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.