Sassanid Persian Army... and a few preliminary musings on "To the Strongest!"

 My Sassanid Persian army once again is composed almost entirely of Minifigs (I think the Elephants might be Garrison figures), and were painted back when I was in Medical school, most of them probably back in May/June of 1979. The army was painted for my Legio Quaternarius rules of the time, and wound up finalized as follows:

#8 Sassanid Persia    (250  -  650 AD)

QTY	Unit Description	Unit Type	Cost	Subtotal
5	Clibinari	EHC*LS,B,Sh	20	100
2	Cataphractori	SHC*LS,Sh*Elite	24	48
2	Sassanid Lt Cav	LC*J,B,Sh	10	20
1	Elephant	EL*B	16	16
2	Archers	LI*B	2.5	5
2	Slingers	LI*Sl,Sh	2.5	5
2	Javelinmen	LI*J,Sh	4	8
6	Levy Spearmen	MI*SS,Sh*Levy	4	24
2	Light Bolt Throwers	ENG	12.5	25
1	General	General	25	25
25	TOTALS			276

Sassanid Light Infantry Archers

Once again, the paint jobs could use some updating with black lining or washing, Likewise the balsa basing... although he thick bases are good to reduce handling of the figures themselves!

Sassanid Slingers

I just got my (PDF)copy of To the Strongest!, and I like what I see so far. My old Ancient armies will likely see some more current action as a result! It is very well done with many hyperlinks, including a hyperlinked index, and an icon on each page that takes you directly back to the index. Most terms in the body of the rules are also hyperlinked to the section covering them. The constantly expanding army lists are all free to download, although Simon has plans for much glossier presentations with background and painting information, which would surely be  an item that is charged for. Updates of the rules (electronically/PDF) are free as well - similar to the system Bob Jones is using for the DVD only Die Fighting II rules. There is a print version of the rules as well now - I considered getting it, but the discount for getting both at the same time wasn't all that large, so I decided to hold off on that for now. 

Sassanid Light Infantry Javelinmen

I'll have a lot ,ore to say about To the Strongest! once I have actually played at least one game, but they strike me as an interesting fusion of concepts from Tactica, DBX, Crossfire, and  even some elements reminiscent of FoB/Piquet, as well as a number of new ideas/mechanisms!

Sassanid Levy Infantry part 1

Obviously, the fact that To the Strongest! uses a gridded table is no barrier to my trying them.

Sassanid Levy spearmen, part 2!

The rules are extremely flexible when it comes to basing, and it isn't even necessary to have both armies based the same, or even similarly!

Javelin armed Sassanid Light Cavalry

I deliberately do NOT straighten out fragile bits like the Javelin soften, due to the high breakage potential!

Sassanid Catahractoi, and King!

If I like playing To the Strongest!, one thing I will need is more figures for generals ( a small army has 3 to 5 of them!), and also "heroes" - some armies have as many as 8 (chiefly Barbarian Horde type forces). Heroes area one time, disposable combat re-roll, and thus could be handled with a marker, especially when trying out the rules.

Sassanid Elephants!  I'd rate these as the larger, better trained Indian types, I think!

I'll also need to purchase some cheap playing card decks to use with To the Strongest! (I will be order a dozen decks, 6 each of large index [playing cards, 6 each in red and blue back colors. That's enough for 6 players total. Each player (or side) needs an 80 card deck with the jokers and court cards removed.

Some Sassanid Clibanophori - "Extra Heavy Cavalry". 

The 80 card deck is used to "activate" your units to Move, Shoot, Rally, or Charge. When a unit fails to activate, then that command is done for the turn. However, units my be activated repetitively in the same turn, Each successive activation requires a higher card than the last successful card played on that unit that turn.

More Clibanophori; dual armed with Lance and bow, these guys are tigers under most rules!

The same 80 card deck is also used to resolve combat... no dice are used at all! 

A final unit of Sassanid Clibanophori.

Each army must have at least one Camp on the table in To the Strongest!, and it will often have one per command. Camps are a liability if taken, but boost "Morale"and provide some extra ammunition reloads for your missile armed troops, so they are quite useful as well! I think I see some use for the "Ziggurat" style (birdhouse) towers I bought a few months ago there!