This is a ruleset that has been out for a while now, and the focus is on the wars of the Diadochi after the death of Alexander the Great. Therefore, all your favorite Greek generals get a shout-out and have their own Lines of Battle. However, one thing I do not think the rules cover very well is Lines of Battle for the Late Persian Army or rather Lines of Battle for rebel Persian Satraps who mostly drew their forces from the remains of the Late Persian Army. We know from the sources that Perdiccas and others had to contend with rebel Persians after Alexander's Death.
Therefore, this will be a post where I try to rectify that situation and "build a better" Late Persian list to be used in your games. This is not the first time I have gone back to add a new Line of Battle for this game. Long-time readers and fans will recall my efforts to add a Mauryan Empire list to potentially face off against Seleceus during his Eastern Anabasis. You can find that here. The very sharp-eyed of you will also see that I updated the games cover since those halcyon days too!
This is also not the first time going to take a closer look at the Late Persian Army for me either. The Ionian Revolt supplement for Men of Bronze also has an updated Line of Battle for the Late Persian army to update it from the core rulebook. Therefore, the list you see here will build off this as a source. That supplement also details many of the foes of the Persian Empire as well and is a great resource for those of you who want to expand your games with Persian armies. I think it is also important that Heirs of Empire was written before The Ionian Revolt so my thinking and scholarship around these forces has evolved.
Who Were the Persians?
The Persians were a vassal tribe of the Medes from the Iranian steppe. Their king Cyrus the Great led them to victory over the Medes, and then the Babylonians, and finally the Lydians. At this point, the Achaemenid Empire was declared. The empire continued to expand outward under other kings. At its height, it covered the majority of the known world, stretching from the Indus River Valley to the Balkans to Egypt.
Cyrus and his descendants brought a new model of control to the region. The Assyrians had brought a reign of terror for their subject people including royal massacres, forced deportations, destruction of temples, and brutal military tactics designed to cause terror. The Medes and the Babylonians followed this successful example. However, when Cyrus took over he did not bring brutality with him. Instead, he offered stability. His empire respected local religions, kept local leadership in charge, and showed mercy. The Persians had a relatively hands off approach to their provinces as long as the taxes were paid, the levied troops provided, and the Kings orders were followed. This approach allowed the Persian Empire to flourish and grow.
In addition, the Persians brought an efficient bureaucracy and administration to their holdings. They built infrastructure like the great Royal Road that crossed the Empire. This infrastructure allowed a series of message relays and a post-offices that made Royal communications swift. In addition, the infrastructure allowed the King’s soldiers to get from one end of the Empire to the other rapidly to maintain order. They also professionalized government officials and created a professional army.
The Persians were very wealthy from the taxes they collected from their subject people. They used this wealth shrewdly to expand trade, professionalize their leadership, and to de-stabilize their enemies. After the Greco-Persian Wars, the Persians cannily used their wealth to play one Greek city-state off against another to keep them focus inward instead of on the Persians. This policy was very successful for a number of decades as internal warfare kept the Greeks mostly focused inward.
The Persians were a religious people. They believed in the Flame of Truth and its avatar Ahura Mazda. To their way of thinking, as the Empire expanded they rolled back the darkness and brought the light of Truth. Ahura Mazda was leading them to expel the darkness. Despite this religious philosophy, they did not expect their subject people to convert to their religion or abandon their own gods. Instead, the empire was tolerant of local custom and religious practices.
The Persian Empire began to decline as outside pressures grew. The taxation burden became heavy on the satraps who controlled the various provinces, and the economy began to stagnate from too much wealth not being re-invested. In addition, the Empire’s hands off approach meant that no national identity or larger shared ethnic identity was ever achieved for the empire. Therefore, when Alexander and the Macedonians took over, there was not real change to the average Persian Imperial citizen’s life. They continued on much as they had before.
How Did They Fight?
By the late period of the Persian Empire, the way that they fought had evolved a lot over the centuries. Generally speaking, by the late period the army was made up of 2 main branches. They were the infantry and the cavalry. There was also several "novelty" units like scythed chariots, camel cavalry, war elephants, and mercenaries like Greeks.
Persian Infantry was drawn from across the Empire. However, the backbone was the Medes and Persian troops. These were primarily armed with spears, swords, and most importantly bows. The Persians specialized in range firepower. From there, other troops came from across the empire to fill their own niches like skirmishers, light troops, etc. However, as the Empire came apart access to these auxiliary troops became restricted.
Much has been written about the Kardaks as a troop type in Late Period Persian armies. I tend to think that this was a reference to Persian troops. It is unclear who they are, but they were light and heavy troops of various branches of the military. It does not seem like they were a unique unit type and could possibly be "new recruits" or troops still in their training phase.
Perhaps the most important arm of the Persian Late Period army was the cavalry. Again, this was mostly Persian nobles who were the Heavies. However, they also had lighter cavalry made up of allied groups like Bactrians or Sogdians. The infantry would pin down the enemy troops with archery while the cavalry would maneuver for flank attacks. The Persian army was known for its mobility as well as its size.
What draws many people to the Persian Army is their novelty units. They had a wide variety of mercenary and specialty units in their forces. This included Greek Mercenaries of the heavy and light variety. War Elephants from India, Egyptian Marines, Camel cavalry from Arabia, and Scythed Chariots from the Steppe all had their place in the Late Empire army. Of course, after the death of Darius and the sundering of the Empire access to all of these troops might no longer be available thereby limiting the Line-of-Battle.
Building the Line of Battle for Late Persians for Heirs of Empire
It may have been a while since you have looked at the rules for Heirs of Empire. However, it is a game that makes use of army wings on the table. Therefore, the Lines-of-Battle focus on what units can make up the Left, Center, and Right of the army.
We know that traditionally the Core or center of the army will be the infantry forces with the cavalry moving around on the flanks. We saw this formation during the famous late period battles against Alexander. Therefore, the Line-of-Battle should match-up with these formations.
I wanted to add some infantry with bow armed troops integrated into the units. Therefore, I am adding the following option:
Late Persian Line of Battle
The following is the Line-of-Battle for the Late Persians and their rebel Persian forces after the death of the Great King. The Lines of Battle help to choose the appropriate Units for your Historical forces. Check the scenarios for starting point cost for a force.
Each Line of Battle will have an entry with a number. The number indicates the limit of that Unit you can take in the army. If an entry says 1+ your army must have at least one of these units in it. If it is 0+ any number of that unit may be taken. If a Unit is not on the list, it can not be chosen.
Sample Line of Battle
Below you can see a Sample Army built from the Lines of Battle provided. It gives you an idea of what your force could look like. It is built to a 54-point force per the examples in the main rulebook. The Late Persians has 9 Units in the force.
Final Thoughts
These Late Persian Rebel Satraps will give a much different feel to a traditional Diadochi army. Their hitting power is reduced up-close, but their ranged firepower is greater. It will take a skilled commander to maneuver and fight these units against a Macedonian Phalanx force, but hopefully the extra troops and Commander's Gaze can give the Late Persian player an edge and the ability to "kite" against the harder hitting Phalanx units of the other Successors?
I look forward to you giving them a try on the battlefield and letting me know what happens in the comments. I think they lead to very different strategic and tactical challenges for your games of Heirs of Empire.
Until next time.
Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!
