Sumerian First Game!

A little over one year (13 months, actually) after starting a Sumerian Army (well, actually two!), my Sumerians take to the field of battle.

Following on Graham's Sumerian battle in last week's remote game, I offered up my Sumerians for another look at Ancient Mesopotamian warfare in this week's game.  In preparation for hosting the weekly remote UK game, Kevin volunteered to help me put the armies through their paces with a Basic Impetvs variant I devised.

Battle lines are drawn

We would use two matched armies in the contest with the victory condition of breaking the enemy army in a straight-up fight.  Each army would contain 17 BMUs.  Plenty of units for a big battle.  I would play the Red Army.  Kevin would play the Blue Army.

Notice that one unit of heavy infantry (spear) on each side of the table is of the opposite color.  Whoops.  That was a last minute mix-up on my part.  To even out the two armies, I swapped one of the red shielded spear with one of the blue unshielded spear.  I forgot to swap their colored VBU dice.  This would cause me some confusion later in the game during the heat of battle.

The armies advance.

To begin the battle, Red launches a broad advance across the battlefield (remember I am playing Red and positions are relative to my place standing behind the Red deployment zone).  With skirmishers ineffective against skirmishers in missile fire, the skirmishers in the Left Battle Group (BG) charge the skirmishers facing them.  In the melee, one Blue skirmisher is scattered.  One of the Red skirmishers is damaged and disordered.  Marginal success!  I try the ploy again, this time using my Center BG.  Unfortunately, my two-skirmisher attack is repulsed with heavy casualties.

Skirmishers contest the center of the battlefield

while control of the pond is up for grabs.

Seeing the success of skirmisher vs. skirmisher melee, Kevin attacks my weakened skirmisher on the left.  His attack sends both my skirmisher and its support into retreat.  In the center, his slingers damage the javelinmen screening my center.  Kevin's army plods slowly forward.  My skirmishers on both left and center sectors are running for cover.  To cover their retreat, the heavy infantry advance while the battle cart in my Left BG trots forward through the skirmishers.  Is the enemy within striking distance?   

Red skirmishers in flight.

Red Lugal surveys the situation.

He is!  Wasting little time, my Left BG's battle cart strikes!  Seeing the activity on the left flank, my Right BG plunges into enemy skirmishers.  Luckily for Kevin, all of his skirmishers manage to successfully evade my heavies.  Hope my attacking formations have not over-extended themselves.

Red attacks!

The attack with my battle cart on the left goes much better than the attack on the right.  While my cart is disordered in the clash, the enemy spearmen are driven off with loss.  My attacks are looking good as the battle unfolds with roughly even losses to each.  An enemy cart stands vigilant protecting the retreating infantry while awaiting its chance to pounce on my disordered cart. 

The enemy is driven back!
but at what cost?

As expected, the enemy battle cart does not wait long to strike.  It moves forward, wheels, and attacks!  Beaten, my battle cart retreats to safety.  The enemy Lugal, in his battle cart, charges ahead into the Red battle cart of my Right BG.  Again, my cart is overpowered with heavy loss.  It, too, is forced to make a hasty retreat.  The battle is turning against me.

In a futile attempt to stabilize the situation and salvage the battle, Red's Lugal charges forward into enemy heavy infantry.  In a prolonged melee, the Lugal goes down and the cart destroyed.

Red Lugal in melee!

Red Army begins to waver.

With Red Army reeling, the enemy Lugal, flushed from success, pursues into the wavering skirmishers.  The skirmishers are cut down like standing grain.  As the Red center collapses, the left fares no better.  Blue heavy infantry are hunting down the buckling enemy.  In an instant, the battle is over.

Hunting down the vanquished.

Victory to the Blue Army and Kevin!

What looked like an evenly matched battle that was developing into a slugfest, quickly changed to a destruction of my Red Army.  The key to victory for Kevin was that he pushed his pursuits against units that had taken casualties and were in no shape to offer up significant resistance.  When it rains, it pours.  I went from an army in good shape to broken in two turns.  I think Kevin was surprised by his success.

As for the rules, I think they did the job.  Having a warm-up game before the six-player remote game on Tuesday was a good choice.  This game provided a chance to bring up a potential kink that is easily resolved.  With activation by BG, it was easy to lose track of which unit belonged to which BG.  Now, VBU dice will be color-coded so this confusion will not interfere with the next game.  Having the results from this contest and the QRS fresh in mind, Tuesday's game has a chance to proceed more smoothly. 

Thanks again to Kevin for a very useful and enjoyable outing.  Oh, and congratulations on a resounding victory.