ADLG Justinian Byzantine v Avar

Another 25mm ADLG game, this time the Justinian Byzantines take on the Avars. 

Having done relatively well last time with the army I decided to keep pretty much the same composition as for the last game against the African Vandals just replacing one of the Moorish light horse with a fortified camp in case the sneaky Avars managed to get around the armies flanks. 

Gordon won the initiative so the Byzantines ended up defending in the steppe, this time they managed to get a difficult going river down to protect one flank and the rest of the terrain fell kindly for them cutting down much of the opportunity for the Avars to get around the Byzantine flanks.

The Justinian's arranged for battle with a cavalry centre and two mixed wings:

The opposing Avar host and their Gepid lackies. In fact the Byzantine army was larger than the Avar one:

The Avars waste no time and immediately advance, they look a bit stronger on the Byzantine right but in the centre and left the Byzantines look like they will have an advantage:

The Byzantines are equally enthusiastic to get into action and advance themselves. The plan is to smash the Gepids and Avar centre before the Byzantine right is overwhelmed:

Initial exchanges of arrows go badly for the mostly medium Avar cavalry against the heavier Byzantines:

The Boukellarioi on the left are more than a match for the Avar light cavalry killing one and damaging a couple more:

The Avars put in a strong attack on the Byzantine right where two non-elite Huns need to hold on for a while ideally:

One Hun is destroyed but so is an Avar, so far so good:

In the centre the Byzantines are quickly gaining the upper hand, breaking the Avar and Gepid lines up and starting to inflict hits on them:

The Avar light cavalry decide that discretion is the best idea against the Boukellarioi and run off to the relatively safe broken ground. A Gepid charges and inevitably kills the lone Moorish light horse but in doing so exposes his flank to the Boukellarioi:

There are too many gaps in the line now for the Gepids and Avars to cover. The Boukellarioi charge the exposed Gepid horse in the flank and destroy it while one of the cavalry from the centre hits another Gepid in the flank killing that one and pursuing into the flank of it's comrade:

The Avar centre is also struggling with few units left and the ones that are looking very weak. The Huns on the Byzantine right have held on well:

The Byzantine right flank has taken losses but still holds off the Avars. Sadly the heroic Isaurian Javelin men from the last game have not had an opportunity to get into the battle this time!:

On the left the Byzantines attempt to mop up the remaining Avars, the Gepids having been totally dispersed:

In the centre the remaining Avars flee, their army is almost broken:

The Byzantines attempt to get the last few hits they need by shooting:

The whole army advances and unleashes arrows in all directions!:

The steadfast though mediocre Skutatoi present a solid front to the outflanking Avars who promptly retire as their army breaks!:

So a very rare victory for me against Gordon at ADLG, the last game was close but this time I managed to get over the line. Having thought about the army and used the same army twice probably helped rather than using completely different armies every game.

I was also fortunate with the terrain in that it allowed me to narrow the frontage greatly giving me a solid line of generally better troops with less opportunity for Gordon to employ his usual fancy manoeuvring out of harms way. Some of the early shooting exchanges and combats went very much in my favour as well after which Gordon found it difficult to recover. As ever great to get the old guys back on table (this time I even used different cavalry units so these ones had not played a game in many years as I usually use the red and blue cavalry, this week it was the green and black ones!).

Having enjoyed these 25mm games I'm even thinking of expanding my 25mm collection with some more additions of 'classic' figures as I much prefer them to the more modern 28-32mm monsters and, in all honesty, it isn't as if I need any more figures or armies do I?