Schiltron for the Samurai

A Headless Body Production
Venue: Virtual, using Table Top Simulator
Event: Saturday Morning, instead of mowing the lawn
Players: Phil Gardocki, running Medieval Scots, list 232
Tommy Worden, running Samurai, list 221
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 200 points per side.
Scale: 15mm

The Forces:
Medieval Scots
Larry, the Brilliant, Darrel, the Competent, and Darryl, the Ordinary, Included, and Allied
16 Schiltron, Pike, Mediocre
2 Heavy Knights, Impetuous
1 Ribald, Medium Swordsmen, Mediocre
2 Highlanders, Medium swordsmen, Bow
4 Light Infantry, Bow
Breakpoint...26

The Samurai
Led Yoshitune, a Strategist, and 2 others.
12 Samurai, Medium Swordsmen, 2HW, Elite
4 Monks, Medium Swordsmen, Impetuous
2 Followers with Naginata, Medium Swordsmen, Mediocre
1 Poorly Armed Monk, Medium Swordsmen, Mediocre
4 Levy
1 Herd of Cattle
4 Light Infantry, Bow
2 Light Cavalry, Bow
1 Medium Cavalry, Bow
Breakpoint of 30

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Auć! Mój Tyłek!" or "ああ!", or "My Hairless Pink Pahokee", or just plain "Ouch!" 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.

Inappropriately capitalized words are used to highlight terms that are specific to the game. For example Brilliant, Competent and Ordinary have specific game values for the commanders.

"XX" implies a unit killed in that location on that turn.

Turn 1:

The pictures are a bit different than my usual style. Usually I am taking a picture of left then center then right for the top and the bottom of the turn, a total of 6 pictures per turn. But with Table Top Simulator, I prefer the top down view encompassing the whole board.

The Scots have the initiative and are attacking. Their main commands, or "Battles" of this time period advance.

The Japanese main line is 16 Medium Swordsmen. Mostly Elite and with 2HW. Just about a perfect match for the Scots line of 16 pike.

The Japanese pull their vulnerable LC back to avoid being decimated by bow fire by the Highlanders. But otherwise their main line advances to meet the Scots.

Turn 2:

Arrows fly. Disordering units on both sides.

This game is not going to run out the time clock. Samurai and Monks charge all down the line. On a normal day, getting 16 of your pike units all fighting frontally would be a good day.

But today was a very different kind of day...

The Samurai were able extend their line with a herd of stampeding cattle, represented by the chariot figure. Then proceed to win all but 3 of 17 battles on contact

A previously disordered Schiltron was destroyed outright on contact, katana waving Samurai pursuing the survivors.

So what are the odds? mediocre pike vs elite, 2HW medium swordsmen? The fight is 60/40* in favor of the Samurai. Taking an average of 3.3 bounds till one side or the other routs.

The dice grid for first round, taking into account mediocre/elite, and 2HW, the dice pairings, including weapon scores, and unit quality, look like this:

Schiltron (below)	3	4	5	5	6	7	<--Samurai (above)
3	33	36	36	36	37	38
4	43	44	46	46	47	48
5	53	54	55	55	57	58
5	53	54	55	55	57	58
6	63	64	65	65	66	68
7	73	74	75	75	76	77

The Samurai, with 2HW, win ties and so score 22 times out of 36 on contact, 9 with 2 hits or more.

The Scots win 14 of 36 on contact, 3 with 2 hits.

During the game, the Samurai beat the spread on contact, but once the averages are calculated, they "should" have won only 11 of 17. Winning 14. So they were still on the bell curve, just ringing it kind of hard.

*The 60/40 calculation was made using my LADG Combat Calculator. Which runs a 1,000 battles from contact to rout. It is programed in Visual Basic for Applications and is available, upon request, as an Excel(tm) workbook. The results of this battle revealed a bug in the program. While it took into account 2HW wins ties against Pike, it did not take this into account for Pike Mediocre. And presented the results as 50/50 vice 60/40. For those of you that have my older version, message me for an update.

Turn 3:

The Scots deploy their knights for a counter strike. But they are going to be too little, too late as 6 Schiltrons are already routed, while 4 more are badly fragmented.

The Highlanders destroy a Samurai unit, being the only victorious command in the Scots force. 5 more Schiltron's break and run, taking the Scots way over their demoralization level of 26.

The final score was about 35 to 5. Easily the most decisive game I have witnessed with L' Art de la Guerre. But not my fastest ancients game. That honor goes to the "Great Viking Flush", A Warrior(tm) 2,000 point doubles match, which didn't even make it to the first move.

What went wrong?

In a word, overconfidence. Even if the contact dice had gone closer to the odds, I think the game would still have been a loss, though probably closer to 26-16. Where the Samurai pursue routers, they can more easily turn on the flanks. The Scots pike need 2 command points to turn, and so that is more problematic.

Possibly the knights should have led the charge. With the pike following on. But it still would have been a blood bath.

It is nice to scope an army out with Table Top Simulator. To work out the bugs before investing time in painting a new army.

Next week, Tommy wanted to test his Samurai against a "real" knight army. He asked for it, so it's Teutonic Order with 11 knights. We will see.