006 Dara (530 AD)

Details
Written by: Alessandro Crespi
Category: Iberian War
Hits: 4997
Victory Results:
 39 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  61 %
Total plays 49 - Last reported by NapoleonIV on 2025-12-28 18:43:36

Historical Background

When negotiation for peace between Justinian and Kavadh failed in 529 AD, the Sassanid king sent an army towards Dara, while Justinian ordered Belisarius back to the region. Despite being outnumbered 2 to 1, Belisarius deployed outside the city walls and prepared the ground for battle by digging ditches (represented by broken ground in the scenario) to hinder the Sassanid cavalry. On the first day of battle a small Sassanid cavalry force failed to turn the Byzantine right flank.
The second day opened with an exchange of arrow volleys, but after the Sassanid arrow supply was quickly depleted, their dense infantry formation closed with the defending Byzantine infantry. The trench broke the Sassanid forward momentum and neutralized their far greater numbers. Next came a massive Sassanid cavalry attack against the Byzantine left flank. The Byzantines were being pushed back until the Sassanids were successfully counterattacked by Pharas’ cavalry which had been hidden behind the hills. The battle then turned to the Byzantine right. Spearheaded by the elite Sassanid ‘Immortals,’ thousands of mounted Sassanids pushed back the Byzantine right flank. Their advance separated them from the Sassanid infantry in the center. Belisarius was quick to throw much of his reserve cavalry into the gap to attack the exposed Sassanid flank. When the Sassanid cavalry turned to fight their attackers, they were swiftly attacked in flank by Belisarius’s personal cavalry and in the rear by the reformed infantry.
The tightly packed Sassanid cavalry could not maneuver or fight effectively and were slaughtered by the Byzantine counterattack. Over 5,000 perished and the survivors retreated in great disorder. With the Sassanid left flank destroyed, the Byzantine horsemen wasted no time in taking the Sassanid massed infantry in flank. The Sassanid infantry formation dissolved into thousands of panicked individuals running for their lives. The pursuit was short. Belisarius had won a signal victory and did not want to risk having his pursuing troops take losses from a Sassanid counterattack.
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?

War Council

Sassanid Army (Use Tan blocks)

• Leader: King Kavadh
• 5 Command Cards
• 3 Inspired Action tokens
• Move First Move First

Byzantine Army (Use Purple blocks)

• Leader: Belisarius
• 6 Command Cards
• 4 Inspired Action tokens

Victory

7 Banners

Special Rules

  • The Sassanid player gains 1 Victory Banner for each gate that is stormed and opened.
  • The Byzantine player may enter Pharas and his Cavalry units by the play of a Command card in the left section. Pharas and/or a unit, when ordered to enter, is placed on a hill hex or on an adjacent hex. The unit may not move but may battle.
  • The Sassanid Medium, Heavy and Super Heavy Cavalry units are armed with bows.
  • The Byzantine Medium, Heavy and Super Heavy Cavalry units are armed with bows.
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Discuss this article in the forums (8 replies).
Posts in discussion: 006 Dara (530 AD)<===Question for the Group about this Scenario
Mark-McG replied the topic:
#1039
8 months 1 week ago
There is some FAQ about this scenario
boardgamegeek.com/thread/2215456/article/32363284#32363284

Special Rules Dot Two: "The Byzantine player may enter Pharas and his Cavalry units by the play of a Command card in the left section. Pharas and/or a unit, when ordered to enter, is placed on a hill hex or on an adjacent hex. The unit may not move but may battle."

The key phrase here is " is placed on a hill hex or on an adjacent hex". The units do not move from offboard, and historically, the units were concealed and emerge from hiding. 
yenaldlooshi replied the topic:
#1037
8 months 1 week ago
1) The way the rules read, the Pharas can place on any of the hills, not just the two at the edge of the map.  He could basically teleport to the hill hex 3 hexes in from the edge even though there could be Sassanid forces between that hex and the edge of the map.  That is, unless you interpret the word "enter" to explicitly mean only the first hexes on the left edge on the map.
What does the forum say?  Which is it?

2)If you do rule that "Enter" means only the hill hexes on the left edge, then there are only 2 with 2 adjacent hexes between them.  This could mean that the Sassanid player might be able to occupy those hexes BEFORE the Phara's enters.  That being the case, does that mean that he cannot enter?  This possibility makes me think that in my first question above, the answer should be YES he CAN teleport onto any of those hexes because all of those plus the adjacent hexes would not be able to be covered by placing Sassanid troops on them.
What sayeth the forum about this?
 
sduke12 replied the topic:
#1000
11 months 2 weeks ago
My gaming partner and I have played this scenario 4 times face to face in the last week, and the Byzantine player won 3 of them. Our last two games went down to the last banner and were very exciting. So we overall thought the scenario was pretty balanced.

However we agreed, no way will the Sass player ever reach the gates before the banner count is already achieved for one side or the other.
clavain replied the topic:
#641
4 years 4 weeks ago
Further to the last, the gates seem immaterial - they are too far away for the Sassinid really, who can largely keep their distance and use ranged combat to win unless things go very poorly for them. Also, not sure it makes sense for the Byzantine to garrison them even if the Sassanid moves in - my reading of the rules is that killing or forcing a unit on the gate to retreat opens it, so from the Byzantine perspective may be better to die in place in front of the gates, and then have the Sassinids have to force the unoccupied gate by getting a Sword hit, requiring at least two turns of effort.
clavain replied the topic:
#640
4 years 4 weeks ago
7-3 Sassanids. Most of the action was on the flanks as the Sassinid cav advanced. Instead of bringing on the reinforcements, the Byzantine (me) choose to do a mounted charge to counter. Which would have worked great, if the Sassinid had not had two first strike cards, followed by a Rally in his own turn to bring his Superheavies and Heavies back to almost full strength. After that there was a lot of shooting and Darken the Skies, and the Byzantine reinforcements eventually came on but then had no cards to move. The Sassinid wisely stood off and just attrited the Byzantine by archery for the most part, including nailing one leader.
Magmik replied the topic:
#607
4 years 9 months ago
Byzantines win 9-3 (finished the round after 7-3)
kostas63 replied the topic:
#436
5 years 1 month ago
Vittoria Sassanide 7-5. Dopo uno scambio di frecce da entrambe le parti la cavalleria di Bouzes si fa avanti e carica il fianco sassanide. Riesce a sfondare ma avanza troppo in profondità e viene eliminata. L'azione si sposta nel centro dove la lotta si fa furiosa tra la fanteria pesante bizantina e qquella media sassanide. Belisario per coprire il fianco destro lasciato scoperto da Bouzes deve spostarsi lasciando il centro senza comando. Dopo alterne fortune il centro bizantino crolla. Faras purtroppo non riceve ordini e non può quindi intervenire per salvare la situazione.
pmiranda-medieval replied the topic:
#302
5 years 8 months ago
"The Byzantine player may enter Pharas and his Cavalry units by the play of a Command card in the left section. Pharas and/or a unit, when ordered to enter, is placed on a hill hex or on an adjacent hex. The unit may not move but may battle."

A couple of doubts:
- Can the units only melee or also fire?
- If they can fire, do we consider they moved or held? (1d or 2d)
- Can you combine with ordering other units already present in the left section?
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