An Eminence of Elephants

A Headless Body Production
Venue: On Military Matters Bookstore. Owner Operator: Dennis Shorthouse

Event: Prep for Cold Wars 300 point Team Tournament
Players: Phil Gardocki, Bruce Potter running Vikings
               Dennis Shorthouse, Al Kaplan running Burmese
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15 mm, 300 points per side.
Theme: None

The Forces:
Vikings
Hagar the Horrible, Sven the Sventastic, both Competent.  The other two commanders, not so much.
6 Huscarls, Heavy Swordsmen, 2 Handed Weapons, Armored, Elite
3 Mounted Huscarls, Heavy Cavalry, Elite
~18 Heavy Spearmen
Some lights

Breakpoint around 32

Burmese
4 ordinary commanders, 3 riding astride elephants.
9 Elite Elephants
and a bunch of other stuff

Breakpoint of 38

Dennis has a wonderful bookstore in Hopewell New Jersey, that he has been running for many decades. Imagine going through a library that is nothing but military history. If you don't think you knew him, he is a long time supporter of Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, and held the coveted #1 spot in the dealers area for over 20 years. So if you have been to any of HMGS's events at the Lancaster Host, you probably have met Dennis at some time.

The Board:

Despite having an initiative value of zero, the Burmese win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains.  The Vikings select a coastal area, a village, a field, and a gully.  The Burmese took a fielded hill and a road.  However, the tide went out leaving both flanks exposed.

On the Viking left, is the quiet village of Realisationsvinstbeskattning

No one likes to live in Realisationsvinstbeskattning, so the only road leads away from town, both ways!

The docking fees are a bit high in Realisationsvinstbeskattning, so the Burmese disembark their forces somewhere up fjord.

The elephants are grouped in units of 3.

This is not a standard formation for LADG elephants.  Mostly elephants are formed up in groups of Foot, Elephant, Foot, and a leading Light Infantry, forming what is euphemistically called, a "Death Star."

3 more elephants for the 3rd command.  It's Burmese, this is what they are.

The Burmese far left is littered with mediocre spear and bow troops.

Realisationsvinstbeskattning has a secret

Their flanks securely anchored to Realisationsvinstbeskattnin, we have the classic Viking formation.  6 blocks of Vikings, followed by 6 more blocks of Vikings,

Followed by 6 more blocks of Vikings, and an ambush, but really, it can only be 6 more blocks of Vikings,

The scouts returned.
"How many elephants do they have", asked Hagar?
"452", replied one.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, A man might be uncertain about how many wives he has, but never about elephants."

Turn 1:

The Burmese march forward, leaving their two connecting foot behind, the elephantry conduct a mass maneuver.  Now 6 wide.

The remaining elephantry slide right as well.

Their command of mediocres keep pace.

The Vikings spring a surprise.  Mounted Huscarls exit the village.

The rest of the Viking line advance.

One long continuous line.

 With the exception of the Mounted Huscarls, the Hagar is showing a total lack of tactical acumen.

Sven pushes his known troops forward.  But lacked the command points to advance his ambush.

Turn 2:

The Burmese are quite surprised at the Mounted Huscarls on their flank, and the danger that poses.  Their whole line of elephantry stops in their tracks.

The Burmese left fully deploys.  They may have all mediocre troops, but they outnumber the visible Vikings by a significant number.

Hagar pushes forward the lines.

The thought here is if the elephants do not want to advance, then we must want to.

 Yeah, that line of reasoning is heavily flawed...

Sven gets his act together, and calls forth his spearmen from ambush.  The Viking right is no longer heavily outnumbered.

Turn 3:

The Burmese still hold the line, but manage to put out a decent blocking force to protect their flank.

Their main line continues to hold.

Their bowmen loose arrows and disorder a couple of formations.

The Mounted Huscarls charge, but falter on contact.  Hagar advances the  main line of warriors.

Due to some screwups, the other viking commands to not push forward.

Sven's forces push forward through a storm of arrows.

 Turn 4:

One Burmese Spear is run down, their flank is now turned.

Heralded by a trumpeting of horns the elephantry charges.  The Viking line is horribly cracked.

The massive charge continues down the line.

The Burmese left is content to stand and shoot.

The Vikings have 17 points towards their breakpoint point of 32
The Burmese have 4 points towards their breakpoint point of 38

The Burmese flank is turned, but there is no way the Vikings can gobble up the flank before their center totally collapses.

4 out of 6 Huscarls lay dead or dying

The only hope for the Leidang is with the Savage, but Svelte, Sven the Sventastic.

But, even if he pulls a total win, it is too little, and too late.
The Vikings have 23 points towards their breakpoint point of 32
The Burmese have 7 points towards their breakpoint point of 38

Turn 5:

The 2nd Elephantry commander, with the red parasol, turns and destroys a spearmen.  Pretty much that is all they have command points for.

Most of the Viking main line is just space.

On the far right, Sven's line is turned, and only half of them are engaged.

The mounted Huscarls have performed their initial breakthrough, but are too far away to exploit any targets.

A "Huzzah" erupts from mid field.  One Huscarl has sent a Burmese spearmen running, another has damaged an elephant.

Sven's troops are finally fully engaged, but are beginning to crack as well.

The Vikings have 29 points towards their breakpoint point of 32
The Burmese have 11 points towards their breakpoint point of 38

Turn 6:

A mounted Huscarl is sent packing.

And somewhere in this scrum are points 31 and 32 to cause the Vikings to retreat.

Sven picked up a couple of points as well as an elephant got routed.
The Vikings have 31 points towards their breakpoint point of 32
The Burmese have 15 points towards their breakpoint point of 38

So what went wrong.

First, I expected my opponent to fight a certain way, and he did not.  My main tactic against elephant heavy lists is to take my lumps from the elephants, and kill all the supporting infantry.  Usually the supporting infantry is not very combat worthy.  In this case, my opponents massed the elephantry, minimizing the exposure of their foot troops.

The second was engaging too early.  We had an advantage on the left with flanking cavalry, and on the right with quality troops.  And we should have let them do their work for another turn.