A Briganti of Berbers

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Museu de Marinha, Lisbon, Portugal
Event: Day 2, the Lusitania Challenge
Theme: Team Tournament, Feudal Period, Round 4
Players: Phil Gardocki running Kingdom of Sicily, list 188, circa 1300
               Francisco Velotto, team Briganti from Italy, running Berber, list 211
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

I was vastly disappointed by yesterday's games.  But hyped up on the hotel's excellent Nespresso generated espresso, and sugar loaded with Belém's Pasties,  we dragged ourselves to the Museu de Marinha for another round of the Lusitania Challenge.

 

The Forces:
The Kingdom of Sicily are led by King Frederick II a Strategist, Darrel, who is Competent and Darrel (no relation), who is both Ordinary and Unreliable
11 Medium Knights, 8 Impetuous, Elite, 3 Impact
2 Saracen Swordsmen, Medium Swordsmen
4 Saracen Bowmen, Light Infantry, Bow
2 Sicilian Crossbowmen, Light Infantry, Crossbow
2 Saracen, Light Cavalry, Javelin
2 Saracen, Light Cavalry, Bow
Breakpoint of 23
 

Berber scouting report.

What are Berbers? I made sure to check the list this time. My first thought was why would someone bring Medium cavalry, Javelin to a knight fight? I got down to the Tuaregs, oh, camels. OK, flip the page, oh, knights. And skads of supported heavy spearmen. This one is going to be tough.
Commanders: 1 Brilliant and at least one included

4 Medium Camel, Impetuous, possibly Elite
5 Light Horse
6 Heavy Spearmen, most have Missile Support
4 Medium Sword
9 Light Infantry, Bow
Breakpoint...28

 

Display Conventions: When you see a word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Ahi!", "Tagzazt! or "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 Spr, 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.

Inappropriate capitalization is for words that have a specific meaning in the game.  

Any inaccuracies and vagueness as to specific units is to be regarded as fog of war and part of the fun.

The Venue

The Museu de Marinha has on display a number of ships from the days of sail. Most seem to have been owned by royalty and nobility. Which explains how they survived. Low usage and money available for upkeep.

Deployment:

The Sicilians win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains.

The Berber right is a mix of spear armed foot and camelry

Their center, more spearmen

Their left, a minimal amount of horse, but a twice adjusted hill with a precisely angled crest-line. If memory serves, the hill is field covered.

The Sicilian left is an ambush festooned plantation

Two commands of knights dominate the center.

Frederick's lights are on the flanks

 Turn 1:

Darryl takes his command left

Fredrick, though a strategist, rolls only two command points. He pushes his crossbow forward, revealing a nasty surprise.

Then recalls his light horse. There is only pain to be had to try to wrap around the hill.

An overhead view

On the Medieval board, it's 100 Years War English vs Malay/Indonesian

On the Classic Board, it is Kushan vs Middle Imperial Roman.

The lighter and swifter Berbers adjust their lines. Effectively trapping Darryl's command

The skirmish lines close to missile range

The Berber left spends their points reforming into a line

Turn 2:

Darryl turns to face his oponents

Frederick turns away from the hill.

Note to self. If you have a road in your background, USE IT!

Frederick's lights deploy to contain the swordsmen on the hill

Berbers close in on Darryl's command

Their spearmen in the center are slowed by nearby skimishers.

One of the Sicilian Crossbowmen is caught and killed

Eye Candy:

The National Pantheon

A low ranking noble's row boat

Turn 3:

A general charge by Darryl's knights

King Frederick is racing to reinforce Darryl

Saracen Lights charge and run off the disordered Berber lights

Berber lights return, zocing the Sicilian knights. Berber spear contract and squeeze through a gap in the Sicilian lines. The Camels charge winning 2 of two impacts

Berber Spearmen put pressure on King Frederick's knights

The Berber left has an explosion of command points, and their units go this way and that.

Knights charge the Berber lights. 2 flee, but one stands, forcing another knight to be displaced and immobilized.

The fight with the camels has stabilized. Armor canceling the camel advantage of terror

The Saracen Light Horse were trapped, one is destroyed, the other escaped for now.

Berbers take two knights in the flank. Destroying 1 on contact, another in pursuit.

Frederick is forced to turn and fight

Another Saracen light horse is caught.

The score is 11 for the Sicilians

to 5 for the Berbers

This time it is the Berbers that have their flanks turned

Frederick's knights charge. One knight is disordered, but the remaining are all intact

Frederick orders one of his light to withdraw

Berbers bring up reinforcements for their beleaguered spearmen

And their camels for their other line of spearmen. This will bring the Sicilians up to their break point of 23.

What went wrong?

There was the total mishandling of lights on the far right. I tried to shoot a gap in the Berber lines and head for the camp, but it was a trap. Costing two LC, B. In addition to the LI XB, Yielding 6 points towards my demoralization level.. While that was poor play in my side, it did distract a substantial force of 8 or more elements.

My unreliable command went unresponsive, and stayed hidden in the plantation. I thought if unresponsive, and the enemy was within 4 UD's they would go responsive, but was ruled they had to have an enemy within 1 UD. And once it was revealed that is indeed what they were, the Berbers were not going to release them by getting closer.

But the real problem was, again, the knight commands being separated. King Frederick rolled poorly on command dice and couldn't really support Darryl's command. The road would have helped with that immensely. 

It could also be that my opponent, Francisco Velotto, is currently ranked #8 in the world.  I'm glad I didn't know that going in.