A battle that is not strictly historical, but could have taken place, for the control of the commercial routes to India, then flourishing. It opposes two great ancient empires. The Kushan Empire and the Roman Empire.Bet that the Persians voluntarily let a Kushan army pass to "break the Roman"
The rule played is BBDBA. (From the DBA v3.0 booklet)
The Roman is the defender.
Table measures near 1m40 on 2m.
The deployment:
The Roman player built a solid Legionary wall supported by two artillery batteries between the neighboring city and the forest. The securisation of the center, wooded, is entrusted to the auxiliaries and to a last battery of scorpio disposed between the woods. Finally, the left wing consists of equites alares and illyricani equites, supported by three cohorts of sagitarii.
General Kouchane aligned an impressive concentration of cataphraces and elephants against the legions. It ensures its right wing by a typically oriental body consisting of cataphracks and clouds of light riders sakas and Yue-zhi. His left wing saw a large force of light troops on foot, ready to invest the plowing and then rush to the Roman city. A light cavalry unit supported this infantry.
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| The battlefield seen from the north |
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| Kushane left wing |
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| Kushan center |
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| Roman center |
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| A legionnaire cohort is responsible for protecting the city |
Sagitarii and equites (alares and illyricani) form the ala sinistra charged by the emperor to envelop the Kushan army:
The Kushan general threatens the threat of three units of sakas riders at the southern end of the battlefield, between the river and the marshes:
The rest of the Kushan right wing (a little read to the north than the three units above)
Kushan light cavalry seize the center of the battlefield.
A column of legionaries rushed towards the north west in order to counter the infantry of the kushan left wing:
Views of the first movements (between the center of the battlefield and its northern end)
Cavalry maneuvers in the southern plain
At the center of the Roman lines, the auxiliarii complete the two forests
In the north, the Kushan continue their threatening but slow advance of their elephants and cataphraces
Concealed behind a small wood, Kouchanes luggage benefit from the protection of light troops
The equites alares charge the light cavalry before being wrapped by the cataphraces, wishing to escape encirclement. A sace unit is destroyed (at the beginning of the battle I put, for the photos, markers on the destroyed units before removing them but, in the battle, I quickly forgot to do it):
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| The Romans lock the road to the city |
The Kushan elephants hide their buttocks behind the knights, frightened that they are (rightly) by the Roman artillery.
(For these three bases of knights, these are well cataphraces.) I will have to replace the figs, following the changes of list imposed by the v3.0) In v2.2, it was of support cavalry:
(For these three bases of knights, these are well cataphraces.) I will have to replace the figs, following the changes of list imposed by the v3.0) In v2.2, it was of support cavalry:
The Kouchanes fill the holes on their right wing and return the situation on this point
The access to the city is totally closed by the Roman "forces of order":
The Romans resumed the initiative by threatening the side of the Kushan center by a cohort of legionaries and throwing 3 cohorts of auxiliarii in the heart of the battlefield, threatening the enemy pivot.
To the south of the battlefield, the cavalry battle bogged down and was made of beautiful equestrian maneuvers.
The artillery concealed by the woods cleared the plain by driving a unit of light cavalry kushan.
Contacts are generalized across all front lines.
The general-in-chief Kouchane himself gives of his person.
A unit of cataphraces, supported by elephants, throws itself upon the cohort which threatened its flank, under the eyes of a powerless battery.
Deprived of target (the Kushan light cavalry abandoning him the control of the central plain, the artillery of the auxiliary corps is condemned to play the role of support for the combat of cavalry in which his own general himself has thrown himself.
At the heart of the cavalry combat, the sous-général kouchane engages his cataphraces
The legion undergoes the impact of the kushan charge by demonstrating its own solidity.
The fighting bogged down, bringing a succession of setbacks, losses and bad surprises on either side.
The legendary cohorts, united and united, succeeded in repelling the first enemy assault.
The Kuschans seem to take the upper hand in the cavalry fight. Feeling his strength flanking (his body is at a loss of rupture), the Roman under-general then tries everything for the whole and throws a light rider's ala on the flank of the cataphracters, forced to turn to face.
The center of the battlefield seems to fall for good at the hands of the Romans who manage to catch and destroy a light cavalry unit under the eyes of auxiliariii holding the woods.
The pressure becomes large on the side of the main kushan body
The frontal access to the city is now firmly defended.
The desperate charge of the Roman light cavalry carried off a unit of cataphracks and the rout of the Kushan forces south of the battlefield. In the center, three cohorts of auxiliarii ensures the control of the plain.
The body of Roman cavalry is too exhausted to take advantage of the situation.
The body of Roman cavalry is too exhausted to take advantage of the situation.
A unit of riders jumps around the city by the north.
The elephants push resolutely the wall formed by the legionaries.
Several infantry units have bypassed the city by the north, avoiding the cohorts positioned in front. They assault the walls of the city but are repulsed unceremoniously by the cohort of legionaries left in garrison.
The melee reaches its climax between the two main army corps. The Kushan forces, in spite of their power, seem to rebound on the Roman defenses. However, they are slow to.
The Roman clamp closes on the Kushan forces
A cohort of legionaries even managed to cross the enemy line.
At the moment when one expects the least, the work of sapping Kouchanes pays and the main body of the Romans collapses reaching its breaking point.
... but it is only a moment of respite for the Iranian invader. A cohort of Auxiliarii emerging from the center of the battlefield, loads the back of an elephant unit and destroys it. The loss of this unit demoralizes the Kushan main body, which was itself on the threshold of rupture.
The loss of this body led to the general flight of the Kushan army.
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As night falls on the battlefield, the cry "SOL INVICTUS" springs from the Roman gorges.
The losses will have been very heavy (5 cohorts of legionaries, 3 alae of cavalry ... not counting the damage caused to the walls of the city and the losses suffered by almost all units.) The main body of the emperor Is on the run)
