An Achar of Achaemenids

A Headless Body Production
Venue: An Undisclosed Basement
Event: Trying out new armies
Players: Steve Turn running newly printed and painted Meroitc Kushites
               Phil Gardocki, running freshly painted Early Achaemenid Persians, list 64.  
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

While scrolling the feeds the other week, I found another ADLG blogger, Colin Whittaker, in the UK. The man has almost 300 ADLG games documented in the last 5 years. His blog is at https://wargamingwithcolin.blogspot.com/
While googling for Colin, I few other ADLG themed blogs
https://sgtsteiner.blogspot.com
https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/
WWII and Napoleonic games from gerry's "shed." 
https://gerryjelliottsituation.blogspot.com/
And this one from 2018 titled "Darryl Ascendant!" https://philonancients.blogspot.com/2018/07/adlg-darryl-ascendant.html
My figures were looking worn out even then.
And no wonder I am tired of typing that phrase, "... have 9 points towards their demoralization level of 20." I have been using that phrase for over 8 years! 

 

The Forces:

The Kushites are led by 3 commanders of no renown, and are reputed to be a Brilliant, a Competent and an Ordinary.
4 Medium Camelry
3 Heavy Cavalry, Elite
2 Light Cavalry, Javelin
6 Heavy Spearmen, Mediocre
4 Bowmen, Elite
3 Medium Sword
4 Light Infantry, bow 
2 Light Infantry, Javelin 
Breakpoint, 28

The Achamenid's are fresh off of the popsicle sticks and onto the table.  And this battle report is just in time to provide someone with useful scouting information in time for Cold Wars(tm) this weekend!

 

The Achaemenid's are led by 3 nameless commanders, the Great Cyrus II, a Strategist, and the brothers Darri and Darri.  one of which is Brilliant, the other Ordinary
2 Persian Guards, Heavy Cavalry, Bow, Elite
4 Mede Cavalry, Medium Cavalry, Bow
2 Bactrians, Light Cavalry, Bow, Elite
4 Immortals, 1/2 Medium Sword, 1/2 Bow, Elite
8 Sparabara, 1/2 Medium Sword, 1/2 Bow
1 Light Infantry, Bow
Breakpoint is 21

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or  "𓅱𓅲𓎢𓉔𓄎!" (officially bird/bird/bowl/tesseract/Ra)  or 

  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.

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.

The Board:

Cyrus II wins the initiative and elects to defend in the plains.

A practice game with early empire for the upcoming Cold Wars, and next week at On Military Matters.

Kushite bowmen are bolstered by a second rank of swordsmen.

In the center, the only heavy foot in the game.  Mediocre they may be.  

On their right a strong force of horse and camels

The Persians have one advantage.  Almost the whole army is the same...

...where every man has a bow.

But that comes at a cost of 2 points per element.  So for being mostly medium sword, the army is only 21 elements in size.

Turn 1:
 

The Kushite bowmen advance at the double, their skirmishers swinging wide of the Persian line.

Behind a goodly number of skirmishers, their heavies advance.

Their horse expands their mounted line.

Dari orders his archers to effective range.  Cuneiform and Hieroglyph epithets fly!

Cyrus's archers fail to find their range.

But Dari's horse archers do!  

Embedding those Cuneiform and Hieroglyph images is a pain.  I'll use emoji's instead.

Turn 2:

Arrows continue to be exchanged.
 is a pain to embed.  I'll use silly emojis for now.

Cyrus's archers are still tuning their bows.

The Kushite horse bow pull back to recover.

Darri's bowmen need more arrows.

Cyrus's are finding their targets.

Darri's horse archers advance to the base of the hill.

Turn 3: 

The missile exchange is not going well with the Kushites.

In the center, a hole appears in the Kushite skirmish line, which is being exploited.

The mounted command takes the high ground.

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat.

Return, rinse and repeat.

Turn 4:

Kushan cavalry charge down the hill.  The results to be shown later in this missive.

Because on the left, fresh troops form up for the charge on his line.

Cyrus's archers put their back into it, and darken the skies with arrows

And we're back!  The Kushan mixed cavalry and camelry formation only has some success with their charge.

Persian archery has been brutal on the Kushans.  Only one unit is dead, but about 15 are disordered.

Darri's archers pick up the pace, disordering all the incoming swordsmen.

Cyrus's archers take a breather.

The battle on the hill is not going well for the Kushan

Turn 5: 

The swordsmen are committed, and so have to go in.

So too, the spear in the center.

The battle at the hill still rages.

The light horse should have fled the board.  The coastal there is decorative only.

The carnage at the Tree of Woe

The Kushan swordsmen hav given their all.

The Persian cry from the center is "Save one for me!"

The battle at the base of the hill ends in a virtual tie.

Leaving the score 29 to 6.

There is a saying, that there is a 1,000 lessons in defeat, and not one in victory.  So it is here.

My next two games had the Persians go down in flames. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Frieze of French

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Wyndham Resort, née Lancaster Host
Event: Fall In, 15mm Open Theme, Round 3
Players: Phil Gardocki running Medieval Anglo-Irish, list 234
               Ethan Zorick running French Ordinance
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 200 points per side. 
Scale: 15mm 

While scrolling the feeds I found another ADLG blogger, Colin Whittaker, of the UK.  The man almost 300 ADLG games documented in the last 5 years.  His blog is at https://wargamingwithcolin.blogspot.com/
While googling for Colin, I few other ADLG themed blogs
https://sgtsteiner.blogspot.com
https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/
And this one from 2018 titled "Darryl Ascendant!"  https://philonancients.blogspot.com/2018/07/adlg-darryl-ascendant.html 
My figures were looking worn out even then.
And no wonder I am tired of typing that phrase, "... have 9 points towards their demoralization level of 20." I have been using that phrase for over 8 years. 

The Forces:

The mEvil Anglo-Irish are lead by Larry, the Brilliant, his brother Darrell, the Competent, and his other brother Darrel, the Ordinary.
2 Heavy Cavalry, Impetuous
4 Galloglaich, Heavy swordsmen 2HW
2 Foot Knight, 1 Elite
5 Billmen, Heavy Swordsmen, Polearm
4 Longbow
2 English Longbow, Sword, Stakes
3 Kerns, Light Infantry, Javelin
Breakpoint of 22

 

The French Ordinance are commanded by Joan d'Arc and two other larger than life figures of history.
5 Heavy Knights, Impact, Elite
11 Archers. Some Medium Sword, some Longbow, some Bowmen, some Mediocre
6 Light Infantry, mixed weapons
Breakpoint of 22

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble reading "Ouch!" or "Merde!" 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.

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 inaccuracies and vagueness as to specific units is to be regarded as fog of war and should be considered as part of the fun.

The Board:

The French win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains.

Deployment:

Both of us pretty much have the same deployment.  Setting up in the center, our right flank covered by a field.

The French have a mass of archers ready to invest their field

Their knights ready to go right down the center.  A tactic I tend to agree with.  Knights are too slow to try flanking maneuvers with.

Oh.  More archers.  That is a lot of archery.

Larry takes the left, with his horse poised to run around the flanks.

Brother Darrel prepared to assault the center.

Unlike the French, the Irish have already deployed in the field.

Turn 1:

Not really.  Lets call attention to the leadership of the French.  They are fine figures.  This one is Joan.

I don't have the names of this one.

OK, now turn 1:

The French swing right

But their left command only sends forward their skimishers.

Larry shifts forward to meet the French.

The brothers Darrel advance with him.

Turn 2:

The French knights decide to avoid going down the center, and the enfilade barrage of longbow shafts that would entail.  The rest of the army suddenly splits up and goes hither...  

and yonder.

Larry advances and shift some more.

Darrel advances, with his brother covering his flank.

The remaining archers remain behind to deal first with the French skirmishers, then then for the eventual shoot out with the French bowmen.

Turn 3:

The flower of French nobility head for the flank of the Irish battle.

Their brother knights advance behind another line of skirmishers.

Their remaining bowmen angle in for the exchange of arrows.

Larry's battle advances full speed.  He expects to lose against the knights, but totally crush the Joan's archers.

Darrel's battle puts pressure on the remaining knights.

The remainder of Darrel's longbowmen start the exchange of arrows in their favor.

Turn 4:

The knights charge.  Nearly running down the Irish horse.  But on Larrys flank, the Billmen hold!

 

The French archery prove accurate this bound.

That is 6 (one went unmarked) hits in one bound.

At the middle of the 4th bound, the Medieval Irish have 7 points towards their demoralization level of 22.

6 of which were scored this turn by archery.   

The French are at 9 of 22.

With a clash of iron on wood, the Irish charge into Joan's bowmen.  One knight falls, traded for a troop of Irish horsemen.

Darrel's sworsmen split into three. Clan O'Lyre and the Boys from Stafford vector to the French archers off panel.  His Kerns charge and catch fleeing hand gunners.  His center billmen charge and defeat a French Knight.  Another Billmen sets himself up for a counter charge into the other French knight.

The disordered line of French archers loose arrows to good effect.

Turn 5:

Hand gunners are dispersed.  

A troop of knights turn to flank a unit of billmen.  Two units of bowmen flee to the field.

Darrel has an disastrous turn.  3 of his longbowmen are routed.  Traded for 2 French.

The score is now 15 of 22 for the Irish

to 18 of 22 for the French.

I missed the pictures for the bottom of the 5th.  So we are here at the top of the 6th.  The score  is now 16 for the Irish to 20 for the French.  Time to put this one away!

Turn 6:

French knights rout the last Irish horse for 1 point, taking the Irish score to 17

They charge successfully into a Billmen for 2.

Their archers rout clan Ramsay for 3 (19). 

An errant volley of Javelins disorder the French hand gunners, taking their score to 21. 

Bowmen charge bowmen for 4 and 20

French Bowmen rout another Bowmen for 5 and 21.

 

And lastly, Knights turn on the Billmen on their flank for a 3 point disorder.  Taking the mEvils to their demoralization level of 22 for the game!

At 22-21, that game could have gone either way on a single die roll.  

Pictures of other games.  This guys camp is an Elephant!

Nice ambush markers.

Apparently this camp is unfortified and was looted by some Scythian light horse.