Stormin Normans meet Roaming Romans

A Headless Body Production
Venue: Fellowship Hall of Abington Baptist Church
Event: Various gaming
Players: Phil Gardocki running Late Imperial Roman, List 87
              Dan Bigelow, Normans
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 200 points per side. Round 3
Scale: 15mm

The Forces:
Late Imperial Roman
Larry, the Competent, Darrel, the Competent, and Darryl, the Ordinary
6 Legionaries, Heavy swords. Armour, Impact, Support, 1 Elite
4 Auxilia, Medium Swordsmen, Impact, Support
2 Velites, Light Infantry, Javelin
1 Heavy Catapult
1 Ballista, Integrated Artillery
2 Bowmen, Pavise
2 Equites, Heavy Cavalry
2 Sagittarii, Light Cavalry, Bow
2 Illyricani, Light Cavalry, Javelin
Breakpoint...23

Normans
Led by William, "the Conqueror" (post 1066), or "the Bastard" (pre 1066) ,  Henery and Robert.  All are competent.
11 Milites, Medium Knight, Impetuous, 3 are Elite
5 Dismounted Milites, Heavy Spearmen, Armor
2 Bretons, Light Cavalry, Javelin
3 Light Infantry, Bow
1 Bowmen
Breakpoint of 22

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Heus!" or "Douleur!" or "Уф!" 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.

Deployment:

Most of the Norman Knights are focused on their right flank.  Both commanders are embedded with their knights.

Their left flank is well covered by both terrain and close order foot.

Darryl's Auxilia command takes the Roman left.  His job is to take and hold the field.  Forcing the Normans to yield their flank for when they charge the Legionaries.

Larry is in the center with his Legionaries.  One on one, this infantry should be able to stand toe to toe with the Norman knights. 

Running the Odds calculator, Armored Heavy Sword, Missile Support, should win against Medium Knights with impact 55% of the time.  This goes up to 72% for the Elite cohort, and 80% if the artillery causes a hit before combat.

IMHO, the point spent for missile support is the most valuable point in the game.

Darryl is deployed on the right flank.  His job is to mainly distract his opponent.

Turn 1:

The Auxilia advance towards the field.  The Bowmen swing wide to take advantage of a double move around the ambush marker in the field.

The legions advance on the double.

Darryl's light horse discovers an ambush in the marsh.

Norman foot double moves as well.  Covering the field with their dismounted Milites.

 

Williams knights advance.

Turn 2:

The Norman ambush on the left is just an abandoned camp fire.

The Legions press forward. 

Darryl redeploys his heavy equites to better support the legions.  The Heavy Catapult, off the lower frame of the picture, on the road, has a shot and drops rocks on one of the advancing dismounted Milites. The Roman Sagittarii and Illyricani settle in for a shoot out against the Norman light foot in the marsh.  Spoiler alert.  This goes on for most of the game to nearly no effect on either side and I will pass by without comment.  But it's a win for the Normans.  8 points of light foot distracting 18-24 points of light horse.

The Normans advance most, but not all of their Milites.

6 Knights advance to charge reach of the legions.  Win or lose, this game is not going to go the distance.

But it is the dismounted Milites that strike the first blow.  They charge with a two support advantage, but the Legions hold.

Darryl advances through the field.  His bowmen heading for the flank of the Norman spearmen line.

The integrated ballista disorders a knight.  That could be key, as now the the Romans have a 1 chance in 6 of destroying the knight on impact

The Darryl's Equites advance to cover the singled out cohorts flank.  But that cohort is now suffering badly and may not hold.

Henry's orders a hold on is one Milites, costing 3 command points.

While Williams knights all charge.  And break the odds badly.  Winning 4 out of 5 fights decisively. 

Those are 3 point markers.  And that was without the benefit of Furious Charge. 

Roberts knights exploit the gap between the Roman commands. 

Turn 4:

The Legions are failing fast.  Darryl orders his Auxillia to charge. 

On just the second turn after impact, and 3 cohorts are destroyed.

The only silver lining is the heavy catapult scoring it's 3rd hit of the game.  (and tournament for that matter)

The Auxilia battle is going even, but at this point the Normans have the quality edge.

The Legions are holding, but barely.

Lights trading shots...

Turn 5:

2 more Auxilia cohorts are destroyed.

But one legionary cohort is having a good day.  He has destroyed one Milites frontally, then another with a flank shot.

If it looks like nothing is happening, it is because it is.  Neither side has command points to change the situation.  Though on reflection, the Milites should have made an uncontrolled charge on the Roman lights.

Not that it matters.  90 minutes into the game.  The Romans have 20 points towards their demoralization level of 22.  The Normans, less than half that.

Flank charges on the remains of the Auxilia command.  Giving the Normans 2 points for the win.

The remaining Normans are going for position for more points if needed.

What went wrong.  Odds are one thing.  What you roll is something else.  The Legions should have been able to take the knights charge, and with some back and forth, win.  But the initial charge had the Romans rolling 4 1's, from that there was no recovery.

The army design is also faulty.  The Legions, though robust, didn't have any reserves to cover the holes when they appeared, and the horse command wasn't equipped for the roles it was given.