A Norstedt of Norse

A Headless Body Production
Venue: An Undisclosed Basement
Event: Wednesday Game Knight
Players: Phil Gardocki, Steve Turn running Hawaiians
               Bruce Potter, Garth Parker  and John Forscythe running Vikings
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:

The Vikings are led by Hagar the Horrible, Knut the Kraken, and Sven the Slasher.  All are Competent when when the mead runs low.
6 Huscarls, 6 Heavy Sword, 2HW and are Elite

14 Heavy Swordsmen

3 Light Infantry, bow 
Breakpoint, 23

The Hawaiians are led by 3 nameless commanders, two of which are considered Competent 
4 Pike, Mediocre
21 Medium Sword, Impetuous, few are Elite
6 Light Infantry, Sling and Javelins
Breakpoint is 31

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!", "ᛟᚢᚲᚺ!", or "Auwe!",  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.

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 Hawaiians returned from the home islands after picking up more eager young men to fill their war canoes.  The victorious viking's long ships were on the wrong coast to pursue, and there were many Mayan ruins (currently occupied, but soon to be) to explore, and priceless artifacts to rescue from the ravages of the central American jungle.

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

Both sides Adjusted the Hill.  The Hawaiians Adjusted one of the Fields as marked.

 

The Vikings deployed on the coastline, but the tide went out while deploying.

Deployment:

 Turn 1:

The plan for the Hawaiians was to avoid contact on the left, deploy their pike on the hill in the center, and aggressively attack the Vikings on the right.  The problem is the command control for the Hawaiians suck.

The previous game put an ! on the matchup of Huscarls, Armor, 2HW, Elite against Mediocre Pike.

How bad is that matchup?
Heavy Swordsmen, Armor, 2hw, Elite defeats Pike Mediocre 90% of the time in an average of 4 rounds.

Heavy Swordsmen 2hw Elite defeats Pike Mediocre 72% of the time in an average of 3.7 rounds.

But give the Pike a hill advantage, and the number flips to the Pike winning 70%.

If the number of rounds it takes seems odd that Armored Huscarls takes longer to defeat Pike, that has to do with a number of rounds where Pike won, but the Huscarls had an Armor save that actually saved them from a loss.  1,495 rounds in a 1,000 battles of about 4,500 rounds.

2 HW delivered an extra hit in 3,500 rounds. 

The Vikings cautiously advanc.

Turn 2:

The Hawaiians hold up their main battle line on the left.  But challenge the Viking skirmishers.

Their Pike advance a bit on the hill, and receive arrows for their effort.

A band of warriors enter the rough ground, knowing more warriors are following.

Hagar and Knut advance a bit, hoping to lure the Hawaiian warriors to an inadvisable charge.

Not that the Pike were coming off that hill.  But if the warriors are forced to make an uncontrolled charge without the pike, then they could be defeated in detail.

This is no more apparent then on the Hawaiian right.

 

Turn 3:

The war band leader on the Hawaiian left keeps his men under control

The center commander encourages his men to advance.

The right most war leader also controls his men.

Knut and Hager tighten up their lines.

Sven approaches the roughs edge.  After all, the Hawaiians simply cannot hold all their warriors back.

 

Turn 4:

The Hawaiian war leaders on the left and center continue to hold...

...while watching their brothers begin their bloody work.

Two excellent charges just right of the hill

But the warriors charging out of the field are mostly held by the viking shield wall.

Again, Knut and Hagar hold their lines, taunting the Hawaiians with epithets they do not understand.  And with the culture differences may not even care if they did.

On the right. Vikings and Hawaiians trade defeated units.

The score for the Hawaiians is 9 of 31, to the Vikings 8 of 24.

Turn 5:

The nameless Hawaiian commander still manages to hold his troops.  

By the hill, a Huscarl is routed by a flank charge.

Reserve warriors enter the field, recently irrigated with the blood of their brothers.

The score is now 10 all.

On the far left, a swordsmen goes for position.  On the far right, a Huscarl turns and faces their flankers.

Sven sends one war-band to support his right, while another destroys another Hawaiian war-band.

The score edges up to 11 of 24 for the Vikings, to 13 of 31 for the Hawaiians.

Turn 6:

The Vikings are almost at their half way point for demoralization.  Time for the BIG charge.

The Hawaiian commander on the left lost control anyway.  Might as well claim credit for it :) 

On the right, the Hawaiian second rank are "all in."

Again, the score is tied.  18 all.

On the left, Viking swordsmen have the flank, destroying one warband, and flanking another.

 

In the center, the disordered Hawaiian Pike are taking heavy damage.  One is routed, and the Vikings have penetrated that line as well.

It really is a race now.  The Vikings have a lot of tactical advantages, but do they have enough gas to finish the job?

 

On the Hawaiian right, both sides lose another war-band.

Taking the score to 21 to 24

Turn 7:

The Vikings are only 3 away from breaking, and they have three units routed here, an two more disordered for 5 points.

While on the right, two more swordsmen fall.

Taking the score for the Vikings to 31, the Hawaiians have 26 (of 31)

What went wrong?

In the beginning, the Hawaiians had a plan that the army was almost unable to perform.  Between unmaneuverable units and  weak commanders, this swing right plan was only going to work if the Vikings were willing to let it happen.  

 

On the right, the Hawaiians tried, but the second wave were too late to save the first wave, which was eradicated.  But there was disorder in Sven's line, and the second wave successfully overwhelmed them.

 

At the base of the hill, the Huscarls held.   But once the pike had a couple of disordered units, they should have attacked.  Elite on Mediocre, winning ties.  

 

On the Hawaiian left, their was a swordsmen threatening the Hawaiian flank.  It had a hit, and delayed for a rally.  But the Hawaiians were unable to deal with it as all their command points were being spent to avoid charging early.  

 

 

 

A Hawiaa of Hawaiians

A Headless Body Production
Venue: An Undisclosed Basement
Event: Wednesday Game Knight
Players: Phil Gardocki, Steve Turn and John Forscythe running Hawaiians
               Bruce Potter, Garth Parker running Vikings
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:

The Vikings are led by Hagar the Horrible, Knut the Kraken, and Sven the Slasher.  All are Competent when they are not reveling.  
18 Heavy Swordsmen, 6 are Armor, 2HW, and Elite
5 Light Infantry, bow 
Breakpoint, 22

The Hawaiians are led by 3 nameless commanders, two of which are considered Competent 
4 Pike, Mediocre
21 Medium Sword, Impetuous, some are Elite
6 Light Infantry, Sling and Javelins
Breakpoint is 31

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!", "ᛟᚢᚲᚺ!", or "Auwe!",  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.

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 Hawaiians win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains.

The board as terrain was deployed.

After Adjustments

 

Overhead shot of the deployment

On the left, each side has just one command.

On the Viking left, two commands hug the coastline.

Facing them are two commands of Hawaiians.  One is a mix of pike and Impetuous foot.

The other just a bunch of crazy lunatics. 

 

For turn 1, we'll just have an overhead shot.

Nothing really imaginative here.

Turn 2:

On the left a bit of light on light action with a Viking scout hoofing it.

The Vikings angle in towards the Hawaiian left.

In the center, the Vikings order a general charge against the Hawaiian Mediocre Pike.  Winning 4 for 4, only losing 1 against an Impetuous warrior.

By the river, the Vikings are preparing to receive a charge.

Turn 3:

On the left, the Hawaiian warriors approach to charge reach.

In the center, the Hawaiian warrior breaks through the Viking line, but the Pike are beginning to fail.

By the coast, a general charge by the impetuous warriors.  Winning 2 and losing 3.

On the far side of the board, the Vikings hold fast.

Their center plugs the hole in their line, while cleaning up the pikemen.

By the river though the Vikings have a hole punched in their line.

Turn 4:

As expected, the score was climbing fast.

And accelerating...

The Hawaiians mismanaged the distance for the counter charge of the second rank, stopping just short of the depleted pike line.

By the river, a warrior is routed by a huscarl.  But the Viking line has been penetrated.

The Hawaiians add 8 to their score,  to just 2 for the Vikings.

Viking swordsmen are routing, but the huscarls, with their armor and being elite, are holding the line.

The last pikemen unit is routed, but the Hawaiian counter attack is in total disarray.

Another Warrior falls.

Taking the Viking score to 17 of 22, to 23 of 28, we thought at the time, for the Hawaiians.

Turn 5:

More swordsmen fall.  The Hawaiians bring up their reserves.

Another reserve warrior charges to support the center.  By the coastline, a beleaguered Viking swordsmen is pushed into the water.

In the picture above, the arrow is pointed the wrong way.  Sorry about that.

But the Hawaiian losses are too much, and with conch shell horns, a retreat to the war canoes is called.

Much to the relief of the Vikings on their right.

The Viking center command is just getting started.

At this point the Hawaiians called for a general retreat to the canoes.

What went wrong?  

The Hawaiians failed to use their numbers to good advantage.  The second lines set up for counter attacks were too far back to jump into the fray.  Part of the problem there is weak command points.  With just two Competent commanders and one Ordinary. There is a range where you don't want to be too close, 1 UD and too far, over 3 UDs.  And with Unmaneuverable troops, that takes 2 command points that the commander oft time did not have.

But wait.  Only later, did it come to light that the Hawaiian break point was 32, not 28.  They must have had trouble understanding the base 6 counting system of the dice.

So what would have happened?  At the top of the next turn, the Hawaiians would have scored a guaranteed 2  points.  See above with the flank charge, and subsequent pursuit.  This would have taken the score to 28-21.  Elsewhere down the line there was potential scoring for both sides.  The Hawaiian's needing just one more to demoralize the Vikings.  But the Vikings could easily score 3 points, and as many as 6.  Only the dice would determine if this game would have gone mutual destruction, or a Hawaiian loss.