Dark Ages in Patras 2018
Ghaznavid vs Early Arab
Game 1 Ghaznavid vs Nikephorian Byzantine
Game 3 Ghaznavid vs Early Arab
Game 4 Ghaznavid vs Feudal Spanish
Game 5 Ghaznavid vs Jurchen Chin
Two games in and the sun was shining, the victories were rolling in, and all was good in the Greek afternoon. But even better we were about to break for lunch!
Once lunch had passed us all by in a mere matter of calories, outdoor warmth and sunshine and good companionship, and we had thrown our plates smashing onto the floor in true typical Greek everyday fashion it was time to face the Early Arabs in the third game of the day - a workout against the Belgian Mastrieux Senior and his Early Arab army. Drawn from the beginning of the book but still alive in the early middle ages they must surely be a durable bunch?
Post Lunch Gaming Rituals
The lists for the Ghaznavid and Early Arab from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Patras can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
The terrain fell extremely open, possibly as I didn't really know what to expect other than a load of Medium Foot (like, who takes rubbish like that to a competition..? ) and so just went for a default open plain. Or it might have been me attacking in a desert, who knows?
Stories would be told of this day across red and white chequered tablecloths for many years to come as the Ghaznavids weighted themselves away from the one bit of rough going which they - righty as it turned out - expected to be stuffed with Medium Swordsmen and Elephant-hunting Javelinmen. Across the table the Ghaznavids had matched the enemy foot with their mounted wing, then the Death Star and Death Star+ commands were facing a Byzantine ally of Impact/Shooty Horse and a wall of Camels. Not too shoddy a job of second-guessing the enemy even if I say so myself.
The rather dour-looking Byzantines clearly didn't fancy helping the desert-dwellers by putting themselves in the path of a herd of elephants, and promptly rolled a 1 to go unreliable at the start of the game. This gave me a dilemma - a big patch of the centre of the table was now out of bounds.
The Dailami Death Star command was facing off against the opposing camelry - probably a good time to see if Elephants are discomforted by Camels, and vise versa |
L'Art de la Guerre hint - Camels are spooked by Elephants, but not the other way round. Phew. |
Drifting to the right the Ghaznavid CinC stormed forward towards the line of Camelry as his two supporting wingmen Ghulams drove on to bully the Arab LH out of the way as well and clear the decks for a quick charge before the Byzantines came online again.
Byzantine Cavalry vs The Arabs
Don't Mention The Turks! With the Indian Death Star also driving itself towards the Camelry the rest of the Ghaznavid army had just about remembered why they had deployed the road, and were swinging in behind the elephants to pile on the pressure against the Arabian left wing.
In this game the list with the Ghaznavid "Skoutatoi" had been picked, giving the Ghaznavids some pretty potent abilities to interdict and disrupt the Camelry at distance. The Bedouin tribesmen were not keen on this, and fell back piecemeal, leaving a smaller force intent on trying to tempt the Ghaznavids and Indians into unreliability-triggering range of the still-uncommitted Byzantines.
Two Ordinary Cavalry are not usually that frightening a force, but if one of them is Impact-armed, and you are a unit of Light Medium Foot Javelinmen In The Open they become an object to inspire fear and outright terror. The first evasion of the game was done on foot as the Javelinmen scooted away at some speed.
How well do the Kurdish Lancers fight then?
Average Heavy Cavalry seem on the surface to be a strange choice in an army that is allowed Elite Ghilmen but they add a new dimension to the army that is effective in the right circumstances. In particular, their Impact ability gives them the edge in first-round combat against enemy non-Impact cavalry, so when added to a line of Ghilmen they provide serious food for thought for any similar bow-armed cavalry formations they may be facing off.
Despite not being Elite their Armour (as Heavy Cavalry) gives them some degree of resilience against enemy shooting and allows them to be relilient against most infantry and competent against opposing mouted troops. Where they shine is in combat against flanks and enemy foot in the open, where their Impact +1 can turn a victory into a rout and open up a world of possibilities for the Ghilmen to exploit.
With the enemy attention fixed on the Ghilmen, this one Kurdish unit can often sneak under the radar and be dismissed as mere padding - allowing them to get into a position to use their unique gifts to maximum, devastating effect
The Camels were trying to be clever as they spent pips and time flicking through the rulebook to present their flanks to the Impetuous Indian Swordsmen Fortunately some decent command dice and the prompt arrival of a load of Elite Shooting Ghulams soon put paid to their trickery and dished out one of the first markers of the game to boot. |
As the coffee guy says.. |
L'Art de la Guerre hint - The Impetuous Indian Swordsmen are not forced to charge if they would contact the front edge of an enemy mounted unit in the open, so here the Bedouins have deviously (cleverly) presented their flank instead. With this as a legal target, the Indian Death Star needs 3 Command points to hold its foot warriors from charging off impetuously.
Suddebnly the Ghaznavids mood turned as flat as pitta bread as the Byzantines finally decided to join in - this was the signal for a rapid advance on all sides as the Indian Death star drove off the other batch of camels, forcing the Ghaznavid Ghulams to move up and pin the Byzantines in order to protect the vulnerable flanks of the now rather extended Death Star.
The Ghaznavid shooting infantry block were a force to be reckoned with in this game, and they were using that strength to push the Arabs hard. Combining their shooting with the flanking Ghulams they pushed at the disjointed Arabian camelry as hard as they could in a series of rapid advances.
Fighting Camels
The Camels were taking hits and losing bases as the massed archers of the Ghaznavids rained down on them from all sides. Evading and falling back was their only way to ensure safety from the deadly showers of arrows.
Fighting Camels
On the opposite flank the CinC and his Arabian foot now had enough command points to actually advance in a coordinated fashion (having been lending the Byzantines points to try and get them to join in during previous turns). They swept forward out of the rough terrain in a massive line, giving the Ghaznavid screening force pause for thought and reason to leave at the same time.
The rest of the Ghaznavid cavalry had been forced to evade or risk coming off much the worse against the powerful charging strike force of the Byzantines - their attempts to protect the flank of the Death Star had been left to just one of their number, and now the Indian foot looked very vulnerable indeed. Something would surely have to give as the Arab-Byzantine force was in no mood to let the Ghaznavids Elephant Corps just sail unmolested to the rear edge of their side of the table.
The game was now so exciting that some of the troops were considering putting off their weekly strike until the following Thursday
The battle was now extending in a solid line diagonally across the field as both sides sought to outflank their opponents from their right and wheel inwards. With the Ghaznavid Cavalry now committed to the fray against the Byzantines, the Ghaznavid elephant-mounted General had abandoned his Indian foot and was rolling like a big grey four-legged wrecking ball into the rear of the Byzantine command as the Dailami Death Star moved up steadily to take his place in the line. |
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Unable to put anything meaningful in the path of the deadly elephant-mounted General, the Byzantines suddenly found themselves in dire straits, overrun by impetuous Indian swordsmen who slammed into their flank even as their attention was fixed on the Ghaznavid Ghulams to their front.
The Byzantine Embedded General (based as the Cataphract) was finding every pip dice roll a time-consuming challenge as he was forced to think hard how best to extricate his men from peril as the Ghaznavid rollup gathered pace.
Klattering Kleftiko! The fragments of the Camel Corps were in disarray as the Ghaznavid machine marched forward relentlessly shooting into the long-legged desert striding Bedouin mounts.
Greek Threats
Things were getting tight as both sides looked for opportunities to outflank each other in the close quarters and increasingly deadly cavalry on cavalry combat in the centre.
The Ghanavid left flank force of 2 cavalry were as relieved as a normal person stuffed full to the gills of roast lamb at a Greek meal who has just been told there are only 3 more main courses to go as half of the Arabian foot had now decided they were needed elsewhere and had broken off their drive for the baggage and were instead heading for a showdown with the rampaging elephantry!
Kebab-tastic! Whatever happened next with the combat rolls, it seemed certain that SOMEONE would be hit in the flank or rear in the next few turns!
The already-injured Byzantine general pulled some reserves of strength out of the deepest recesses of his soul, and broke the resolve of the Ghulams facing him. The left flank of the Ghaznavid attack was now exposed to Byzantine lancers - would the Ghaznavids be able to win before they themselves were smashed in the flank
As the Ghaznavid Death Star carried on its relentless advance, the Arabs alternated between resolute combat and breaking off and evading to try and minimise their losses. Each command roll presented them with a range of unpalatable options, and their commander thought long and hard about each difficult decision as the clock ticked down towards the end of the round.
A nasty 4 vs 3 situation was also developing on the Ghaznavid extreme left as the holding force came under barrages of javelin fire - unable to risk a charge against such greater number of opponents they had little room to do much but sit and take it and hope their Death Stars could win the game elsewhere before their own inevitable losses counted too much against their own army.
After much cogitation andconsideration, the slippery Camelry squirted away from the advancing elephants and bowmen, who remained still some way short of a Touchdown into the enemy end zone despite driving forward relentlessly throughout the game. |
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With only a few more hits needed, and with the Camels seemingly set to manage to escape against the driving Death Star and ceaseless shooting of the Ghaznavid right wing the Ghulams and Elephant-mounted General decided they needed to close out the game themselves.
L'Art de la Guerre hint - LH attacking the rear of an enemy don't cause a cohesion drop (this chap must have been injured already) but anyone in contact with the flank or rear of an enemy causes that enemy to lose any "first round" bonuses, such as Impact or Javelins.
therefore effectively helped his Ghulams by a net +2. That's +1 for an overlap, and another net +1 by denying the Byzantine horseman his Impact bonus in the first round.But it was not to be. The Result is a timed out draw.
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Ghaznavid Commander
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Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
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Game 1 Ghaznavid vs Nikephorian Byzantine
Game 3 Ghaznavid vs Early Arab
Game 4 Ghaznavid vs Feudal Spanish
Game 5 Ghaznavid vs Jurchen Chin
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