Sicilian Sivil War

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Museu de Marinha, Lisbon, Portugal
Event: Day 2, the Lusitania Challenge
Theme: Team Tournament, Feudal Period, Round 5
Players: Phil Gardocki running Kingdom of Sicily, list 188, circa 1225
              Brett Kvisle, team Flamin Galahs, possibly meaning "Idiot Birds", running Kingdom of Sicily, list 188, circa 1300
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:
The Kingdom of Sicily are led by King Frederick II a Strategist, Darrel, who is Competent and Darrel (no relation), 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

 

A Sicilian* Sivil war! Since I have a the king, these must be the rebels :)
The rebel commanders names have been lost to history, but are thought to have one that was regarded as Brilliant, one somewhat Competent and Ordinary.
4 Medium Knights, Impetuous, possibly Elite
3 Jintes, Light Cavalry, Javelins, possibly Elite
7 Almughavars, Medium Spear, Impact, possibly Elite
4 Heavy Spearmen, XB
5 Light Infantry
Breakpoint 23 

*"Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"
            --Vizzini

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

As a bonus blog, see Differences Between Europe and America.  My last visit was in the US Navy some 40 years ago. So effectively Europe was new to me.  This is just a short list of observations.  Think "Buzz Feed", without the commercials.

Deployment:

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

The Sicilians deploy with their Jintes on the far right, no doubt to try to get around the edge. 4 knights fit the gap between a plantation and field.

Their center have spear armed mediums in the field, and 1/2 spear/crossbow in the open. The remainder of their army are prepared to use the plantation as a highway to get around the Sicilian right flank.

Darryl deploys as far left as allowed, his lights will enter the plantation if allowed

While Frederick prepares to defend against any troops coming down the center.

Darryl (no relation) hides in the gully. But the rebels don't know if he is there, or on a flank march.

Descriptions will be confusing as both armies are Sicilians. Fog of War and confusion is to be considered part of the fun. But for now, I'll refer to to the attacking Sicilians as "Rebels." Scum is implied.

Turn 1:

Rebel Jintes advance, but realize they are not going to be able to shoot the gap. And even if they do, where would they go?

The rebel knights hold fast. In anticipation of a flank march

The rebel foot advance on all commands.

Again, they do not know if there is a flank march, or hidden command

Darryl does a left face and move. Offering his knights flank to the Jintes.

I have learned previous games, I do not want to be anywhere near terrain with the knights. Frederick also orders a left face. He has lights that will distract many of the foot advancing on him.

Two of which emerge from the cover of the plantation, joining their Saracen brothers for an on the board flank march.

Turn 2:

The Jintes charge off the Saracen light foot, but do not fall for the trap of hitting the knights in the flank.

The rebel knights continue to hold. Not so much from fear of flank march, but if they do shoot the gap, they would be outnumbered by the combined forces of Frederick and Darryl. The rebel foot form a firing line.

The remaining rebel foot advance.

Darryl's knights perform a right face, he recalls his skirmishers back into position

Frederick also turns. One of his skirmisher crossbow is dispersed.

He is playing a waiting game to see if his light horse can successfully turn the enemy flank. Darryl (no relation) continues to pretend to be a flank march

 Eye Candy:

An interesting display of ship models at the factory. A Chibi version of the attack on the USS Arizona.

NRP Frigate Diogo Cao

A Soviet G-5 class motor torpedo boat. Top speed 53 knots

HMS Conqueror

Italian Frigate Carlo Bergamini

Turn 3:

The Rebel lights move forward to taunt Darryl's knights into a charge.

While their foot archers are content to just fire away at Frederick's line

Frederick's beleaguered skirmishers are now beset upon by even more shooters.

On the rebel far left, their heavy spear/xb are trying to prevent being wrapped around by Frederick's lights

Darryl orders a charge, and rolls short in the pursuit.

Frederick's knights also charge. And do well against the mediocre spear.

Encouraged, his skirmisher XB score a hit on their opposing skirmishers

Darryl (no relation) emerges from the gully onto the flank of the disordered rebel spearmen/XB

 Turn 4:

With the unseen command revealed, the rebel knights advance.

They are going to be needed as their foot troops did not take the initial charge well. Even though they did kill a knight this bound.

Responding to Darryl's command, two Almughavars are sent to reinforce the heavy spear/XB units

Another short charge sends the Jintes evading.

Frederick's knights rout a heavy spear.

Darryl's Saracen foot, with the support of Frederick's lights, rout another heavy spear/xb. Saracen light horse continue to race for the camp.

Turn 5:

Contrary to the lines, the rebel knights hold their position, but one of their lights gets around Darryl's flank

The rebel center flanks another of Frederick's knights and routs it.

Their Almughavars rout a Saracen sword.

Darryl advances to charge reach of the rebel knight line.

Frederick's knights turn and face the last of the rebel foot in the open

Off in the distance, his lights continue their long journey. Darryl's Saracen foot charge the Almughavars for an even up battle

 Turn 6:

The rebel knights charge. Their right most knight bolstered by their commander in the front, and by a Jinte in the rear. Fortune, however was not in his favor and the rebel knights lose 2 of 4 fights.

Two units of Almughavars emerge from the field into the flank of one of Frederick's knights.

Their left command leader joins the fight against the last of the Saracen foot, but again fortune did not favor him.

With no command points to spend, the last heavy spear/xb can no longer keep up with the Saracen horse.

The rebels are ahead in this game, with my Sicilians having 16 points towards their demoralization level of 23

The Rebels are at 12 of 23

But that is about to change. The rebel knight commander loses his fight, and a roll of a '1' later, dies with his command. Adding 4 to the rebel score. The rebel light horse is charged by a mercenary knight for another 2.

Though disordered, Frederick's flanked knight turns and pushes back the Almughavars for another point and a total of 19.

Darryl (no relation) also goes to the front, and prevails in a leader on leader action for another 2 points and 21.

My Sicilians are now at 21

To the rebels 21 While this is a tie in every way, the rebels leadership has been decapitated, and so their options are limited.

Their knights cannot do nought but continue to fight. And will be flanked for 1 or two losses soon. Their one action, see fingers at the top, is to drive their Jintes to block the path of the Saracen horse to their camp.

A rebel knight is routed for a score of 22. His brother knight is disordered for 23 for the game.

The rebels go down fighting taking out another of Frederick's knights bringing the Sicilian demoralization level to 22

Without any command points, the Almughavars cannot get back into combat, which could have made the game a mutual destruction.

What went wrong?

This is the only game where my stratagem of having a fake flank march actually worked. The Saracen micro command hid until there were only two out of position units they could emerge and attack, while the uncertainty kept the "rebel" knights at bay.  And then, the end game was a razor thin 23-22 win.  Implying that strategy may be important, but tactics trump in this game.

The run around the board with 4 light horse in column was a waste of resources. The long tail allowed the heavy spear/xb to constantly keep them in range. It was only luck that kept me from losing 1 or 2 light horse from shooters. Two should have been pulled back to support Frederick's knight line.

The center command tried to get away from the field on their right, it wasn't far enough. Once or twice, Frederick had to spend 2 command points to move his light horse. His command range was 16 ud's but they were out of even that.

It was fortunate that the rebel heavy spear/xb got in charge range. This negated their shooting advantage, and reduced the fight to mediocre v elite/armor.

More pics from Lisbon

It looks like the Golden Gate bridge, because it was built by the same company. Quite fitting, as Lisbon is described as the City of 7 Hills.

It was told that his statue of Jesus is rotated depending on which city has the best Football team.

A fortress at the entrance of the harbor. In the last century it was a prison for important prisoners.

The native food was wonderful. But these signs made us drool anyway.

This is an overpass of the rail road and highway. In America, we would have just put steps up to the riser. But in Lisbon

They install it for FUN! Electric scooters available at many locations, first ride is free.