Andalusian Arabs 28mm ADLG

 My 2nd 28mm Dark Ages Army

No sooner than I had one army finished I embarked upon my second. Three reasons. Firstly I had bought some Arab Infantry as an experiment to try the Slap Chop painting technique on, and it would be sensible to complete the army. Secondly I was a little disappointed about whether the previous army would be sufficiently competitive at Warfare - despite my tinkering with various lists. And thirdly I bought a 3D printer and there are some superb models to print for the Andalusian Arab army!

Yusuf ibn Tashfin's Command Team

The Light Troops

The Heavy Spears

The Slavic Mercenary Spears

The Heavy and Medium Cavalry

The Berbers

The Army

ADLG - Game Report 113

Post-Roman Brits (146) vs Tribal Mongols (178)

So with the previous lessons learnt and deep discussions on army selection and design I decided to bring my 28mm dark ages army to the table again as Post-Roman British, but spears this time and not swords. At least spears would be a better choice and allow me to stick it to the Mongols rather than with swords – or at least this is what I hoped! I also reinforced, by printing and painting, some elite heavy cavalry for the revised army.

I won the initiative and decided to defend in the Forest, but in doing so the enemy went out in the night and chopped all those trees down and removed my second forest! I deployed the cavalry heavy command on the left, with the weaker cavalry command on the right, Infantry holding a strong centre.

By the end of the first turn my light bowmen had seized and were holding the forest on my right, while my light cavalry, off screen to the right, seized the hill. I left the other cavalry in a reverse slope position at this stage.

The left of my shield wall, protected by lights.

The line is holding and casualties are light, however, my lights in the forest are taking a beating, I should have retired them out of the line of fire.

I decided to commit my cavalry on my left and started to have some success. Although my infantry line is continuing to take hits from the mounted bow fire. On my right I have precipitately brought the right flank cavalry out and they were quickly overwhelmed, allowing the Mongol light cavalry to try and make an end run for my camp – spoiler alert – they didn’t make it as I was able to close them off.

The Romano-British Cavalry are indeed having a successful battle against the Mongols. They are succeeding in driving them from the field.

While in the centre the infantry line remains broadly intact anchored on the Forest. But unfortunately two rounds of mounted bow fire managed to change that entirely by shooting down heavy spearmen, and allowing the Mongols to penetrate the line.

Outcome

A win for the Mongols by 26 cohesion hits to the 13 they suffered (out of 20). The loss of the lights and heavies to bow fire along with the cohesion hits we suffered were unfortunate and what broke us in the end.

Lessons Learnt

I would put this down as a viable army list to use for the dark ages figures I have built.

Deciding to rally, and then failing to do so, the lights in the forest rather than withdrawing them was definitely the wrong decision.

I may have held back my own cavalry for about a game turn or two more than I should have.

ADLG - Game Report 112

Post-Roman Brits (146) vs Normans (179)

After much soul searching and discussion after the first outing with my 28mm Anglo Saxons against Paul I decided to trial a Post Roman British army mix. Therefore I chose this for the next trial 15mm game with Kevin I chose this list. From this list I went for medium and heavy swordsmen, but not impetuous, and I reinforced the cavalry with 2 elite heavy cavalry. I was using my Romans as ex-Romans.

So, the first thing I learnt, the hard way, is that heavy cavalry only have a 1 in 2 chance of beating elite impetuous heavy cavalry, and hence my left wing was blown away again – not least from some great combat rolls from the Normans. However, at least the Norman unreliable General has his feet stapled to the floor on the Norman left flank by the sea.

The unreliable general decided that as it was all going so swimmingly for the Normans that he ought to come out to play as well. Meanwhile the remainder of my heavy swordsmen fight hard to restore order on the left as well as to try and protect the camp.

It is now clear that the previously unreliable general is going for a quick victory before the rest of his army can take the plaudits. Meanwhile my heavy swordsmen are at least inflicting some hits of their own in their battle for survival.

The death throes of my army. The Norman cavalry on the Norman left have imperiously ridden down two medium swordsmen to complete their stunning, if rather late, entry to the battle.

Outcome

A 28 to 8 win for the Normans.

I went on to refight this battle twice more solo, in which I kept Kevin’s original plan with the unreliable General. I adopted a different plan, but the same for both refights, in which I placed the medium swords on the left in the field with the cavalry centre right. In the first refight I followed Kevin’s original plan and committed the Norman cavalry against the medium swords in the field. This was unsuccessful and there was a close but convincing win for the Post Romans.

In the second option I surmised that Kevin would have moved his right flank cavalry across the battlefield to fall on he heavy swords on the coast. While his centre, which would then be the right, launched a spoiling attack on my left to keep it in place. This was a much closer battle with the Norman’s coming out on top after a hard fight in the centre.

Some interesting issues were that in both refights the unreliable hesitant general only came into the battle about the same time as he had in our game. In the second option his timing was impeccable as it meant that there was a coherent line of elite heavy impetuous Norman cavalry bearing down on my swords. The side point of note was my use of my cavalry as a reserve which seemed to work well to counter Norman break throughs rather than using it as a shock force.

Lessons Learnt

It was great opportunity to be able to refight the same battle a number of times! Learning several useful lessons.

Although the army performed better whilst it wasn’t impetuous, spears may be a better and more flexible option than swords.

ADLG - Game Report 111

Andalusian Arab (133) vs Umayyad Arab (136)

The last battle of the day was against Iain’s Arabs, another good period match. And once again this was a revised army from those that I had used previously. Importantly this army list was one I was building in 28mm as a possible alternative to my Saxon’s for Warfare. I deployed the infantry up against the shoreline, with the cavalry in the centre and right flank.

My cavalry moved to avoid the spears in the centre looking for more relevant targets on the flanks.

On the right they found the targets very enticing to the extent that we managed to force a breakthrough. The Umayyad spearmen are being forced out of their comfort zone and trying to find targets to fight.

The Andalusian infantry fought of the enemy light cavalry and are now in pursuit, as well as turning to their right to help support their own cavalry. The Umayyad spears are trying to support their own cavalry but their flanks have now been turned as well as the line being broken.

Outcome

A win for the Andalusian Arabs by 25 losses to the Umayyad’s while only suffering 9 in return.

Lessons Learnt

A positive outcome for the revised army list.

I have learnt that as vulnerable as Medium cavalry are to bow fire they can be very useful on the battlefield.