The Way Forward

With only my son's cavalry on the tray and nothing of my own to do I have been deliberating on what's next. I have decided to put the Sassanids on hold and instead await Aventine's Byzantine range which should be complete by the end of the year, the reason I put that timeline on is that they like to do a comprehensive range with many choices and I would rather wait for the whole lot. Besides, I have three WAC armies and I can have a lot of fun with them in the tournaments and against my son while I wait.

Now that I am free from the shackles which I bound myself in vis a vis the new army, I had to make a decision between Bolt Action or Muskets and Tomahawks, it hasn't been easy as both are supported well by many wargame companies, selling everything from figures and vehicles to buildings and terrain all first rate. I also feel it would be a nice challenge to paint the figures. Do I really need another period, no, am I going to do one, yes.

And the winner is .................... Bolt Action.

I suppose it is a bit like every wargamer wants a Roman army, every wargamer at some time has played or is playing WWII, I was no exception, I started my serious wargaming with WWII and will now pick up where I left off, albeit with better figures, better vehicles, better everything really, and years of experience behind me.

I ordered up the rule book this morning along with the books on the German and British armies and managed to save myself almost twenty pounds by ordering through Amazon, even with the postage. I am going to concentrate on the latter half of 1944 from D-Day onwards, getting the bulk of my Germans from Artizan and the British from Crusader, along with recommendations from my friend Matt at The Wargames Table. I shall also keep my eye on Andy Duffell at Tiny Hordes, who, although he is a Chain of Command player in the main has some great WWII eye candy plus ideas and tutorials on his site.

I am looking online now for anything Bolt Action, watching YouTube painting guides, AAR's and searching for resources and reviews, I am a long way from seeking out opponents but that will come later. I have played at the club but only a couple of intro games, hopefully in the future this will improve. I am desperate to get going now I have made my mind up, but I have to be patient, I still have two units of cavalry to paint and two tournaments to attend, as well as Salute, now that would be an opportunity to pick some stuff up.

Chess and Sassanids

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, the same gentleman who said it was alright to eat your wife if you came over a bit peckish and there was nothing in the pantry, has now informed his followers that Chess is evil and a harbinger of hatred and they should keep away from it, just as well I don't know any chess players.

I have at last started researching the Sassanid army, and it will come as no surprise that it is heavily armoured cavalry backed by horse archers, the real questions come with the infantry. Some Roman generals praised their discipline while others, notably Belisarius, scoffed at them and labeled them mere peasants and farmers, worthless peasants and farmers to boot. Although there is no doubt that the bulk of the Persian infantry lacked staying power and were at a disadvantage in hand to hand combat there were exceptions. The 'Immortals' were a bodyguard unit for the Shah and Daylami mercenaries were highly thought of, both these troop types I suspect were armoured and of a higher morale than the vast bulk of foot. Foot archers as well are mentioned as elite as are tribal slingers and javelin men from the outer reaches and mountains of the Sassanid Empire.

One setback for the Persians was their reliance on their leader maintaining his presence on the battlefield, if he left, was wounded or worse killed, then even if on the brink of victory the army would turn and flee.

So far then my army would look much like most Sassanid armies but I do want to add the choice of armoured infantry, not many, possibly only one unit of Immortals and one of Daylami, or the choice of one or the other. I have two reasons for this, one is that there is evidence for them albeit scarce and the other is that Aventine do armoured figures which are beautiful.

The latest figures for the Aventine range have just been released, just have a look at this general.