Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Sumerians in Action Again!

Fresh off a stinging defeat (see A Loss of Pre-Biblical Proportions) followed by a marginal victory (sorry no report), the paired Sumerians armies take to the field for a third battle.  This time, I face Matt in a head-to-head match-up.  Matt briefly notes the battle here but he does not tell the whole story.

As in the prior two contests, two evenly matched Sumerian armiess face off on a featureless plain.  Each army has twelve units distributed as,
2 x Battle Carts
2 x Heavy Spear Foot
3 x Massed Bow
1 x Skirmisher, Bow
2 x Skirmishers, Javelin
2 x Skirmishers, Slinger
Rules in use are my variant of Basic Impetvs on a grid. 

Matt commanded the Blue Army.  I took the reins of the Red Army.
Let's see how the battle evolved.
Armies drawn up for battle.
Jon's Red Army
Matt's Blue Army
Steady boys!
Steady...
Winning the initiative, Red Army steps off toward the enemy battle line.  Keeping the Lugal in his battle cart behind the center, the second battle cart heads out to the left.  Blue counters by peeling off both battle carts and swinging them out to the right.  Is Blue attempting a flanking maneuver? 
Red advances its battle line.
Blue swings both battle carts out to the right.
As Blue battle cars move off to the right, the battle begins.  With skirmishing ineffective at range against skirmishers, Blue closes in with slingers.  In a quick clash, the enemy is dispatched and scattered.  Seeing this unexpected success, Blue sends one of the heavy infantry forward.  The remainder of the battle line follows suit.
A quick clash scatters a Red skirmisher
as Blue's battle line steps forward.
Tension mounts as both lines are poised to strike!
And strike they do!

The Blue skirmisher, closest to the enemy, slips into the gap in the enemy line while the Blue Lugal, in his battle car smashes into the enemy skirmishers to his front.  Failing to evade in the face of these asses, the skirmishers are sent reeling back though their lines.  Fortunately for Red, the Lugal fails to pursue.  Failure to pursue would be a common thread throughout this battle.  

While Blue archers disorder a Red spear block, Red's other spear block in the center advances.  Red's heavy spear pushes into the enemy to its front.  Blue's supporting archers fail to loose a volley before the enemy closes.  Both Blue's heavy spear and supporting archers are sent backwards from the impact and clash.
Blue Lugal drives enemy skirmishers off.
Having seen the setback on its right and with the enemy spearmen to its front in disorder, Blue's second block of heavy spear advances in an attempt to stabilize the line.
Blue spear and archers are, likewise, driven back in disorder.
It works!

Although the supporting archers get off a volley, they do no harm.  The Blue spear block closes upon the enemy.  As a counter to Red's successful attack in sending archers and spearmen running to the rear, Blue's attack is just as effective.  Both of Red's defending infantry flee to the rear.  Now, only Red's Lugal stands in the way.  Red's Lugal remains firm and repulses the attack. 
Blue spearmen open up the enemy center
but Red's Lugal stops any pursuit!
Back on Red's left, the Lugal trots into action.  The first target in his sights is an enemy skirmisher.  It is dispatched with little effort.  Red's Lugal pursues.  Pursuit carries it into the enemy Lugal's battle cart.  In a quick clash, Red Lugal breaks off.  Neither Lugal has damaged the other but the seeds of destruction have been sown. 
An enemy skirmisher falls at the hands of the Lugal.
Caught in tight quarters, the Red Lugal wheels right in an attempt to evade.  He realizes his mistake too late.  A wheel to the left may have provided more room to maneuver but now he may be trapped.
Red Lugal veers off to the right.
Like a hawk on its prey, Blue Lugal swings his battle car onto the rear of the enemy Lugal.  Hemmed in, Red's Lugal is trapped!  In an attempt to provide succor to its king, the archers ready their bows but fail to react.  They watch on in horror as their Lugal is ridden down.
Onto the rear!
In his flight, Red's Lugal pushes back the spear block while the archers take to their heels.  To add insult to this terrible situation, the other Red battle car is repulsed in its attack against the enemy spear block.  The entire army is collapsing!
Red Lugal drives into his own troops as he is ridden down.
The death of the Red Lugal!
The Day is Lost!
Congratulations to Matt on his stunning victory!

In under four turns, Matt turned a seemingly equal contest onto its head.  I made a few critical mistakes and Matt capitalized on every single one of them!  A double turn may have sped up my army's collapse but I found myself on the back hoof in my battle cart early on.  

One more contest with these armies on Thursday when I face Peter from Down Under.  Can I redeem myself?  We will see.

40 comments:

  1. Another fine looking game with your super Sumerians. With regard to missed opportunity I feel your pain, though with my usual poor dice scores worse than ever today I doubt it would have done much good.

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    1. Thanks, Phil!

      Wargaming, with enough frequency, sees a lot of missed opportunities and mistakes made. What does not kill us makes us stronger, right? Wait. My lugal was killed!

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  2. The opening felt like it was going to go along the lines of a traditional ancients head-on grinding clash, but the opening to once again reach into the enemy rear was brutally sudden!

    The Sumerian’s are certainly earning their keep with four outings.

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    1. One of the benefits (and joys) of Basic Impetvs is that pursuing units have an opportunity to create a hole in the line. This possibility opens up play and produces a much more dynamic game than a "traditional" head-on grinding clash.

      Yes, the Sumerians are getting in some good exercise.

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  3. Great battle and as you say Matt capitalised to great effect

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    1. Glad you liked the report, Neil!
      The fellas I play against are unlikely to let a mistake go unpunished.

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  4. Great to see these wonderful figures in action again, Jon. You are certainly getting your money's worth out if this collection! Matt certainly seems to have done everything right in this game...I don't know the rules but four turns sounds like a short battle?

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    1. Keith, it is a pleasure seeing these armies in repeat playings.

      Matt played a very good game and capitalized on my mistakes. He had a few potentially devastating attacks nullified or minimized by a fortuitous Cohesion Test pass.

      Four turns is not that many turns but a lot can happen in one turn since combats can go on for more than one round and a successful pursuit could have no bounds. BI produces a very dynamic and tense game. Give it a try!

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  5. Super report on super looking armies Jonathan.

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  6. Great looking game Jon, Matt certainly seems to know his stuff!

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  7. I'm very much enjoying these Sumerian AARs Jonathan. I actually came up against a Sumerian army in one of our DBMM games late last year so many of the troop types are familiar to me.

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    1. Great to see that you enjoy the Sumerian battles! At least one more to go later this week.

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  8. These really are many photos although I think that your reports of your Mollwitz games were even more in depth. I hope that you will like our next battle report too with dozens of photos. Our current subject doesn't come with many pictures to illustrate it. But I hope, that you like it nevertheless.

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    1. Too many photos?

      You are correct. The Mollwitz games had more detail and analysis. My games of late have been more frequent so less time to construct a battle report. My hope is that they are still informative and entertaining.

      Looking forward to your next battle report, as always.

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  9. Interesting things those war carts. Seeing as they were pulled by asses I wonder how fast they actually went?

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    1. Mark, that is a very good question. The carts look very solidly built and heavy. Once under way, a cart may present a very unnerving sight as it bears down upon you.

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  10. Great report on an equaly great looking game!

    Christopher

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  11. Great game and report Jonathan. Pity about your Lugal- it should have zagged instead of zigged 😊

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    1. Ben, glad you enjoyed the report. The game was great fun even though I fell in defeat. You are correct. I should have zagged instead of zigged.

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  12. You make ancients gaming very attractive. Does Impetus play by hexes, or is the hex grid on your table just fortuitous? I confess I didn't know what a Lugal was until I saw this post, put then again, I don't speak Sumerian. Lovely looking game. Cheers, Michael

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    1. Thanks, Michael! Impetus is not played on hexes or a grid. Playing on hexes is my own variation and a grid works well for translating player commands to the table in remote games.

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  13. Splendid write Jon a fine battle although you may have over stated my tactical skills. The game worked really well with equal armies and no terrain to hinder us. The collapse of my first spear blocks was a scary setback…but the asses came through 👍 we will keep the worthless piece of flat desert for now.

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    1. Thanks, Matt! With luck, my version of the battle tale closely resembles your recollections.

      This was a fun game and, yes, you get to lay claim to this worthless little strip of land.

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  14. Another splendid looking and sounding game Jonathan…
    Hopefully the next one will go your way…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. The game was splendid, Aly, and Matt is a tough opponent. Perhaps I can squeeze out a victory on Thursday? Perhaps.

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  15. Another fine game there despite your side losing again Jon! As long as you have fun and a good game, that's all that matters.

    As mentioned before, I do wonder how these battle wagons were actually used, given how slow and cumbersome they appear to be. Were they battle taxis to ferry the commanders into battles or more like chariots that could 'attack'? Time to read my book that may provide some clues...

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    1. Thanks! Indeed, winning and losing matters not so much.

      Report back after you have read your book on Sumerian battle cart usage. We each have our notions on how they were used in battle.

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    2. From reading Armies of the Ancient Near East, by Stillman & Tallis, my impression is that:

      - The battle cars were reserved for the elite (regular) soldiers and commanders. Certainly for the latter they would have provided a better vantage point to view the battle and to be seen.
      - Originally the battle carts were probably used as a shock force to break the enemies battle line, which given that for the most part they were town/city militia, would not have been too difficult.
      - With the adoption of the 12' spear to keep the battle carts at bay, they were most likely kept back to persue a broken enemy.
      - The nature of the terrain fought over, criss crossed with canals and irrigation ditches meant that they would also have had limited room to manouevre.
      - During the Akkadian period it would appear that the battle carts were used much less due to fighting far afiled and in difficult terrain.

      All of the above should be viewed in the light of: "Only the vaguest hints of Sumerian battlefield tactics are provided by contemporary textual sources, though rather more may be gleaned from artistic sources."

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    3. Thanks, Steve! I had forgotten Stlliman's theory about the introduction of the long spear as a counter to the battle cart.

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  16. Splendid looking game, lovely to see your Sumerians once more, sounds like Matt played a blinder!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank You, Iain! Yes, Matt played a very good game.

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  17. Great addition to your 'red and blue' series of games. So far away from what we're playing era wise, the armies look so cool, and the arrows & such make the blow by blow that much richer to follow. You and Matt certainly give each other a good run on the table.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed another Sumerian fight, Joe! Comments like yours motivate me to continue pounding out battle reports. One more match later today to likely wind this series down and move on to another period.

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  18. Your troops look good on the table. It’s nice you’re enjoying your new armies so much. 😀

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    1. Thanks, Stew! My opponents seem to be enjoying my armies more than I...

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