Mark brought over his brand new DBA army today for a test run (I/58 Meroitic Kushites with El (general) 3 Bw, 5 Sp, 2 Bd and 1 Ps). This is quite a formidable army to match-up against, very high combat values, but it has an Achilles weakness in mobility. The only mounted is the El general, which costs 2pips to move and is in danger from light troops. It also looks like a bunch of mostly naked guys wearing animal print underwear, but Mark likes them.
I faced Mark with Sassanids, one of my favourite armies to play since it is 2/3 mounted, but hard to win with since it is burdened with 2 Hordes.
The first game was fought in tight terrain and when my flanking Aux/Ps in the rough got shot in the eye by Mark's bow it went badly for us (loss 3G-2).
The second game was in open terrain and Mark was surgically disembowelled by my LH element which got into his rear and created havoc. However, I lost this game when my Cv general was overrrunning a bow element at even odds and died when I rolled a 1 to Marks 5. He must have fallen out of his saddle and landed on a quiver of arrows pointy-side up. Jammy bugger, I lost again 3G-2 even though his position was completely turned. I had to walk around the deck for a few minutes while steam poured out of my ears.
The third game looked hopeless, his line faced mine and his factors top mine everywhere. Then, for some inexplicable reason Mark marched his blades and bows into a forest where my auxilia and psiloi beat them back, a gap appeared in his line and my cavalry ran over him like a herd of wildebeast on their way to the last waterhole. We won 5-1.
Very interesting match-up, Kushites look hard as nails on paper, very difficult to match up with, but the lack of mobility is a real flaw and if you can get a gap in their line or outflank them they are very vulnerable. However, today the capricious dice gods gave them the balance of games. Grumble grumble grumble....
Up next: Achaemenids on the bench.
