I ran Cuman at Cancon, but only played two days (fencing and trellis

needs urgent attention tomorrow).

I ran Cuman to see how massed lhF went. In summary, it depends on who

you fight. I ran 3 commands, two each with 18 LhF, a couple of CvO,

artillery and some Ps. The CinC Bonchak had some LHF, 3 Cv and

artillery. The punching arm was supposed to be les Alains (LhS and KnF).

My cunning plan was to go wide on the flanks to go for baggage or turn

an enemy flank, or go 2 deep into Foot. The artillery up front (3

pieces) will help stop the enemy marching into my LH

My first game as against Peter Barrett's Nikephorians. Very little

terrain. Peter invaded in spring but the dice were good so there was

fodder for my horse. Basically, his 4 command, brilliant Gen, CvS BwX

and LH, and regular baggage (ie 5 dice) danced and outplayed me. I had

deployed two deep, with the Alans on my right flank. I planned to play

a wait and see game as i know the nikephorians can dance. I sent a

column of Lh down his right flank, and the Alan Lh forward. Peter

avoided my artillery, used a brilliant stroke(12pips) to get down my

right flank and line up against my Alans. He used other troops to chase

down my LhF flanking column and bottled it up in the far corner. Pip

starved on the left, I could do little but watch them be whittled away.

On the right, the Alans got severely mauled by CvS, and with some death

by BwX here and there, the Cumans broke. I did get some Lh behind his

line and rear-ended a Byzantine General, but he survived. No points for

Bonchak. Comprehensively outplayed.

Lesson 1 - against a very manouverable mounted opponent, spread out as

wide as possible and cover the whole table.

Lesson 2 - Take more Cv and blend into the LH.

Lesson 3 - Dont put IrrKnF in column. Might as well have them in line.

Lesson 4- LH F hate Cv.

Game 2 v Paul Stanton's Patsies.

Paul invaded in Spring and put down a river from the left edge to my

edge. There was some BF on the centre right and the odd hill. There was

little fodder for my light horse and the river still had ice in it.

Paul's centre was legionares with Ps support, auxilia with Ps support,

mobile baggage, his right had mounted (Cv) and there were some knights.

My plan was to flank march the Alan this time on the right, cross the

river on the left with some LH to flank him, send a column of LH around

the far right behind the BF to flank him, and wait behind my artillery

with the rest of the LH as he advanced. Paul wasted no time in

advancing towards my line. The artillery killed the odd Cv and Bd, then

I threw in the LhF. I was quite a seesaw where the lhF fought the

legions., not so nice where any Cv was involved. My right column of LH

got around the flank then stalled. The Alans came on and raced across

the table, but Paul had pushed forward agressively towards my base

edge. In the end I had three columns of Lh chasing his baggage. I had

LH attacking the front of his legion , Cv and Kn and was inflicting

damage. It was pretty even until the grass had all been eaten. I

managed to take some BgF to make two of his commands disheartened, but

the next two bounds were horrendous. My LH fled in hunger or were

ridden down. Alan LH got into some combat. Alan Kns looked pretty

charging across to table from the flank march but didnt reach anyone.

21-4 to Paul. Paul's aggression in getting across to the Cuman line

worked well, as did the river closing down the flank.

Lesson 1 - Hungry Lh arent tough. Hungry LHF just evaporate.

Lesson 2 - LhF can fight LhO if you have more numbers.

Lesson 3 - LhF hate LhS. I did the flee from LhO and S, but generally

died to the S.

Lesson 4 - 2 deep LhF can beat legions.

Lesson 5 - Bgge F can be hard to catch.

Lesson 6 - IrrKNF shouldnt flank march.

Game 3 - a bye

Game 4 - v Mike Rutherfords EIR or MIR. Mike was Macrinos? who was

inert. Bonchak invaded. Mike had two commands of legions, Ax with Ps

suport and a mounted command of CvO and LhF facing my right flank. The

left flank was full of Rough. Bonchak deployed the Alans in the centre,

and a SG on either side. This was a story of three battles and the

Roman CinC's perchance for being fed grapes. On the left, the LhF , 2

or 3 deep, charged single deep BdO. We traded Bd) for LhF spent, with

the honours starting to go the Cuman way. In the centre, Les Alains

decided to reflect on their past performance and wait to see what

happened (ie unreliable). On the right, the Cuman SG faced off 10 Roman

Cv and some Lh. The Roman Cv got stuck into the Cuman lhF and killed no

end of them. I had a couple of chances with wrapped CvO but failed. In

the centre, Les Alains decided to help out and LhS and KnF charged

Macrinus's legions (2BdO+PsO deep). It was generally a charge in and

bounce off affair.

Back on the left, the Lh had (punched isnt the right word) whittled

holes in the Roman line and got a few Lh around the back of the roman

line.

Still, the Roman Cv broke the Cuman subgeneral on the right even after

I did a feigned flight to get away, and Bonchak had to sent himself and

2 Cv to protected the flank as well as the Alan AG and a knight. It was

looking pretty good for Macrinus.. until he decided it was time to be

fed grapes. This obviously distracted him coz Mike rolled 4x1s for his

Pips. Not good.

The Cuman Lh behind the line charged Macrinus as he ate his grapes and

killed him. The Roman SG(CvO) in command of the other legion shook off

three flank/rear attacks, and the ROman Cv commander turned his CvO

towards some oncoming Cuman nobles (CvO) and two Alan nobles.

With Macrinus gone, the Romans lost heart. The Cuman CvO and KnF killed

Roman CvO and LH (the KnF QK the CvO, and the odd 6-1 in my favour).

The Roman commander of the legions on the left finally succumbed to the

Cuman SG and three LH surrounding him, and the Alan LH and KnF, with

the help of CUman light at the rear of the Marcinus's leaderless

legions, began to take their toll. The Roman's broke. 18-7 to the

Cuman's. Mike admitted later that he had spent alot of his additional

points on stuff he couldnt really use..

Lesson 1 - dont throw 4x1s if you are inert. That was the turning

point. Until then, it was reasonably poised, if more Mike's way.

Lesson 2- LhF hate Cv

All enjoyable games with enjoyable players. So what did I learn -

a. I can see how Parthians could whittle down Romans. 2 deep LH with

the odd overlap were effective against foot. In fact, I found LhF very

good versus foot.

b. LhF do not like enemy mounted. That is an understatement. My

experience with LhF is that CvO slaughters them. Good luck to Scythians

versus Assyrian CvO or Urartuan Cv ....

c. LhO/F armies needed a core of heavier troops to take the brunt of

the figthing whilst the LH focuses on flanks. I should have always had

my Alans in the centre, with Cuman Cv in support...

d. All mainly reg mounted armies.. Sheesh.

e. Will I play a lhF army again? Yes, but it will probably be with a

Reg general, or with a heavier core.. (and maybe 40LhF is a tad too

many to run..)

Observations

Feigned flight didnt work. My LH and CvO and Ps all fled, leaving noone

within 400paces. It worked to get me out of trouble for a bit, but as

for making the enemy halt.. no..it didnt. Didnt seem right and needs

fixing.

Reg Bgg F kept running from my LH. As my LH couldnt stop them marching,

they just marched away, making it hard for my LH to catch them. That

seems a tad wrong to me.

Art O on wagons. Is it 80mm basing deep?