"Battle of Cunaxa -- Persians vs Persians" Topic

I designed a scenario and reffed a game of Hail Caesar for a couple of history professors. Neither of them had ever played Hail Caesar before. It was the Battle of Cunaxa, the decisive 401 BC battle in a civil war between the legitimate Shah of Persia, Artaxerxes, and his usurping brother, Cyrus the Younger, and it's the battle that precedes Xenophon's _Anabasis_, the story of how Greek mercenaries fight their way home from Cunaxa (near Babylon) through hostile territory. See how closely the results of our game followed history at: link

Well done. First time I've heard of anyone's playing Cunaxa, including me, I blush to say, though I once had a heck of a lot of Persians in 6mm.

Nice battle and AAR, and wonderfully topical for me, as I happen to be rereading the anabasis at the moment.

Doug

Great job!

"Immortal THIS, bitches", LOL!

I've also run Cunaxa with Hail Ceasar and I encouraged the commanders to get stuck in by permanently attaching them to elite units on their side. Then they can only issue orders if the unit is unengaged but if they remain unengaged they cannot use one of their best units.

Gives them a bit of a dilemma which invariably causes them to commit themselves to the battle at a critical point.

Good idea, leidang. Thanks for your comments, everybody.

Very nice battle report and pics, JC – thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Scott

Nice battlefield and figures. Looks like a fun scenario, though there were no elephants present and Artaxerxes had 150 scythed chariots.

Looking forward for more reports about the Persian. Great job.