Texcala vs Anglo Irish

A Headless Body Production

Location:  97 Sunfield Ave, Edison NJ, 08837
Event:        NJ Con's Fire in the East
Players:    Phil Gardocki,  playing the Anglo Irish
                  Mark Cribbs, playing Texcala
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 200 points per side.
 

It's the third round of a L'Art de la Guerre tournament at NJ Con's Fire in the East convention.  I have two wins under my belt and this is not a familiar feeling.  I was 0 for 3 at Cold Wars, and frankly have been lucky to get 1 for 3 at the Warrior tourneys I have played in the last 10 years.  I think I was 1 for 9 at Historicon last year.

One of the features at tournaments is winners are pitted against winners and losers against losers.  So you tend to seek your level as you go.  So my next opponent was also having a good day.
 

The Forces:  
Taxcala with Conquistador allies. 
     3 Military Orders, Medium Swordsmen 2HW  (elite)
     4 Telpochalli Warriors, Medium Swordsmen AtlAtl
     4 Telpochalli Warriors, 1/2 Medium Swordsmen 1/2 Bow
     2 Light Infantry Sling
     1 Conquistadors Medium Knight, Impact, (elite)
     2 Conquistador Infantry,  Heavy Swordsmen armor 2HW (elite)
     1 Medium Artillery
     2 Medium Foot, Crossbow, (elite)
     2 Totonac Levies, Medium Swordsmen

  

Anglo Irish: Commanders  Larry, Darryl, and Darryl (all Competent).
       6 Longbowmen (two elite)
       2 Kerns, Light Infantry  Javelin
       4 Galloglaich, Heavy Infantry 2H Sword (all elite)
       2 Light Cavalry, Javelin
       2 Irish Foot, Javelinmen
       2 Anglo Medium Knights, Impact (both elite)
       2 Irish Nobles, Heavy Cavalry
       5 Fortifications

A note on the organization of the Anglo-Irish Battles. Battle was the term applied to commands in Medieval times.  The main Battle, lead by Larry, who is a competent general, has 8 units in it. The 4 Galloglaichs (Gaelic for Young Foreigners) and 4 Longbow. 

The other two battles, each lead by Darryl, also a competent general, contain a Longbow, a Kern, a Light Horse, a Javelinmen, a Knight and a Heavy Cavalry. 6 units, all very different. The thought here is no matter what the terrain is, there is a something here that can deal with it. Not enough force to win, but with proper team work enough to avoid losing. I am regarding these Battles as "Utilitarian".  Though, Walt Leech has now christened them "The Swiss Army Knife" command.

Hopefully it will confuse my opponent long enough to bring the first Battle into the fight to win the game.

The Board:
The Irish lost the initiative and the Taxcala decided to attack them in the plains.  The Irish were required to take a field, and selected 2 plantations, a hill, and the road.  Mark took 2 fields.  All the terrain wound up in the Taxcala side of the board.

Deployment:The Taxcala set up with a Taxcala command of 4 Medium Foot with 2 Light Infantry on their right.  Their center was a command of 6 more Taxcala Medium Foot, and on their left were the Conquistadors, supported by a couple more Taxcala foot.

The Anglo Irish did not even attempt to hold the the whole board.  The line started just left of center and went to the right edge. 

Fairly standard deployment.  The Texcala have a faded green base, while the Conquistadors are a dark green.

I haven't noticed the ambush marker during the game.  I wonder if it was a dummy?

My one advantage is cavalry.  I'll try to hang up a fair portion of his army for a while.

The view from the Anglo-Irish left.

The view from the right.

Turn 1:
The Texcala center and right commands manage double moves, and pour across the board.  The Conquistadors however came up short in their command points and only moved once.

The Anglo Irish leave their fortifications for better shooting, while their cavalry adjust to fill the gaps.

On the right, the Irish shift the Cavalry and Knights to take advantage of the gap between the Crossbow and the board edge.

OK, what was that sound?  Was that a kaboom? That was an earth-shattering kaboom!  A big surprise as the artillery, with a range of 6 IU's opens fire upon the Longbow.  And for the record, the fortifications don't help against artillery.

<laughter>  Shouting "Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"

Turn 2:

The Conquistador command continues to move forward sans the artillery, which cannot move and shoot.  Its next shot missed giving the Irish a chance to respond to this wonder weapon.  Their crossbow closed up the gap with the table edge and did not emerge from the field.  With a -2 for combat, I am not sending my cavalry in there. 

The Anglo commander sent the Irish in to face the artillery.  Darryl was heard to say, "The dead cost nothing".  A command point was spent rallying the Longbow, which responded well.

Seeing an opportunity to destroy a couple of lights, the Irish LH charge the Taxcala LI.  The dice did not roll favorably and the LH took one hit, and then was destroyed.  So much for my main advantage.

However, the Conquistadors were lined up perfectly on a pair of Longbow, and a pair of 6-1's caused a pair of cohesion hits.

Turn 3:
And I learned something else new.  Armor adds 1 to the protection value against missiles to infantry.  I can't think of where that would have effected any previous games, but suddenly Romans look very tempting.

The Taxcala decided to push on their right and shoot on their center and left.  As many of their troops had a defensive advantage in the plantation edge, this seemed like a good idea.

The Medium Infantry in the plantation were largely immune to missile fire.  Don Bernal Diaz del Castillo extorted his men in an attempt to rally them, but they were having none of it.  A subsequent flight of Longbow shafts saw them accumulate cohesion hits.  On the far right, the Irish Javelinmen continue to be targeted by the cannon, but have managed to dodge the bouncing bowling balls. 

On the far right, Longbow trade shots with Crossbow in a 1-1 exchange.

On the Irish left, the missile exchange isn't looking good.

Turn 4:
The Texcala advance from their plantation in a general assault.  If only to provide cover for the Conquistadors which continue to accrue hits AND ignore the rally attempts of Don Bernal Diaz del Castillo.

It was time for Mark to learn something new, Swordsmen can interpenetrate Bowmen.  The Galloglaich charge through their Longbow into the Texcala line.  The Irish Noble Heavy Cavalry also charged, but was destroyed on contact.  Clan O'Lyre (white flag) caused two hits on his opponent, while the Boys from Ulster (orange and red) destroyed theirs.

Turn 5:

The Boys from Ulster now face the Jaguar Knights.  And the die roll is a tie.  The Texcala rallies a hit off of his troops and also scores a tie.  Don Bernal Diaz del Castillo is still holding his Conquistadors back in an attempt to rally them, and again to no avail.  One Conquistador Infantry has 3 hits, the other 2!

On the Anglo-Irish left, things are not looking good.  Outnumbered 2-1 and going hand to hand with Bowmen, Javelinmen and a damaged Knight.  The Aztec god of luck, Huehuecoyotl, was somewhere else today, for the Texcalas had none in their dice and the Irish hold.

Clan O'Lyre scores another hit, as well as the Anglo Knights.  The Longbow volley once more, and destroy a Conquistador, while taking its partner to 3 hits.

Clan Ramsay and Stafford charge, destroying a Jaguar Knight, damaging another.  The Anglo Knights rally off their damage, rout their foes, and pursue into another Texcala unit.  The Infantry Conquistadors, who were only in it for the money anyway, had enough and dispersed.

The Anglo Irish left flank creaks some more as the Longbow unit is destroyed.

Going unreported for a couple of turns was the missile fire exchange between the Longbow, and Irish Light Infantry and the Conquistador Crossbow.  One Crossbow wilted away under fire.

Turn 6:

There really was no luck for the Texcala.  It was at the point where I was embarrassed with each 6 I rolled.  I changed dice, I floppy rolled them into Mark's deployment zone, everything.  But the 5's and 6's kept coming.

This is the end game here.  The Irish Javelinmen destroyed their opponents, as did the Knights and Clan O'Lyre.  The remaining Spanish Crossbow was shot away leaving only 10 Texcala units on the board.  Though the Jaguar Knights ended on an up-note scoring 2 hits on Clan Ramsay.

The final score was 21 to 10 with a win for the Anglo Irish.