1.0 - Introduction
While the first word in the title is a shameless deception inserted by my evil twin, the remainder is quite the opposite. This article is the sequel to "An Overview of the Sassanian Persian Military" which appeared in last month's issue. It provides a concrete wargaming application of the historical concepts brought forth in the previous work, using new ideas from a fresh examination of the evidence.
2.0 - Attention Shapurs
Before presenting the actual De Bellis Multitudinorum List 69 from Army List Book 2 revision, it is prudent to anticipate some questions the list will generate. Following are short explanations of changes. For more information please see the article mentioned above.
2.1 - Regular and knight generals
Facial hair notwithstanding, the Sassanian Persians were not barbarians. From the earliest part of this dynasty, opponents stressed the discipline wielded by the leaders within the army. As part of an ancient highly structured society, the military had a top-down organization. Within this hierarchy, the greatest nobles and their retainers fought the gradually increased power of the shahanshah. Yet they proved unable to stop the growth of the bureaucracy at court in Ctesiphon. The extent of this aggrandizement is a matter of debate. Here I have taken the view that increased command-and-control capabilities will be reflected in a greater number of regular generals after the accession of Khusro I in 531 AD.
The rating of Kn (X) for generals in the early empire is overdue. Depictions of the shahanshah as an armored lancer riding an armored horse are found in rock carvings from the 3rd and 4th centuries. These horses are charging, their riders are impaling opponents on long kontos, and the scenes call forth the art of medieval Europe. Modern analyses indicate that sometime after the Hunnic invasions of the late 4th and 5th centuries Iranian heavy cavalry stressed the bow over the lance. Arab sources claim 421 AD as the pivotal date, and so for convenience I have used 428.
2.2 - Cv versus LH
A further representation of the ascendancy of multi-purpose armored cavalry, and away from the Parthian heavy/light dichotomy, is in the aswaran and light horse. Before the early 5th century the ranks of the aswaran are fewer, their equipment lighter, and light horse archers more numerous. Afterwards the number of regular heavy horse archers increases, a maximum after the reforms of Khusro I. This will also make the bulk of the mounted troops more effective against the Hun and Turk LH (S) that the Persians faced in the later centuries. Light horse are retained in part because of a reference in al-Tabari to an Iranian light horse commander.
2.3 - The Immortals
Traditionally used as a reserve, this elite corps may initially be assumed to be armed as the nobles, yet better disciplined. They become Kn (F) after 428 as part of the general increase in flexibility of the mounted arm, and also because of Procopius' famous account of their performance at Daras in July of 530. Facing the army of Belisarius, the Immortals proved capable of rapid redeployment across the Iranian rear, shifting from center to left and into a charge along with the other horse of that wing. The Byzantines "failed to withstand the attack and beat a hasty retreat." The Immortals and left wing cavalry were cut off in pursuit, surrounded, and their general slain. In DBM terms, this reads like a Persian player rolling poor PIP dice after driving back the Byzantine horse, whereupon good PIP dice on the part of the latter player lead to the isolation and rout of that Iranian command.
The impression left is of Immortals who are hard-charging, yet somewhat brittle when outmanouvered. They are represented well as Reg Kn (F). The other numerous guard cavalry, the gyanavspar, are grouped with them.
2.4 - Paighan
These are the despised Persian foot. This common reputation seems mostly based on two facts: their defeat by the legionaries in Julian's Persian campaign of 363; and Belisarius' speech before the walls of Daras (see above). However, there is other evidence on the abilities of the Persian infantry, as explained in last month's artile.
The reasons for rating the paighan as updated regular sparabara are several: the sense of an "Achaemenid restoration" in the empire; their fair performance against legionaries, perhaps the most powerful DBM infantry type; the Roman eagerness to engage them quickly to avoid intense archery; the praise Romans and Byzantines give their discipline and drill; and that they were not tactically organized by tribe. Regardless of the unavoidable break with what has become accepted truth in the wargaming community, these facts point toward the need for a severe reappraisal of the paighan. Regular double-based Bw (X) and (O) in large numbers will guarantee their importance on the tabletop, in the center of the battle array. Taken together with other foot, they will rightly outnumber the deployed horsemen.
The levy are still present, since Belisarius was not necessarily lying outright about the Iranian foot. At Daras the Persians were moving to lay siege to the town. Under these curcumstances, the poorly-armed men were almost certainly peasants and artisans working as pioneers.
2.5 - Swordsmen
This addition is based on David Nicolle's fine Montvert book, "Sassanian Armies." His drawing from a 3rd century Dura Europas synagogue fresco shows mailed and shielded swordsmen who are not Romans. The presumption is that they are heavy infantry from Mesopotamia, and Irr Bd (I) seems a reasonable translation into DBM.
2.6 - Dailami
The various warlike peoples of Tabaristan south of the Caspian, Perasrmenians, and the adjoining petty mountain kingdoms, produced many hardy fighters. These were subdued by Shapur, and served the Sassanians well until the demise of the empire, whereupon they were apparently happy to convert and kill for the Muslims. Thus it is a mystery that conversion would turn the Dailami from centuries of fighting as Irr Ax (O) into zupin-armed warriors and archers, Reg Ax(S) backed by Reg Ps(O).
2.7 - Fortifications
The Sassanians learned the art of siegecraft from the Romans to the west, and the Chinese to the east. Camps were commonly fortified, and at Nihawand in 642 the entire army was apparently within fortifications.
2.8 - Armenians
Previous army lists have always included some separate Armenian contingent in the Persian army until the end of the dynasty. The division of the land with the Romans in 428 was a turning point in their history. In this list, I have assumed that the role played by Armenians within the Sassanian empire was somewhat analogous to that of the Gauls in the Roman empire. Armenian nationalists to the contrary, Persarmenian troops and generals appear to have been fully integrated into the Iranian system.
| SASSANIAN PERSIAN 220 AD - 642 AD | |
| Dry. Ag 2, WW, Rv, H(G), O, E, RGo, M, Rd, BUA | |
| C-in-C - Reg Kn (X) @ 33AP | 1 |
| Subgeneral - as above | 1 |
| Noble subgeneral - Irr Kn (X) @ 21AP | 0-1 |
| Noble cavalry - Irr Kn (X) @ 11AP | 2-5 |
| Immortals, gyanavspar - Reg Kn (X) @ 13AP | 0-4 |
| Paighan - Half Reg Bw (X) @ 7AP, half Reg Bw (O) @ 5AP, with 1 (X) and 1 (O) on each double base. | *16-22 |
| Skirmishers - Up to 1/3 with javelin Irr Ps (S) @ 3AP, remainder archers and slingers Irr Ps (O) @ 2AP | *2-6 |
| Persarmenians, hillmen - Up to 1/2 archers, Irr Ps (O) @ 2AP or Irr Bw (I) @ 3AP, remainder Irr Ax (O) @ 3AP | 0-6 |
| Levy and pioneers - Irr Hd (O) @ 1AP | *0-12 |
| Elephants - Irr El (O) @ 16AP | *0-3 |
| Ditch and bank for camp - TF @ 2AP | *0-16 |
| Only before 428AD: | |
| Swordsmen - Irr Bd (I) @ 4AP | *0-4 |
| Nobles’ horse archers - Irr LH (F) @ 4AP | 4-8 |
| Chionite allies - List: Hunnic (Bk2) [No subject troops permitted] | |
| Armenian allies - List: Early Armenian (Bk2) | |
| Only before 531 AD: | |
| Aswaran - Up to 1/4 Reg Cv(S) @ 10AP, remainder Reg Cv (O) @ 8AP | 4-8 |
| Light horse - Reg LH (F) @ 4AP | 6-12 |
| Only before 602 AD: | |
| Lakhmid and other Arab allies - List: Later Pre-Islamic Arab (Bk2) | |
| Only from 230 to 379 AD: | |
| Kushan allies - List: Kushan (Bk2) [No Indian troops permitted] | |
| Only after 240 AD: | |
| Downgrade C-in-C to Reg WWg (I) @ 23AP | *1 |
| Downgrade C-in-C, subgeneral on elephant to Reg Wwg (I) @ 23AP | any |
| Replace hillmen with Dailami - Up to 1/3 Irr Ps (O), remainder with zupin Irr Ax (S) @ 4AP | any |
| Cadiseni, Albani, or Alan nobles - Irr Kn (F) @ 9AP | 0-2 |
| Cadiseni, Albani, or Alan horse archers - Irr LH (S) @ 7AP | 0-3 |
| Only after 428 AD: | |
| Downgrade C-in-C, subgeneral, to Reg Cv (S) @ 30AP, noble subgeneral to Irr Cv (S) @ 19AP or Irr El (O) @ 26AP, noble cavalry to Irr Cv (S) @ 9AP, Immortals to Reg Kn (F) @ 11AP all | |
| Hepthalites or Sabiri allies - List: Hunnic (Bk2) 0-12 | |
| Only after 531 AD: | |
| Upgrade noble subgeneral to Reg Cv (S) @ 30AP, noble cavalry to Reg Cv (S) @ 10AP | all |
| Aswaran - Up to 1/2 Reg Cv (S) @ 10AP, remainder Reg Cv (O) @ 8AP | 8-16 |
| Light horse - Reg LH (F) @ 4AP | 2-6 |
| Only from 557 to 568 AD: | |
| Gok Turk allies - List: Central Asian Turkish (Bk 3) | |
| Only from 572 to 600 AD: | |
| Homerite Yemeni allies - List: Later Pre-Islamic Arab (Bk2) | |
| Only after 602 AD: | |
| Arab allies - List: Later Pre-Islamic Arab (Bk2) | 0-15 |
| Only from 615 to 622 AD: | |
| ex-Byzantine Jews - List: Jewish Revolt (Bk2) [Zealots] |
Troops marked * may only be used if paighan are fielded, and then their minima apply. One ubiquitous feature of infantry-heavy armies was the presence of the national battle flag, the drafsh I Kavyan or kaviani, guarded by an elite infantry corp of spearmen and archers. This, and the elevated command throne for the C-in-C, are here represented as Reg WWg (I). Subgenerals and army commanders on elephants used them almost exclusively as observation platforms, and so they are also classed as Reg Wwg (I). Homerite Yemenis and Turks may not be used with other allies, or with elephants. Dailami Ps can support Dailami Ax.