Match of the day - Palmyra v Rome

 Yesterday saw my Palmyrans having their first outing since I completed them. It was a derby against Rome . The mainly mounted Palmyrans against the mainly infantry Early Imperial Romans. Played on my dining room table l hoped to out flank the Romans and use my light cavalry for this purpose. As it turned out things were not to be…

The Palmyrans led by their enigmatic queen assembled with the team sheet.

Lots of cavalry and camels were the order of the day accompanied by bowmen.

The teams arrayed for kick off. The toss was won by the Romans who had the initiative.

Palmyran regular light cavalry move down the wings towards their heavier equipped opponents.

Archers and Auxiliaries about to contend the centre of the field.

The cataphracts advance on the legionaries, including some new signings from last Saturday.

The aforementioned new signings advancing towards their Roman opponents.

A complicated altercation in the centre leading to some tricky situations.

My Roman opponent threw high consistently as l threw consistently low. One command became demoralised and then the Palmyran Queen , in her palanquin replete with cataphract guards was killed and the second command disintegrated. One nil to a lucky Rome!

The team sheet hastily scribbled on hotel notepaper. 

I really enjoyed fielding the Palmyrans. I love the exotic nature of them with camels , cavalry and cataphracts galore. However they lack any heavy infantry to hold the centre, perhaps it is time to sign some new players , sorry blades. This was definitely one of these occasions where l fielded an army I loved , had enjoyed researching, restoring and painting. That was far, far more important than winning.