Ayyubids vs Carthaginians with Optio (again)

[Justin Swanton]

Well, those are the figures I have.

My playtester, Peter, took the Carthaginians whilst yours truly commanded the Ayyubids (we have a deal - he plays my Optio and I play his Memoir). The Carthaginians numbered 14 bases to the Ayyubids' 18, but Carthage had better quality troops overall. The battle was a wild see-saw affair (anyone who thinks chanceless combat means predictability doesn't know what he is talking about). Peter eventually won.

Here is the Carthaginian deployment. Poeni heavy spear fronted by slinger light foot, with Carthaginian cavalry beyond and a unit of Auxilia in the woods.




The Ayyubids. A mass of LH and cavalry next to the hill on the left, then beyond them a line of heavy spear flanked by archers with slinger light foot in front.




A couple of sample photos: Ayyubid cavalry, led by their intrepid general, charge Carthaginian cavalry already weakened earlier by missile fire and rout them. The three counters behind a base indicate, from left to right, morale, missile hits and order/disorder status. Morale is initially turned so the highest number faces forwards. When it rotates to 'ROUT' the unit, well, routs.

I've tried to make the counter system as physically compact as possible so it doesn't detract from the figures too much. I think it works now.




The Ayyubid archer unit on the right has routed thanks to the slingers just above them. This triggers a general rout as the Ayyubids have already lost enough units that the rout of one inflicts enough 'panic hits' on nearby friendlies to send them packing. The Ayyubid heavy spear on the left decide a man's life is for suckers. The rest of the army quickly comes to the same conclusion.

[Imperial Dave]

not enough dice 

[Justin Swanton]

Oh, all right.

[Imperial Dave]

better....

[Erpingham]

I couldn't help but notice at the bottom right of the picture a particularly small and malformed die.  I suspect this must be a family heirloom, as my examples of these are around 50 years old (I got them in a local toy shop - decent dice were quite hard to find then).   

[Imperial Dave]

that is a result of Justin gnawing at it when he rolls a one

[Justin Swanton]

The day it got that chip in the corner was the same day I swore on the graves of my ancestors to create a diceless wargame. But that's another story...