A Qigong of Qin*

A Headless Body Production

 *Not to be confused with Qi-Gon Jin

Venue: Lancaster Convention Center
Event: Historicon 2025 
Theme: Mandate of Heaven, Round 3
Players: Phil running Yi Korean, list 282
               Steve Roper running list 80, the Warring States, Qin edition, 286BC
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:
The Qin are commanded by one Brilliant and two Ordinary commanders
4 Heavy Chariots, Impact, Elite
1 Light Cavalry, Bow
4 Light Infantry, Javelins or Bow
6 Heavy Sword, Polearm, Support
2 Heavy Sword, Polearm, Support, Mediocre
2 Bowmen
4 Fanatics, Medium Sword, Impetuous
Breakpoint of 24

Korean 
The Koreans are commanded by the Brilliant Kim-Lari, his Brilliant brother, Kim-Dari, and his other brother Kim-Dari, who is somewhat Unreliable.
4 Heavy Cavalry, Impact, 3 Elite
5 Steppes Horsemen, Light Cavalry, Bow
4 Heavy Spearmen, 
2 Guardsmen, Heavy Swordsmen, Polearm, Elite
4 Hwacha's, Integrated Artillery
2 Crossbowmen
2 Light Infantry, bow
2 Light Infantry, Firearm, Elite
Breakpoint of 25

 

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or "젠장!" or "好吧太糟糕！",  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.

Deployment:

The Yi are defending and picked 2 Plantations in addition to the mandatory Field. Steve selected a Plantation as well.
"I already picked the plantations."
"You did?" 
"Yes." 
"Well, one of us is making a mistake." And he selected a Hill with a Plantation on it. 
Time will tell. 

The Qin deploy their chariots on the right. And a force of foot ready to march on the right flank as well.

Their heavy foot deployed to shoot the gap between Plantations. Their fanatical troops deployed to assault the Plantations.

Kim-Larri's horse are deployed in the only clear area.

The Yi heavy foot, backed by Hwachas, cover the gap between the Plantations

Other brother Kim-Darri's command cannot be seen.

Turn 1:

The Qin send two commands to attack on the right. With chariots supported by a lot of heavy foot.

More heavy foot, flanked by fanatics, run down the center and left.

The left looks like unfavorable match-ups for Larri. He sends just to Tribal horse forward to slow down the Qin chariots to a normal move only.

While redeploying his Guards cavalry to the center.

The brother's Darri advance their shooters

 Turn 2:

Qin chariots push forward.

Qin lights and Bowmen clear the left most plantation.

The Fanatics advance behind a screen of a few skirmishers.

Larri orders more withdrawal of the Tribal horse. Brother Kim-Darri orders his Guards foot to intercept the oncoming chariots.

Hwacha fire rakes the main line of Qin foot.

Other brother Kim-Darri's thin line of bowmen nervously stand ready. They cannot run, they cannot hide.

 

Turn 3:

Light horse trade arrows.

The left side plantation is now truly invested by Qin forces.

The Qin main battle line continues to suffer volleys of rocket propelled arrows.  On their left, and with a great ululation, the fanatics charge in.  Amazingly, the Korean Crossbowmen hold, if only barely.

Yi Guards foot deploy to receive the chariots.  Tribal horsemen covering their flanks from Qin skirmishers.

  The flank of the Yi Spearmen are somewhat covered by their guards horse.

The Yi Crossbow die horribly.

Turn 4:

Qin chariots continue the long turn around the corner of the plantation.  Which is still contested by Yi skirmisher foot.

Qin fanatics are in search of another target.

Including Yi lights in the nearby field.  Who are caught evading.  But then dice reverse and they survive, causing more disorder on the fanatics.  

Larri and Darri coordinate their defenses.

The main Yi line advances, turning the flank of a fanatical tribesmen.

Kim-Darri joins his desperate lights.  And manages a tie for this round.

Turn 5, not 6 as annotated. 2 chariots charge.  The chariots on the ends both pull up short.  With the chariot v cavalry fights, both sides win one.

In the plantation, Yi skirmishers are ZOC'd in the rear and cannot evade.  The Qin swordsmen charge, but suffer massive weapons entanglement in orchard, taking two levels of disorder.  That is the second miracle Yi lights have pulled off.

Going for a hat-trick with the lights, but fail, taking other brother Kim-Darri (u,o) with them.

The score is a near tie, with 12 of 24 for the Qin.

to 11 of 25 for the Yi.

Yi Guards horse rout a chariot.  One of the Yi Guards foot turn and face the orchard.

Yi Spearmen move forward to support the their lights in the plantation.  Note here, they are NOT touching the Bowmen with one, now two hits.

Another Yi spearmen flanks and routs a fanatic tribesmen.

Turn 6:

At the top of the 6th, the score is 15 out of 25 for the Yi...

to 17 of 24 for the Qin.

Qin chariots charge and disperse a Tribal horse.

Their foot emerge from the plantation and confront various Yi units.

Also emerging from another plantation, fanatical warriors destroy a Hwacha battery.

In the middle of the 6th, the score is now 19 for the Yi!

And holding steady at 17 for the Qin

 

The Qin now have a chariot that is fully in play, with a flank shot available on a Yi heavy cavalry. Time to push hard. Kim-Lari chases off Qin skirmishers. This had to do more with avoiding a flank charge by the chariots, and getting in their rear, than actually catching the skirmishers. But the chance was there.

 

The surviving Kim-Dari (aka "Spare") leads a charge of guards foot into Qin swordsmen, and is repelled.

Fortune smiled on the Yi. In the above pictures right side, Yi Guards cavalry charge Qin swordsmen (splat marker next to the +2) with the support of Tribal horse in the flank, canceling the Polearm bonus, and roll a 6 to 1, with Furious Charge, and rout the Qin swordsmen. Routing into the Plantation, the swordsmen disorder the Qin light foot for another point. Taking the Qin from 17 to 20 of the 24 points towards their demoralization.

Then, in the final picture, we have +1 for Qin light foot lost fighting Yi light foot in the Plantation. +2 for Heavy Spear on Bowmen in the same Plantation. + 3 for Bowmen routing out of the Plantation into a Qin swordsmen at the top of the plantation.  Then lastly, +4 for for flank by Yi spear into Qin Fanatics.

A total of 7 points in the last round for a win by the Yi in the bottom of the 6th. All 7 of those points were due to favorable, sometimes extremely favorable dice-off's. Anyone of those would have given the Qin another turn. They had one easy point then, possibly two. Which would have lead to the bottom of the 7th, and then, who knows?

So who was right about picking Plantations for terrain? Terrain almost never benefits that attacker. In this case, the Qin heavy chariots had to divert around one of the Plantations, being delayed by Yi lights. Giving the Yi a chance to withdraw their heavy horse (only to be redirected back again). But still, only 3 of the chariots ever fought. One win, one loss, one still fighting.

What went wrong? The Yi horse and Guards foot vacillated in the rear areas. Wasting time to be committed. The Hwacha's performed 'ok', causing 4 disordered units and trading 1-1.5 by luring a fanatic into the rear. Their main effect was to cause the main Qin battle-line to halt, rather than advance. A win of sorts.

The Crossbow command was largely a failure. They should have pushed for position on the hill, offering a +1 for high ground.

Great looking 25's for sale.

A Hundred Weight of Wei

A Headless Body Production

Venue: Lancaster Convention Center
Event: Historicon 2025 
Theme: Mandate of Heaven, Round 2
Players: Phil  running Yi Korean, list 282
               Tom Hazlett running 3 Kingdoms Chinese
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, 200 points per side.

The Forces:
The Wei are commanded by挂低, 我也是 and 自动变速箱
5 Heavy Cavalry, Bow, 3 Elite
2 Light Cavalry, Bow
7 Heavy Sword, Polearm, some with Support, some Mediocre
2 Medium Sword, Polearm
2 Fanatics, Medium Sword, Impetuous 
3 Bow or Crossbow 
2 Light Infantry
Breakpoint of 23

Korean 
The Koreans are commanded by the Brilliant Kim-Lari, his Brilliant brother, Kim-Dari,  and his other brother Kim-Dari, who is somewhat Unreliable.
4 Heavy Cavalry, Impact, 3 Elite
5 Steppes Horsemen, Light Cavalry, Bow
4 Heavy Spearmen, 
2 Guardsmen, Heavy Swordsmen, Polearm, Elite
4 Hwacha's, Integrated Artillery
2 Crossbowmen
2 Light Infantry, bow
2 Light Infantry, Firearm, Elite
Breakpoint of 25 

 

Display Conventions: When you see a jagged word bubble like "Ouch!" or "젠장!" or "好糟糕了！",  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.

Round 1 was a disaster.  At least when you are at the bottom, there is only up to go.

Tom could be running the 3K as either the Wei, the Han, or the Hu, but not the rock band.  We'll go with the Wei.

Harken Yi all to the Weiback machine.  

"Beware my lordes, there is punnery afoot! "

Deployment:

挂低 takes the field with a strong force of horse.  The orange caps are Elite.

我也是 takes the left with a strong force of foot.  The black caps have Missile Support.  They may be spear or polearm and may be Mediocre.  Any ambiguity is to be considered Fog of War and part of the fun. 

 

The inscrutable 自动变速箱 cannot be seen.  He may be on a flank march, or hiding in the plantation.  

The Yi horse also takes the left flank.

Closely supported by Heavy spearmen, backed by Hwacha's

Unlike my previous game, the Hwacha's are accurately deployed.

An example of Hwacha's firing by Mythbusters.  Fast Forward to 1:15 for the shot.  

Kim-Darri, having been suitably been embarrassed by his previous performance, is deployed as far forward as he can be, and also, cannot be seen.

Turn 1:

 The Wei horse is bow armed, and are eager to get in range.

Ba Dum Tsh...

You knew there would be puns...

自动变速箱 with is fanatical warriors, stream off the hill.  我也是 is uncertain to what he is facing, and sends forward his skirmishers and bowmen.

The Yi horse advance and turn the flank of the Wei lights.  

My thoughts here is that even if charged and the battle is a dice off, I can afford to lose a trade of lights here.

The Yi main battle-line approaches. 

Kim-Darri, has his pants on, shoes tied (see previous battle) and orders his crossbowmen out to the far right flank.

Turn 2:

The Wei order a pair of charges, the Yi Tribal horse mostly holds.  The main force of Wei horse advance into a massive volley of rocket propelled arrows.

Darri and 我也是's archers trade arrows.

Larri prompts a charge against a Wei heavy horse.  With Impact vs Bow, the Wei decide to evade.  Then with a couple of fortuitous die rolls, the Yi Tribal horse disperse the Wei skirmishers.

More missiles exchanged.  Causing 2 hits on each side.

More exchange of missiles.

Turn 3:

Wei horse hold for rallies.  Their fanatics charging Impetuously.  

我也是 realizes he can ignore Darri's crossbowmen and vector his heavy foot at the Yi main battle-line.

We can probably follow 我也是's example and just ignore this side of the board.

Yi Tribal horse surge across the rough, and ZOC the rear of a Wei heavy horse.  Which is in turn charged by supported lancers.  One Wei heavy horse is routed by Hwacha arrows.

 The other Wei heavies read the writing on the wall and evade.

Other brother Darri's mission is largely done.  His job is to distract as many as he can, and survive.  He orders his crossbowmen to withdraw.

At the bottom of the 3rd, the score is 13 of 23 for the Wei, to 3 of 25 for the Yi.

Turn 4:

Wei heavy horse continue to withdraw. 

Leaving the fighting to their foot troops.

A Yi Crossbow is destroyed.

Larri keeps the pressure on.

Yi Guards flank a Wei Fanatic, then pursues into a halberdier. 

Darri continues to withdraw.  

Wei horsemen return with fresh arrows.  They cannot afford to abandon their foot to both Yi spear and cavalry.

Slipping around the flanks of the Yi battle line, a Wei foot takes out a Hwacha battery.

 Turn 5:

 Queue up the obscure pop culture reference.

Another charge by Yi horse.  The Wei, not wanting to risk evading off board, hold their ground.

Yi spearmen commit vengeance on the Hwacha battery killers.

Since this is a plantation providing cover, Darri decides to send his crossbowmen in to attack the Wei light foot.

At the bottom of the six, the Wei are at 21 of 23, to 6 of 25 for the Yi.

Turn 6:

The horsemen continue their engagement.

Fresh Wei halberdiers attack the Yi Guardsmen.

Larri leads the battle from the front, but the the enemy refuses to "give Wei."  Larri's horse is slain, and is nearly taken out by a sword stroke.

Don't forget to tip your waitresses...

Two units of heavy spear attack a disordered bowmen, and again, they refuse to give Wei.

Another Yi Spear turns to face a flanking Wei foot, and is routed.

The Wei light foot stands in the plantation against front and flank, and holds his ground.

There are 5 battles that could have settled the game, and none of them went my way.  On to Turn 7:

挂低 leads from the front, and is impaled on Larri's sword.

The 3 points that 挂低 is worth will decide the game.  Elsewhere, the brave Wei continue to fight.

Taking out another Hwacha battery, and burning the Yi Camp.

The Wei lights in the plantation continue to fight on.

The final score is 23 for the Wei, to 17 of 25 for the Yi.

What went wrong?

Once the main battle line was in contact, the skirmishers should have been sent to the field to prevent the Wei mediums from investing it, which eventually took out 2 Hwacha batteries, a heavy spear, and the camp.