Libyans/Sea Peoples Vs Picts

Not an historical matchup this time, but the second battle of the first round of my 2016 Ancient Tournament.

Somewhere in Northern Africa, an army of wandering Picts led by "King" Cynon found itself confronted by a Libyan force led by King Meshesher (who also had some Peleset allies led by King Palastra) after looting a Libyan village. Apart from the village (top right in photo above) and the coastline (all along the top) sealing of the Pict's right flank, the battle was fought on an open plain with no terrain features.

Although outnumbered, the Libyans pounced quickly, hoping to get a quick strike that would knock the Picts off balance.

They almost pulled it off, to the extent that by the time the Picts had finished deploying, the Libyans were almost on top of them. The Pict chariots raced out in front of their line to challenge the oncomers, but only had time to intercept the oncoming Peleset; having to leave the Libyans to their infantry.

The Peleset held their ground against the initial challenge from the Pict chariots (above), but were disorganized enough for their advance to be disrupted, and they quickly found themselves enveloped by the large numbers of Pict foot and horse following up the chariots (below).

Meanwhile, King Meshesher's advance was met by a storm of bolts from the Pict Crossbow Men deployed in front of the village that his own archers couldn't keep up with. (The dice gods were definitely on the side of the Picts in this encounter!)

He tried to force the issue by ordering his tribesmen forward, but they too were halted and repulsed, and with a Pict warband now also on hand to back up its crossbow troops, the Libyan king decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and quit the field while the Pict horsemen were too busy finishing off his Peleset allies to pursue his own troops.

A decisive win then to the Picts - the first time in 15 years or so that one of my Celtic armies has beaten a non-Celtic opponent! This Pict army will now meet King Sakesfaris and his Skythians in the next round (scheduled for late February, but that may change depending on my workload etc.)

The next tournament battle sees a second Pict army square off against some marauding Goths - hopefully next weekend!