An Assemblage of Albanians

A Headless Body Production
Venue:   A Disclosed Location

Event:   Missing Cold Wars 
Player : Phil Gardocki
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

Coronavirus has taken it's toll, and I decided not to attend Cold Wars.  My partner, Bob, agreed.  Before that though, he was trying to convince me to run Albanians, List 250, for the team tournament.  His arguments fell on deaf ears, as I already had the Byzantines packed and in the car.  But his arguments were intriguing. 

The Forces:

Albanians

Commanded by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the Strategist, James May, the Competent, and Jeremy Clarkson, the Ordinary and Unreliable.  All commanders are Included.
If you have never seen "Top Gear", then all the jokes are going to fall flat.  Just ignore them.
16 Horsemen, Light Cavalry, Javelin, 6 elite
24 Light Infantry, various weapons

Breakpoint of 40
 

Alexander the Great. a Strategist, Selucus, the Brilliant and Garshasp, the Ordinary

5 Companions and Persians, Heavy Cavalry Impact, Elite

6 Taxis Pikemen

2 Agrianians, Light Infantry Javelin

2 Cretens, Light Infantry Bow

2 Persian Guards, Bowmen, Pavise, Elite

2 Hippakontistai, Light Cavalry Javelin

Breakpoint of 20

Why Albanians?  As you can see, the Albanians can have a break point of 40. But also, their only terrain is mountains, offering plenty of places Light Infantry can actually fight in.  Finally,  they are allowed a Strategist, which offers an additional ambush site, and adjustment of terrain.  So, their terrain pick is two steep and wooded, hills, two woods, and a brush.  Alexander chose a road and a tiny brush.

The Board:

The Albanians are too confusing, with them being cobbled together from about 6 different armies, and so I glued dice on the stands.  The white sixes is for elite, the blue dice is for commanders plus.  This is the Strategist,  George Kastrioti Skanderbeg.

Alexander takes position to the right of the phalanx.

Selucus takes the center with the phalanx.

Garshasp has a small command of elite bowmen, and is well suited to holding a position on the wooded hill.

James May has all the Light Infantry Bow.

George Kastrioti Skanderbeg has most of the horsemen

Jeremy Clarkson has the other light foot, a mix of crossbow, javelins, and firearms.

With an army of all lights, I won't be needing these!

I decided to not include the commanders with elite horsemen.  This army only has 3 build points for commanders, and I don't want them tied up in combat.  But I do want the elites to fight.

 Turn 1:

The Greek Hippakontistai race to the woods and reveal the ambush.

The Companions double march to charge reach.

Selucus's pike triple march to 4 UD's

And down the line, the Macedonians march forward without fear.

James May rolls two command points, and so moves forward in a block.

The plan was to separate the lines to reduce the chances of both being run over. 

Skanderbeg's horsemen advance to javelin range.

Clarkson also rolls a single command point.  An ambush is revealed, Javelin armed lights march out of the woods, and into the gully.

Turn 2:

Hippakontistai are recalled, but the Companion's charge, running off the light bowmen.

The Phalanx advance into the Albanian horsemen.  The first line evades through their supports, leaving the winded pike in javelin range.

One Hippakontistai is disbursed by crossbow.

The Scythians also charge, catching their Albanian tormentor. This could lead to the entrapment of the half the Albanian horse line.

Fortune favors the Albanians, as a 6-2 die roll ends as 5-4 win for the crossbow.

James May's foot return for more shooting.  The Persian horsemen are disordered.

As are half the pike.

The Scythians are flanked and destroyed.  Albanian javelinmen charge out of the gully into bowmen on the hill and are rebuffed for their foolishness.

The Albanians have 5 points towards their breakpoint of 40
Alexander is 9 points towards his breakpoint of 20

Turn 3:

The Companions charge again, and roll up on their variable movement.  The Albanians roll low and are caught in mass.

The Companions pursue, catching another hapless bowmen.

And in one strike, the score changes dramatically!
The Albanians have 17 points towards their breakpoint of 40
Alexander has 9 points towards his breakpoint of 20

The Phalanx continues to march forward, and surprisingly, the Albanian horse stands!  Half the fights are even, against disordered pike.  The end result picture was missed, so we'll get to them at the bottom of the turn.

Garshasp and Clarkson's forces are just shooting it out.  Mainly because both are ordinary in quality, and are rolling 1's for command points.  Garshasp is focused on not being flanked, while Clarkson is trying to flank the pike.

Skanderbeg rolls maximum command points.  And uses them to full advantage.  His second rank turns about face and charges the rear of the companions, while his front ranks execute break-offs from the pike.

In the center, both sides are wounded, but still in the fight.

On the hill, volleys are exchanged.

The dead are piling up in the shadow of the Tree of Woe.

The Albanians have 26 points towards their breakpoint of 40
Alexander has 11 points towards his breakpoint of 20

Turn 4:

The Companions also about face, and turn on their tormentors.

Selucus is not allowing his pike to take a breather and orders an advance.  "You can rest when you are dead!"

Garshasp rallies one unit, but two more become disordered.

The dead continue to pile up at the Tree of Woe.

The Albanians have 32 points towards their breakpoint of 40
Alexander has 14 points towards his breakpoint of 20

James May, finds himself bereft of supporting forces.  He decides to go down fighting and chases a Companion.

Clarkson's horsemen charge the rear of the Selucus's Phalanx, and in a set of good die rolls, destroy them.

Both sides are 4 away from their break points, 36-16

One of the thoughts behind running the Albanians was, you can't take 40 points in 2.5 hours.  This score was achieved in under 2 hours.

Turn 5:

To the far left, the last Hippakontistai is dispersed.

James May is chased off the board, there he shares a bottle of slivovitz with friends.

Skanderbeg has had a good run.  Taking the Companions in the flank, and slaying one.  But it is over now.  He is faced by elite armored horsemen and their supports, and then he is hit in the flank by pike.

But good die rolls forgive a lot of ills, and a second Companion is destroyed.

It is for the Phalanx to win the game.  The unstoppable juggernaut advances onto the Albanian camp.  Nothing in the Albanian inventory can stop them.

In case you forgot.  More of the same here.

Under the Tree of Woe, the count is 36 - 18

Leaderless, the left flank of the Albanians vanish into the woods.

Skanderbeg breaks off.  The remains of his forces are walking wounded.

Out of the dust charges Clarkson.  Striking again into the rear of the Phalanx.  The remains of Skanderbeg's command join him in the charge.

Clarkson's forces also put pressure on the hill.  The Cretan archers, which has proven resilient so far, fall.  Garshasp's flank is turned!

And with those minor victories, the game is over, the score is 38-20, an Albanian win!

Done in 2 hours, and that included a 20 minute phone call with Bob.  The write up took longer than the game.

I wouldn't have thought an army consisting entirely of lights could be proven viable.  Alexanders Greeks were half way to demoralized before first contact was made.  Then it was a matter of unfavorable trade-offs, of about 4-1 to drag the Macedonian army to it's break point.

There were some moments where luck favored the Albanians.  I tallied them up, and the Albanians had 3 "Luck Events" where they should have lost to some extent, but instead pulled a dramatic win.  And in one case it was decisive, and would have swung the point score to a 42-19 win for  Alexander.

The Greeks had 1 only such event.