Crusaders Can't Navigate, Attack Nihon.

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Undisclosed Basements around the Tri-State-Area
Event: Round 3 of the The Great Semi-Annual-Mini-Tournament-Of-2020/1
Players: Phil Gardocki running Samurai
               Kevin Hatch running Crusaders
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 120 points per side.

Relying on his Arab guides directions to Acre, Richard the Lionheart wound up on the winding Damascus-Kyoto Highway.  After many weeks of passing silk and spice caravans, and not asking for directions, he finally meets what he thinks is his target, the fortress city of Acre. However the current Emperor of Japan, Minamoto Yoshitsune, is on his death bed decides to use this opportunity as a test for one of his heir designates, Rarry.

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

Crusader 2 Commanders, King Richard the Lionheart, Brilliant, and another nameless commander.
5 Knights, 4 Impetuous, 1 Impact Elite
2 Medium Spear, Armored, Mediocre
3 Heavy Spearmen, 1/2 Crossbow
1 Light Horse, Bow
2 Light Infantry, Crossbow
Breakpoint of 14

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

Notes on comments.

(b, c) refer to commanders quality, Brilliant and Competent. "Ouch" and "痛い！" refer to new missile hits. Poorly formed Haiku's are being created by rallied troops.

The Board:

The Crusaders win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains. The Samurai commander picks two fields and a coastal area.

On the Crusaders left, is his main force of foot.

The Crusader left has most of his eager knights. King Richard is complaining about the "Alice's Restaurant" references from the last battle report"

Darrir deploys with most of his forces as far away from the fight as the board allows.

While Rarry is ready to take on all comers.

Turn 1:

The Crusader foot, when they realize they out-number, out-quality (heavy vs. medium) and out shoot their immediate foes, charge forward.

King Richard orders his knights to advance.

Samurai on horse advance to slow the advance of the Crusader foot

Samurai foot advance, and shoot very effective indeed.

Bringing the score at the bottom of round 1 to 6 (of 14) to zero (of 12)

The Crusader archers move forward.

Undaunted, the Crusader Knights move to very short range.

The Samurai horsemen retreat in haste. The Crusaders send them a parting gift.

On the right, the Samurai reload and darken the skies.

Turn 3:

With the horsemen threat effectively neutralized, the main line of Crusader foot vectors towards the line of Yari

With a blast of horns the iron shod stallions of the Crusaders charge as one. Destroying one unit of Yari, and disordering a couple of Samurai foot.

Because, in the end, the Samurai are still +zero against knights. Elite and with missile support, but still +zero against armor and furious charge.

The odds are this:
Knights with no hits will win 82% of the time in 4 rounds
Knights with 1 hit will win 51% of the time in 4.5 rounds
Knights with 2 hits will win 24% of the time in 4 rounds
So even with 2 hits coming in, there is no guarantee of victory.

And just like that the game is tied.

The Japanese Horsemen duck for cover.

While the Samurai countercharges do their work

The count at the Tree of Woe inches upward.

Turn 4:

Crusader foot splits. One force to contain the Heavy Horse, the other to bear down on the remaining Yari.

For the Knights have lost 3 of 5, and are flanked.

The score is 9-All, but the Crusader break point is 14 vice 12.

Darrir calms his troops with poetry from the heart, even while dodging more English arrows.

Another knight down.

3 successful rallies, but no change on the Japanese score.

Turn 5:

The Crusader foot charge into action.

Their zone of control prevents a charge into their Commanders rear.

Darrir escapes to his last good unit.

Rarry manages to get some foot Samurai into good positions

Both sides are 2 away from demoralization.

Turn 5:

The Crusader foot is content on containment.

In the end, the Crusader foot pick up the final two points they need for the win.

So what went wrong? At first, the game seemed like it was on a razor's edge, but it really wasn't. The Samurai successfully rallied about 6 times, without which, they would have been demoralized a turn or two earlier.

In the beginning, it looked like a slam dunk for the Samurai against the Impetuous Knights, with the knights coming in all with 2 hits and their right flank already turned. But in the end it wasn't. Yes every impetuous knight was slaughtered, but then what? There was no way to exploit the situation. So I got 8 points for knights, 2 for the light horse for 10, where does the other 4 points come from that I needed to win? Possibly 3 for the included General unit, but still is one point short.

Meanwhile my Yari command lost 8 points, the camp would have fallen next turn, and half of my Samurai were disordered.

Two things I should have done differently. Tactically, my horse Samurai in the rear should have charged one additional knight over to my left than I did. That would have completed the destruction of the knights a turn earlier, and possibly would have saved a Samurai foot from falling.

Strategically, as soon as the knight on the right end had fallen, I should have started redeploying the Samurai on the right to the center. Just one would have done fine This would have arrived in time to turn the flank of the oncoming heavy spearmen that was polishing off my last Yari. That may seem like Monday Morning Quarterbacking, but the Samurai in column 16 did nothing after contact. Instead I spent a couple of command points rallying the Samurai in column 15.

MVP of the game is the Impact Knights with the Crusader commander included. They killed 6 points of the Samurai army, receiving 1 in return.