A FoG battle report of an ancient grudge match between the Later Assyrians and a coalition of Later Babylonians and Elamites. I had no idea what to expect from these armies having never played a chariot based army before!

The battle lines at deployment. The Assyrians are on the left with both armies deploying delaying wings opposite each other in the foreground. The battle would be decided on the Assyrian left flank where the heavy chariots were deployed.

The view from the Babylonian right flank as the massed heavy chariots divisions face off.

The Assyrian plan was simple and effective – advance and crush the enemy. My plan for the Babylonians was to try and delay the Assyrian advance with skirmishers and camels, and hopefully to disrupt their formation before contact with my heavy chariots. It was a plan that did not bear fruit and was too complex given the limited maneuvering space created by the enclosed field in the foreground.

On the opposite flank the battle long skirmishing began between the Babylonian light horse and the Assyrian light foot and supporting cavalry.

It all started to go pear shaped for the Babylonians when the Elamite chariots charged uncontrollably through their screening light troops and promptly lost the impact and melee phases, including two failed death rolls – ouch.

After the Elamite chariots were destroyed the elite Babylonian chariots had no choice but to engage the victorious Assyrians in less than ideal circumstances – they too fail death rolls and cohesion tests. In an attempt to turn the Assyrian flank the Babylonian cavalry are committed to a charge on the right, but a lost combat and failed cohesion test extinguishes the remaining hope of the Babylonian forces and the inevitable destruction of the right wing begins to unfold.

After the annihilation of the Babylonian chariots the Chaldean spearmen are committed in what had become a desperate fight for survival. The best spearmen of the army, however, fail to make a mark on the Assyrians who cause the Chaldeans to drop a cohesion level.

The Babylonian right has totally collapsed and the Chaldean spearmen in the centre have routed after dropping two cohesion levels after a failed test. All that stand between the Assyrian chariots and the fragile medium foot bowmen of the Babylonian army are some camels and light foot which generals are trying to rally from disruption.

The Chaldean spear rout through the rallying light foot leaving the camels defending the Babylonian right. In the foreground light foot hold off and destroy a quarter of the pursuing Assyrian cavalry. This was the one success for the Babylonian army and the only combat which they won.

In a spectacular demonstration of formation shooting the Babylonian bowmen shower the Assyrian heavy foot with arrows fragmenting and disrupting most of the advancing line. The Babylonians fail a cohesion test of their own and the Assyrian generals are easily able to rally their disrupted units in the following turn.

This is where it ended. The Assyrians had lost one element fighting light foot in the fields, had successfully driven off the Babylonian skirmishers, and had utterly crushed the best that the Babylonian army could throw against them. FoG score 9-0 – a Major Victory.

On reflection, the Assyrians had a better battle plan – it was simple, well executed, and deadly. The Babylonian battle plan was too complex and should have been adjusted to fit the unfavourable deployment at the start of the game. It was a useful game and I discovered a few rule mistakes, not critical, and learnt how to maneuver forces more effectively, as well as a host of what not to dos, especially when shock troops are within charge range of opponents. Oh yes, and I’ve bought some new dice from chessex 🙂

The Assyrian generals celebrate their well earned victory! Well done chaps 🙂