An Alert of Alexanderians*

A Headless Body Production
Venue: On Military Matters Book Store, Hopewell, NJ
Event: Preparation for Historicon
Players:  Phil Gardocki running Gallic
                Alan Kaplan running Alexander the Great
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:
Alexander the Great, list 40
3 commanders of uncertain qualities, Probably Alexander is a Strategist, but you never know. Thinking on that, it should be a list requirement that you do run him so.
2 Elephants
5 Pike, one Elite
2 Javelinmen
2 Thracians, Medium Sword, 2HW
3 Agrianians, Light Infantry, Javelin, Elite
1 Hoplite
3 Companions, Heavy Cavalry, Impact, Elite
1 Greek Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, Impact
2 Thessalonians, Light Horse, Javelin
Breakpoint around 21

Gallic, list 89
Led by the Asterix, the competent, Basterdix, the competent, and Obilix, the ordinary. included and unreliable
24 Warriors, Medium Sword, Impetuous
8 Lights, 4 each Javelin and Bow
3 Chariots, Javelin
Breakpoint of 35

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble "Ouch!", "Ωχ!", 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:Alexander rolled the initiative and elected to attack in the plains. 

The weather is good.

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

Deployment:

On Alexander's right, is his elephant command

5 Taxis of Pike occupy the center. On the left are his Companion cavalry and supports

Hanging close to the edge of the field is Obilix, with 3 groups of chariots.

Obilix is an included commander. The stand is there to represent which chariot is the commander.

Asterix takes the field behind a double row of war bands.

Basterdix is likewise deployed.

I decided to try a horde army again taking advantage of the point discount for medium swords offered in version 4. That's 24 more points for other things.

The concept here is to lose the entire front row, giving my opponent a satisfying 24 points, then slam him with the second row and pick up his army.

Turn 1:

The elephant command spreads out.

The pike advance at a trot. But for an inexplicable reason, did not quite keep up with the Thracians. Is it a clever ploy? Or just a mistake that offers a small advantage to the defending Gauls.

Alexander's Companions advance at a gallop. They have quality and overlap advantages on their side of the field.

Obilix forms a line and advances

Asterix orders his front line to advance. His second line is held way back.

The second line needs to be more than 1UD behind the main line to avoid disorder from routs. Which would require the second line to move short. Since impetuous troops are "unmaneuverable", moving short requires 2 command points. Asterix rolled a 1 for command, and so did not have enough command points for such a complected maneuver.

Bastardix is paying attention. The Alexandrian line is wider than the Gallic, so his front line slides right. His second line slides left, he even has enough for a couple of flank guards.

God's own measuring stick descends from the clouds. The Gauls are out of charge reach of the pikemen.

And with a lucky shot, disorders Alexanders private Companion with a salvo of javelins

Turn 2:

Charging without the pike would give the Gauls too much of an advantage.

So the Macedonians form up their line in one straight, and in charge reach, line.

And how did this happen? First the Gauls did not deploy on the 5 line, so any calculated advance based on the 10 UD separation of main forces is out the window. Then the advances stopped when the Lights were 4 apart, placing the heavies between 4.5 and 5 UDs apart.

Alex's Thessalonians turn and harass the Gallic right flank.

Obilix squeezes his chariots into an overlap position. Asterix orders a massive charge while bringing up his reserves.

Win, lose or draw, this game is not going the time limit.

And the results are win, lose, tie, lose, and a big lose.

Bastardix also charges!

With a lose, lose, lose, lose,

tie, lose, tie, lose...

13 fights, 1 win, 12 loses or ties.

Now admittedly, in 7 of the 13 fights, Alexanders troops have a 1 point advantage on contact here. And there are some elite and armor advantages, but not winning at least 2 of the fights?

If I average all the effects, the Gauls were going to lose or tie 65% of the fights. And I was OK with that. The odds of losing all 13 fights is just .37%. Winning only one fight in any position, is 2.6%.

Someone can check the math. Losing all 13 fights is .65 to the 13th power. Losing all but 1 is .65 (12 losses) to the 12th power times .35 (for the win) *13.

My probability class was 40 years ago, so I am not sure how to work not winning even two fights. I know it involves with factorials.

But no matter how you look at it, this was just bad die rolls.

Turn 3:

But the luck can turn, and did. Destroying the elephant escort was expected, but disordering both elephants was excellent. Add to that two successful missile shots on the javelinmen in the field.

Losses were expected, and that is what the second line is all about.

The warriors in standing in front of the Companions were a write off anyway. The fact they have not cratered yet is a bonus.

Obilix orders his chariots into rough ground.

There is a method to my madness. The Javelinmen were disordered, so the numbers were not quite as bad as it seems. The Javelinmen were ZOC'ing all Obilix's chariots. The purpose of this charge was to remove the ZOC on the third chariot. The chariots really only need to survive here.

The third chariot flank charges an elephant, which then routed, rampaging into the next elephant, collapsing Alexanders right flank!

The next wave of Gauls begin their charge. Another favorable dice off almost destroys a taxis of pike.

More fresh troops, another pike is put back on it's heels.

But that Hoplite unit is a hero. They have taken two furious charges and repulsed both of them.

Gallic loses are high. Their demoralization level is at 19. While most armies would be almost done at this point, the Gauls are only just over half way there.

Alexander's army's demoralization level is 15 out of 22

Turn 4:

It looks like Turn 4 didn't get photographed. So on to Turn 5.

Basically the grind continued, with losses on both sides.

 Turn 5:

A chariot is destroyed, Obilix is nearly captured. But the Pike's flanks are now turned as well.

In the grand melee, 2 more taxis of pike have been destroyed, but the Companions have finally finished off their foes, and are free to maneuver.

Taking the Alexandrian's demoralization level to 18 of 21.

The Gauls are at 35 of 35.

So what went wrong?

The luck on the turn of contact pretty much sealed the game. The Gauls only winning 1 in 13 dice offs.  When the dice started favoring the Gauls on the following turn, Pike units started crumbling, the elephants routed. It was a serious hit for Alexander, but not enough to take them over the line.

If on turn of contact, just a second win had occurred, anywhere else in the line, that could have turned the battle. Considering that just the one break the Gauls did get lead to the destruction of 5 units.

So, all in all, I think the tactic of having a reserve line to charge the center is workable with these guys.

*Do you know how many words begin with "Ale" and not "Alex", not a lot...