Army Spotlight: Eric's Assyrian Army

During the Pandemic Eric has been sharing pics of his many armies on Facebook, and has allowed me to share them here as well for our Army Spotlight. 😀

These are his cursed Assyrians. According to Eric, "Some of you have seen the curse in action I only roll ones with this army. It’s record is 1 and 9 despite being one of the better lists in the game. Looking back on how this army came to be I am convinced it was the devils work. Possibly an Assyrian evil deity. I bought the chariots in the flee market, it was feeding frenzy at one table where the seller only said “make me an offer you are happy with” and guys were doing just that. I got a great deal. But I only got the chariots and cavalry the infantry was gone. Mysteriously the infantry I found in my basement pile of old lead I don’t remember how I got them but here they were. I painted them up and the army could take the field. That’s when my suffering began like a monkey paw from hell the “Assyrian curse”."

With a story like that, how can they not be cursed, and how can that not be awesome? I guess Eric just needs to properly propitiate Ashur!

This list is primarily played for L'Art de la Guerre and represents list #9 - Assyrian Empire and Sargonid (745-609 BC).  It's an excellent list that does very well for its period with most players - Eric's constant 1s are truly a curse in this case!

The army on parade!  In the foreground the famous Assyrian heavy chariots, with the generals in the center, the Cimerian light cavalry bow on the left, then heavy infantry in the center, medium or heavy cavalry on the right, Egyptian and Kushite bowmen, a baggage camel camp, and light infantry bow.  

You cannot uite see, because of the spears, but Assyrian cavalry usually carries bows, mking them very useful since the hevay chariots are this army's 'hammer'. The Heavy infantry and bowmen can be deployed separately or in a mixed 1/2 swordsmen/bowmen line, giving excellent versatility.  

The Assyrian list has command +6, and tons of strategists options: Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Assurbanipal. There is no reason this army should ever lack for pips! My only quibble here is that most likely the Assyrian commanders rode chariots into battle. 

There is the heart of this force, the Heavy Chariot Impact. Heavy Chariots are classified as 'knights' in ADLG, and a force like this one is pretty powerful, which matches well the Assyrian Empire's military reputation. 

I've never played this army of Eric's but I would truly love to, though it will most likely overwhelm my own poor Hyksos are for the period!