Dancing with thë Danish

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Lancastër Convëntion Cëntër
Event: Historicon 2025 
Theme: Wëstërn Ëurøpë, Røund 3
Players: Phil running Saxøns the lessør, list 100
               Vince Røspønd running Anglø-Dånish
Game System: L'Art dë la Guërrë, 15mm, 200 pøints për sidë.

Thë Førcës (now with umlauts!):
Thë Saxøns arë lëd by thë Cømpëtënt Ælf, mëaning ëlf. Lëøf, alsø Cømpëtënt. Using LinkëdIn, thëy hirëd a rëplacëmënt før thë dëpartëd cømmandër øf thë Avar alliës, thë ørdinary Ismaël-Said (ИсмагӀил-СагӀид), which mëans "Lucky Prøphët".
14 Warriørs, Hëavy Swørdsmën, Impëtuøus, 6 arë ëlitë
4 Light Infantry with Javëlins
1 Lëvy
3 Avar Hørsëmën, Hëavy Cavalry, Bøw, ëlitë
3 Avar Scøuts, Light Cavalry, Bøw
Brëakpøint øf 25

 

Thë  Anglo-Dånish arë lëd by Bjørn Bjørnstëin, thë Cømpëtënt, Håråld Smålføøt, thë Cømpëtënt and Ëthëlbërt Måhønëy, thë Ørdinåry.*
6 Huscårls, Hëåvy Swørdsmën, 2HW**
10 Sëlëct Fyrd, Hëåvy Spëarmën, Armør
6 Light Infantry with Javëlins or Bøws or Slings
1 Lëvy
Brëåkpoint of 23

*A Møøsë oncë bit my sistër ...

**Mynd yøu, møøsë bitës Kån bë prëtty nasti ...

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Auc!" or "Ей!" or "Øv!",  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.

Dëpløymënt:

Bjørn Bjørnstëin takes the Anglø-Dånish right with a strong force of Huscarls.

Harald Smalføøt, and not fëëts as hë is claiming, takes the center with his armorëd føøt.

Ëthëlbërt Mahønëy takes the left with another strong force of armored foot.

The allied Avars take the left, some of which cannot be seen.

Lëøf takes the center.

Ælf takes the right next to the river.

I was hoping there would be mediums that Ælf could defeat, then take the camp.  But not to be.

Turn 1:

 

Bjørn's huscarls advance towards the hill, and possibly flanking Lëøf's line of battle.

Knowing it would be nearly impossible for the riverside command of the Saxons to redeploy, the Anglø-Dånish fyrd advance to pin down the Saxon center.

Their other command of fyrd advance towards the rough, potentially pinning down the Saxon right.

Over the crest of the hill rides ИсмагӀил-СагӀид's Avars.

Lëøf fearlessly advances.

Ælf advances into the rough.  He is hoping to get through it before the fyrd can close in.

4 of the 6 units of Huscarls advance on the Avar command, and are punished by a storm of arrows.

The remaining huscarls take a position with their fyrd.

The fyrd by the river effectively close off the exit from the field.  

 

ИсмагӀил-СагӀид pulls back his heavies.  Mainly to take a better position on the hill later.  His skirmishers race past the line of huscarls to threaten their rear.

Lëøf advances to charge reach and shifts right.

Impetuous troops are not rekuired to charge if the charge ends in terrain that inflicts a penalty.  If Ælf were to charge the lights, there would be a 4 in 6 chance his front edge would be out of the field, but the main body in the field.  Giving a +1 advantage to the fyrd spear in combat.

Turn 3:
As usual, just before the heavy die rolling, it is time to take a break and some pics of other games.

About 18 impetuous units are about to clash here.  This game will not be running out the clock.

25mm ADLG Open tourney.   25's looking great.

Another 25mm ADLG.  Shots have been fired.

Two of the huscarls face the Avar lights that penetrated their rear.

Two other huscarls decide not to play games with the heavy horse and vector in on the Saxon center command.
 

Which advances to within insult reach.

  

It has been confirmed, in 850AD, Ëthëlbërt Mahønëy was the first to make this overused exclamation.

While Ælf fumes impotently, ИсмагӀил-СагӀид is enjoying the air and a lovely view

A breath taking view of the mayhem below.

The clearest route out of the field is blocked, but Ælf has a numbers advantage, and uncharacteristic patience.  He sends a warband into the Plantation to eventually turn the flank of the fyrd.

 

Ælf could have just charged.  On contact, it is an even dice off at +1 each and he has furious charge, and 3 Elite warbands.  But on followup, the warbands will be at -1 for terrain, and the fyrd will have an armor advantage as well.

I haven't visited the odds calculator lately, so lets see.
Without terrain:
 Heavy Swordsmen, impetuous verses Heavy Spearmen armor
       The Swordsmen win 55% of the battles, taking 3.6 rounds on average 
 Heavy Swordsmen, impetuous ëlitë, verses Heavy Spearmen armor
       The Swordsmen win 73% of the battles, taking 3.9 rounds on average 

With a terrain disadvantage against the swordsmen:
Heavy Swordsmen, impetuous verses Heavy Spearmen armor
       The Swordsmen win 27% of the battles, taking 4 rounds on average 
 Heavy Swordsmen. impetuous ëlitë, verses Heavy Spearmen armor
       The Swordsmen win 43% of the battles, taking 4.4 rounds on average 

So that was a good call on Ælf's part.

 Turn 4:

Huscarls continue the dance against the Avars on the hill

In the center, the fyrd have two lost two units, trading for one Saxon warband.

Rules question here.  There is a small gap between the terrain pieces.  Does the Light Infantry extend a ZOC from the field, into the Plantation?

ИсмагӀил-СагӀид has been having trouble commanding his lights as they were out of range.  The original thought was to wrap around the Anglø-Dånish line causing mayhem.  But between the short range of 8 UD's for the lights, and the broken formation of the heavy cavalry, it was just asking too much of him.  So when he had a surplus of command points, he called them back to his vicinity.

Lëøf switches his command to another warband.  Just in case it survives the beating it is about to get.

Ælf orders a warband forward, running off the lights, and into the spear forest of the fyrd.

Turn 5:

Huscarls charge up the hill.

A unit of huscarls charge the flank of Lëøf's main battle line.  

Upon review, this charge was incorrectly done.  The huscarls should have impacted the warband "This is us" at the corner, and conformed.  Causing a cohesion hit there, and possible a rout.

Ethëlbërt Mahønëy's fyrd stand at the ready

 

The score at this point is 5 of 25 for the Saxons, to 15 of 23 for the Anglø-Dånish.

Lëøf begins to redeploy his battle line in anticipation of the huscarls breaking his flank

Ælf has broken the fyrd's end cap, and begins to rev his men up for the final charge.

Turn 6:

Saxon Huscarls have largely cleared the hill.

Their assault on Leof's line continues.  A warband is heavily disordered, another is destroyed.

Mahønëy's fyrd face their flankers.  And account very well for themselves.

Lëøf's warbands counterattack the huscarls.

Still showing more patience than normal, Ælf orders just one more warband to charge.

Which takes the Anglø-Dånish to their demoralization level of 23.  This is the final shot of the center.

And the Saxøn right.

What went wrong?

While inserting all the ø's and umlauts offers cølør tø the narrativë,  it was rëally annøying tø writë.