An Allure of Aztecs

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Lancaster County Convention Center.
Event: Historicon 2023!
Theme: Pre Columbian America, Round 3.
Players: Phil Gardocki running Aztec, list 289
               Steve Roper running Aztec, also list 289
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.
Font: Georgia Normal

The Forces:
The Aztecs are led by Larryzotl, the Brilliant, his nearly as Brilliant brother, Darrylzuma, and their Competent Brother, Spare-Darrylzuma
6 Otami or Cuachic, Medium Swordsmen, impetuous, 2 are Elite
4 Knights, Medium swordsmen, Impact, Elite
12 Warriors, Medium Swordsmen, Atlatl
6 Slingers, Light Infantry, Sling
Breakpoint...28

The rebel Aztecs are led by two Competent and one Ordinary commanders. Their names are known only to the gods as they were removed from all stone etching.
8 Knights, Medium swordsmen, Impact, Elite
2 Cuachic, Medium Swordsmen, impetuous, Elite
4 Otami, Medium Swordsmen, impetuous, Elite
9 Warriors, Medium Swordsmen
5 Warriors, Medium Swordsmen, Mediocre
2 Slingers, Light Infantry, Sling
Breakpoint...30

Steve did quite a job of min/maxing his army. 14 Elites or Impetuous units, 5 Mediocre, with only 2 lights, and he still managed to have more units than me. This is compared to my 10 Elites or Impetuous.

Also, he concentrated his shock troops in a single command, while another command has 6 Knights. Compared to my organization of bolstering my warriors.

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Axax!" or "Jaj!", 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. I tend not to point out Light Infantry, as it clutters the pictures for no real value.

Commanders are rated s for Strategist, b for Brilliant, c for Competent, o for Ordinary and u for Unreliable

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.

Any vagueness or inaccuracies in the descriptions is to be considered is to be considered Fog of War, and is part of the fun.

The Board:

The Aztec win the initiative and elect to attack in the Plains.

Deployment: 

Interesting, both players selected, but did not get, a coastal area. I suspect Steve wanted it due to the large number of mediocre troops. I wanted it to concentrate the quality troops.

 

Hopefully learning from my previous game, I put my reserve troops in the main battle line. Stretching it to 22 in length. 

 

The first command goes down. An interesting deployment with 4 Mediocre swordsmen facing the right flank. Is he expecting a flank march?

On their left, a solid frontage of 6 Impetuous and 6 Impact Elite units. This is going to be trouble.

I know I said I put all the troops in the line, but the knights will get there before long.

Larrizotl's center command has his reserves in line, and is stretched to 8 units.

Spare Brother Darrylzuma's command, now 7 wide stretches as far as he can go.

Turn 1:

I don't know why the Aztec deployed in such an odd fashion, but there are a lot of mediocre troops on this side. So with an abundance of command pips, Brother Darrylzuma shifts left and trots across the field.

Larrizoltl is facing a lot of Impetuous warriors, and so advances just far enough to cover is brother's flank.

Spare Brother Darrylzuma keeps pace with Larrizoltl's command.

The rebels advance their main line just a bit. Their Mediocre troops pulling a double time drill team maneuver to extend the line by 4 units.

The combined Knight/Shock troop commands advance short.

Giving their side column a chance to go from column to line.

I think I understand now. Steve has a standard deployment. A tight box, 18 elements wide. This gives him a turn to assess his opponents forces, and expand if need be. Since my army is 22 wide, his expansion will eventually be 28 wide.

His light infantry is meant to stop any advance at 4 UD's movement, almost guaranteeing his forces on the wings will get a double move to react. 

Turn 2:

The Aztec left advances as it can, shifting left. Their Jaguar Knights get a double move and take the point on the far left.

Larryzotl and Darrylzuma's command advance a short distance, and are still out of charge reach, but their atlatl's reach out and disorder the enemy lights.

The defending Aztecs form up their line and advance. Missiles fly and units are disordered.

The defenders have a flying column addressing a gap in the line, but otherwise hold their shock troops.

They withdraw their lights.

They have a 5 unit advantage off on the flank and are pushing it aggressively.

Both sides have advantages on their left flank, and both are engaging their left before the center. A classic who can rack up the score the fastest game.

Turn 3:

For the first time in the whole tournament, the plan works as expected. The Cuachic hit a previously disordered warrior and rout it on contact. Other warriors make contact winning 2 and losing 1 battle.

But I cannot win with just the left. His break point is 30, and I'll have to face his shock troops either at the bottom of this turn or at the top of the 4th. The attacking line advance to atlatl range and score multiple disorders on his Otami tribesmen.

The defending Aztecs have no real options but to continue fighting. Trading warrior units causing both commands to fragment.

The shock troops hold back. If they charge, they lose their Impact ability.

They can afford to be patient. The assault on the Attacking Aztec's right has begun in earnest.

Turn 4:

The battle on the left is winding down

Larrizoltl commits to the attack Destroying 3 defending units on contact, but on other portions of the line the defenders hold.

Shockingly, the count was much higher than expected. The defenders are at 25 of 30.

While the attacker is at 12 of 28.

Larrizoltl's Eagle Knights turn a flank, destroying one warrior, then pursuing into another.

The defenders however is about to lower the hammer on the Attackers right flank.

It is probably going to be too late though. The defenders are only 1 away from breaking.

The attackers have a comfortable bit of slack with 13 needed to break.

Turn 5:

Its an out at any base. One defender resists a flank charge (left side) but another dies to normal hand to hand.

While Darrylzuma troops are being plowed under, his Jaguar Knights race to ransack the camp.

The final line.

The final score was 30 to 17. A win for the Aztecs!

I really can't say anything went wrong here. I pursued a weaker flank, and won. On the other flank, I delayed contact with superior forces, and slowed down the count of dead.

But I think I was helped by Steve's plan. If he had retreated his right, and avoided contact for a turn, the score would have been much tighter.   Meso-American armies are not run often, and I think none of us realized just how brittle they are.  You can't wait for that decisive moment.  The army will be gone by then.

A Warhammer 40k setup.

Another 40k setup.