ADLG - Game Report 268

Song Chinese (225) vs Goryeo Korean (223)

And the call came out from Yeovil for anyone for a game at Entoyment, being at a rather loose end I decided to accept the offer and duly arrived to do battle with Harry. I wrapped up as warm as I could because the venue can be a little chilly in the winter. I won the initiative and decided to attack in the plains. The coastline was Harry's and the steep hill next to it was mine after I rotated it. This left a nice 1UD gap which I overly fixated on by placing my cavalry opposite it. Other than that, I had a nice piece of terrain to move into and defend and wait for Harry to come into contact.

In my advance I duly moved the cavalry up but I lacked the aggressiveness to charge into contact. Further along my line I started to leave a gap in the line as I was foolishly trying to cover the entire width of the gap and occupy the difficult going. This gap was, oh great calamity, opposite the Korean Cataphracts.

The Chinese left wing against the coastline became a Mexican standoff, with neither of us willing to engage. More significantly for the Chinese they are starting to lose the firefight. In the centre we have corrected and closed the gap; the big question is would the Polearms be capable of passing through the crossbows to take the front line and receive the Cataphract charge.

And the answer to that was yes they could, but cold they at least damage the Cataphracts and that was a definite "no". Of the four contacts against the heavy polearms only one broke even, and one looks decidedly sick.

With that result the line was effectively broken, although one cataphract was destroyed the remainder broke through supported by their infantry. The Chinese showed up late for the battle after being rather dilatory on the left flank.

Outcome

A Korean victory where they suffered on 10 of their 23. And here the story gets darker for the Chinese. When reviewing the Army after the battle I discovered that I was fighting without two medium two-handed weapon units in both the battle against the Indians (where they weren't needed) and here where they may well have been!

Lessons Learnt

Measure and measure again your army list before battle; especially when you are packing the troops and before you finalise the Army list.

The main strength of the Chinese is their wealth of firepower which was not exercised sufficiently in both battles so far; I need to review this in the Army List.

It is very easy to over fixate on the terrain and make the incorrect decision, something I have done in a several games recently. Here screening the gap on the coastline would have been sufficient. The Cavalry were more valuable in the centre.

ADLG - Game Report 267

Song Chinese (225) vs Classical Indians (79)

For our second game I wanted to try out my new Song Chinese Army. This was very much a suck-it-and-see order of battle, as I had no idea what would work and what wouldn't. Hopefully this battle would give me some pointers for what I would choose for Beachhead. I won the initiative for the second time and decided defend in the mountains – a rare choice for me. We deployed initially with a mixed cavalry and medium infantry command on the left. In the centre and on the right were two identical infantry commands of Medum and heavy units with polearms and crossbows and mixed crossbows and swordsmen. Of note was that only two Indian commands were deployed and hence we would be expecting a flank march; the logical expectation being on the left. Therefore, and fortunately my last command deployed with the infantry in column to the left ready to deploy.

To further complicate the Indian plan their left flank command became hesitant and we endeavoured to advance and close the distance, before it could activate; and of course maintaining the reasonable separation to prevent activating it. Elsewhere the left command orientated itself to the left, while the central command moved forward through the brush.

Before the flank march arrived and before the hesitant command activated the Chinese had established a coherent position by which we could engage the Indians.

On the right the heavy unit with polearms timed their move forward through the crossbows to perfection and were in place to receive the charge of the elephants. The crossbows having done their bit by causing some attrition on the enemy. In the centre rather than continue with the crossbows fronting the polearms the missile troops have extend to the right of the polearms. While the left awaits the flank march.

In the centre the Tribal warriors have caught an elephant in front and flank, while the elephant on the Chinese right is also in peril. To the left of the brush the elephants seem to have the upper hand, or at least by the casualties they are inflicting, However, on the plus side for the Chinese side their cavalry is behind the elephants' flank as are infantry on the left. The arrival of the flank march has not caused any panic and the Chinese troops calmly wait to see what its intentions are; honourable or otherwise.

Two of the four elephants have met their end. Although there has been some success from the flank march, in terms of destroyed Chinese units there has not been the breakthrough that was expected. Elsewhere the Indians have been severely depleted and their flanks are now exposed in multiple places along the line.

Outcome

A first victory in their first battle for the Song Chinese, in which they lost 18 of 24 units. Of which there is a story to tell which I discovered after their next battle.

Lessons Learnt

A flank march can telegraph what one's plan is. Moreover, it doesn't bode well when a further command becomes hesitant.

The Song army has a lot of moving parts and differing troop types, it is going to be a challenge to decide what works best with what and against what enemy.

ADLG - Game Report 266

Seleucid (42) vs Classical Indians (79)

There was time for one more throw of the dice to test out my Seleucid Army before AKRA LEUKA VI in Alicante. Besides Kevin wanted payback, and to test his redesigned army, with his Classical Indians. I won the initiative and decided to attack in the plains. I deployed the cavalry command with its Cataphracts on the left, with the two pike commands side by side to defeat the Indian right.

Despite the wobbly focus on the camera on the right of the Indian line their bowmen have been formed into a column to move into the field. The Greeks have decided to use the angle of the field as the pivot in the line with the legionaries protecting the pivot (if they could form in time).

The Greek light cavalry charged the flank of the bowmen and the Thracians moved up in support. Despite the very juicy exposed flank the Indian's managed to recover and in doing so one of the light cavalry units was destroyed. However, in the subsequent follow-up attack by the Cataphracts and Galatian cavalry the bows were destroyed, only for one of the Cataphracts to be destroyed by the elephant which attacked them in the rear when they failed to pursue their success!!! Elsewhere there were mixed results against the Indian elephants which were on good form.

On the Greek left the situation was eventually stabilised however, not before a further cataphract was destroyed. On the right the Indian Chariots have managed to overcome the Greek pikes. While in the centre a loan unit of Greek militia spearmen are gamely trying to overcome the burden of three cohesion hits to destroy an elephant.

Outcome

An Indian victory by only losing 10 of 23 to the Greek 24. A victory that was certainly not on the cards when the Indian bows invitingly presented their flanks to being attacked.

Lessons Learnt

A battle which reinforced to both of us what happens when a unit pursues and ends in flank-to-flank contact. Which if I had remembered it correctly might have saved the left wing.

The Song Chinese Army

The ADLG Army List for the Song Chinese, List 225, has a wealth of different options. Therefore, in deciding what one should paint is some what a pick and mix approach. Fortunately I have 3D Printed the army from a range of designs from "10 Kingdoms", who provide a wealth of choice for far eastern armies. 

In front are the Generals.

The front left rank are the medium swordsmen and polearms.

Behind them are the crossbows.

With the mixed swords and crossbows behind them

In the rear rank are the Tribal warriors (from another Mongol range from Diratia that just keeps giving and giving, with medium swordsmen with two-handed cutting weapons.

The two right front ranks are the lance and bow armed heavy cavalry.

Behind them are the bow armed heavy cavalry with medium and light cavalry (for other Chinese armies) behind them.