Has anyone played Carrhae?

[Bellerophon]

This seems like a scenario that a lot of game systems would have a lot of trouble with. Has anyone played it? What rules did you use? How did it go? Do the Romans have a chance?

[FierceKitty]

I'm planning to paint up some Parthians next year, so shall no doubt find out. I'd say the smart money will be on Surena.

[SJWi]

I haven't played Carrhae per se or indeed gamed vs Parthians but have played similar games of Romans vs "horse archer/lance" armed opponents (eg Sassanids).  I use Simon Miller's TTS which does give the Romans a chance as (a) the horse archers have limited shots, and are almost more of a nuisance weapon which degrades the opponent rather than being  a " unit killer" plus (b) the 12 x 8 gridded board if using a 6 x 4' table limits their manoeuverability a bit. That said there are rules for the "Parthian shot".  I also suspect for any set of rules if using 28mm figures on a 6 x 4' table the Parthians won't have their historical ability to simply shoot and run off into the distance quite as easily.           

[SteveBurt]

Yes, I’ve played it using both DBM and Field of Glory. You need a very big table, or some sort of ‘rolling terrain’ for it to work, as the Romans retreat towards the ruins of Carrhae while being harassed by the Parthians.

[williamb]

If you use To the Strongest, you will need to ignore the ammunition limitations for horse archers.   The Romans had been confident that they would be able to defeat the Parthians once they ran out of arrows, but then the Parthians brought up pack animals with additional arrows.

[bluewillow]

Played using WAB and advanced impetus.

Wab was a hoot and dice fest, impetus was a tough fight but very good with the same result historically.

Cheers
Matt

[Jjonas]

I wrote a scenario for Wargamers Soldiers and Strategy magazine.
I focused on the breakout attempt of Publius Crassus. It makes for a more fluid and balanced* scenario where Publius is trying to capture the ammo camels and blunt the Parthians secret weapon- ammo replenishment.
Gaming the battle of the giant square is somewhat tedious especially since the Roman’s will creep back toward the river which solves some of their problems.

(*Balanced because it’s not any fun to just get shot at all day doing nothing!

[Jjonas]

https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/en-us/products/wss-issue-116
The breakout scenario.