A Romper of Romans

 A Headless Body Production

Venue: Undisclosed Basements around the Tri-State-Area
Event: Round 1 of the The Great Semi-Annual-Mini-Tournament-Of-2020/1
Players: Phil Gardocki running Samurai
               Russ Lockwood running Middle Imperial Roman
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 120 points per side.

Dennis Shorthouse, Proprietor of On Military Matters book service., has organized an impromptu tournament using a battle grid system of his devising. All figures are place on a grid so players can play over a telephone without a video component.

The board is 15 by 20 UD's.  The rows are labeled H - A.  Each side has their own H-B, and the A row is divided in half.  The columns are numbered 1-20.  Terrain sizes are 2x3.

The Forces:
Samurai (list 210)
The Samurai are commanded by Rarry and Darryr, both Competent.
6 Samurai, Medium Swordsmen, Bow, Elite
4 Yari, Medium Spearmen, Mediocre
2 Mounted Samurai, Heavy Cavalry, Bow, Elite
Breakpoint of 12

Middle Imperial Roman (list 85)
The legendary Strategist, Fungus Amongus and his Visigothic ally, MonterayJax, the Brilliant!
Command 1
2 Legionnaires HI Impact, Armor
2 Auxilia Impact
1 LI Bow
2 LI Sling
1 Light Cav Bow

Command 2: Visigoth Allied
4 HI, Impetuous
4 LI Bow
1 MC, Impetuous
Breakpoint of 18

Special rules for 120 points: 

(2) generals
Min and Max divide by two and round up

Normal initiative calculations, command points spent divide by two rounded down, plus
1-2 LH +1 initiative die roll
3+ LH +2 initiative die roll
Strategist +1 initiative die roll

6 zones
Zones 1,3 an 4,6 are 7UD wide
Zones 2 and 5 are 6UD wide

1-3 terrain pieces plus compulsory
Take 1...(2) adjustments
Take 2...(1) adjustments
Take 3...(0) adjustments

Conventions:

When you see a word bubble "Ouch!", or "Heus! or "痛い!", this implies a disorder from missiles. Letters in parenthesis represent some value change for the specific unit. For commanders it is s for strategist, b for Brilliant, c for Competent and o for Ordinary, u for unreliable. For troops it is e for Elite, and m for Mediocre. Other abbreviations, Hvy Heavy, XB Crossbow, LB, Longbow, Jav Javelin, 2HW 2 Handed Weapons, B Bow, Kn Knight, HKn Heavy Knight, HC Heavy Cavalry, Md Medium, Sgt Sergeants, LC Light Cavalry, Chr Chariot, Cat Cataphract, Pa Pavise, LI, Light Infantry, HG Hand Gun, FKn Foot Knight, Hvy Spear, Heavy Spearmen.

"XX" implies a unit killed in that location on that turn.

Haikus are an attempt for a commander (Japanese) to rally the troops.

The Board:

The Romans win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains. Across the snowy white field are two fields, a hill and a plantation.

The board is very white. Consider this a Winter themed event.

Deployment:

Fungus deploys his Romans on the right.

With his Allies taking up the left. And a fortified, but otherwise undefended camp all the way on the edge.

The camp was a temptation for a flank march attack, but that would leave me with just 7 elements on the board till it arrived. Also, now that I look at it, it's out of the deployment area and illegally placed :)

On the left is Darryr with the Yari command. The ambush is probably unnecessary, as both sides have each others lists.

Using these boards, each side has all the troops set up. So neither player is at a disadvantage.

Rarry is deployed on the right against the Visagoths.

Board overview.

I am going to ignore the hanging camp. My armyis already outnumbered 18-12, and any troops dedicated to taking the camp will just make the odds worse. Besides, it is only worth 3 points if captured.

Russ took some pictures as well.  Here is the game from his view:

 

The Romans race across the field.

Their hob nailed sandals march in perfect syncopation.

Their Visogothic allies keep pace at a trot.

On the left, the horsemen advance and flex their bows.

Darryr decides not to rush out and embrace the advancing legions.

Rarry moves his Samurai to optimal archery range and looses arrows.

On the right, the Visogothic skirmishers earn their pay.

The view from the other side.   Visigoths advance under a hail of arrows.

 

Turn 2:

Roman Cavalry rallies, while the lights take up position.

The Remaining Romans continue to advance.

The Visogoths however slow to half pace. The trap of advancing full is just too obvious.

The exchange of missiles continues.

The horsemen could have turned and run the light horse off the board, but then would have been subject to a flank charge by the Roman horsemen. So I took a chance on the missile exchange instead

Another skirmisher is disordered.

Including one dispersed by arrows. Samurai horsemen take up an optimal flank position.

Flip side view.  Visigoths clear the terrain, Romans about 40 paces further forward.

 

Turn 3:

Roman horsemen charge, supported on both sides. The Samurai hold vice being run off the board. The odds are not as bad as it looks. The Roman Medium Cavalry is disordered so is at a zero, + 2 for supports. The Samurai are plus 1, with elite and armor, so actually have about a half point advantage here.

The Romans decide to go in without their allies.

The Visogoths are worried about their flanks, and are watching their skirmish line just evaporate.

At the tree of woe, the count is 10 (of 18) to zero (of 12)

The Samurai horsemen falter. But help is not far away.

 

The compassion of Roman horse.

 

That ambush did come in handy. I can position the Yari there any way in the marker where it fits and so it was deployed facing left, and was able to get to this position 1 UD closer than if it was facing forward.

 

 

Darryr's Yari join the Samurai line. They don't have a prayer of winning, even with the overlaps, but are basically absorbing the hit, so the Samurai can do their work.

For the Visigoths are still hanging back. If the Romans charge, their flanks will be countercharged.

The Samurai only need 6 points to win, and avoid losing 11 in the process.

Flip side view. 

 

 

Turn 4:
Actually, at the time I thought the Romans only had a breakpoint of 17, forgetting to count the camp's +1.

The Yari proves too little and too late to save the horsemen. But will serve to distract 3 Roman units.

The Romans charge, but have yielded both ends to flank support. The dice fly and favor the Samurai

The Visigoths advance. Engaging two Samurai units and protecting the flanks of their allies.

The Romans and Visigoths lost 4 and tied the rest on contact. And are now only 2 away from demoralization.

The view from the overhead.

The Auxilla line suffers losses, and is flanked. Roman scutum, sword and legionary armor prove inadequate against the hardened steel of skillfully wielded katanas.

Everywhere the Roman line is weakened. The final volley of arrows disorder another Visigothic unit.

Taking the total to 18, demoralizing the Romans and their allies.

Flip side view final.

So what went wrong? First the Japanese archery was excellent. Yes they are elite shooters, but to destroy and disorder 6 lights for 10 points in two rounds is neigh unheard of. 

 

The single unit of Japanese horsemen on the flanks proved decisive. The one on the right forced the Visigoth advance to falter, and with that, the Romans attacked alone. The one on the left was destroyed, but distracted 3 units to do it.  

 

When engaged against the Impact Auxiliaries, the Yari wining and tieing 1 each was just luck, but the legions impact advantage was countered by elite and flank support.