VASSAL Mini-Tournament (MT1)

Round 5 (018 Solachon)

Greg O (Byz) 7 and 24 blocks lost
EZPickins (Sas) 6 and 27 blocks lost

This was a great battle. Byzantine was foolish and started with a push off the hills from the Medium Inf followed by a foot onslaught into the Sas. Cavalry line on the right. Not surprisingly the Sas. charged into the Infantry and eliminated all three. The fight continues on the right with a Byz. attack, and this went back and forth with the Byz side pulling even. The battle continued to be very close until the end when a lucky two dice bow shot at range 4 eliminated a 2 block Sas MBC unit for the 6th banner.

Rd 3 (River Hippis)

Greg O (Byz) 7 30 blocks lost
scipio1zama - aka Forrest Speck (Sas) 5 29 blocks lost

The Byzantines pushed to the right and the battle raged there, with a lone Sas LB and leader isolated on the hill alone. Then the Sas crossed the river on the left and the battle raged there with the Sas side pulling almost even and the battle was finished in the center.

A late report from October, at least I can't see it in the results....


Rd 4 (Lazic War - Onoguris)

river wanderer (Byz) 4 28 blocks lost
scipio1zama (Sas) 7 23 blocks lost

Byzantines forced Sassanids out of the city but were unable to respond effectively to attacks by the Sassanid cavalry.

Round 4

Togan Alper (Sassanid) : 7 banners won, 25 blocks lost
Mark McG (Byzantine): 4 banners won, 25 blocks lost


The battle started on the left flank far from the city. The Sassanids were able to repel most of the4 Byzantien Heavy Cav. Then the Sassanid army started to move to the cith to circle the Byzantien siege attempt. The dice gods were on the Sassanids side as several Footonsloghts first from the Byz. then from the Sassanid finished the game before the gates were breached.

Lazic War 555AD Onogurus (game played October 31, 2019)
Mike Stanley (scipio1zama) – 7 banners won, and 23 blocks lost
Mark Benson (RiverWanderer) – 4 banners won, and 28 blocks lost

On the second Sassanid turn, a Cry Havoc was used to move up two MBC and a SHBC and leader. The two MBC each got 2 shots at Dabragezas and his Byzantine SHBC: 2 red = 2 hits; 2dlc = 2 helmets and Dabragezas was killed; 2 flags retreated the damaged SHBC 4 hexes – an amazingly lucky start for the Sassanids that made the Byzantine position in the hills temporarily untenable. The next 6 turns featured maneuver with mostly ineffectual fire, then a cavalry fight in the hills cost the Byzantines a SHBC but saw Usigardus escape; cost the Sassanids a MBC; then cost the Sassanids a SHBC and retreated their leader.
Fighting now moved to the Onoguris side of the battlefield, with the Byzantines successfully storming the lower gate and inflicting 2 hits on a Sassanid LBC. The Byzantines led at this point, 3 banners to 2. The Sassanids in the town moved out to the attack to no effect, and were then attacked in turn, losing 1 Aux block and 2 MBC blocks. Now the Sassanids’ “Forward” card advanced the rear rank MBC and HBC on the left, saw the 2 LBC in the center eliminate the 2-block Byzantine LB, and saw the MBC from the city eliminate the Byz. LB and reduce the MI by one block (and lose 1 in return). But the Aux attack on the MI whiffed, while the BB vaporized the Sassanid Aux. Score now 4-4. The Byz. MI attacked the 1-block Sass. MBC, but he whiffed the roll and the MBC evaded.
The Sassanid play of a Command Left restarted the cavalry battle in the hills, and in spite of a Byz. Ambush, the Byz. SHBC and MBC were both eliminated, and the leader Rusticus retreated. Finally, a couple of turns later, a Sassanid Cavalry attack upon Usigardis and his MI killed the MI for banner #7.
Good Sassanid cards, and good dice in the battles for the hills, combined with Byzantine card trouble at the end provided the margin of victory. Thanks to Mark for a good game.

Round 1 014 Lazic War (548 AD) Petra Mountain Passes

g1ul10 5 banners, 14 blocks lost
MarkMcG 1 banner, 15 blocks lost

The Sassanid advance along the flanks. Due to a strange mix of cards in both players' hands, many turns pass without noticeable progress. Then Mark dares an assault, but I have both first-strike and ambush in my hand. The first strike is ineffective and Mark eliminates one medium inf but the ambush eliminates the attacking Byzantine cavalry. I replenish my hand with better cards and start to move toward the bottom of the map. Byzantine troops fire many arrows, but ineffectively. The Sassanid eliminate another couple of Byzantine troops and exit the map with two Cavs. This is the most unbalanced scenario I ever played in Medieval.

We were testing a new version of the module. I'll attach the log file when it is released.

and we took 1.5 hours to play this, because Giulio had a hand full of defensive cards, and the Byzantines had all Centre cards for a time, and then all Left cards. So we seemed to sit a shoot and lot.
Really hard to see what the Byzantines should do in this one. 1 Leader, 2 Cavalry. The 3 Light Bow are their best troops!

Round 1 014 Lazic War (548 AD) Petra Mountain Passes

Viridovilas (Sassanid) 5 banners, 9 blocks lost
Greg O (Byzantine) 2 banners, 23 blocks lost

The score this time lies a bit. The Byzantine army soon took the initiative and started to press a lot the Sassanid left wing. Persians were compelled to take a defensive stance and only their great number superiority and a few lucky rolls put the battle at end. It’s difficult to imagine Byzantines managing to do much more in this scenario…

Round 2, 015 Lazic War (549 AD) Phasis River

mk20336 (Byzantine): 7 banners, 11 blocks lost
ToganAlper (Sassanid): 2 banners, 31 blocks lost

Tough game for Sassanids. Roman forces methodically attacked on left flank, being able to cross the rive and endanger some light units there. Then the heavy Byzantine units moved and slaughter begun. It was stopped for a moment by a timely counter-attack but in the end the Persians were defeated in the center.

I have played face-to-face the game as Byzantine and made a mistake of enganging only part of the forces against enemy. This time I corrected my approach.

Round 6 019 Solachon (586 AD) Kardarigan’s Stand

Polonus100 (Sassanid), 5 banners, 16 lost
Gottoman (Byzantine) 3 banners, 27 lost

9 turns and no Leadership for Greeks. No Scout card as well. Counterattacks of Persians destroyed Greek Cathaphracts and killed one of its leaders.