Yet Another Engaging with the English

A Headless Body Production

Venue: An Undisclosed Basement
Event: Medieval theme
Players: Phil Gardocki running Condottieri
              Tommy Worden running War of the Roses
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 120 points per side.
Round: 3

The Forces:

Italian Condottieri
Commanded by Larry, the Competent and Darryl, the Ordinary
6 Men-at-Arms, Heavy Knight, Impact
2 Light Cavalry, Crossbow
1 Light Infantry. Crossbowmen
1 Light Infantry, Handgunner
1 Mercenary Pike
1 Halberdier, Heavy Swordsmen, 2HW
Breakpoint, 12

War of the Roses
2 Commanders, a Competent and an Ordinary
4 Retinue Archers, Longbowmen, Elite
3 Knights on foot, Foot Knights, 2 Elite
1 Billmen, Heavy Swordsmen, 2HW
1 Light Cavalry, Impact
1 Currours, Heavy Cavalry Impact
1 French Mercenaries, Crossbowmen,
Breakpoint of 11

Let me apologize for the repetition.  It's a tournament.  Medieval themed.  Which means you are either playing knights, or an anti-knight army.   Several players selected either War of the Roses or 100 Years War English.  Then I had a couple of practice rounds.  On the bright side, it made it easy for me to pull the troops out for my opponent, once and done.  On the other side, the writing gets repetitious.  

A note on annotations. When you see a word bubble "Ouch!", ("Ahia!", "Aie!", "Merde!") this implies a missile hit.

Letters in parenthesis represent some value change for the specific unit. For commanders it is 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" marks a unit killed in that location on that turn.
"????" is an ambush marker, and so it is unknown at this time.

Scores are presented in a confusing manner. This is because it is measured in number of points towards the demoralization. If I say the score is 15-8 in favor of Milan, that means the Burgundians are have 15 points towards their demoralization level of 19, while Milan has 8 points towards their demoralization level of 20. But saying 15-8 is just more intuitive. 

Dennis Shorthouse, Proprietor of On Military Matters book service., has organized an another 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. 

This is a practice game for the upcoming tourney with a medieval theme.

This game is already in progress

The English begin with a quick march to get in range of the Italians.

The Foot Knights breathing heavily in their efforts to keep up with the spry Welsh bowmen.

Larry and Darryl's commands advance as well.

Turn 2:

Another step forward, and the skies darken

Larry dismounted his knights in the face of all that longbow.

Something is right.  I don't know why the pikemen were a target of the CB.  They are not the priority.

Page 46, "If multiple targets are at equal distance, the player must choose the target most in front if there is one, otherwise any target."

English heavies charge, Italian lights evade.

 

This board is a bit narrower than normal, so playing the evade game is a bit more risky.  But I think I can leverage the field slowing normal movement to my advantage here.

The skirmishing Lights retire to rally.  They are replaced by a wall of solid steel.

Both of these armies have very low break points.  I figure even with the longbow advantage of -1 to my protection and elite, the Foot Knights will have better odds of not being hit.

Italian knights advance to 1 UD.  Not ZOCing their foot opponents.

 Like every game with a massive number of shooters, I am down in the score 3-0.

Turn 3:

The English hold their ground.  This time the pike is a legitimate shooting target.

The English knights ready their weapons.

They are hoping to hold their ground, giving their heavies a chance for a flank charge.  But he is distracted right now.

The massive charge, the shock of impact.  More eloquent men then I have described this event. 

 

It is rare to see that much armor engaging all at once.

The score is now 5-6 in favor of the Italians.

Sorry, 5 of 12 to 7 of 11.

Turn 4:

The battle continues to rage at the top of the turn.  Darryl's knights are beginning to tire.

The English heavies remember their mission.

But it turns out to be unnecessary as the English Knights on Foot are more than equal to their task.  Darryl takes an ax to the knee and goes down.

 

All the English archers have been slain, and a few remaining  English units are disordered.  The Yorkish commander orders a withdrawal.

Bringing the final score for the Italians, 10 (including Darryl) to 11 to take the field.