Two remote games of To The Strongest played at the weekend: both featuring my newly painted Classical Indians against a cobbled together army of Achaemenid Persians.

I say cobbled together because I don’t have an Achaemenid Persian army, so what ended up on the tabletop were Assyrians as Persian cavalry, some Medes from an Alexandrian army, some Greek types as Ionians, some Scythian types as horse archers, then Sassanid Persian infantry as Sparabara and, embarrassingly and perhaps the most heinous crime, Greek Hoplites as the Immortals!

Due to lockdown, the game was played remotely i.e. the table and figures were set up at my house, with my opponent being able to see what was going on over Zoom from his house. After last week’s first attempt, I’d invested in a new webcam, so the picture was much improved:

I also bought a little tripod for my mobile ‘phone (you can see it in position, above) so it was also a lot easier to move the “battlefield reporter” camera around as well.

Game One

The Two Sides Face Off

I placed my CinC and his two Heavy Chariot units in the centre, with the elephants and longbowmen on the wings.

The Battle Begins

Unusual activation cards leaves two Persian and one Indian brigades stationary. It was the start of many poor cards for the Achaemenids.

The Two Sides Close to Missile Range

I let the Achaemenids get too close, giving up the longbow’s greater range advantage.

Close Up

The Maiden Guard in a fetching turquoise. Lovely figures: actually look like maidens!

Arrows Fly in Both Directions

The Persians Close

On the Right...

…my elephants smash into one unit of Sparabara.

The Medes have some Success

Against my chariots in the centre.

But I Have More Heavy Chariots!

The Medes are Shattered...

…and the Chariots charge forward into the enemy horse archers.

They Evade...

Leaving the Chariots free to sack the Achaemenid camp.

Which Effectively Ends the Battle

So a victory for the Indians: a couple of enemy units killed by missile fire, but the main damage was from the heavy chariots punching their way through the centre. After the game, Bevan mentioned that he wasn’t expecting to find “cavalry” in the centre of my line, and this discombobulated his battle plan!

I also feel honour bound to mention that the cards were most certainly not falling for the Achaemenids!

Game 2

Off We Go Again!

Note the sneaky Persian horse on my left!

And Then There Was One

Remember I mentioned how badly the cards were falling for the Achaemenids? Same thing this game: opening volley of longbows killed two of the three Persian cavalry units facing my left flank.

The Red Dice...

…mean nothing. They are to help Bevan see the rough ground over the webcam.

Sneaky Persians on my Right Flank Too!

The Remaining Persian Cavalry on my Left Leave the Table

My Flank Feels Very Exposed!

But I send the elephants forward relying on the longbowmen to deal with (or rather slow down!) the enemy horse when it reappears.

And So It Was!

Maiden Guard Move to Shore Up the Flank

Meanwhile my Elephants have Punched Through His Line

The Achaemenids have haemoraged Victory Coins!

The Game Ends

What with my early missile-fire successes, the elephants punching through on the left, and the chariots/cavalry dealing with the right, the Achaemenids ran out of coins.

Another View

Note the chariots have also punched through on the far side.

So a second victory for the Persians, although things were a lot closer this time.

Massed longbow fire, and the elephants/heavy chariots at the schwerepunkt, proved a winning combination. Both sides had infantry with strong missile fire but weak melee skills supported by decent melee troops (his cavalry, my elephants and chariots) but I had the advantage in both areas: my longbows outranged his bows, and my elephants/chariots were a bit better than his cavalry. These two advantages gave me the win despite having less units (by one!) and less flexibility (three commands to his four).

Still, I suspect Bevan will have his revenge. Next encounter will see me fielding the Indians again, but against an Alexandrian army…gulp!