded, peppered with arrows from all sides, and exhausted, they died, and with them the hopes of a second successive Sassanid victory against the army of the Strategikon this weekend also died with them too.
The Result is a crushing defeat for the Persians.
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Sassanid Persian Commander
Let the empire hear me now—not in sorrow, but in solemn reckoning. For not every battle is a victory, but every loss may yet be a warning writ in flame.
Here today the lions of Eranshahr roared. Our elephants, bold and unshaken, drove the Roman horse to the edges of their own camp! Who has seen such thunder before? Who else could inspire beasts to charge like storm clouds over the plains?
But alas—what seemed a rout was a ruse. The Roman cavalry — ever sly, ever skittish — fled not from fear, but from cunning, luring our might away from the heart of the fray. It was not our fault their cowardice turned the field into a trap. Would you punish the hawk because its prey feigned death?
Meanwhile, in another corner of the field, our noble horsemen clashed with traitors in our own armor—rebel Sassanid wretches, cloaked in imperial colors, selling their blood to Rome! That our cavalry faltered is no shame—it is no fault to be outmatched by one's own mirror, twisted and corrupted. Treason fights with a darker sword than any foreigner.
As for our Arab auxiliaries — what can be said? Their hearts were, as ever, slow to stir. They waited, as the battle’s tide turned dark, and when the Roman tide came upon them, they broke like reeds. Overrun, scattered, lost before their scimitars left their scabbards
And now the murmurs begin. Some whisper: ‘Did not the Great Shah chase shadows with his elephants? Did he not misread the battle’s pulse?’ To these I say: Do you question the sun for not seeing clouds beyond the mountains? I acted as any ruler must — decisively, and with the empire’s glory at heart.
This was no defeat of generalship, but of unseen daggers and veiled disloyalties. Even the greatest tree may fall if its roots are poisoned
But we are not broken. Let the rebels enjoy their fleeting glory—traitors are always smiling before the sword finds their neck. Let the Romans boast in their hollow camp. I do not retreat—I regrow. The fire of Khosrow does not die in wind—it waits for fuel.
And when next we march, we do so without illusions, without weak limbs beside us. Only the faithful shall ride in my shadow. And woe to those who turned away today—for I shall remember.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
O Great Khosrow Dastan, Beloved of Perfumed Mirrors, Grand Master of Misdirection, and Sultan of Self-Sabotage
Forgive the bluntness of an old general, but your latest scroll reached me with so much perfume and self-praise it nearly caused my war elephants to stampede from embarrassment.
You speak of elephants thundering toward the enemy, of glory and charge. What I see, O Connoisseur of Catastrophe, is a classic bait: the Byzantines flash their cavalry like baubles before a magpie, and your beasts go lumbering after them — trumpeting proudly as they remove themselves entirely from the battlefield.
Was it part of your divine plan to let your heaviest troops chase butterflies into irrelevance? Because from where I sit, it looked less like strategy and more like sending your war elephants off on a particularly energetic picnic.
“Meanwhile, the real fight happened behind you—where your own cavalry were outmaneuvered, outshot, and outfought by fellow Persians now riding with Byzantium. A curious thing, no? That some of your own kind would rather break bread with their ancient foes than follow you. Could it be, my rose-scented monarch, that your reputation at home isn’t quite the song you sing abroad?
Perhaps the price of your golden throne is a few too many broken promises. Or taxes. Or a habit of taking credit for the deeds of better men. Just speculating, of course.
And then, ah yes, the Lakhmids—again! Battle four. Four. F-O-U-R times they have refused to lift a finger until slapped. Once more, you placed them on a lonely wing of the battlefield, where they might be ignored—or better yet, annihilated at leisure.
Tell me, do you place them there because you wish to see them wiped out, or do you simply lack the imagination to do anything else?
A sane general—say, one who doesn’t wear his crown inside his helmet—might, at this point, consider changing tactics. But not you, Prince of Repetition. You march to the same tune each time, and are shocked anew when the sand gets in your sandals.
Your enemies have learned your patterns. Your allies have learned to loathe you. And you, it seems, have learned nothing.
Still, write your speeches. Call it sabotage. Call it fate. Call it brilliance if it soothes your vanity. But know that from Iberia to India, generals laugh in their tents and mutter: ‘Ah yes. Khosrow. Baited again.
With eternal disbelief, I Hannibal Barca, Veteran of Real Battles, Speaker of Truths, and Strategic Babysitter to Sand-Drenched Peacock Kings peer nervously though my fingers to witness the outcome of your final game in this tournament
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
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Game 1 Sassanid Persian vs Maurikian Byzantine
Game 2 Sassanid Persian vs Sassanid Persian
Game 3 Sassanid Persian vs Konstantinian Byzantine
Game 4 Sassanid Persian vs Maurikian Byzantine
Game 5 Sassanid Persian vs Fatimid Egyptian
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