Monday, February 15, 2016

Highland Games.

 A Headless Body Production


Location:  Dave's House
Event:       Saturday Winter Follies
Players:    David Boor, playing the Scots Isles and Highlanders
                  Phil Gardocki, playing the Swiss circa 1400AD.
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 200 points per side.

Scenario:  I am not going to try to make up a story on how or why Scot's Highlanders were invading the Swiss Alps.  Could be English chicanery, could be aliens, certainly large amounts of whiskey was involved.
 
The Forces:
The Swiss were running with two Brilliant and one Competent commanders.  Their forces consisted of 15 Halberdiers (Medium 2 Handed Swordsmen), 4 Light Infantry Crossbow, 2 Light Horse Crossbow and a fortified camp.  
     
The Scots brought three Competent commanders.  Their forces consisted of 8 Heavy 2 handed Swordsmen, 6 impetuous Medium Swordsmen, 7 Medium Swordsmen, Bow, 2 Levy units and a fortified camp.

Deployment:
The Swiss win the toss and elect to receive!  They select 3 steep hills, an impassible lake and the road.  The Scots select two pieces of brush. 

The Swiss deploy their largest command on their right flank, but on the table this extended only to just right of center.  They are relying on steep hills, ambushes and field palisades to prevent any flanking maneuvers on that side.  Their left flanks have the two smaller commands splitting 7 halberdiers, 2 Light Infantry and 2 Light Horse units between them.

The Scots deployed on their right a command of 4 "Islanders" with Heavy Two Handed Swords and 3 "Highlanders" with Sword/Bow.  Their center command is 6 "Galwegians", Medium Infantry Impetuous Sword, and on their left a command of 4 more "Islanders"and  4 more "Highlanders".

The view from the center.  The over sized Swiss flag is challenging the invading Scots.

The Swiss left flank taunt the Scots.


The Swiss right flank looks evenly matched.

Turn 1:
I see an opportunity to work the Scot right flank and wheel my LI CB off to the side, while aggressively approaching with two commands of halberdiers. 

The LI wheels left, while the LH runs forward and shoots a hit on the Island Warriors.

The LI of the large command run forward, hoping to ding something.

Turn 2:
The Scots are not going to play the skirmish game and immediately charge.
Fire once and run away.  The Light Horse think their day is done.
The Highlanders ignore the halberdiers and move to negate the LI.


But the when you have Brilliant commanders, there seems to be command points to spare, and the LH are send right back.
Turn 3:

Still mainly skirmish games.  Lots of shots, no hits.  The Scots charge with their Highlanders, running a Swiss LI off the board.


Turn 4:
The Scot left flank, which has a large number of bow units settles into range on the Swiss right flank.  The Swiss cannot let this stand as eventually they will be shot up.

The Swiss abandon their palisade and reveal an ambush to run down the Scots Highlanders.

Most of the Highlanders have fled the approaching halberdiers, but one is hanging out uncomfortably on the far flank position.

Turn 5:
The melees have started as the Swiss main command moves forward to engage the Scots.

The rest of the halberdiers join in a line. 

Destroying a Highland Bow/Sword unit.  The Swiss on the hill takes a hit from archer fire, and opts to rally instead.


Its blade on blade action as Heavy 2 Handed Swordsmen engage Medium 2 Handed Swordsmen.  There is a tie, and one of the Scots units takes two hits.

On the left the melee is joined as well.  The Galwegians and Island Warriors both take multiple hits.

A sun beam illuminates the fight on the right flank, as the Swiss position is eroding.
Turn 6:
Unpictured, but a significant event, one of the impetuous Galwegians has broken through the lines, and was currently surrounded by a collection of Light Foot and Horse.

The men from Bern have broken their enemy, which routed through one of the Islanders.
They push forward in turn causing much damage.
The Swiss center takes a lot of hits.

While the Swiss right is failing rapidly.
Turn 7:
The Swiss main command is suffering badly.  Most of the Halberdier units have 2 hits.
The breakthrough Galwegians, ignored all missiles has approached the Swiss camp. 

The hill still ours, but cannot stand.  The Halberdiers in the valley have been routed.

But the same problem exists on the Scot's left.  The Island Warriors have been routed, and only a couple of Highlanders survive.
 
The Halberdiers from Bern turn the Scots center flank.


The men from Lucern are wrapping up the last Highlander on the left. 

Turn 8:
The breakthrough Galwegians, have charged the Swiss camp, which resisted the initial assault.  

View of the Scot's dead pile.  14 points

And of the Scot's dead, 20 points.

The Scots have turned the Swiss Center flank as well.  Off camera, the Halberdier on the hill is shot away.

Outnumbered, the Highlanders fight on.
At the end of turn 8 the points were counted and the Scots had hit their 23 point Army Break point compared to the Swiss 16 points.  The Swiss have defended their homeland again!

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