A Bureaucracy of Burgundians

A Headless Body Production

Venue: An Undisclosed Basement
Event: The Great Semi-Annual, International, Invitational, Round Robin Tournament
Round: 4
Theme: Medieval
Players: Phil Gardocki running Italian Condottieri
               Kevin Hatch running Burgundian Ordinance
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre v3, 15mm, 120 points per side.

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

Burgundian Ordinance
2 Commanders, both Competent, one Included, one Unreliable
5 Men-at-Arms, Heavy Knight Impact, one Elite
1 Demilancer, Heavy Cavalry, Impact
1 Longbowmen, Stakes
3 Low Country Pike, Mediocre
1 Italian Mercenaries, Light Cavalry, Crossbow
Breakpoint of 12

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. 

Deployment:

This game is played on two different boards, and I don't have enough knights for knight on knight clashes.  So Byzantines will have to sub in.  The Commander behind the HK(e) is actually included, but I have a disk out for him to keep things straight

120 point armies do not have a lot of breath.  The main battle line of 10 units is about standard.

Darryl is clearly out numbered 6 Impact Knights and Cavalry vs 3.  And will have to delay contact as long as possible.

Larry will be on the attack.  He dismounts his knights for the effort.  His pikemen will serve as flank guard.

Turn 1:

The Burgundians advance at full speed.  A single Italian light horse keeps them from double marching.

But the Burgundians do hold the high ground.  I am lucky they only have one unit of Longbow.

Darryl advance a bit, just enough to keep the interest of the Burgundian knights, but not close enough to prompt a charge just yet.

Larry advances at full speed!  Which of course, is not very fast.

Turn 2:

The Burgundian knights advance full tilt, steel tipped lances pinioned in the wind.

Ineffective missiles dart across the field.

But what is this? The Burgundians have left the hill?  They hope to keep the Italian foot engaged while their mounted knights destroy Darryl's command.

Larry orders a general charge.  On the left, his pike engage unsupported, but it's against bowmen.  A bit of luck though as the knight that could flank charge the pike next turn is disordered by hand gunners.

But Darryl holds back.  The longer he delays the charge, the longer his command gets to live.

Turn 3:

The flower of Burgundy charge.  With predictable results.  Even the disordered knights run rampant against the Italian halberdiers. 

The clash of foot continues.  They are being reinforced by a unit of Demilancers.

At the Tree of Woe, the score is a tie!

A question for the audience.  Would you prefer disordered or dead units?  In this case, I have 5 units that are sub par, while my opponent only has 3.  

Bodies are falling every where.  Two knights here, and a longbowman

And continuing down the line, from left to right, a foot knight and a pike.

The Italian far right flank has been too successful, having a foot knight that cannot see action, but the Burgundians have sent in the reserves, so the foot advance and slide, offering themselves to a mounted charge. 

Leaving the pike and other knight to deal with the last Low Country pikemen.

For all the bodies, the you would think the score would be higher.  But all the kills were previously disordered.

Turn 4:

Burgundians attempt to run the Italian lights off the board, but the they roll short and instead flee around the camp.  Meanwhile the Burgundian Captain exits the line and puts the Halberdier in a ZOC, preventing them from flank charging the knights to their left.

If you are wondering why he took the pressure off of the Italian Knights, when he had a 4-2 advantage, he is looking to the next turn.  One knight will have a rear charge on an Italian knight, and the path is clear for the light horse to sack the camp.  So 3 points there, possibly 4.  The commander knight will have an impact charge on the Halberdiers with 3 cohesion hits, and probably another point towards demoralization. 

The last Low Country Pike conforms on their Mercenary twin.

The score is 10 to 7 in favor of the Condottieri

The Burgundians need only one turn for a win.  But it is a turn they do not have.  Darryl joins the fray, and calls up his light horse for a win.  Then a lucky shot from the LI Firearm unit disorders a knight, giving the Burgundians the last 2 points of demoralization they need to break.

Larry also leads from the front, while summoning support of one of his knights.  He needed it all.  The Low Country rolls a 6, + 1 for disordered pike, -1 for mediocre.  Larry rolls a 4, + 1 for disordered pike, + 1 for Larry, and + 1 for support for a 7

Ending the game with a 12-8 win for the Italian Condottieri

 

I got lucky on this one.  I think only one mistake was made, and that was the Burgundian foot advancing off of the hill.  Not that the hill as terrain was decisive, but by leaving, the Condottieri foot knights were able to engage them a turn earlier.  And as noted earlier, that turn was decisive.  The Burgundians were almost guaranteed 4 points next turn, and 5 with a little bit of luck.