An Asset of Alexandrians

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Comfort Suites Downtown Carlisle
Event:        OttoCon, formally known as "the Weekend"
Organizer: Walt Leach
Players:      Phil Gardocki, running Yi Korean
                    Cleo Libel running Alexandrian
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side
 
The Forces:
Alexandrian Macedonian
One Strategist and 2 Competent commanders.
3 Companions, Heavy Cavalry, Impact, Elite
1 Greek Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry
2 Light Horse, one with Javelin, one with bow
5 Pike, one elite
1 Greek Hoplite
2 Peltasts, Medium Spear
2 Thracians, Medium Sword, 2HW
2 Elephants
3 Light Infantry, Javelin
Breakpoint of 22

Yi Korean (list 282)The Koreans are commanded by Kim-Lar-re, the Brilliant, his brother Kim-Dar-el, the Competent, and his other brother Kim-Dar-el, also Competent
6 Pikemen, Mediocre
4 Integrated Artillery
4 Horsemen, Heavy Cavalry Impact, Ordinary
4 Medium Cavalry, Bow
3 Light Cavalry, Bow
5 Light Infantry Bow
Breakpoint of 26

It has been pointed out last week to me that this Yi list is illegal as it does not meet the minimums for "bowmen". Seppeku is not an accepted practice for Koreans, so we are going to have to settle for "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

This was the first "Weekend" in a couple of years. 2019 was canceled due to the death of our patron, Otto Schmitt, and 2020 by, well, you know... Tracy Johnson had taken up the heavy task to find a new venue for the weekend and selected Comfort Suites in Carlisle, PA.

The rooms were large and clean, and a parking garage out back. Carlisle is a college town, so there are a lot of interesting eateries within walking distance. Including the "Grand Illusion" a magician themed pub, the Gingerbread Man, the Yeti and Yack II (Nepalese cuisine). And the Hamilton, a typical American diner. Owned by a Greek family, serving eggs and scrapple with excellent coffee and Smuckers strawberry jam on very plain white toast. 

There were several reasons I brought the Yi to the table. The first was it was built around Dec, 2019, just before Covid changed the world, and in the interval, v4 came out. The original army was Koyko Korean where the cavalry was mostly Impact (elite, ordinary and mediocre) and the infantry was 1/2 spear and bow.

I have judged that with the foot troops no longer getting missile support, and fighting mediocre, that that army is no longer viable. And the cataphracts available to it are still largely a waste of points.

I remounted the foot as pike. The cavalry I kept the same, but I kept the elite marker (dice) to mark the Impact Heavy Cavalry and differentiate them from the Bow armed Medium Cavalry, which looked impacty.

But the real reason was to test the newly created, "Integral Artillery". I have heard conversations on how many an army should have, if allowed on the MadAxMan's podcast.

There answers varied between 1 and 2. Some said 2 was to many. To me, 1 is only going to give you anecdotal results. From game to game, it is going to do either great, ok, or meh. Nothing you want to base a strategy on. The the argument for 2 was, well, more is more.

I have a scientific mind for this sort of thing, so lets go large. Yi Korean gets 4! The only other army to get 4 is the Ming. The front rank is Pike, Mediocre. Which should beat spear, sword and cavalry, and at 8 points, not cost a lot. So let the experiment be made!

And I had these Roman figures of Ballista mounted on mule cart figures that can represent mobile Hwacha's. Which is a rocket propelled arrow launcher. I have not run these figures in more than a decade, probably not even this millennium ;)

Truth be told, I dreaded this experiment, I kinda knew how it was going to work out. It's a one trick pony with 94 points committed to the center 6 units.

Pointed word bubbles with the word "Ouch!" in them implies a missile hit. "XX" means a unit died on that spot this turn.

The Board:

The Koreans win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains. 

Deployment:

Alexander has deployed his Companions at the point of honor on the right.

But uncharacteristically, he is taking command of the elephantry on the left.

Kim Dar-el takes the position on the Yi left. He is not happy with what he sees. His cavalry is matched 1 for 1. Most of them elites. Their one flank protected by pike, the other covered by bad terrain.

Kim Lar-re is pleased. This is the matchup he has been looking for. An excellent test of the artillery-pike combined arms system.

While Kim Dar-el is not happy facing elephants. His mission is really to just protect the pikes flank, otherwise he has room to maneuver.

Turn 1:

The Yi left move forward one march and hold

Keeping in alignment with the pike that double march.

In v4.0, heavy foot units can now move 3 UD's if they start outside of 4 UD's of the nearest enemy units. In other armies, this would allow legionaries or pike to race across the field 6 or even 9 UD's in the right situation.

But, the integral artillery are not subject to that improvement, and a double move of 4 is all this line can pull off.

On the Korean right, Kim Dar-el's horse make a half move.

And like a well oiled machine, the Companions spread out, covering all the paths the Koreans may have had, AND, protect their pike.

The pike advance and begin to receive rocket assisted arrow fire. The elephantry advance in perfect time with their loose ordered foot troops.

Turn 2:

There is no benefit to early contact. The Korean horse holds and looses arrows.

Like wise the main battle line.

The Korean right opens distance from the elephants.

The Companions charge in mass. Kim Dar-el orders his lancers to countercharge, and his bow armed horse to evade. There are mixed results as one of his cavalry is run down, but the other pulls a minor win, which means the pike will not be flanked next turn.

For this is the ultimate test. Ordinary, but disordered pike vs pike mediocre. The initial blows are looking good for the Koreans

The reason for the units not lining up has to do with the magnets the Macedonian pike are sitting on. It wasn't obvious on the approach, but the magnets were 45x40, and we had them on sideways.

The pikes were 3 inches long and sharp and we gave up trying to fix them.

Supporting the charge down the line, the Elephantry advance.

Turn 3:

Kim Dar-el has a command point failure and can only move one unit.

Their job finished, the Hwacha's withdraw. Hits on both sides from the pike scum.

Kim Dar-el makes a 180 turn and prepares to engage.

On the Korean right, their heavy horse is defeated, leaving their mediums and lights.

The first of taxis of Alexander's pikes has broken

But the Korean pike have 5 of their pike disordered, one about to break itself. And their left flank is exposed.

With little to fear, the elephantry advance.

Turn 4:

Kim Dar-el commit his last troops to fight.

A Korean Pike has routed, 2 others are about to fail.

Like his brother, Kim Dar-el also commits to fight.

Kim Dar-el loses his nerve at the last minute and evades the Companion charge.

The Korean main battle line is now turned on both flanks. 4 pike have been routed.

The elephants charge with their infantry. Once side holds, the other side has a 6-1 die roll fail and is dispersed.

Turn 5:

The Korean left turns and looses one last volley of arrows.

In the center, Korean pike manage to flank a Macedonian taxis and rout it.

On the right, Korean horse is proving their worth and wound an enemy elephant, while turning the flanks of the elephant formation.

The last charge before time is called to a zero-zero call.

The game ends here with a winning draw for one of the players, but the score was 49-46, nothing to brag about, so we'll just call it a draw.

Both players played hard, neither offering or giving quarter.

With this, the great "Korean Grand Battery" experiment draws to a close.

This game gave it it's best chance to succeed, having only "ordinary" pike to shoot at for 3 rounds before contact, and it did not. 28 points not well spent.

You could say the problem is the pike mediocre in the front line, and that is a valid point. But any attempt to enhance the front will weaken the flanks, and as noted earlier, the flanks already are too weak.

The only other list offering 4 integral artillery would be Ming, with 6 Heavy Sword, Polearm in the front. And I don't think they would have fared better here, and bring the command cost up to 100 points even.

An Irritation of Iroquois

 A Headless Body Production

Venue: Comfort Suites Downtown Carlisle
Event: Ottocon, formally known as "the Weekend"
Organizer: Walt Leach
Players: Phil Gardocki, running Yi Korean
             Mike Kennedy, running Iroquois  
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side
 
The Forces:
Iroquois. Taken from memory and subject to error.
One Brilliant and 2 Ordinary commanders.
Scads of Medium Sword, Impetuous, some elite.
Breakpoint of 34 (ish)

Yi Korean (list 282)The Koreans are commanded by Kim-Lar-re, the Brilliant, his brother Kim-Dar-el, the Competent, and his other brother Kim-Dar-el, also Competent
6 Pikemen, Mediocre
4 Integrated Artillery
4 Horsemen, Heavy Cavalry Impact, Ordinary
4 Medium Cavalry, Bow
3 Light Cavalry, Bow
5 Light Infantry Bow
Breakpoint of 26

This was the first "Weekend" in a couple of years. 2019 was canceled due to the death of our patron, Otto Schmitt, and 2020 by, well, you know... Tracy Johnson had taken up the heavy task to find a new venue for the weekend and selected Comfort Suites in Carlisle, PA.

The rooms were large and clean, and a parking garage out back. Carlisle is a college town, so there are a lot of interesting eateries within walking distance. Including the "Grand Illusion" a magician themed pub, the Gingerbread Man, the Yeti and Yack II (Nepalese cuisine). And the Hamilton, a typical American diner. Owned by a Greek family, serving eggs and scrapple with excellent coffee and Smuckers strawberry jam on very plain white toast. 

There were several reasons I brought the Yi to the table. The first was it was built around Dec, 2019, just before Covid changed the world, and in the interval, v4 came out. The original army was Koyko Korean where the cavalry was mostly Impact (elite, ordinary and mediocre) and the infantry was 1/2 spear and bow.

I have judged that with the foot troops no longer getting missile support, and fighting mediocre, that that army is no longer viable.  And the cataphracts available to it are still largely a waste of points.

I remounted the foot as pike. The cavalry I kept the same, but I kept the elite marker (dice) to mark the Impact Heavy Cavalry and differentiate them from the Bow armed Medium Cavalry, which looked impacty.

But the real reason was to test the newly created, "Integral Artillery".  I have heard conversations on how many an army should have, if allowed on the MadAxMan's podcast.  

There answers varied between 1 and 2.  Some said 2 was to many.  To me, 1 is only going to give you anecdotal results.  From game to game, it is going to do either great, ok, or meh.  Nothing you want to base a strategy on.  The the argument for 2 was, well, more is more.  

I have a scientific mind for this sort of thing, so lets go large.  Yi Korean gets 4!  The only other army to get 4 is the Ming.  The front rank is Pike, Mediocre.  Which should beat spear, sword and cavalry, and at 8 points, not cost a lot.  So let the experiment be made!

And I had these Roman figures of Ballista mounted on mule cart figures that can represent mobile Hwacha's. Which is a rocket propelled arrow launcher.  I have not run these figures in more than a decade, probably not even this millennium ;)

Truth be told, I dreaded this experiment, I kinda knew how it was going to work out.  It's a one trick pony with 94 points committed to the center 6 units.

The Board:

The Koreans win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains. 

Along the quiet River Kwai, two nations line up to fight.  Kim-Dar-el (c) has confidence that his horse will run down the native American Indians.

In the center is a vast horde of highly motivated hatchetmen. 

The Iroquois left has a similar mix as their right.  But has the benefit of terrain.

Kim-Lar-re is also confident.  His Pike may be mediocre, but are +2 natively, and backed by integral artillery.

Hi brother, Kim-Dar-el will cover Kim-Lar-re's right flank should the Iroquois leave their terrain.

Turn 1:

Kim-Dar-el steps out, stopping out of range of the Iroquois bow.

Kim-Lar-re double times his troops.

While his brother takes up flank guard position.

But I noted a mistake made.  My light infantry double moved as well, but shouldn't have, as they were withing 4 UD of the ambush marker behind the hill.  Sorry about that Mike.

On the Iroquois right, the Indians advance to just within bow range of the Korean Screen.

Their center has no fear.  All those guy with white head dresses are elite and cannot wait to make contact.

Also, being elite makes them more resistant to the catapults.  

On average ordinary catapults will hit elites 10 out of 36 shots.  About 1 in 4.

Against ordinary targets, the catapults will hit 15 out of 36.  Between 1/3 and 1/2.

The Iroquois left also shows no fear, advancing fully to support the center.

Turn 2:

Kim-Lar-re withdraws his light horse.  I think because they were at risk of either being double shot killed by Indian bow fire, or at risk of being pinned and killed.  From the photos, I don't see that happening, but they were withdrawn.  His heavy horse advances to charge range..

The main Korean battle line stays put.  They are already in shooting range, and need advance no more.

Kim-Dar-el sees an opportunity and orders a charge.  Losing 2 of 3 dice offs.  But the one win is a good one, killing his opponent, and disordering the second rank.

Heartened by the relative success on their left flank the Iroquois advance on the right.

5 of their elite warriors advance, covering the well damaged unit from further hits by the Hwacha's

Elites resistance to missile fire made a difference here.  Only one unit damaged on the approach. 

A bit of complicated maneuvering.  On the far right, the Iroquois conform on the victorious medium cavalry, and their disordered slides to their left and comes to support position.  This bears fruit as they decisively win the fight, causing 2 hits on the Korean horse.

Turn 3:

Kim-Dar-el orders a general charge and leading from the front!  With lousy results, the Iroquois win or tie all the battles.

Kim-Lar-re's Hwacha's darken the skies, disordering two more units of Iroquois.

The Hwacha's fired 16 times scoring 4 hits.  25%.  Slightly above average.  But now they are done for the game.  Was it enough?

On the right, Kim-Dar-el orders as much of his horse to disengage as possible. 

Note the red, with 1 hit cavalry that only disengaged about a UD.  This was to avoid disengaging across the ZOC of the Iroquois on their left.  I think this was correctly done.  Any other opinions?

On the other side of the board, the Korean cavalry is cracking. 

The Iroquois braves charge in.  Their elite mattered in a number of the dice offs, as their disordered units tied their opponents.   Two of the Korean pike take serious hits.

On the Korean right, the mission for the cavalry is now, "try not to die" (too soon)

Turn 4:

On the far left, the Korean Light Horse is earning an MVP award.  Kim-Dar-el's bravery motivates his horse as they run over their opponents.

Their job finished, the Artillery is withdrawn.  Kim-Lar-re, not to be out done by his younger brother, also leads from the front, and obliterates his foe.

On the Korean right.  Kim-Dar-el throws in his final reserve.  And they succeed beyond hope!  His other heavy horse is destroyed, and his medium disengages again off the bottom of the screen.

The battle looks worse than the count though.  For all the horses lost, the Yi's demoralization level is 14 of 26.

While the Iroquois is at 18 of 34(ish)

So both sides are just over the half way point.

The losses continue to rise on the left.

While the Yi have lost a pike unit in the center, it is the Iroquois line that is near cracking.

That blank spot between the Iroquois on the left and the Hwacha is a destroyed Hwacha.

On the Yi (I'm tired of spelling Korean or Kim-Dar-el) right, the Indians are running wild!

While the Iroquois center was at risk of collapse, the Iroquois braves on left and center manned up to save the game.    All of the Yi horse was disordered bringing up the final tally to 26 and a break.

That's 26 of 26.

While the Iroquois losses stood at 10 dead and 9 wounded.

What went wrong?

Once the front lines started fragmenting, it was to the Iroquois advantage.  They maneuver better, and with their numbers, better able to fill the gaps.  

The artillery did better than expected, but it wasn't enough for a couple of reasons.  The first is the Iroquois units are cheaper, so damaging one isn't as valuable overall to final victory.  And second, they had replacements for their losses, the Yi did not.

The Yi cavalry just put up in bad showing.  Against medium foot, they should have shined.  While it could be dice rolls, which did happen, that is just an excuse.  To buy the artillery and pike, compromises had to be made. The center command cost 94 points.  That meant no elite cavalry, and a minimal number, 4 units of heavies.  The medium cavalry was a 2 on contact against the medium foot, but the foot kept their impact against the bow armed cavalry, and was a 2 also.  The problem is in the design of the army.