Sunday 18 April 2010

Battle of Callinicum musings

Just some thoughts of the Battle of Callinicum to help shape up the re-fights.  Using the Society of Ancients Battle Day Pack 2009 as a guide the following details give a useful overview of the battle parameters I'm going to use.  The battle was fought in 531 AD between Sassanian Persians and the Byzantines.

Battlefield
There is a river running down the Persian right flank and the Byzantine's left.  About a quarter of opposing  side of the battleground is a gently sloping hill. As I have a 2'x2' flocked piece of hardboard, one table side will represent the river and I'll put down some markers to show where the rising ground starts.

Persians
The Persian forces are in four lots of 5,000 cavalry each:  3 heavy armoured cavalry with lance and bow and 1 Lakhmid Arab light cavalry. Disposition is, from their left to right, the Lakhmids, a 2 units of the heavy cavalry.  The third heavy cavalry is centrally deployed behind this line as a reserve.

Byzantine
The Byzantine force is in one line and from their left to right is:
7,000 infantry with 2,000-3,000 being missiles, the rest spear phalanx
4,000 heavy cavalry with various and bow
4,000 heavy cavalry - 3,000 as above and 1,000 well armoured heavy cavalry with spear, bow and sidearms
4,000 heavy cavalry with various and bow
2,000 Issaurian light infantry with javelin

5,000 Ghassanid light cavalry

I will leave this to how to convert the forces into stands and units when I plan for the first re-fight using Armati 2.

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