Sassanid vs Alan

The Sassanid I played was post 476AD, to test a third period army.

I tried a small and high quality army, organized with 2 corps made by 7RCvS and 3 El, and the third command with 9RCvS. Thanks to the regular baggage, all three corps had 24ME.

The idea was to deploy on a side, target the behemots on a suitable enemy and support them with heavy cavalry.

Unfortunately, two times out of two test games I defended, so still I have to check if the plan is good or not.

The terrain against the Alan was that:

A couple of marshes on the right, and a good going avenue in the center delimited by an enclosed field and an orchard.

The terrain was good, because Alan can be dangerous if given the opportunity to outflank and the right wing was cluttered by difficult going.

I choosed some these to protect the flanks and also hoping to induce the enemy to deploy there the limited Ps force. My opponent was no fool by the way.

I deployed first, with El in the center supported by the cavalry, while a third corps had the task to attack along a flank. The Alan protected its KnF putting them in second row.

I advanced  trying to force a frontal fight, and not letting Alan to use the superior numbers to gain overlaps. I thought that in such a way my opponent could not avoid my elephants.

While we had two corps facing and manouvering on the left, the main fight was n the center. Enemy LhS charged me, losing no elements and killing one CvS.

From this moment on, we made just some manouver on the left wing, that had no effect on the game.

The match was decided by the combat in the center

To resume what happened, my Elephants killed any Lh daring to attack them, while there was a stand when the psilioi engaged them.

My CvS fought very bad, dying to LhS and KnF and killing no enemy elements.

I lost both the central commands, with the generals killed, for a 2-23 defeat.

The match was not outstanding for itself, but for the lessons it gave me on RCvS use.

Mix RCvS with Elephants was bad. I lost the possibility to manouver the CvS and create problems to IKnF. Once the RCvS joined the fight, I noted that not receive overlaps from elephants was a real drawback and costed me a lot.

This means my army composition was quite bad. Elephants are better to be used in one group, if large, leading the attack. If small, as reserve to be manouvered in the best spot.

Furthermore RCvS need lesser troops to be used a reserve or for overlaps. LhF were really needed. I need to rethink this army.