With the TwoTheStrongest (2TS) competition fast approaching, it was time for Peter and I to get in some practice games. Our armies this year would be Northern Dynasties Chinese and, as a first trial, Peter would take the Chinese whilst I would field a late Roman force.

The Romans found themselves immediately on the end of a powerful flanking attack coming in from the left hand side: an attack that would eventually just about wipe out my cavalry command there. If I hadn’t kept the Roman Cataphracts in reserve, then things would have been over a lot earlier!

Meanwhile, however, my centre and right flank had been concentrating their efforts against the center and left flank of the Chinese army.

As you can see from the first photo, my right hand cavalry force started the battle facing nothing but air as the Chinese concentrated their attack on the other end of my line, but I managed to get them back into the action quite quickly - mainly by merit of ignoring the enemy light cavalry in front of me (designed to temp me to chase them into obscurity) - and they were soon supporting my main infantry attack: something that pushed forward nicely with my legionaries and auxilia doing what they do best!

So, after the first phase of the battle, the Chinese had destroyed the left side of my army, and I had destroyed the left side of their army: in effect the game now swivelled through 180 degrees as the victorious flanks of each force turned to face the other.

The first action was around the Chinese camp, where two legionary units faced two units of raw Chinese spearmen: surely an easy target for their gladiii, despite the fact the Chinese were defending camps. Unfortunately not: and the game ended with the Romans still trying to break into the enemy camps: a testament to the fortitude shown by the raw Chinese!

Each side was now so battered that it was very much a case of “sudden death”: with the next unit to fall deciding the fate of the army it belonged to.

The Romans had a narrow escape in the centre, where a unit of equites alares managed to avoid being overwhelmed by Chinese cataphracts accompanied by heavy and light cavalry.

So it all came down to a fight on the Roman baseline between more Chinese cavalry and more equites alares, this time supported by auxilia.

The melee swayed backwards and forwards, with extreme bad luck on either side playing its part, but eventually the Roman horse prevailed, the Chinese horse fled, and the battlefield belonged to Rome!