Sassanids for Dux Bellorum

[Cyrus1]

I've been painting Sassanids with the aim of finishing enough to play a game of Dux Bellorum against my Late Romans.







More pics, if interested:

https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/2021/04/sassanid-cataphracts-clibinarii-and.html

[Wellington]

Nice!

[Erik]

Nice nice

[Easy E]

I do not recall rules for Cataphracts or Elephants in the rules.  Must have made some mods.

I look forward to the battle report!

[SHARPE52]

Cyrus,
your figures are really good. I have painted a Sassanid army using A&A figures but they are not as good as yours.
I am interested in knowing how you have assessed value to your troops if you don't mind.
TIA
Marco

[Cyrus1]

Thanks gents, it will be fun to try them out in a game, eventually aiming for enough units for MeG.

Cyrus,
your figures are really good. I have painted a Sassanid army using A&A figures but they are not as good as yours.
I am interested in knowing how you have assessed value to your troops if you don't mind.
TIA
Marco

Thanks Marco, I will probably use the cataphracts stats from the Late Roman list for the Sassanid cataphracts and other Savaran like the clibinarii will be Noble Riders or Mounted Companions with additional points for bow. The elephants will require separate rules, including some for random stampedes when wounded. I'd like to include Parthian shot rules for horse archers as well. I will try a solo game and see how well (or not) it works! We played some games with Huns and Goths with tweaks to the rules and it made them too powerful, so it is hard to get the balance right.

[SHARPE52]

Thanks gents, it will be fun to try them out in a game, eventually aiming for enough units for MeG.

Thanks Marco, I will probably use the cataphracts stats from the Late Roman list for the Sassanid cataphracts and other Savaran like the clibinarii will be Noble Riders or Mounted Companions with additional points for bow. The elephants will require separate rules, including some for random stampedes when wounded. I'd like to include Parthian shot rules for horse archers as well. I will try a solo game and see how well (or not) it works! We played some games with Huns and Goths with tweaks to the rules and it made them too powerful, so it is hard to get the balance right.

Thanks Cyrus, I think your solution makes a lot of sense and it is what I'll apply for my army. BTW together with my fellow gamers we are trying to create lists for more or less the same armies you do. We are also trying to set some house rules for Romans but it is not easy to balance the cost for them too
I would be grateful if you could share the outcome of you test game please.
Marco

[Cyrus1]

I played a solo Dux Bellorum game this afternoon with my Late Romans versus Sassanids. I've cobbled together a brief overview from the MeG Sassanid lists and some ideas for a Sassanid DB army list and unit stats that I used to play the game.



More pics and a report:

[url]https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/2021/04/late-roman-versus-sassanids-dux.html/url]

[Arrigo]

Uhm...

I know this could appear 'heretical' but considering the kind of abstraction level and scale of Dux Bellorum, would not be better to either reduce the Savaran bow range to 1, or to remove the bows?

In alternative heavy infantry could still maintain protection at 6 rather than 5 against fire. Large shields and  armor did indeed provide much better protection.

My understanding is that they were firing at closer ranges than foot archers and they were supposed to follow volleys with charge. Considering that you do not have the late roman archer support for shieldwall it evens out. Otherwise they are basically steamrollers. I had a similar problem in using one of Lion Rampant adaptations (Crepusculum Imperii) for the same period. Asvaran became basically the final troop type on the table, and that was the comment from the Sassanian commander. She did not felt them right.

Said that lovely images.

[Cyrus1]

Thanks for the comments Arrigo, the shooting for the Savaran definitely needs adjusting, I was thinking of reducing it to 1 rather than 2 dice, but still 2BW range, so will try that in a smaller 32 point game. Roman foot bow with 3 dice and 4BW range would certainly cause them some problems. I was also thinking of some tweaks for a 4th century Eastern Roman force with infantry options for darts and mixed spear/bow units, as well as more cavalry options with horse archers and cataphracts/clibinarii...