My Cursed Late Achaemenid Persians (LAP vs. Early Seleucid)

You know it's going to be a bad day when you're defeated before you even set up for a battle.

Persian archers are not meant to be this flat.

In the final tune-up game for MillenniumCon, Brian and I met for another round of Late Achaemenid Persians (me) vs. Early Seleucid (Brian).  Since I outscouted him by 50%, while he placed his initial forces I began pulling out my troops. Once again I dropped my box of Persians and some spilled on the floor. The above picture is the result of me stepping on a stand.

I bought and painted the army over 25 years ago and they really reflect a different time in my gaming life. There's a mixture of basing styles, painting techniques and manufacturers. Some are dry-brushed, some are base coated and washed, others are just straight Ceramcoat paint on grey primer. Hoplites and some heavy cavalry have piano wire for spears - and no two spears are the same length. Spears are missing from many figures and some hoplite bases have figures holding thin air.  In short, this army is a mess and because of that I now think it's cursed.

I'm ready to ditch these figures, start over with new ones and get my mojo back.

Short story - I lost 15 to 6 but see the pictures for more explanation.

Seleucid right flank. Initial set up only had one cavalry SuG defending that flank. My plan was to overwhelm that flank and make a mad dash rush for the Seleucid camp.

Bad picture of LAP set up. Guard infantry and hoplites in the middle with average cavalry on left flank. Not pictured - cavalry on right flank.

More Seleucids. Cavalry on left flank with pikes and hillmen in the middle.

Better picture of the LAP set up. You can see the cavalry on the left flank secured by the woods and the cavalry on the far end of the table.

Seleucid skirmish cavalry try to slow the advance of the LAP cavalry to allow the infantry time to set up on the hill.

Skirmish cavalry skirmish away allowing the Persian superior cavalry to charge into the Seleucid infantry.

View of the aftermath from the Seleucid left flank.

In the end, four cavalry stands can't last against eight stands of infantry.

Cavalry on the flanks engage by turn 2. In the middle, the superior Seleucid Companion cavalry slam into the Persian crescent shieldmen.  It wasn't an even fight...

Close up of the cavalry action.

  

In the middle, the Seleucid hillmen charge and are met by a counter-charging unit of Persian mounted bowmen.  Hint - infantry should never charge cavalry.

The Seleucid Pikemen and Elephants trod into the Persian guard infantry and hoplites.  Not an even match to say the least. Long spear guard infantry tend to hold their own against pikes but the short spear hoplites break easily.

More action from the middle. Hoplites try to flank the pikemen while the hillmen turn the flank of the bow armed cavalry.

It's mutually assured destruction. The cavalry and hillmen kill each other simultaneously thanks to the support of the Persian hillmen. It's for naught though as the pikemen slay the attacking hoplites. 

A better view of the action in the middle. the Seleucid pikes and elephants hit the Persians while the Seleucid hillmen and Persian mounted bowmen clash.

High-level view of the Seleucid right flank.  The Companions are free to hit the second line infantry.

Here's where it went badly for the Persians. The Seleucid Companions (top right of the picture) just annihilated the Persian crescent shieldmen. They then charged another unit of crescent shieldmen (not pictured) and the Persian cavalry (lower right) turned to charge them. In the middle of the picture, there are five average Persian cavalry facing 4.5 stands of average, melee expert Seleucid cavalry. The Persians just had to kill 2 stands of Seleucid without losing 2.5 of their own.  Seems easy but...

Of course they don't hold and then the Seleucid cavalry pursue into the Persian cavalry and hit them before they can counter charge and hit the Companions in the flank.

The game lasted four turns. here is the Persian dead pile just from turn 4. 

 
 

And the Seleucid dead pile from the entire game.