A Macaca of Macedonians

A Headless Body Production
Venue: Wyndham Resort, née Lancaster Host
Event: Open tourney, Round 2
Players: Phil Gardocki running Republican Roman, List 53
               Jim Bisignani, running Alexandrian Macedonian.
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 25mm, 200 points per side.
Font: Times New Roman

I brought this Roman army to give it some experience with the upcoming national team event next month.  I expected to run against the usual combination of knights and later periods.  But to my surprise, only one later period army was being played.  The reason seemed to be that most of 15mm players were just replaying their army from the Achaemenid Persian theme from the day before.   

Which worked out even better for my practice than I could hope for. 

The Forces
The Alexandrian's are commanded by Alexander (Because he put his name on everything, including this list!) A Strategist.  The other two commanders, referred to as 'A' and 'B', and are both Competent.
4 Companions, Heavy Cavalry, Impact, Elite
2 Prodromoi, Light Cavalry, Impact
4 Phalangites.  (Is that pronounced Fa-lan-gIts, or Fa-lan-ga-tees?)
2 Hypaspist, Heavy Spearmen, Elite
2 Hoplites, Heavy Spearmen
4 Thracian Peltasts, (Pel-tas-tees?), Medium Sword, 2HW
4 Light Infantry, various
Breakpoint...22

  

The legions are commanded by Larrious, the Senior, widely regarded as Brilliant.  Darrious the Elder, who was Competent, despite his age, and Darrious the Younger, also Competent despite his youth.
2 Equites, Medium Cavalry
10 Hastati or Principes, Heavy Swordsmen, Impact, 1/2 Armored
2 Newly Recruited Hastati, Heavy Swordsmen, Impact, Mediocre
2 Extraordinarii, Medium Swordsmen, Elite
2 Other Italians, Javelinmen
6 Velites, Light Infantry Javelin, Elite
2 Syracusians, Light Infantry sling
Breakpoint...26

 

The question was asked over the weekend of, why Larry, Darryl and Darryl?  Way back in the last decade, I thought that there had to be names for the commanders.  Partially so I can blame someone else for my mistakes.  But also for the sake of the story telling, you need characters, and those characters have to have names.  Sometimes history will identify the major players for an army.  But that would take work.

 

Also humor is to be a major component in these missives.  So funny names, like adding -cles for Greek command.  Somewhere I fell into Larry, Darryl and Darryl.  For the Millennials, Gen X's, Alphas and my readers overseas, they come from an 80's vintage comedy series, Newhart.  Here is a link to one of many montages online featuring this comedic trio.

 

;) It explains a lot of the losses these guys managed to wrack up in my games. ;) 

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Heus!", or "Ωχ!", this implies a disorder from missiles. Letters in parenthesis represent some value change for the specific unit. For commanders it is s for strategist, b for Brilliant, c for Competent and o for Ordinary, u for unreliable. For troops it is e for Elite, and m for Mediocre. Other abbreviations, Hvy Heavy, XB Crossbow, LB, Longbow, Jav Javelin, 2HW 2 Handed Weapons, B Bow, Kn Knight, HKn Heavy Knight, HC Heavy Cavalry, Md Medium, Sgt Sergeants, LC Light Cavalry, Chr Chariot, Cat Cataphract, Pa Pavise, LI, Light Infantry, HG Hand Gun, FKn Foot Knight, Hvy Spear, Heavy Spearmen. I tend not to point out Light Infantry, as it clutters the pictures for no real value.

Inappropriately capitalized words are used to highlight terms that are specific to the game. For example Brilliant, Competent and Ordinary have specific game values for the commanders.

"XX" implies a unit killed in that location on that turn.

Any vagueness or inaccuracies in the descriptions is to be considered is to be considered Fog of War, and is to be considered part of the fun.

The Romans win the initiative and elect to defend in the plains. 

The Board:

 

The board is coned down with a coastal and a marsh.  Just that the marsh is on the wrong side of the board!

The Macedonians deploy almost 3/4 of the board across.  Their Thracians well suited for the terrain they are facing. 

Larrilous deploys his cohorts along the coast line.

Wait, is that Larrious in the center command as well?  Confusion reigns!

We are not going to pursue the "I am Spartacus" trope.  Darrious deploys with his Italians and Numidians on the right flank.

A bit about the dice glued to the stands.  Red 1's signify Mediocre.  Black (sometimes blue) 6's are Elite.  The yellow 3's are armored. This list allows the Legionnaires to be half armored and I put the yellow dice down so I wasn't confused.  

 

Turn 1:

 

Alexander and his phalanx advance and start filling the gap between the coastline and their right flank.

Their Thracians keep pace advancing towards the hill.

Darrilous (now that we have settled that one!) sprints up the coast.  Larrious advances at a more measured pace.

The Thracians race off the hill.  Hoping to disorder something with their javelins before evading back to the hill.  The Extraordinarii are revealed from ambush, supporting their flank.

Turn 2:

The Companions extend outward to form a line.  It seems like they will be leading the attack.

Thracians run off the harassing Syracusians and Numidians. 

The left legion cants its line in the hopes the Companions would be forced to expose a flank.

The Italians score well with their javelins.

Turn 3:

The Companions charge.  Two "Furious Charge" the Romans, the other two are stopped in their tracks.

The eager Thracians charge the Italians, and run them down!

One troop of Companion horse is routed.  The second legion advances on the Macedonian phalanx.

Larrilous orders his cavalry reserve to support the Italians, but to no avail.  Darrilous follows his Extraordinarii down the hill to shore up the flank.

And the Numidians do what they do best.

Other pictures from around the con.

Battle for Hoth.  

Spider Man: "Hey, guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?"

James Rhodes: Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?

Tony Stark: I don't know, I didn't carbon-date him. He's on the young side.

 

 

A very nice display supporting the western theme.

The close up of main street.

Between the stage where we were playing, and the bathrooms, was a lot of lipstick marks.  I wonder why.

Turn 4:

That  disturbing image aside, on to the game!

Another Companion cavalry is routed.  But the Phalangites charge in.  Largely stopped by Roman Pila.

Thracians pile in on the Extraordinarii, who live up to their name.  (that doesn't happen very often.)

Darrilous's cohorts fill in the holes left by fleeing Companions.  Only to see reserve Hoplites coming up to fill the same holes.

The Extraordinarii are having a really good day.  (Again, that doesn't happen very often.)

At the bottom of the 4th, the score is, Romans 8 of 26...

...to Macedonians 14 of 22

Turn 5:

The Hoplites fill in the gaps

A Legionary cohort is routed.  But the newly trained Hastati are ready to fill in that gap.

Both Jim and me seem to have the same tactics here.  Expect some units to fail, and immediately throw in reserves.   But his troops are "Ordinary", whereas mine are either "Mediocre", or just Medium Cavalry.

Another Thracian "Conforms" onto the Extraordinarii, and suffers a bad die roll.

The Roman score is climbing rapidly though.  Up 5 to 13.

The Macedonians just plus 1 to 16.

A series of die rolls just slightly in favor of the Romans lead to the rout of two more Macedonian units.  But on the far right, the newly trained Hastati, supported by a troop of horse, are disordered by a taxis of pike.

The Extraordinarii vector in on the phalanx's flank.

The Roman score holds at 13.

The Macedonian score climbs plus 3 to 19.

Turn 6

 

Picture from the adjacent table.  One of the 25mm theme games.

Great to see 25mm chariots on the table.

A Hoplite is routed.  A Hypaspist is advanced to challenge an Extraordinarii.

The Macedonians are near their break point of 22.

At this point, despite almost all the cohorts being at some level of disorder, the Romans are at a comfortable score of 13 of 26.

That sounded pompous.  This sounds good, but 12 units of the Roman army are lights, and have little use in this massive scrum, 2 are medium horse, which are only good on the flanks.  It looks like all but 3 of the legions are disordered, and that is where the combat value is.

 

Whereas only 6 of the Macedonians are lights.  And two of those have impact and are dangerous in the right situation.

Darrilous has a cohort flank a hoplite, routing it, while Larrious does the same to a taxis of pike.  Scoring two points for the win.

And from hells heart, Thracian light foot disorder a cohort of Extraordinarii bringing the final score to 22 to 13.

What went wrong?

Relying on evasion of troops that travel the same speed to always succeed in evading.  To attempt to score a point or two with missile fire.  And those points were eventually rallied off.  The Italians should have just stood on the hill to receive the charge, with the Extraordinarii turning the flank.  As the other Thracians were distracted by Numidians.

 

In the main scrum.  We both played the same game.  Engage and roll lots of dice.  Luck went both ways there.  And then we both had reserves to throw into the grinder.  

 

I think the 4 armored cohorts was a good choice.  Armor saved was a common theme when the Macedonians won by 1, avoiding a hit.  And against the Companions, it was valuable as when the Romans won by one, the Companions could not claim an armor save.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Celastraceae of Celts

A Headless Body Production
Venue: Wyndham Resort, née Lancaster Host
Event: Open tourney, Round 1
Players: Phil Gardocki running Republican Roman, List 53
               Don Manser running Celts.
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 25mm, 200 points per side.
Font: Times New Roman

The venue view before the coffee kicks in.

The Forces:

The Celts are led (Pushed? Prodded? Shouted at?) by persons unrecorded.  One is regarded as Brilliant, the others both Ordinary, Unreliable, and Included.
2 Light Horse
25 Warbands, Impetuous
2 Levy
4 Light Infantry
Breakpoint...33 

The legions are commanded by Larrious, the Senior, widely regarded as Brilliant.  Darrious the Elder, who was Competent, despite his age, and Darrious the Younger, also Competent despite his youth.
2 Equites, Medium Cavalry
10 Hastati or Principes, Heavy Swordsmen, Impact, 1/2 Armored
2 Newly Recruited Hastati, Heavy Swordsmen, Impact, Mediocre
2 Extraordinarii, Medium Swordsmen, Elite
2 Other Italians, Javelinmen
6 Velites, Light Infantry Javelin, Elite
2 Syracusians, Light Infantry sling
Breakpoint...26

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Heus!", this implies a disorder from missiles. Letters in parenthesis represent some value change for the specific unit. For commanders it is s for strategist, b for Brilliant, c for Competent and o for Ordinary, u for unreliable. For troops it is e for Elite, and m for Mediocre. Other abbreviations, Hvy Heavy, XB Crossbow, LB, Longbow, Jav Javelin, 2HW 2 Handed Weapons, B Bow, Kn Knight, HKn Heavy Knight, HC Heavy Cavalry, Md Medium, Sgt Sergeants, LC Light Cavalry, Chr Chariot, Cat Cataphract, Pa Pavise, LI, Light Infantry, HG Hand Gun, FKn Foot Knight, Hvy Spear, Heavy Spearmen. I tend not to point out Light Infantry, as it clutters the pictures for no real value.

Inappropriately capitalized words are used to highlight terms that are specific to the game. For example Brilliant, Competent and Ordinary have specific game values for the commanders.

"XX" implies a unit killed in that location on that turn.

Any vagueness or inaccuracies in the descriptions is to be considered is to be considered Fog of War, and is to be considered part of the fun.

The Celts win the initiative and elect to attack in mountains. 

The Board:

 

Terrain adjustment removed one brush.  

The Celt left has a small number of warbands commanded by an unreliable leader.

Their center has 19+ units.  I have run whole armies smaller than this one command!

Hugging the coastline, another small group of warriors.

Larrious deploys a couple of Velites on the left to slow down the Celt advance.

Between the Steep Hill and the Village is just enough space to deploy his 8 Hastati and Principes.  

Hiding in the Village are a number of Italians

 

Turn 1:

The Celt right command goes unresponsive.  

I realize looking at the photos that the light horse, presumably belonging to the center command, was not correctly deployed.  I didn't catch that during the game.

Their Brilliant commander rolled well on command points.  Enough to advance 4 blocks of troops in addition to the light horse.

The coastal command managed to avoid being unresponsive.

One Velite approaches to withing 4 UD's of the light horse.  Dropping it from double marching, and daring them to come into the Brush.

Another advances to 4UD's from the main line.

One advantage the Romans have is the Celts have only two commander points.  If I can break up his formation then I'll have a chance.

Numidian scouts exit the Village hoping to distract the Celt left command. 

That was not well thought out.  Distract?  The Celts only have one choice.  Move forward.  Regardless of what is in front of them.

Also revealed from ambush, many units of Italians.

Turn 2:

Another round and no response from the wayward command.

Not that it matters one wit...

Velites pull back just far enough to slow down the advancing horde.

Numdians and slingers advance for some useless missile shots.

 

Turn 3:

The wayward command awakes!

And the rest of the horde hasn't slowed down.

The Numidians have done all they can do, and are looking to escape.

Velites form up at the top of the hill.  The new recruits are positioned to cover the flanks for when the Velites are thrown off the hill.

A bit about the dice glued to the stands.  Red 1's signify Mediocre.  Black (sometimes blue) 6's are Elite.  The yellow 3's are armored. This list allows the Legionnaires to be half armored.  

The rest of the Legions are just awaiting the eventual charge.

A gap is opened for the Numedians.

Turn 4:

One of the 25mm tables.

Looks like Alexander verses the Greeks.

The Velites exit the Brush on their own terms.

Two more Velites are facing down the approaching warbands on the hill.

The final advance before the charge.

My missile troops were totally ineffective here.  It was hoped that one or two warbands would take a hit before their Impetuous charge.  Making them much easier to destroy and put a hole in their line.

There is a hit!

The Roman right is putting up a "layered defense."  When the mediums are routed, then the slingers can still hold the flank, at least for a little while.

Turn 5:

That is something you don't see every day.  The Velites stand their ground on the hill   

Destroying one warband and disordering another!

With a great ululation, the Celts charge!  The Roman lines creak, but hold.  Several warbands also begin to weaken.

On the far right, the Italians were given a task beyond their ken.  

Velites with another kill!

Holes begin to form in the Celt line.

The second layer defense is activated in the village.

The score is 13 of 26 for the Romans,

To 13 of 33 for the Celts.

A view after the pursuits of the main line.  

 Turn 6:

One warband conforms onto a Velite, which evades off of the board.  Then a charge by Celt slingers into a Velites flank.  Which stood.

The great scrum continues.  

The Legions flanks supports are crumbling, but the Legions are doing a good job of blood letting.

The last Extraordinarii is surrounded and collapsed.

The Numedians are updating their resumes for another job.

The Roman score is 19 of 26.

To the Celts score of just 14

One unit of Velites turn, but are buggered by the position on the hill, and a bad roll of the dice.

Two cohorts are routed!  But also a pair of warbands are flanked and destroyed.

"We can't trade them one for one, there are just too many of them."

The lights in the village are putting up some resistance.  But mainly this is a Impetuous Unmaneuverable problem.  

Turn 7:

At the top of the 7, the Romans are near their break point at 24

While the Celts are at a comfortable 17.

The Celts secure the hill.

In the center two cohorts take hits.  Center in front of the commander, and just right of center as the Celts turn on a flanker.  Bringing their demoralization level to 26 for the game.

The last Velites stand their ground in the Village and score the last hit.

What went wrong?  I had the ideal terrain, my opponent had an unresponsive command, luck if anything was in my favor, and yet it was a decisive loss.  

It was the Italian command.  With 2 Extraordinarii, 2 Javelinmen, 2 slingers and 2 Numedians, which in the end contributed 11 points of the final demoralization level of 26 for the defeat.  

 

Them coming out of the village was obviously a mistake.  I think I did that to make sure the right flank legionary cohort did not have an overlap.  But the cost was horrendous.  Not that fighting in the village was an advantage.  Both sides having a -1 penalty.  But if the Italians were engaged a turn later, their defeat would be a turn later.

 

But I don't think another turn would have matter, since the Celts were at 17 of 33.   

 

 Next up, the Macedonians...