Feudal Irish against Tibetan at NJCon 2017, round 3

A Headless Body Production

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

It's the third round of the L'Art de la Guerre tournament at the 2017 NJ Con's Fire in the East convention. 

The Forces Feudal Irish Commanders  Larry, the unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane, his brother the gorbellied folly-fallen giglet, Darryl, and his other brother, the gorbellied folly-fallen giglet Darryl .     

       4 Nobles, Elite, Heavy Swordsmen, 2HW

       2 Galloglaich, Elite, Heavy Swordsmen, 2HW

       11 Medium Swordsmen, 2HW
       6 Kerns, Light Infantry,  Javelin

Breakpoint, 24

Tibetan.  A brilliant commander and two Competents, one of which is allied.

     4 Cataphracts, 2 elite
     4 Medium Cavalry bow
     3 Heavy spearmen, armor
     3 Bowmen
     1 Heavy Cavalry Bow
     4 Medium Spearmen, 2 elite
     4 Light Infantry Bow Breakpoint 23.

The Board:

The Feudal Irish lost the initiative and are defending in the woods.  They select 1 woods (mandatory) 2 wooded hills and a coastal area, while the Tibetans selected a marsh and an impassable.  The Tibetans then rolled a double 6 on terrain adjustment, and one hill and one impassable were flattened and leveled, creating a mostly open table.

Deployment:
The bright green area is the marsh.  I had tree elements created for my woods, but left them at home.  

The Chinese command is on the Tibetan right facing two ambushes in the marsh.

The Tibetan center is dominated by cataphracts and supporting medium cavalry.  The Tibetan left is a combination of spear and bow.

The Feudal Irish are deployed to take advantage of the marsh.  On the left is that gorbellied folly-fallen giglet, Darryl with Irish medium 2 handed swordsmen.  In the center is Larry, the unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane, with a solid command of 6 elite heavy 2 handed swordsmen.  The right flank is commanded by his other brother, the mangled hell-hated joithead, Darryl with more Irish medium 2 handed swordsmen behind fortifications.

Larry, the unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane, surveys the field.

Turn 1:

The Tibetans are on the attack and move first, their cataphracts emerge from the dark woods only to find out their movement rate is zero.  The table gods come to an agreement to redeploy the cataphracts and the game continues.

The Chinese commander rolls a one for command points.  Which causes his command to go from "Unreliable", to "Unresponsive".  Sean was quick to note that was the second time this tournament that that has happened. 

The commander of the Chinese allied command composes a letter to the Tibetan commander describing his grievances.

The Tibetan command advances. 

The Tibetans are leading with their infantry, 3 bowmen and 3 heavy spearmen.

The Irish decide to take advantage of the Chinese going unresponsive.  There is an opportunity to defeat the Tibetans in detail, the Feudal Irish advance sliding right.

While the cataphracts have the advantage on impact and with armor, the Heavy Swordsmen are also elite and take 4 hits to 3 and have numbers.  So it is a good match-up.

Darryl (mangled hell-hated joithead)'s forces leave their fortifications.  Looking at what is a very favorable match-up for them. 

Some people ask why do I waste points on the fortifications.  I never fight behind them, and they have a point.  If you use them, your opponent will almost never fight across them. Why should he?  It's a big board.  Fortifications are deployed before the battle plan is laid out.  This forces your opponent to consider them.  In this case, I think it caused Sean to change his mind from running the Cataphracts on the flank to running them in the center.

Turn 2:

The letter from the Chinese commander is written in Chin Chinese, where as the Tibetan commander only reads Chu.  A letter is sent back to the Chinese demanding he move forward.  This letter was ignored.

It is quality vs quantity here as the Tibetan cavalry approaches the Irish line.

4 Cataphracts vs 6 heavy swordsmen? Larry accepts this wager.

Darryl rolls a 2 for command points, and his groups are somewhat fragmented, and so doesn't advance as fast as he would like.

There was a question regarding the ambushes.  The Irish ambush markers are within 4 UD's of the Chinese unreliable skirmishers.  If those ambushes are revealed, does the Chinese command go reliable?  The rules state, if an enemy moves to within 4.  The ambushes have not moved.  It was ruled that the intent is if enemy troops are within 4 is the trigger, not how they got there.  This was later confirmed on the LADG website.  One of those French to English translation nuances.

During a discussion, it became known that the Tibetan player intended to move his cavalry to 1 UD from the ambush, which would reveal the ambush and free the Chinese.  This could not be allowed to happen.  Darryl orders his swordsmen to charge the Tibetan cavalry.

The Tibetan left is about to get swarmed.

Turn 3:

The reply from the Tibetan commander consists of the head of the last messenger, and a bloody sword impaling the Chinese letter, which is otherwise still sealed and unread.  THIS the Chinese commander understands, and he orders his troops forward.

The Chinese commander gets the point and advances.

The Tibetan Cataphracts advance and offer flank support to the Tibetan Cavalry.

Their heavy foot line up with the Cataphracts as well.  Their bowmen stay back and shoot.

Darryl offers encouraging words to one of his Irish warbands and they listen!  Reversing the impetus of the Tibetan cavalry and causing disorder.

The Galloglaich and Irish Nobles charge down the line, and suffer defeat after defeat to the armored horse of the Tibetans.

The Tibetan foot, however loses 5 out of 6 impacts.

Turn 4:

The Chinese foot are reticent to enter the marsh, but their cavalry bravely charges in.  But too late to save their Tibetan Cavalry Allies.

The Tibetan Commander is not worried, as his Cataphracts punch a hole in the Irish main battle line.

On the Irish right, Darryl has the advantage, but the fight is not totally one sided. 

On the Irish Left, Darryl commits his last troops.

Larry has lost half of his main battle line. 

But the Tibetan left is almost entirely gone.  Irish war bands are making flank charges down the line.

Turn 5:
The Irish have 15 points towards their break point of 24, the Tibetans 11.  It is time for the Tibetans to push the Irish over the top.

The Chinese invest the marsh, revealing the last Irish ambush.  It is just a Kern light infantry.

Tibetan Cataphracts split both left and right.  5 of 6 Irish heavy foot have been destroyed.

The last Irish Noble heavy swordsmen is taken in the flank, but avoids any real damage. 

Darryl's last two medium foot (feet?) fight on, and destroy an Chinese spear unit.

The Irish center consists of 3 small boys and their dog.

The Irish right has victory following victory.  But is it enough to turn the tide?

Turn 6:

The Irish left command is down to 3 units, two of them lights.

The Irish center is virtually gone.

The right fights on, and could possibly win, if there was another turn or two.

But the count and the top of the 6th is the Irish at 24 points towards their break point of 24, the Tibetans  are at 18. A hard fought game on both sides.

What went wrong?

Same as last game, the design of the army is flawed for a general purpose tourney.  A lack of anti-cavalry troops.  Too much reliance on 2HW.  This time, the Irish did maneuver, and the score which improved from round 2, reflected that.

All in all, the Feudal Irish is a fun army to play.  But is vulnerable to strong cavalry armies.