The Final Leg of this Marathon***

A Headless Body Production

Formally titled, "An Industriousness of Indians"

Venue: Lancaster County Convention Center.
Event: Historicon 2023!
Theme: Classic Age, Round 3
Players: Phil Gardocki running Thracian Hill tribes
               Jeff Herzog running Classic Indian List 79
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.
Font: Helvetica, for the Helvetica of it...

 

The Forces:

The Thracian Hill Tribes. Led by Lekaso, the Competent, his brother Deif, the Competent, and his other brother Deif, also Competent
19 Warriors, Medium Swordsmen, 2HW, 2 are Elite
6 Youths, Light Infantry, Javelin, Elite
4 Horsemen, Light Cavalry, Javelin
Breakpoint...29

 

Indian
Led by local kings and princes whose names are lost to history.*/**
6 Elephants, Elite
2 Heavy Chariots, Impetuous, probably Elite, because why not?

1 Medium Cavalry, Mediocre. Because it's been mandatory since the days of Barker.
2 Guardsmen, Medium Swordsmen, 2HW, Elite
4 Mixed Medium Swordsmen/Bow
6 Light Infantry, Bow
Breakpoint...21

 

* lost to Western history.  I'm sure the Indians know who they are, but western historians are too lazy to read the script. As far as the Thracians go, they probably had the names of the Indian commanders as well. And wrote it down. But since it was not in written in Latin, the Romans didn't bother to translate it after they conquered Thrace either.

 

** Some will say, "The Thracians never fought the Indians!" Well, that is as far as we know. See above. India was invaded by some blond haired nomadic tribe around 1000BC. They were described as fierce and riding in chariots. They probably were not Thracians, but who am I to say?

 

***By final leg, I was referring to writing up 9 battle reports from Historicon. In 2022, I dropped the ball and only completed 2. So this year I dedicated myself to the task. My shrunk/image file now looks like this:

Just 46 photos left to annotate, upload and comment on.

It normally takes two sittings to create a battle report. The first to copy and update from header, figure out the forces, down to Deployment:.  Then annotate the images

 

The second sitting for the write up. That means 18 days for 9 of them. This is day 17, so I am actually right on schedule. Then I have an "All Quiet on the Martian Front" battle report, the Battle of Jefferson Texas, (est 1841), to do.

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Auć!" 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.

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.

The Board:

The Indians win the initiative and elect to defend in the Forest.

Deployment: 

On the Indian right are Proud Nobles in their pimped out Heavy Chariots. Then escorted by their elite Guards, two troops of Elephantry.

Their center command consists of 4 more troops of Elephantry. Their flank protected by archers.

Brother Dief takes the left with his warriors.

Lekaso takes the center.  Half of his warriors cannot be seen.

Other Brother Dief takes the right.

Jeff really min-maxed the Indians. 6 elite elephants and escorts is 98 points of the budget. Add in the 2 Heavy Chariots and their commanders and that is 124 points. Leaving only 76 points for the rest of the army.

Turn 1:

Brother Dief muffed his command point roll and only had 2 points to spend. So each of his blocks gets just one move only.

A bad start. If either of the other commands had rolled poorly I would have been OK.  But his command has nothing in front of him, and will have to race to get engaged.  On a 4 up, he would have had 4 points, and doubled move both blocks, setting up to overwhelm the chariots, with the light horse running in the rear.

Lekaso reveals the rest of his command. 3 warriors emerge from the woods.

On the right, the Other Brother Dief extends his line and advances his horse. He is facing the bulk of the Indian forces and is in no hurry to engage.

The Indian command slides left and advances.

They withdraw an archer to make room for the slide, and to protect their camp from the unengaged Thracian Light horse about 22 UD's away.

Turn 2:

Dief has his command act together. He is able to catch up with the center with a double foot move. The light horse splits in the face of the Indian Cavalry, so only one can be charged, while the other can sneak by...

Lekaso dresses his lines.

On the left, the line slides to the right. The plan will be to engage the elephants, but take out the Indian archers.

The elephant joke was stolen from Terry Prachett's book, "Moving Pictures".

If you have never read any of Sir Terry's books, you will have about 30 of them to look forward to.  Start with "The Colour of Magic".

The odds seem good there. The Indian archers are +1, mediocre against the Thracian warrior +1, 2HW. The odds are 30/70 in favor of the Thracian warriors.

But then, the elephant v warrior odds is 73/27 in favor of the elephants.

Thracian horse charge the Indian cavalry. Which chooses discretion.

The main battle line of the Indians fragment before contact.

The lumbering approach...

 Turn 3:

Brother Dief's command is now just mainly a 6 unit overhang. Way too much to be practical, and way too slow to be effective.

Lekaso orders a general charge. One tribe of warriors is run over by chariots. But a Guardsman is caught unprepared and is routed. Elephant runners are charged by Thracian lights. One unit of runners flees the field, leaving his elephant unprotected.

On the right, the Indians have the advantage in both quality and length. Other Brother Dief advances to tusk range just to keep them honest.

From the clouds, Kali and Ares are taking bets.

Brother Dief's line is turned by heavy chariots.

A troop of elephants rout their Javelinmen taunters.

The sound of crunching verge is replaced with the trumpeting of a thousand elephants. The ground shakes with their charge. One tribe of warriors flee the field, the others miraculously hold their ground.

Turn 4:

Chariots rout another warrior. But his companion chariot is broken from the flank.

Both of Lekaso's javelin-men have been defeated. But their purpose is been achieved. Two troops of elephants have been held up. Their flanks threatened should they advance.

On the right, two more units of warriors are trampled by elephantry. But one elephant is routed, along with an archer.

The Thracians have 17 points towards their demoralization level of 27.

The Indians have 13 points towards their demoralization level of 21.

So far, the game is about a tie in points. But the Thracians have 5 unengaged units to throw into the fray,    "if" they can reach the battle.

The last chariot turns to engage a warrior in the rear. The center troops of elephants engage.

The Indian King and a Prince discuss after battle dinner plans.

A disordered Indian archer charged a warrior in the flank, but rolled a 1 to a 6, and was destroyed.

One elephant troop is led away from the main battle. Where he was bushwhacked by javelins of a near by light horse.

The Thracian score climbs to 22, just 5 from breaking.

The Indians are at 16, also 5 away from breaking.

Turn 5:

The last chariot is taken front, side and rear, for only 1 cohesion point. Indian Cavalry are disordered by Thracian light horse for another point of demoralization.

An elephant is taken in the flank by warriors, and routed for a further 2 points, 4 in total for the round. The Rampage roll has the elephants routing forward, taking out a Thracian warrior. Raising the Thracian demoralization level to 23.

Another unfortunate roll with an elephant troop causes it's disorder, while the last archer is routed for the game.

The final score was 24-21, a narrow win for the Thracians.

A Britches of Brits

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Lancaster County Convention Center.
Event: Historicon 2023!
Theme: Classic Age, Round 2
Players: Phil Gardocki running Thracian Hill tribes
              John Shirey running Britto-Roman, List 101
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.
Font: Helvetica, for the Helvetica of it...

 

The Forces:

The Thracian Hill Tribes. Led by Lekaso, the Competent, his brother Deif, the Competent, and his other brother Deif, also Competent
19 Warriors, Medium Swordsmen, 2HW, 2 are Elite
6 Youths, Light Infantry, Javelin, Elite
4 Horsemen, Light Cavalry, Javelin
Breakpoint...29

 

Britto-Roman
Led by Anonymous, the great and two others
6 Heavy Cavalry, 2 Impact
11 Heavy Swordsmen, various qualities, some with Impact, others that are Mediocre
2 Saxons, Medium Swordsmen, Impetuous
2 Light Cavalry Javelin
4 Light Infantry, Bow
Breakpoint...26

 

Update from John Shirey, the Britto-Romans were as follows:
One note there were no impetuous foot.
2 HC Impact
4 HC
2 LC Jav
4 Hvy Swords Impact
6 Hvy Swords
2 Med Swords
1 Jav
2 LI Bow
2 LI Jav
1 LI Sling

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Auć!" 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.

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.

The Board:

The Thracians win the initiative and elect to defend in the Mountains.

Deployment: 

Proto-Brits deploy a combined arms command on their right. 

While on their center and left has a strong force of heavy foot, supported by a couple units of cavalry.

Brother Deif deploys most of his warriors between the woods and a steep hill.

Lekaso takes the center command.

His flank secured by a convenient sea, Other Brother Deif cants his line to potentially attack the flank of approaching forces.

My thought is that what ever loose order troops the PreBrits have, I would have more and better.  And they would be deployed in the steep hill. 

During a brief bio-break I snap a picture of some Roman v Seleucid match-up.  I have never seen actual anti-elephant wagons before. 

Turn 1:

Emerging from the foggy mists, horse take the far flank.

While the main line of post-Roman forces advance at the double.

Their looser formed troops follow the sheep paths near and around the hill.

Brother Deif is reverting to "type", and advances on superior forces.

Lakaso orders his troops straight forward.

Other Brother Deif straightens his line to match Lakaso's line.

The Neo-British command advances as best as it is able, but it is in 3 battle groups and so neither group advances far.

While the center and left Paleo-British advance as best they can.

Brother Dief orders his troops to do an about face.

 

This was done deliberately.  By coming out on turn 1, The Thracians hopefully lure the heavy horse to left side command.  Then to delay them as long as Dief is able.  There is no illusion that he can actually defeat the Early British Knights.

Lakaso holds his troops, anchored on the hill.

The front rank medium sword are impetuous Saxons.  Other Brother Dief's skirmishers will try to taunt them into an uncontrolled charge.

 

John has his impetuous Saxons, limit two, paired up with a third "Just a Warrior" medium sword.  To add a bit of mass to their attack, but also to provide flank cover should he lose control of them.

 

Turn 3:

The Britto cavalry advances as it can.  A four element line can only wheel so fast.

The line of Warriors advance in an orderly fashion

The Saxons are released, but charging off a steep hill limits their movement to just 2

The Gods eye view. 

Brother Dief pulls back one force, but turns the other one around.  All are still out of cavalry range.

Lekaso orders the charge.  Britto lights stand against their Thracian counter parts and are dispersed.  Otherwise, his warriors trace dead even, with one unit taking 2 hits, another taking 1 on both sides.

But Other Brother Dief's command does not do as well.  Two units of warriors are routed.  Two more are disordered.  Only on the far right is their charge successful.

But when you run a barbarian horde, you live for moments like this.  14 units charging all at once.

Turn 4:

The Britto-Roman cavalry advance and now force the issue.  They will be engaged next turn.

The battle rages.  A Britto Warrior is routed.

The Thracian right flank has more routs.  Britto Roman warriors pursue behind the Thracian lines.

After two rounds of actual combat.  The Thracians have 10 (not 9 as indicated) points towards their break point of 27

While the Britto-Romans are at 8 of 26.  A virtual tie.

The Thracian Left closes the ranks before the Britto-Roman Cavalry. 

Lekaso's command turns the Britto-Roman center in multiple places.  His reserve unit ZOC's the penetration Britto-Roman warriors, preventing them from turning on his flank.

Other Brother Dief's command has lost 2/3rds of his warriors.  So it is time to ATTACK!  He joins his light horse in what could be his final charge.

Turn 5:

Again, a bad count indicated.  The score is 11 of 27 for the Thracians.

To 12 of 26 for the Britto-Romans

The Warrior on Warrior battle is practically a tie.  It is up to the horsemen to push the Thracians over the edge.  Charge they do and well.  Routing one warrior, and double disordering two others.

The Britto-Roman center is all but collapsed

On their right, they are suffering from a dearth of targets.  Another Thracian warrior is routed, another still is double disordered.

The Thracian count is now 17 (No really! )

To 17 Britto-Romans.

Brother Dief joins the battle. Emboldened, his warriors fight with renewed strength!  In exchange for a another routed warrior, one Equites is routed, two are disordered.

 

This was a major turning point.  Adding 3 to the Britto-Roman Score while adding only 1 to the Thracians.

Lekaso cleans off the last of his opposing warriors. 

And successfully making 2 flank charges. 

 

 Two lucky missile shots add two to the demoralization level of the Britto-Romans.

His other brother Dief, with his last warrior, runs their opponent into the sea.

The Thracians are at 18.

The Britto-Romans are at 25

Turn 6:

The Thracians need only one point to demoralize their enemy. 

Brother Dief routs one horseman.  Losing another warrior in the process.

Lekaso's personal unit is charged, he runs to the front of the battle, and is nearly trampled.  His reserve unit is saved by a flanking warrior for another point.

On the far right, Other Brother Dief's last warrior unit is charged in the rear.  But attrition has put iron in their thews.  The Cavalry, despite a +3 and armor to zero, manage to lose this fight. 

Finishing this game with a score of 26-19

How did that happen?  I should not have been able to pull a win here.  The Britto-Roman (is there a more awkward name than that?), had 20 to 19 advantage in combat troops, with a number of them of superior quality to mine.  6 Heavy Cavalry, 11 Heavy sword, some with impact, and a pair of impetuous foot.  True, my guys had 2HW, and that cancels the armor advantage of the cavalry, but that only matters if I win the fight at all.  

On the left, the mission was to attract the cavalry, then survive as long as possible.  Actually surviving was not considered an option.  But fortune favored the bold, just as Brother Dief entered the fray.  In the end, the count was 7 points lost for the Britto-Romans, including a gratuitous missile disorder, to 6 warriors lost.  While a virtual tie, this should have been a crushing defeat for the Thracians.

The center just went to the Thracians favor. Lekaso lost three points, all just disordered units.  Scoring 14 against the Brits.  His command was the largest of the 3, having one extra warrior with seven, and had the only elite warriors, just two, in the army.  

He had an overlap on the the left against the main battleline, and eventually was able to convert that to a flank charge.  But he also had a considerable amount of luck as well.  On Turn 4 his line broke through the Brit line in two locations and was able to capitalize on that in turn 5 and 6.

On the right flank, was what was expected.  With a bit of luck favoring the Brits,, the Thracian line rapidly collapsed.  The only saving grace was that the Brits were mostly either Heavy Swordsmen, or Unmaneuverable Medium Swordsmen.  So they could capitalize the total blow out of Thracian line.  And while I made the comment that with 66% casualties, Other Brother Dief decided to charge, that was in truth, his only option.  The Brits infantry couldn't catch him as he raced past.  Not until their reserve cavalry ran up the rear of the last tribe standing, then rolled a 1 to a my 6.  Which John did not deserve.  That was dice just poking him in the eye.  I had already won the game and would have been happy to let his horse push my warriors into the sea, like their warriors the turn earlier.