Another ADLG Game AAR.

I recently traveled to Simon Babb's home to play my 4th game of ADLG. The armies we used this time were a few hundred years closer: Saitic Egyptians vs Triumvirate (Marian) Romans.

Simon needed some hoplites, as the Saitic Egyptians used hoplite mercenaries from Greece as their main infantry force. I brought my 25mm Ral Partha hoplites for Simon's use, which I painted about 34 years ago. The rest of Simon's Egyptians were from his New Kingdom Egyptian army, using 2 horse chariots to represent the 4 horse heavies that were common for this army. Simon's army had a main hoplite battle line, 4 heavy chariots, and a good mix of javelinmen, bowmen, medium spearmen, and light troops.

The Romans consisted of all elite legionary units. These are expensive at 13 points a piece in a 200 point army. I could have downgraded them to ordinary, which would have given me an additional 16 points to play with. My army had 2 corps of legionaries supported by 2-4 light troops, one corps also having 2 bolt shooters. The 3rd corp consisted of medium cavalry and a horse archer unit. The total number of units was 22, including the required fortified camp. My army's frontage was definitely smaller than Simon's.

Above is our initial deployment. The Romans (foreground) are deployed between two rough terrain pieces with their shorter frontage.

Above is the Egyptian main battle line with hoplites, and left flank forces. 

Egyptian right flank forces.

Above pictures is after turn 2. The Romans have decided that to win, the legionnaires must get into combat, so the right hand group is advancing towards the Egyptian left. The Egyptian right flank forces are maneuvering.

 The Romans are committing all the legions to a frontal attack. The Roman cavalry is heading left to take on the threat from the Egyptian right.

The right flank Roman Cretan Archers about to be overwhelmed by Egyptian medium infantry in the rough terrain. Numidian cavalry is skirmishing, lower right.

The Legions about to clash in the center. The Romans were hoping their right would hold, but it has disintegrated.

Fighting occurring in the center. On the Roman right, the Egyptians are turning to flank them.

 The Roman cavalry has gone into action on the left, while the Roman artillery is under attack (far left), one battery is destroyed. All the legions are engaged.

The game ends...too many Roman casualties, mostly lights, but the legions are starting to take heavy casualties. 

A close-up of the Hoplite/Legion combat. The Legions were taking the worst of it.

Another view of the heavy infantry clash.

The initial Roman set-up between terrain pieces wasn't helpful. It seems that the Romans need to get their legions into combat to have a chance to win. In this game, the Romans probably would have been better to set up at 3 UD of the center line and advance ASAP, even though their line wasn't as long as the Egyptians, and try to hold off on the flanks. The elite rating of the Legions didn't help much in this game due to my luck (rolled too many 1's & 2's), and attacking the main strength of the Egyptian line wasn't helpful either. The heavy spearmen hoplites with armor are tough. Also, I think that Simon played his army well, putting pressure on the lightly defended Roman flanks and keeping his right flank out of bolt shooter range for most of the game, so the artillery wasn't a factor. I will probably adjust the list when I use the Romans again.

DBA Big Battle in 3.0 Compared With 2.2

Robert Madrigal has an interesting 3 part article highlighting the differences in the newer Big Battle DBA 3.0 compared with version 2.2. He also highlights tactics that he has found to be successful. See links below:

Part 1: http://dbagora.blogspot.nl/2015/11/big-battle-dba-30-part-1-of-3.html

Part 2: http://dbagora.blogspot.nl/2015/11/big-battle-dba-30-part-2-of-3.html

Part 3: http://dbagora.blogspot.nl/2015/11/big-battle-dba-30-part-3-of-3.html

DBA 3.0 and the Punic Wars

At the link below is an excellent article on using DBA 3.0 for the Punic Wars. The article author is Joe Collins, one of the playtesters for DBA 3.0:

https://ancientwargaming.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/carthago-delenda-est-the-punic-wars-with-dba-3/

Our Annual Hastings Refight AAR

by Ken Kaergard, guest blogger

On Saturday, October 17 in Belvedere IL, Bill Garrett was host to Bob Pavlik's Hastings game. Al Hulton, Ron Jaffe, and Mike Zemuda played the Saxons, while Bill, Bob, and I played the Norman side. We used Bob's "Red die/White die" system of play for individual figure combat. Although we were unfortunate in having a shortened time to play due to events outside of our control (blame the train schedulers), the game did move quickly and got to a crucial point. The miniatures are 25mm Minifigs, painted by Bob in the late 1970's. 

On the Saxon side, Mike commanded their left, Ron the center and Al the right. For the Normans, Bill commanded the left (the Bretons) opposite Al, Bob commanded the Normans in the center, and I commanded the Flemish on the right opposite Mike.

The photos reflect the following:

The Saxon army has deployed. The Normans take heart that the Saxons haven't anchored their flanks on the swamps.

The Normans deploy with archers to the front, followed by infantry and then cavalry.

Al and Ron discuss their deployment.

The Normans approach Senlac Hill.

The Norman army begins to close, and the Saxons secure their position on the hill, also beginning to extend their flanks to reach the swamps. Norman archers have started to weaken the Saxon line, but they run out of arrows and withdraw.

 Another view

Action beginning on the Norman left.

Bill's Bretons are the first to strike, hitting Al's right with horse while closing with his infantry. On the right I cautiously close on Mike, trying to get a feel for where there might be a weak spot in his line. He's left none. Ron thoughtfully adjusts his deployment to deal with the archery losses while Bob steadily advances.

On the Saxon right, Al deals Bill's horse some serious losses, including the loss of their commander. Bill's infantry engages to help the remaining horse be able to fight their way out. On the Saxon left, Mike deals some losses to me as I close to combat with  him.

Another view.

Mike's lines thin as the Flemings grind away, but the attackers take their share of losses as well. Bill and Al both come up for air as they continue to face off, and Bob and Ron have their first direct contact as Bob's Normans try to force their way up the hill.

The final disposition leaves it pretty clear that the outcome is still uncertain. The bulk of the Norman army has yet to strike home, but both Norman flanks are becoming weak from the attrition of the battle. The Saxons are also growing weaker, many of their huscarls and well armored troops have been killed, but substantial numbers remain. The Norman archers performed well, and were ready to return to the fight, and the Saxon Fyrd had performed far better than would be expected. By all appearances, the battle seemed likely to continue as a meat grinder until one side or the other would become too weak to sustain itself.

It was unfortunately at this point that the players mostly ran out of time. Nonetheless, it was good to play this scenario again, and it provided an opportunity to practice for next year's game, which will be for the 950th anniversary of the battle. 

Rematch: Gauls vs NKE - an ADLG AAR

Last week I had an ADLG rematch with Simon Babbs: my half naked Gauls vs his eye-make-up wearing New Kingdom Egyptians. An out of period battle to be sure, but you go with what you have. In our previous attempt at LADG, Simon's Egyptians were victorious over the Gauls. The Gauls hope to do better this time.

 Impressive looking Egyptian medium infantry with impact ability and eye make-up.

 The formidable Egyptian light chariots. They can use bow fire as well as melee.

 The main half-naked Gallic command of Vercingetorix, deployed in a large, 2 rank formation. 

 Pre-game deployment. The Gauls (on the left) have their large warband command in the center, a smaller command on the left in the woods, and the Gaul cavalry at the edge of the marsh on the right.

 Both armies slowly approach each other.

 The Egyptian chariots take bow fire at the Gallic cavalry, which take casualties (cohesion losses marched with small die behind the cavalry). The Gauls also send a portion of their Gauls in the center command to reinforce the cavalry.

In the photo above, the Gallic cavalry has taken severe casualties, while the Gaul infantry helping them are disordered as well. At the top of the photo, the Gaul infantry has come screaming out of the woods and engaged the Egyptian infantry. 

 Another view of the Gallic left. The Gauls have penetrated and broken through the Egyptian line in 2 places while the main Gallic command is sliding over to the left.

 The Gallic cavalry on the left has been wiped out to a man & horse (the casualties are lined up to the far left). The good thing about this is that while the Gaul cavalry was being destroyed, it kept the Egyptian chariots busy, while on the opposite flank the Egyptian infantry was being ground down (top).

 More action on the Gallic left flank. The Gauls have broken through in several places and the Egyptian infantry casualties are rapidly increasing.

 The Gallic right flank is just barely hanging on. The marsh (bottom of photo) saved the Gauls from having the Egyptian chariots sweep around that flank. The destruction of the Egyptian infantry is almost complete, and a unit of warbands are moving towards the Egyptian camp (top of photo).

The view of the Gallic left flank at the end of the game. The Egyptians were near break point due to their infantry losses (only 4 infantry units remained) while the Gauls had a way to go, even with all their cavalry gone. Simon conceded the game at this point, and the Gauls had a victory.

Some differences between this game & the last one: the Gauls were all medium infantry and able to move & fight through terrain better than heavy infantry. The Gauls were the defenders and able to place a lot of terrain that actually helped them this time. The Gauls used Vercingetorix as a C-in-C, who is a "strategist" in the ADLG rules, giving an extra +3 to the command rolls. All the figures in this game are Old Glory 28mm. Thanks to Simon for hosting.

Hastings Using ADLG, an AAR

Our group likes to re-fight Hastings every year in some form or another. My friend Bob Pavlik & I got together last week and did a small re-fight of Hastings using ADLG. We used 12 units per side, which in ADLG works out to about 100 pts per side, so we used the optional rules for that size game. We used preset terrain and Bob's collection of 25mm Minifigs, which were beautifully painted by Bob back in the late 1970's, when those figures were "state of the art." The figures were based individually for another set of rules, but for this game, Bob made "flying carpet" sabot bases that were 3" wide for using rules like DBA or ADLG. Bob has enough figures that we could have done a much larger game, but he only had enough sabots done for our game.

The photo above shows the deployment. On the left, Saxon Fyrd and Huscarls on the hill. On the right, the Normans were deployed with 2 units of bowmen in the front, a second line of dismounted knights, and mounted knights in the rear. Note: We forgot about the 6 unit maximum frontage of groups in ADLG. It didn't effect the battle, as the Norman dismounted knights split into 2 groups later anyway.

A view from behind the Norman lines.

Behind the Saxon lines.

The Normans advancing.

Normans maneuvering as approaching the Saxons on Senlac Hill. William is a "Strategist" in ADLG, which allows him to add +3 to command rolls. We rated Harold as "Brilliant" (+2).

After a few turns, Norman archery finally took effect and routed a huscarl unit in the center of the Saxon line. The Norman dismounted knights split into 2 groups, manoevering towards each of the Saxon flanks. Note the Saxon javelinmen waiting in the marsh in the lower left of the photo.

The Normans have begun engaging both Saxon flanks. Harold & his Huscarl unit are behind the gap in the line. Saxon & Norman units have taken cohesion hits, marked with small die behind the units.

The far right flank Saxon Fyrd unit has routed, opening a gap in the Saxon line (lower left of photo).

King Harold pondering his fate.

The Norman left is beginning to roll up the Saxon right flank. The Normans have taken fire from the Saxon skirmishers in the marsh. On the Norman right, they have just routed 2 Saxon Fyrd units and pursued into the gap.

The Norman perspective of turning the flank.

The end of the game. Lost and disordered units hvae brought the Saxon casualty count to 13, which ends the game. The Normans casualty count was  7. Harold temporarily survived.

One thing we are not used to in ADLG is that, unlike DBA, there is no recoiling. We enjoy seeing troops recoil. Therefore in our scenario games, we are pondering an optional rule that would allow recoils if a unit suffers a cohesion loss. We are also thinking that a recoiling unit could be prevented from doing so by "standing fast," and taking an extra cohesion point loss. There would also be mandatory pursuit of recoiling units by impetuous enemies.

First ADLG Game: Gauls vs New Kingdom Egyptians AAR

I traveled today to Simon Babbs home north of Chicago & played my first game of L' Art de la Guerre (ADLG). I used a 200 pt Gallic Army that had a mix of medium & heavy impetuous infantry, a mix of medium & heavy (including some elite) cavalry, and some light infantry javelinmen. Since I have more senior moments these days, I forgot to count my elite cavalry as such during the game, although I did remember to count the units containing the generals as elite per my list. Simon used a New Kingdom Egyptian army that contained light chariots, heavy and medium infantry, light medium javelinmen, and a couple light infantry and cavalry. Since this was my first game and Simon's second, setting up and playing took longer as we had to make numerous references to the rules.

Above shows the initial set-up and deployment for our game. A woods, marsh, and gentle hill dominated the center section of the Gallic deployment area. For some reason, I felt that my heavy infantry Galls would be better on the right flank than in the center, so they are deployed on the hill to the right. Two cavalry commands with light & medium infantry support are on each flank. The left flank Gallic command had a much larger area to defend. Simon placed his infantry near the right-center, in front of the bad terrain, with two flanking chariot commands.

Above are initial moves. The Egyptians made multiple moves with their medium infantry through the marsh, towards the woods. The right flank chariots advanced in column, while the left flank chariots held back. The Gauls moved their left flank medium & light infantry into the woods and central marsh, turning their cavalry to face the left flank. The right flank Gaul command moved in column towards the enemy. The error of my deployment became evident, as my heavy infantry Gauls were nowhere near the enemy main battle line.

Above shows the Egyptian r-flank chariots coming around the right. The line of Egyptian javelinmen are approaching two lonely Gallic light infantry in the woods (an ambush in the forward area of the woods to delay them would have been a good idea if I'd thought of it). Egyptian medium & heavy infantry are approaching the Gauls in the central marsh. The Gallic right flank cavalry is shaking out to face the enemy chariots.

Egyptian javelinmen in overwhelming numbers crashing into the lonely 2 Gallic light infantry, while the Gauls in the marsh to the right are under attack.

One of the lonely Gaul Lt Infantry is left to stop the horde in the woods. About 50% of the time, Gallic cavalry takes hits/disorder from Egyptian chariot archers prior to melee.

The battle wages on. The Gallic cavalry on the left is engaged with Egyptian chariots. In the woods, the lone Gaul light infantry is still holding out. The Gaul medium infantry in the central marsh have broken up the medium/heavy Egyptian infantry attack & the melee has become quite confused. The Gaul main battle line has shifted some warriors to the center, while the right flank Gaul cavalry and Egyptian chariots have engaged.

The Gaul right flank. Casualties are slowly mounting.

Battle in the center.

Gallic left flank being enveloped.

The Egyptians have finally cleared the woods. The left flank Gaul general is the lone remaining unit in that command. Both Egyptians & Gauls have suffered heavy casualties in the center, while on the Gaul right, an even trade of casualties is happening. There are several un-engaged groups of Gauls that have not had much impact on the battle.

 The battle nearly over.

The Gaul general takes the 27th casualty point to end the game for the Gauls.

A fun game, but a hard learning experience for someone like me used to playing DBA. Simon had good terrain choices & placement. My deployment was poor, probably should have shifted more of the Gaul battle line to the center, even though it was full of difficult terrain. It would have helped the left flank command be less isolated and brought more Gallic warriors closer to the fighting. I am also used to DBA averaging more pips in a game than AdG command points (CP's), however there are instances in ADLG that do not cost any CP's, such as impetuous charges and a General's unit move.