Khmer vs Sassanid

Usually I play Khmer in the late medieval period, using the IElX. In this training game for Recco 2013 tournament, limited to third period armies, I used a new version, never tested before. Not having the artillery, I maxed the Elephants, fieldin 10 in two corps. The smaller pip dice was given to the supported RAxS corps that had the role to fight in good going. The many IAxO would be the terrain troops.

I met a sassanid army that I knew quite well. Me and Fabio had studied a new army organization along similar lines for Sarmatians and Sassanids.

I attacked and this was the battlefield

I chose some difficult to protect my flanks from the marauding light horses, while the sassanid looked for a bare plain with just some gentle hills. I deployed with the CiC corps as army reserve, expecting a flank march. I faced just two corps. The sassanid CiC was missing, so he was delayed. I thought the flank march was on the left side.

The tactical problem for me was that the LhS would be difficult to catch, while the enemy had a big manouvering corps on my open flank. I had to contact the huns as soon as possible. Once these were engaged and destroyed, the game would be easy for me. To add a problem to another, I had also to deal with feigned flight tactic.

The Huns were unreliable, and I decided to attack them marching to contact. Enemy cataphracts arrived at turn 1 and were sent against th RAxS in good going.

My CiC stayed back waiting to see what would happen with the missing corps and the manouvering big sassanid Cv command

The attack went quite bad, I killed one hunnic Lh for an elephants. The sassanid, now with the hun activated, charged me and feigned flight

I rolled very low pips, and my corps went spontaneous. The sassanid manouvered well, interpentrating the skirmish line to put The IKnX corps in charge reach of the very disordered auxilia command. The situation was very tough there. The only good news, was that LhS attacks failed to kill any elephants before to flee, losing two more elements.

The Elephants proved unstoppable, turning the flank of the pip starved hunnic corps and crushing that command. A similar doom waited my infantry, trampled by sassanid cataphracts. On the far left can be seen an elephant rolling the sassanid horde line. This in the end proved decisive.

While all the combat was concentrated in the right sector, the sassanid big cavalry wing had a lot of pips that were used to turn my flank. The flank march did not show, so the Khmer CiC was sent to deal with this threath.

The fighting on the right was quite bloody. Both the armies had a broken corps, but now the combat saw elephants against KnX. No good for the sassanid

The sassanid casualties were mounting, with also the cataphract corps being destroyed. The Khmer advanced the second elephant corps to deliver the coup de grace to the Sassanid

With two corps down and the hordes in the rear destroyed, the Sassanid routed after losing some more asavaran. 19-6 for the Khmer

A nice game. Probably this was the first time I felt a real advantage having regular generals in an elephant army. The RAxS command was very useful as pip dump and despited being smited, it did a sterling work.