Nikephorian Byzantines versus Later Sassanids

Time to give Impetus Second Edition another go, this time getting Mark B to field his Sassanids and letting Stephen have command of my Byzantine foot (I kept the cavalry under my command).

400 points should work well for a club night, although the chatter isn't always conducive to experiencing new rules, especially if accompanied by crappy die rolling.

Stephen is charged with defending the sheep.  

That is impassable terrain on his left.

Stephen gets off to an excellent start, his expert rating being locked in.
He is sporting armour that will later become fashionable in far off Burgundy.

On turn one I was able to bring overwhelming bow fire to bear 

on a Sassanid light cavalry unit that had advanced on my right.

Turn two and the Sassanids are pushing forward.

I'm advancing too.

Turn three sees a messy melee develop on the right,

At the same time the Sassanid elephants start to lose their skirmisher screen.

Turn four and the Sassanids collapse.

One of their elephants panicked under sustained bow fire and recoiled into the unit behind it.

But the real damage was to their light cavalry, skirmishers 

and their unit of kataphraktoi that I had been able to rout with my superior numbers. 

I feel I am starting to get a handle on these rules now.  They offer some subtle tactical challenges.  It is such a pity that Basic Impetus 2.0 and Impetus Second Edition are such good rules, but while very similar they are also very different.  This makes playing both sets a challenge.  Damn!