A Khalat of Khazars

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Sheraton Music City Hotel
Event: Nashcon 2025
Theme: Open theme, round 5
Players: Phil running Seleucid, list 42
               "Spike" running Khazar
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

Nashcon! Home of the one, the only, Parthenon! See original sculpture of Athena, in color! Wonder in awe at the perfectly straight columns! Transit through the Pediments! 

 

The Forces:

According to Wikipedia, the Khazar language truly has been lost to antiquity. There are exactly two sets of documents known to have been written by the Khazars. Written in Hebrew, both are contested as possible fiction.

For the sake of this narrative, the Khazars are commanded by the Javsigr, which is a title, not a name, and who is considered both professional and Brilliant. And by the Spasalar, also a title and who is also considered Brilliant. And the tribesman, al-Larisiya, probably selected the night previous as the winner of a drinking game, and who is considered Ordinary and Included.
Javsigr
    4 Khurasanians, Heavy Cavalry, Bow, Elite
    1 Medium Cavalry, Bow
    2 Light Cavalry, Bow
Spasalar
    2 Khurasanians, Heavy Cavalry, Bow, Elite
    2 Light Cavalry, Bow
    3 Slavs, Medium Sword
    2 more Slavs, Light Infantry, Bow
al-Larisiya
    3 Nobles, Heavy Cavalry, Impact, Elite
    2 Light Cavalry, Bow
Breakpoint with a Fortified camp, 22

The Seleucids are commanded by Larricles, <Τεμπέλης>, a Brilliant. His brother Darricles <Τόλμη>, the Brilliant, and his other brother Darricles <Τόλμη>, the Ordinary.
Larricles, the Brilliant 
    Thrice Pikemen
    An Argyraspid Pikemen Elite
    A Cretans Light infantry bow Elite
    A Slinger Light infantry sling
    A Thureophoroi Medium spearmen
    A Scythed Chariot
Darricles, the Brilliant 
    Thrice Pikemen
    An Argyraspid Pikemen Elite
    A Cretans Light infantry bow Elite
    A Slinger Light infantry sling
    A Thureophoroi Medium spearmen
    A Scythed Chariot 
Darricles, the Ordinary
    A hambone of Cataphracts, 2 Elite
    The Tarentines, Light Cavalry, Javelin
Breakpoint of 19 

 

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "¡Ouch!" or "¡Hazar'a!" or "¡Ωχ!",  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.

It's going to be a long weekend here in Nashville. 3 days, 5 games, with a fly in and out. Fortunately, the hotel is within sight of the airport, so that is just a quick hustle. 

Why Seleucids? My fancy is running towards Cataphracts of late, and they have a goodly number, supported by class 'A' Infantry in the form of Pikemen. My basic plan is to keep going forward. No matter what. My flanks protected by an ablative layers of Thureophoroi, and then Scythed Chariots. If favorable terrain shows up, so much the better.

Deployment

The Seleucids won the initiative roll and elected to attack in the Steppes. The only chance a pike army has against a steppes army is to try and pin them on the back of the board.

The overview deployment

The Slavs would make an excellent target, but it is doubtful they will ever leave the terrain.

Their center is Impact cavalry, a good target for the Cataphracts.

Swinging around the Seleucid right is a mass of horse archers.

The overall deployment of the Seleucids has not changed in 5 games.

Turn 1:

The Seleucid Pike Slides right to avoid the brush.

The Cataphracts also Slide right to line up on the Khazar center command

Darricles moves to fill the gap. He calls his Thureophoroi forward to enter the brush, or brushy hill, I don't really remember.

The Khazars have played this game before.Their mobile forces covering the entire map.

Turn 2:

With the nature of this battle being the whole board, I'll just show the over view shots. Close up detail shots when necessary.

The adjacent board.

The Khazars mostly abandon the center. But are falling heavy on the flanks.

The Javsigr sends his lights far and wide.

It may not look it, but officially it is the Seleucids that are the attackers here. I should have defended and gotten the terrain advantage.

Turn 3:

The Seleucids rolled 3 1's for command points this bound. Larricles must have called a Zoom(tm) meeting.

Lower left, an uncontrolled charge by Scythed Chariots meets it's usual end.

Continuing their war of maneuver, the Khazars set up flank assaults on every one of the Seleucid commands.

And as a bonus, a charge on the camp.

The only hand to hand is light horse attempting to push slingers off the hill.

Turn 4:

Back from the Zoom(tm) call, the Seleucid commands manage to face all their threats. Sans one.

Facing the Slavs with a single taxis, the remaining pike are barreling onto the Khazar camp.

Darricles's Cataphracts facing the flank of the Khazar Impact horse.

The Slingers on the hill have the first Seleucid victory.

The Slavs charge. The Seleucid pike just barely hold on.

The Khazar Impact horse want nothing to do with the Cataphracts.

On the hill, the Khazar is done with this lets have a fair fight nonsense and call in their heavy horse.

The Seleucid camp is burning. Their Scythed Chariots are set up for a bit of revenge.

Turn 5:

On the left, Larricles calls in reinforcements against the Slavs, and pressing forward to the camp.

I finally get to use the missile hit Hazar'a!  It is actually Turkish as there is no written Khazar language surviving.

The brothers Darricles continue to put pressure on the Khazar cavalry.

The Khazars turn around, they are ready to fight.

The Slavs split up to assault the Thureophoroi on their flank, and the flank of Larricles's pike.

Their horse goes nose to nose with the Cataphracts. But also has the Seleucid phalanx totally surrounded.

The score is 13 of 19 for the Seleucids

To just 6 of 22 for the Khazars

Turn 6:

Near the camp, the chariots disorder the lights plundering the camp.

While losing a taxis of pike on the left, the remaining Seleucid phalanx continues to advance.

Larricles's personal Pike are in charge reach of the Khazar camp.

Darricles has command problems. Not enough command points to order his Cataphracts to charge the camp. Barely enough to get two of them charging the Khazar heavy horse.

Surrounded, the only choice of Darricles's pike is to charge!

Taking the Seleucid score to 17 of 19

To just 8 for the Khazars.

What I did not hear was the call that this is the last turn. The Khazars are desperate to score those last 2 points. I am not going to get to loot the camp.

On the left, the distressed pike hold on.

On the right, a pike falls for one, but the flanked, disordered pike just became more disordered.

Taking the final score for the Seleucid to 18 to the Khazar's 9. A losing draw.

As a note, in this tournament, I had 3 games end with a score of 18. Which means the army is not a good design, and I did not play it well.

Walking through the convention area was a bit of a surprise. Sunday morning, there was a lot going on. For Historicon, Fall In and Cold Wars, everyone is just packing up to leave. Oft times it is not worth the hotel costs to stay Saturday night.

But these guys are still running.

Age of Sigmar still hammering it out.

Great pics leaving the hote.

A Fraise of French

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Sheraton Music City Hotel
Event: Nashcon 2025
Theme: Open theme, round 4
Players: Phil running Seleucid, list 42
               Steve Roper, French Ordinance
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

Nashcon! The Miniature Mecca of the Mid-Southern states. Come for the games, stay for the Murder & True Crime Walking Ghost Tour!

Round 4 at Nashcon, and this is the last fight of the day, or so I thought!
I am lined up against Steve Roper. A perennial opponent of mine, and Mexican themed food populist.

 

The Forces:

Since Steve was kind enough to print me off a copy of his list, I would be remiss to not present it in its entirety. 
The French, est. 1465, are commanded by "Commander in Chief", self described as Brilliant. He is followed by a pair of sycophantic commanders charitably described as Ordinary. We will call them "Taco" and "Bell".
"Commander in Chief", the "Brilliant"
    A brace of Gendarmes, Heavy Knight, Impact, Elite
    Gascons, Light Infantry, Crossbow
    A trio of Ordinance Archers, Swordsmen, Longbow, Stakes
    Bidets, who were pulled from cleaning latrine duty, Light Infantry with sharpened plungers, Elite
    A pair of French Archers, Longbow, Mediocre
    Mounted Crossbowmen, Light Cavalry, Crossbow

"Taco", Ordinary and Included
    A brace of Gendarmes, Heavy Knight, Impact, Elite
    A brace of Gascons, Light Infantry, Crossbow
    Mounted Crossbowmen, Light Cavalry, Crossbow
"Bell", Ordinary
    A brace of Ordinance Archers, Swordsmen, Longbow, Stakes
    A pair of French Archers, Longbow, Mediocre
    More Bidets, also pulled from cleaning latrine duty, Light Infantry with sharpened plungers, Elite
    Voulgiers, Heavy Sword, Polearm
Breakpoint with a Fortified camp, 23

The Seleucids are commanded by Larricles, <Τεμπέλης>, a Brilliant. His brother Darricles <Τόλμη>, the Brilliant, and his other brother Darricles <Τόλμη>, the Ordinary.
Larricles, the Brilliant 
    Thrice Pikemen
    An Argyraspid Pikemen Elite
    A Cretans Light infantry bow Elite
    A Slinger Light infantry sling
    A Thureophoroi Medium spearmen
    A Scythed Chariot
Darricles, the Brilliant 
    Thrice Pikemen
    An Argyraspid Pikemen Elite
    A Cretans Light infantry bow Elite
    A Slinger Light infantry sling
    A Thureophoroi Medium spearmen
    A Scythed Chariot 
Darricles, the Ordinary
    A hambone of Cataphracts, 2 Elite
    The Tarentines, Light Cavalry, Javelin
Breakpoint of 19 

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Putain!" or "¡Ωχ!",  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.

It's going to be a long weekend here in Nashville. 3 days, 5 games, with a fly in and out. Fortunately, the hotel is within sight of the airport, so that is just a quick hustle. 

Why Seleucids? My fancy is running towards Cataphracts of late, and they have a goodly number, supported by class 'A' Infantry in the form of Pikemen. My basic plan is to keep going forward. No matter what. My flanks protected by an ablative layers of Thureophoroi, and then Scythed Chariots. If favorable terrain shows up, so much the better.

Of course, Cataphracts lose to Knights, and do not handle stakes. But that is what the pike are for. We will see. But then, there are only about 7 knight armies at the tourney. And in the 4th round, I will have faced 3 of them.

Deployment

The Seleucids won the initiative roll and elected to attack in the Plains.

A well thought out small command. Two light foot to screen the knights, then later act as support. And a light horse to go for position.

A bunch of archers in a field in the center of the board. Where have I seen this before? Oh yes, about 3 hours ago.

On the French left is a mix of troops, knights, heavy infantry and archers.

Larricles looking across the field. If he can bring the knights to contact, this can go well for him.

Darricles's cataphracts are looking at a bow infested field. He is already setting up to go else where.

His brother's pike were planing on anchoring their flank on the hill, but there are way too many mediums for that to work.

Turn 1:

Larricles double marches, shifting left

Darricles double marches, shifting right.

Their brother double marches his cataphracts.

"Taco" shifts his knights closer to the center.

While the French archers invest the rough. Where have I seen this tactic before? About 3 hours ago...

The mass of French foot head towards the hill.

Turn 2:

OK change of plans. Larricles and

Darricles will change sides.

The French are not going to allow that. Their archers come out of the field to shooting range, preventing double marches.

"Bell" tries to surge forward, but has a shortage of command points.

Turn 3:

Larricles pulls his skirmishers in to cover his pike

Darricles vectors his horse in the gap. Which is where he started.

Darricles is trying to take advantage of his opponents lack of command points. "Bell" is Ordinary, and has 4 groups to Darricles's Brilliant and 3 groups.

"Taco"'s knights advance on the attack.

While "Bell" has all his command points, and advance up the hill.

Turn 4:

The phalanx pushes forward to challenge the knights

Darricles leads the other phalanx charging the knights, and is impaled on a well pennoned, and now bloody, lance.

Ignore the movement arrow above. "Taco" holds his knights just out of pike charge reach.

Bowmen rake the remains of Darricles's phalanx

The French archers largely clear the hill.

The Seleucid have 16 points towards their demoralization level of 19.

 

I'll give you the French count, as soon as there is one.

 

Turn 5: 

Larricles's phalanx goes nose to nose with the French knights.

The other phalanx is running on autopilot.

French archers trip on their way up the hill. Their score is now one!

The Seleucid score is now 17 of 19. The French have zero towards their demoralization level of, well, it doesn't really matter.

"Taco"'s knights hold their ground.

Between the missile disorder on the Seleucid right for one point, and a knight charge into a flank of a pike for another, and the surrounding and capture of disordered lights on the hill for the yet another, and that is the game.

 

And that gentlemen, is how you can pull off a near skunk.

What went wrong? 

I should have used my first moves to switch the Cataphract command with the left hand pike. The Pike can deal with the stakes, where as the cataphracts just stood there and took it.

The indecisiveness on the attack deprived the attacker of their main advantage. 

Again, over committing the right command. They should have just thrown out the lights and waited for a resolution on the left. 

And, the army is just built to fight one way. 12 elements going straight forward. Anything else gets into maneuver warfare, which this army design is unable to handle.

It's only around 6 o'clock now.

Lets see what else is happening elsewhere in the convention.

Giant mechs ready to defend the big apple.

An amazing cityscape

Looks like Warhammer 40k, but also Steam Punk.

If Egypt had been conquered by Orcs.

Back in the L' Art de la Guerre room after dinner. Apparently there is project to empty a few bottles.

About 4 fingers later...

A 6 player, 25mm, 300 point, L' Art de la Guerre game, is already in progress.

 

I was just peeking in the door, and got an invite to take the center command of an Arab army verses Crusaders.

I was invited to take the center left. Two light and 4 heavy horse, with bows.

 

I suspect I'm being scammed here. Out numbered about 3 to 1. 

 

Am I wearing a red shirt?

 

The crowd looks on...

Our right side commands have a more equitable battle going on. So my job is to just try to survive.

On my left is a similar sized command to mine.

Afterwards there was this:

I don't remember much after that.

I don't remember the players, I don't know the score*.
The whole team is yelling and I don't know what for.
Then suddenly everyone's looking at me

My mind has been wandering; what could it be?

A "no" prize for anyone catching the pop** culture reference to the lyrics above. 

*Actually I do remember, we won! Our right defeated the Crusader foot. The command to my left was run off the board, the camp looted. But I was able to take advantage of the Crusader knights impetuosity to flank and kill a couple of knights, losing only a single light horse.

**"pop culture" is not quite the right term here, my son referred to it as "archeological."