No Brain Wargame

      My wife had a late shift tonight, which meant that I had to keep myself entertained. Of course, the ideal use of time would be a wargame. But what game to play? I haven't been working on any one project with a game in mind. While walking the dog, I thought of playing a "no brain" wargame. I have played this game in the past. The first time I played I used several sets of Airfix indians, which were divided into two armies. Both sides got the same number of archers and spearmen. Both sides were randomly placed on a gridded board, four figures to a square. I paid no mind to what figures were put in the squares. Some units had one archer, some three. I rolled my homemade movement dice. Movement was one square. Archers had ranged fire of 2 squares. To roll a 5 causes one figure to retreat 2 squares, a 6 is a kill. Melee combat uses the same roll. If after melee a square is vacated, a unit from the victorious side can advance into that square. It's about a simple game as you can play. It usually turns out to be a fun game. I don't overthink the game.  Hence, " no brain". Perhaps I should have called my blog "No Brainer Wargamer".

The Arab army on the left, the Persian army on the right.

The Persians start losing men and several break and run.

As the game goes on, the field gets a little confusing.

The Arabs start breaking through the center.

The Persians continue to lose more men.

The Arab line becomes clear; the Persian line is close to breaking.

The Arabs finally break the Persian line.

The Persian general finally orders a retreat. 

Both sides started out with 40 men. The Persians lost 24 men, the Arabs only 11.

The Persians had fewer archers than the Arabs. Usually when I play this game I try to make both sides even. However,  this isn't a "serious" game, it's just an afternoon distraction.  And after all, how many armies are exactly equal?