Having spent Thursday afternoon constructing a new folding table top, I
thought I had better use it..  so after making a complete mess of my game vs
Nick, Dave Turner came over today to give my Persians a run. Luckily for me,
Dave is very keen on historical opponents so brought Eastern Huns.

My army list was as follows:
1       CinC    Irr     Kn(X)
6       Upgraded Nobles Irr     Kn(X)
4       Nobles  Irr     Cv(S)
2       Horse Archers   Irr     LH(F)

Command B               Type1   Sub
generals        Irr     Cv(S)
11      Nobles  Irr     Cv(S)

Command C               Type1   Sub
generals        Irr     Cv(S)
3       Nobles  Irr     Cv(S)
6       Horse Archers   Irr     LH(F)
4       Elephants       Irr     El(O)
3       Daylami Irr     Ax(S)

Stratagems: Scouting

As defender I selected a navigable river and two Orchards/Olive Groves. The
River ran from my left to Dave's baseline, the two olive groves being one
almost right centre and roughly centreline, the other back on Dave's
baseline on his extreme left. weather was non-existent and Dave being all
mounted had an interesting decision to make when we rolled 1 & 2 for
deployment. Dave could have added +3 and doubled my score - deploying
first.. in the end he elected not to.

I deployed A, B, C, from my left, with A in line right up to the maximum
allowed, supported by a column of the Cavalry and LH on my extreme left,
echeloning the cavalry command (B) back slightly back so they could
intervene anywhere, and with my left hand elephants etc (Command C)  angled
back to secure that flank.

Dave in turn deployed two similar commands (18 LH(S ) + general) on each
flank, one beyond the river on my left, with a central command of 18 LH (S )
in two ranks, supported by three or four cv(O ) in the centre.

Getting reasonably good pips in my first bound, I decided I should just do
as Barker intended and flung the Cv forward , using the 5 pips for my left
to wheel the Kn to almost extend the cavalry line. The elephants rumbled
forward to close off that flank with the supporting cavalry in that command
in a block on the left of the elephant/daylami line. The LH followed up
cautiously behind, not wanting to mix it with their LH(S).

Dave decided he wouldn't wait to be hit, and threw his LH forward - hitting
my Cavalry. This had me worried when I realised I didn't get any defensive
(S) bonus...  but fortunately for me, the dice were kind, and the cavalry
suffered no losses, while the lines started to break up. His command beyond
the river started to wheel to threaten the flank of my cataphract line and
the column supporting it, but it was painfully slow. A low PIP roll on his
left also meant his block of LH having split into two, couldn't manouevre
and continued straight ahead, with an isolated block of 6 and and another
10.  In my next bound I hit his LH with my central Cv and Kn, and on my left
threw my elephants and cavalry into his block of 8 LH. The new rules about
conforming were interesting and he ended up conforming a block of 4 LH to
the El/Ax/El combo, which left his other LH to be hit by Cv, and choosing
not to conform (he would have been double overlapped) I was lucky with the
dice, and in the centre started to take elements off him, (4 I think) - and
the Elephants survived and with the cavalry took out 2 LH.

Bound three (I think) saw him rush impetuously in, in the centre, and try to
reorganise against my elephant command...  he took out 1 cavalry in the
centre, but ended up very broken up, and his right hand LH by now were up to
the river and starting to cross.  In response, in the centre I threw my
general in, killed the LH, and then added +1 to the neighbouring cavalry,
who duly took out another, with the Kn causing flees, his position was
starting to look very iffy with 7 or 8 gone, I also got cute and turned an
elephant onto the flank of the second rank of LH fighting my Daylami, and
the Nellies again did damage without loss.  (taking out the second rank of
LH (F) and advancing).

Dave's pretty much final bound, and on his right, his LH were across the
river and starting to menace the flank of my main attacking line,
unfortunately his pips in the centre were poor (2) and he basically had to
shore things up, on his left he moved to attack my two elephants - with a
single overlap on each.  As one had advanced after killing a second rank LH,
it was in an odd position, rear on to the rear of his LH fighting my
Daylami. This threw up the oddity, that when (as was bound to happen
eventually) I lost the 4-2 combat roll and the elephant was killed, it also
destroyed the Daylami within one base depth of it's rear, but leaving the
intervening LH intact....  bizarre.  In the middle however, in my bound I
knocked over a couple more LH, the +2 for losses took his left-hand command
to broken, and it was game over with his right never having got into combat.

Reflections..  probably the best match up that the Sasanians can hope for.
Weaker mounted but not in significantly greater number thanks to deployment,
and able to charge straight forward into a target. The loss of the defensive
+1 for (S ) makes them substantially more fragile, especially at the lower
starting factors.