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." 

A Scog of Scots

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Sheraton Music City Hotel
Event: Nashcon 2025
Theme: Open theme, round 3
Players: Phil running Seleucid, list 42
               Richard Woolford, Scots Isles
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

Nashcon! The Miniature Mecca of the Mid-Southern states. Home of the Biggest, Wildest, Party Public Tractor Tour!

The Forces:
The Scots Isles are led by brave and cunning characters.
Best guess however, for their troops
13 Heavy Foot, mostly armed with fearsome Claidheam-hmors
4 Medium Sword, Bow
3 Bowmen
2 Light Infantry
Breakpoint of 22

The Seleucids are commanded by Larricles, <Τεμπέλης>, the Brilliant. His brother Darricles <Τόλμη>, the Brilliant, and his other brother Darricles <Τόλμη>, the Ordinary.

4 Cataphracts, 2 Elite
1 Tarentines, Light Cavalry, Javelin
6 Pike
2 Argyraspids, Pike, Elite
2 Cretans, Light Infantry, Bow, Elite
2 Slingers, Light Infantry, Sling
2 Thureophoroi, Medium Spearmen
2 Scythed Chariots
Breakpoint of 19 

 

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or "Ach! My hairless pink pahookie!" 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 Thuerophoroi, 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 for the third round, I didn't draw one of them.

Deployment

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

                                                                                                        ...
                                                                                                                ...

                                                                                                                    Mountains..

The Scots right side command is a bit small, and probably led by an Ordinary commander.

Their center however is robust, and has the advantage of terrain.

Their left battle is also robust.

Larricles takes the position on the left with 4 Pike and supporting units.

Darricles's Cataphracts take the center.

Of course, Cataphracts have no business dealing with the terrain. But neither does the pike.

On the Seleucid right, an identical command as on the left.

Turn 1:

Larricles and Darricles advance fully, sliding left.

While Darricles nudges his men forward.

The Scots respond by taking a single march on their right.

And the same on their left.

Turn 2:

Again the Seleucids advance and slide left.

I need the pike to be fully engaged as soon as possible before the bowmen in the rough can make themselves felt.

Darricles calls a halt to his Pike. And sends the Thureophoroi to keep the bowmen off of it.

The Scots approach to ZOC range, to keep the Pike from shifting anymore.

The Tarentines were screening the Cataphracts against the Scots archers. A mistake overall. The Tarentines protection against is +1, the Cats +2. And when the Tarentines were destroyed, they routed through the Cataphracts, causing a hit.

The Scot's left continues to focus on Darricles smaller command. Only command points is holding them up.

Turn 3:

The Seleucids order a general charge! Pike with a plus 2 v Heavy Swordsmen +1, but winning ties with their Claidheam-hmors. The dice favored the Scots with 2 out 3 dice pairings being ties, and one they just won outright.

The Thureophoroi did well enough though, causing 2 hits, and Darricles's personal Cataphract blowing away their opponent.

Darricles charges with 3 of his Cataphracts, leaving the 4th to cover their flanks.

Darricles takes a wait and see attitude.

The highly skilled Thureophoroi rout their opponent. But the some of the Larricles's pike are deteriorating rapidly.

So what are the odds of the pike failing so spectacularly?

My odds simulator has the pike winning 2 out of 3 battles taking an average of 3.3 round.

So basically, .33 * .33 * .33. Or about 3.5% Now that is just a microcosm of the board. The Argyraspids, in front off Larricles, after the initial round, replied with a 6/1 and put 3 hits on the Scots commander. And too their right, the pike also put 3 hits. And the Thureophoroi routed their opponents. So a string of 3 unfortunate rolls for the pike, but overall, about even up for the scrum.

Darricles flank guard has been flanked an destroyed.

The Scot's begin their assault on the hill.

Turn 4:

The Scots counter attack on the Cataphract's flank. While the Pike begin to falter and fail.

Darricles decides that his position is too vulnerable with the hill right there and orders a general retreat.

A turn too late though. If he had done so last turn, they would have gotten in a better position.

The score is 10 of 22 for the Scots.

To 13 of 19 for the Seleucids.

The advantage of the hill is not enough for the beleaguered Thureophoroi.

The Scots continue to press the Cataphracts flanks.

The Scots left battle lines up to prepare for their charge.

Taking the Seleucids score to 16.

To the Scot's 15.

Turn 5:

It may not seem like it, but this game was running very fast. Only about an 50 minutes has gone by.

Another pike has been routed, but the Scot's commander has been flanked as well. But fortune favored the brave with a 6/1 roll against the Argyraspids.

Darricles continues his retreat, but is still in bow range.

I seem to have missed the final pictures. The remaining Cataphracts held their line. The Thureophoroi took a hit, and the the two light foot on the Seleucid left both were evaporated by intense archery. Taking the Seleucid Demoralization score to 19 and break.

Lessons learned: Never fight the Scots in their home terrain. England only subdued the Scots because of the population difference and was willing to pay the price in blood to do so.

The early mistake with the Tarentines screening and being destroyed was somewhat critical. That was two points with the rout through the Cataphracts. The flank guard Cataphract probably would still have been lost, but it could have held for a turn longer. 

I think the real lesson is to have a more balanced list.  This one is designed to attack on a 12 element front, all punch but with mostly unmaneuverable troops. With terrain in the center of the board, this forces a breakup in the battle line.