Monday, September 15, 2025

A Gearksutite of Germans

A Headless Body Production 

Venue: Lancaster Convention Center
Event: Historicon 2025 
Theme: Saturday's Open Tourney, Round 2
Players: Phil running Hindu Indian, list 170
               Andrew Wilson running Medieval German, list 238
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:
The Hindus are commanded by Gujara II*, Rashtrakuta, and Bharath, all Competent. And as an experiment, all are  Included.
4 Elephants, Elite
2 Horsemen, Medium Cavalry
2 Scouts, Light Cavalry, Bow
2 Guardsmen, Medium Sword, Impact, Elite
6 Warriors, Medium Sword, Impetuous
4 Bowmen, 2 are Mediocre
8 Light Infantry, Bows and Javelins
Breakpoint of 28

*Gujara II is the reincarnation of Gujara, who was killed in a battle with the French.  See previous battle report.  He was reborn, and due to the laziness of the writer, named the same as in his past life.  
 
The Germans are commanded by commanders whose names are lost to history.  One was Brilliant, another Competent, and the last, Ordinary. 
5 Men at Arms, Heavy Knight, Impact
2 Hungarians, Light Cavalry, Bow
3 Mounted Hand Gunners, Medium Cavalry, Firearm
6 Low Country Pike, Mediocre
2 Halberdiers, Heavy Sword, Polearm, Armor
2 Hand Gunners, Light Infantry Firearm
1 Hand Gunner, Firearm
Breakpoint of 21
 
Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Auc!" or "ओह बकवास!",  this implies a disorder caused by missiles. Letters in parenthesis represent some up or downgrade 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.

Any ambiguity as to what was moved or who is being referred to is to be considered Fog of War and part of the fun. 

"XX" implies a unit killed in that location on that turn.

Deployment:

A typical deployment for medieval armies.  Pike on the right...

... a couple thousand metric tons of knights in the center...

...followed by more pike on the left.

So what did I learn from the last game.

Have the Cavalry/Bow command deployed where the cavalry can maneuver.  Check.

Have the elephant commands operate together so they can have one impressive front.  Well shazbot!

Well that didn't work out...

Turn 1:

All in all, the terrain is extremely favorable for the Hindu. 

The Germans are the attackers...

...and move forward...

... in perfect sync.

Bharath advances to set himself up to gain the flank of the advancing Germans.

Gujara ascends to the top of the Hill.

Rashtrakuta's command does his best to fit in the Field.
Turn 2:

On the far left, shots are traded.

The main battle-lines are forming up at the base of the hill

And at the edge off the field.
Note, in the lower right is competing skirmishers, foot (Hindu) and horse (German).  Mostly, as command points permit, they exchanged missiles to little effect.  Till eventually the horse got bored, and made for the Hindu camp.  
Hindi horsemen run down German hand gunners. But have their flanks exposed to halberdiers.

It is an unrealistic expectation to expect the low country pike to assault the hill.  My elephants are never going to get a better chance than this anyway.  Gujara II orders a general charge to excellent effect.


Not to be outdone, Rashtrakuta also orders a general charge.  His personal elephant,"Fluffy", does well.  But one of is warriors are rebuffed by the low country pikemen.

And Rashtrakuta's guardsmen, who were supported for a total of +3, only broke even against the hand gunners who were a +zero.

Turn 4: 

OK, the battle is about to get real interesting.  Time for a bio-break and take pictures of other doings.

From one of the Warrior(tm) tables.  A massive foot battle is raging.

A halberdier runs off a horsemen.

At the base of the hill, two low country pike have been routed.
It is time for the knights to make themselves felt.  Two charge, and barely miss running down a Hindu warrior.
Their brother knights advance behind Rashtrakuta's line.

Bharath's bowmen advance.  While he pushes his horse forward to exploit the gap twixt the halberdiers.

The center battle of low country pike have been defeated.  

Rashtrakuta's elephantry picks up another brace of pike.

The Hindu's score is 6 of 28.  The Germans are at 18 of 21.
Turn 4:

Halberdiers charge the Hindu bowmen, and are repulsed.

Undaunted, the German horse organize a massive counter attack.  One elephant is routed, then another.  Gujara II's final words were recorded as "Oh, no, not again!", his soul returned to the reincarnation pool.

Morgan Freeman notes: "Gujara II was reborn in a nearby village, and because of the laziness of the writer, he was also named Gujara.  He was bright boy of a good family, and rose to command an army of his own."

The Germans surround the remnants of Rashtrakuta's command.

The Hindu score is now 15 of 28.  The Germans score is holding at 18.

The Hindu center command is now leaderless.  Bharath tries to pick up the slack by sending his bowmen onto the hill.
In a nearby village, a baby cries and is named Gujara III.
Rashtrakuta is slain, leaving the Hindu right side command leaderless as well.

Morgan Freeman notes: A joyful exclaim from the birthing hut, "Twins! It was declared."  The new arrival is named Rashtrakuta II."

The Hindu score is 23, to the German score of 19.
Turn 5:
German knights continue down the line, routing all before them.

Low Country pike take out the fourth elephant.

Morgan Freeman interjects:  "I told you."

The Hindu score is at 27 to the German score of 20.  Both are just one point from defeat.  

Bharath turns his horse and routs a Halberdier for the last point.

The last of Rashtrakuta's warriors charge the flank of a troop of mounted hand gunners.  Rolling well and avoiding defeat that would have made this game a mutual destruction.

What went wrong?

That is as close as it gets.   At one point, the battle was well in hand, at the bottom of the 3rd with a score of 6-18.  Only needing 3 to win the game, and then the Germans wound up their troops with multiple flank charges, taking out two commanders before just being edged out by one for the win. 

What makes this worse, is that only 3 of the 5 knights fought.  and one of them only in support!

I don't know what I could have done to have made this less close a game.  

Full credit goes to Andrew. When down 12 points and just 3 away from breaking, he did not quit.  Slamming my Hindus time and again.  Killing two commanders, 4 elephants, and was only a missile caused disorder away from demoralizing the Hindus. 






Tuesday, September 9, 2025

A Frappé with the French

A Headless Body Production

¿Have I used this title before? 

Venue: Lancaster Convention Center
Event: Historicon 2025 
Theme: Saturday's Open Tourney, Round 1
Players: Phil running Hindu Indian, list 170
               Duncan Richards running French Ordonnance, list 245 
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:
The Hindus are commanded by Gujara, the Competent, Rashtrakuta, also Competent, and Bharath, also Competent. And as an experiment, all are included.
4 Elephants, Elite
2 Horsemen, Medium Cavalry
2 Scouts, Light Cavalry, Bow
2 Guardsmen, Medium Sword, Impact, Elite
6 Warriors, Medium Sword, Impetuous
4 Bowmen, 2 are Mediocre
8 Light Infantry, Bows and Javelins
Breakpoint of 28

Why all included commanders? I am not an advocate of included commanders. What you lose in flexibility is rarely worth the 3 points saved. But for this list, the elephants are escorted by impetuous foot. So ideally, everyone should be fighting all at once. So why not go with it?
 
The French are commanded by Louis II de la Trémoille, the Ordinary, and somewhat Unreliable. Trivulzio, also Ordinary, and somewhat Unreliable, and Louis XII, the Ordinary. All are Included.
4 Gendarmes, Heavy Knight, Impact Elite
4 Archers, Medium Sword, Longbow
3 Swiss Pike, Elite
4 Pike, Mediocre
2 Bidets, (What a crappy name), Light Infantry, Javelin, Elite
2 Skirmishers, Light Infantry, Crossbow
Breakpoint of 19
 
Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Merde!" or "ओह बकवास!",  this implies a disorder caused by missiles. Letters in parenthesis represent some up or downgrade 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.

Any ambiguity as to what was moved or who is being referred to is to be considered Fog of War and part of the fun. 

"XX" implies a unit killed in that location on that turn.

Deployment:

Morgan Freeman narratives, "It was a niche battle near Nice, with both the French, and the Hindi commanders all were leading their commands from the front."

The French commands on the right are a mix of knights and foot. 
Their center with the Allied Swiss.
Their left with an Unreliable commander.
On the Hindi left, an unsurprising force of elephants and warriors.
The center with yet exact replicate of elephants and warriors.
Facing the Plantation on the Hill, is a force of bowmen, who will invest the terrain, and use it as a base to attack from.
Getting out my recently painted dead elephants. Not that I will be needing them :)

Morgan Freeman continues, "His hopes were misplaced however, he was going to need everyone of them."

Turn 1:

Gujara sends off two of his lights towards the Marsh. If the Ambush is empty, they can use it as a base to to harass the French line.
Bharath's mixed horse and bowmen moved first to assault the Plantation on the Hill, and their light horse got in the way of Rashtrakuta's mixed elephant and warrior command.
This denied them their second turn moves as Rashtrakuta did not have enough command points to move short. See Elephants and Unmaneuverable rules.
The Gendarmes advance out of the field.
With the exception of their skirmishing light foot, the French, and their Swiss allies stay put.
The French left command goes unresponsive.
Turn 2:
Morgan Freemen continues, "It was then that fate intervened."
The first command failure was with Bharath's command on the right. His medium horse has no business tangling with the French formation in the distance, so they remain still. He sends his bowmen into the Plantation on the Hill, and they expose an ambush of a single light foot.
Rashtrakuta also has command difficulties. Bharath's light horse is still in the way. One of his warriors over-eagerly charges off the French lights. 
 
At this point, I do not regard this as a bad thing. My bowmen should take the hill, then be in a good position for when the elephants start moving again.
Gujara also rolls a one for command points. He decides to hold up, keeping in line with the center, and sends his lights into the safety of the nearby rough.
There they are immediately charged from ambush. With an evade roll that sends them off the bottom of the panel. The French take advantage of the hesitancy of the Hindi to position for an attack on the far flank of Gujara's line.

The French battles all begin with a slow advance.


Their long-bowmen invest the Plantation on the hill.

Turn 3:
Things are not looking good now.  The French can angle into the flanks on the left, and have the high ground on the right. The answer would have been to charge forward, but the delays on turns 1 and 2 mean my units are not in charge reach yet.

Gujara holds his command.  While losing his screen.

Rashtrakuta writes off his over eager warriors who made an uncontrolled charge.

And advances on the French leftmost battle.

Gujara's command is now flanked, and facing a wider foe.

Rashtrakuta's command has good options though.  They are wider, and facing Mediocre pike.
 
Turn 4:
 
Gujara orders a general charge. But some of his army cannot yet reach the Swiss lines.
 
It was much later, like at Nashcon, that I found out that a line charge like this gets an extra UD of movement to make contact.  So the elephant commander and his support would have reached the Swiss pike this turn.
 
Rashtrakuta is still out of charge reach though.  Well placed long-bowmen manage to snipe a shot on Rashtrakuta's personal elephant.

The French archers on the hill have both high ground, a sword plus, and are ordinary verses the Mediocre Hindi archers.  Bharath orders just an attack on just the light foot.  With a flanking archer for good measure.

Morgan Freeman continues:  "Under the circumstances, it was not a good plan.  But it was the best plan available."

Gujara's battle has been penetrated and flanked.

The French lights continue to hold the high ground.  The French archers charge down the hill.

Turn 5:

One elephant safely rampages to the rear.

The dead elephant figures were being offered as part of the Mortem-et-Gloriam rules.  But I haven't found them on their web site.

Gujara charges in ineffectively.  His nearby warriors are routed on contact.

Rashtrakuta charges in as well.  With almost the same effect.

On the hill, the first victory of any sort.  The French lights fade away into the Plantation, clearing the path for the Hindi archers to charge the flanks of the French archers.

Morgan Freeman continues: "Fade away, because the consideration of any sort of real victory by the Hindu Indians at this point is ridiculous."

Surrounded, unsupported, facing the flower of Swiss pikemen, Gujara abandons all hope for this lifetime, knowing that he will have a better life next time around.

Morgan Freeman notes: "And in truth, Gujara was reborn in a nearby village, and because of the laziness of the writer, he was also named Gujara.  He was bright boy of a good family, and rose to command an army of his own."

Another elephant is flanked and destroyed.  Rampaging uselessly forward.


The French archers adroitly maneuver to face the opponents on their flank


At this point, the Hindus have reached their demoralization level.  The French lost a total of 4 points.  

Well that was a singular embarrassment. A more correct title would have been, "Being Frappéd by the French." Half my points, 4, were from a single light infantry unit, that I flank charged, and where it held out for 3 rounds!

What went wrong? First the army composition. The included commanders was a mixed conclusion. Yes I lost an elephant commander, but that had mainly to do with the tactical failures, and not a rare, lost the dice off and then a rolled a one event.

The command structure of the bowman/cavalry command was seriously flawed. The commander being Included in a cavalry command, could not combine in a group with the bowmen. And so required at least two command points to move the blocks. But with the light horse, usually 3 command points were required. Which is not available 1/3 of the time with an Ordinary commander.

Then he moved first, and got in the way of an elephant command. Causing them to be delayed on charging by a turn. Poor tactical execution. Then of course, there was a problem of his command being faced by a Plantation on the Hill. I did that with the idea that the bowmen would invest the rough, and emerge on the flanks of the French. But the bowmen were too weak for that job. And the horse sat around uselessly. Bad deployment there.

Then Richard did an excellent of finessing a single Impetuous warrior out of the line, causing chaos on the the approach, which he exploited masterfully. Well played. 

Time to take pics of other games.  This one looks interesting.  I should have noted what it was.


A Martian front demo.  I had a seat.
I have invested heavily into this game.  Both the first Kickstarter(tm), and the next one.
For more, see my Martian blog at https://philsmartianfront.blogspot.com/
That is one massive tank.