A Duteous of Dutch

A Headless Body Production
Venue: On Military Matters Book Store, Hopewell, NJ
Event: Preparation for Kozcon
Players: Phil Gardocki running Scots Isles and Highlanders
               Dennis Shorthouse running Low Countries
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 25mm, 200 points per side.

It's time to bring out the heavy metal. Which for ancients players is 25mm armies. Much heavier than the 15mm by around a factor of 4.

The Forces:
Low Countries, list 243
Commanders of uncertain quality.
About 7 Pikemen
2 Foot Knights
1 Halberdiers, Heavy Swordsmen, Polearm, Armor
4 Light Infantry, 2 with firearms, 2 with bow.
2 English Archers, Medium Swordsmen, Longbow
2 Organ Guns
2 Crossbowmen, Pavise
Breakpoint around 21

Scots Isles and Highlanders, list 187
Led by Larry and his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl, all competent.
4 Island Warriors, Heavy swordsmen 2HW Elite
8 Island Warriors, Heavy swordsmen 2HW
4 Young Warriors, Heavy swordsmen Mediocre
2 Irish Medium swordsmen 2HW
3 Highland Archers Medium swordsmen bow
Breakpoint of 22

Conventions: When you see a word bubble "Ouch!", "Au!", "Aie!" or , "Ay!" 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.

The Board:
The Low Countries takes the initiative and elected to defend in the plains.

Dennis Shorthouse is the proprietor of On Military Matters book service. A delightful book store in Hopewell New Jersey that specializes in military books.

Alternate titles:
A Lousy of Low Countries
A Lowery of Low Countries
A Count of Low Countries
A Phlegm of Flemish
You see my problem here? Nothing works well with "Low Countries"

Deployment:

Welcome to another edition of "Your guess is as good as mine!"

The pike kind of stand out. But halberdier or foot knight? Who knows.

The Low Country's left is really anchored on the hill, the Crossbowmen are there just to prevent it from being flanked.

Larry takes the left with 8 units of warriors. Most have 2HW, some are elite.

The Trojan Rabbit seems to be muttering to itself. I think it's on a different script.

 

The other brother Darryl takes the right flank. His troops have their right covered by a river, and are facing nothing they cannot handle.

Larry's advance is interrupted by an unexplained monolith in the field.

And just as mysteriously, it ascends to the clouds.

Anxious to get some shots in, Brother Darryl races past his brother.

The Dutch advance. Mostly to just get a slide, as Larry's warriors has an overlap right now.

It is so rare I actually out number my opponents main line. The Scots are18 wide, with 4 in reserve. The Low Countries (Dutch, Belgians, Waloons, French) have 16 combat units including their archers and artillery.

Seeing an advantage, the pike advance to charge reach of the Irish Mercenaries and the Highland Bowmen. Heavy foot vs Medium with an overlap

The Dutch roll their artillery down the hill a bit and line up their shots. With devastating effect.

"...and ignore lights and shoot over friends if on a hill..."

Turn 3:

Larry gets his act together and advances.

Darryl is happy to just shoot.

His other brother Darryl plans to invest the hill.

A further advance by the Dutch.

They are now in charge reach of the whole Scot's line.

Cannon in front of them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they strode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell Rode Clans O'Lyre and Jordan

Turn 4:

Larry holds his line. If the Dutch charge, they risk flank support on the right. On the left, he deploys a unit of Young Warriors to overlap the Foot Knights.

Darryl approaches, arrows flying. His goal here is to ZOC the line to keep it from interfering with the assault on the organ guns on the hill.

Which is going as well as expected for assaulting higher ground, in the rough, with disordered units.

Now that Sir Robin has been tossed into the river, Clan Jorden can threaten the village defenders in peace.

The crash of arms! Luck goes both ways with 2 hits on a side and 2 ties.

Darryl fares better than he deserves. Only two units hit in the great assault.

The Dutch continue to hold the hill.

Turn 5:

The scrum continues on the left. Larry leads the combat with Clan McBuggeroff, and penetrates the line.

His brother has lost a unit as well.

But his other brother has just about cleared the hill and the marsh. The road to the camp is clear.

Not counting Sir Robin, the Scots score is 11 of 22. Not 9 as shown.

The Low Country is 17 of 20

A Scot's warband is destroyed by Knights.

Darryl also loses another archer, but two more Dutch join them.

The last hill defender is destroyed.

At this point, the Low Countries surrendered.  There was plenty of time on the clock, and the Scots needed only 2 more points, while the Low Countries needed around 9.