Cavalry of the Parthian Empire

Deck Backstory

The Parthian Empire ruled the Middle East for roughly 500 years across the approximate span of 250 BC to 250 AD. They established trade routes between the Roman Empire and the Far East and were known more for their nomadic lifestyle than cities and structures.

Parthian armies were notoriously difficult for the Romans to conquer because of their mastery of Cavalry and movement tactics, especially with warriors wielding a bow. Parthian Horse Archers were famous for their ability to shoot precisely while on horseback, including while firing in the opposite direction of the horse's travel, which is famously known as the Parthian Shot.

Heavily armored Cataphracts were known not only for their knight-like armor protection, but their horse's armor as well. Just a few Cataphracts could dominate an entire army on the battlefield.

The Spahbed was the commander of the Parthian forces and it was fun to think of Flank Attack and Parthian Shot as commands he could issue to his armies multiple times throughout the game.

The deck symbol is a horse to represent their mastery of horseback riding.

Deck Cards

Cards with more than 1 copy per deck appear with their number in parentheses (#).

(4) Cheap warriors to gain might

Cheap warrior plus essence

Cheap warrior plus cards

(3) Add might to all of your allies

(2) Pair with the Light Infantry

(2) The more the mightier

Stop those instants

(2) Add might, gain essence

Stun those conditionals

(2) The more the even mightier

(2) Surprise move, add might

(2) Pick-off valuable cards

More orders in battle!

Deck Strategy

Calvalry of the Parthian Empire is a Low Complexity deck that relies on resolving your Archer abilities multiple times by moving and returning them to deploy again.

Deploy your Camel Riders, Cataphracts, and Light Infantry on the battlefield and increase their might with your Archers.

Group Cataphracts on a battlefield strategically to gain advantage there. You only have 4 Cataphracts, though, so be mindful that in one game it might make sense to group 3-4, where in another game 2 groups of 2 may be wiser.

Deploy Flank Attack and Parthian Shot to gain opportunities to resolve your Archer abilities multiple times on the same or other battlefields. Use your Spahbed commander to return these Battle Order cards to your hand to deploy them again in the later rounds to repeat their abilities.

Deck Notes

If an Archer Moves to another battlefield, it retains its current might. If it returns to your hand, it loses any additional might gained beyond its reveal might.

Flank Attack and Parthian Shot have no reveal might, but they may gain might from Archers or battlefield effects. If Spahbed returns either or both of those cards, they lose any additional might gained.

As you reveal a second, third, or fourth Cataphract on a Battlefield, resolve each one at a time, starting with the one you just revealed. It's a good idea to separate reveal might tokens from any additional might tokens gained from battlefield or Archer cards for easier tracking of a given Cataphract card's current reveal might. Increasing a Cataphract card's reveal might is not considered a might gain.

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