Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Jake Kovel]

Greetings. Since you have heard from some of the higher placed finishers
already, Jon and Ewan, I thought you might like to here from someone a little
further down on the list. I brought the Medieval Irish and finished 8th, and
here is my account.

First, my army:
2E LC, JLS, SH (1/2 Irr B, 1/2 Irr C) including CinC with PA
6E LC, JLS, SH (Irr C)
12E LI 1/2 S, SH 1/2 JLS, SH (Irr C)
3x 8E LMI 1/2 2HCW, JLS, SH 1/2 JLS, SH (Irr C)
3x 8E 1/2 HI, 2HCW, JLS, D 1/2 MI JLS, D (Irr B) one including a Sub
General with P
2x 4E 1/2 HK, L, SH 1/2 HC, L, SH (Irr B) one including an Ally General
with P

In my first battle I played against an Anglo-Irish army which was essentially
the same as mine. The only real difference was that my opponent had some
close order longbowmen and I have more Bonnachts. My opponent deployed in the
back left of his rear zone. His army was bounded by a woods and a major
water feature. As a note, my terrain picks for all 5 games were major water
feature, UBA, woods and woods. I started to approach his main body, and at the
same time swept through the woods on his right. Unfortunately, I did not
sweep far enough in my initial push and was eventually subjected to an ambush
which killed one of my bonnacht units. However, by the time the ambush was
sprung, the main battle lines had collided. In the bloody fighting that
followed
many units disappeared. In the end, I eliminated 1400 points of my opponents
army while losing over 900, a 4-3 victory.

In the second game I played against Seluecids. Again the battle was forced
to my right by the terrain. The opening volleys were the 4 scythed chariots
moving up to the attack, supported by some light troops. One of the chariots
was able to breakthrough its target but the others were destroyed. The
fourth was policed up immediately after its breakthrough. I had the early lead
and things looked good. The next battle, on my left, involved an impetuous
bonnacht unit charging an elephant unit. The elephants were in a one wide
column, I was 2 wide. My troops hit with 3@6 and 2@4, while his hit with 6@3
and
1@2. On an even die roll my opponent fails to do one per and would recoil,
resulting in my expansion_anddestruction of his unit on the next turn. I was
psyched. We rolled the dice and I recoiled disordered and tired, routing two
turns later. Meanwhile, on my right, the gallowglaichs were fighting a
losing battle against my opponents pikemen. My dice continued to be cold.
Finally, I saw my chance and sent a gallowglaich unit into one of his elephant
units. It recoiled and in the follow-up I caught another elephant unit from
behind, a converted charge. My gallowglaichs hit both units with 8@5 and 4@3.
One of his units cannot fight back and the other is disordered, both will
rout and I am back in the game. I rolled the dice and my Irr B pull the result
back to a -2 and I fail to do 3 per. By the time I destroy the elephants, my
army is shot and I lose 2-5.

Getting 6 points, I make the cut, barely. My third game is against
Nikephorian Byzantines and is my least enjoyable. The pace was very slow and
we only
finished 6 turns, far below my average. I am concerned about his Scutatoi
units because of the LTS, JLS, D, SH combination. The deploy on my left and I
hold back, hoping not to engage them. My opponent also holds back so very
little happens on that flank. After much dancing on the right, we finally make
contact. In the ensuing combats I am able to eak out a 3-2 win. At this
point I am essentially out of the competition.

Game for was against the Sicilian Hohenstaufens. Again, the woods on my
left shortened the table considerably. I was able to hide two bonnacht units
in
one of them. I used my LI to sweep around the left and through the woods on
my opponents side of the table in an effort to flank them. I also swung the
last of my bonnachts through as support. I uncovered a 2E LI unit in the
woods and charged it. My opponent's Reg C LI rolled +3 and I was forced to
break off. He caught me and my LI routed. I had to kill the LI with the
supporting bonnachts. When I realized that my ambush would not work, I sent my
bonnachts out to challenge a couple of 4E Reg LMI bowmen. Of course, my main
target managed to roll +3 on three consecutive shots and I stumbled back into
the woods. Fortunately, the combat on my right went a little better. We both
lost some units and the battlelines got fluid. The command and control
became an issue. I lost one command but I was able to get one in return.
Finally, on the left I was able to gang up on the bowmen and break the second
command. In the process, my second command also broke. This left me with one
command and my opponent in retreat. I had eliminated over 900 points and put
my
opponent's army into retreat. That enabled me to eak out a 3-3 draw, having
lost over 1000 points in the battle.

My final opponent was the Ottoman Turks. I failed to get most of my terrain
and was relegated to a defense position in left of my rear zone. I was able
to hide one command in a UBA and woods, on opposite sides of my opponent's
road. The others set up in defense. My opponent force marched an Irr LMI B
unit to a steep hilltop opposite the woods on my left and deployed with his
Jannisaries in the center and 2 huge MC, L, B, SH units on my right. I thought
my bonnachts would be able to take the shieldless bowmen, even charging up
hill, so I came out of the woods to attack. The Turks shot and a +3 sent me
back into the woods, shaken. I thought, here we go again. I started to send
units out of the UBA to support my left flank but my opponent failed to exploit
the shaken LMI and I was able to stabilize the flank. At this point, my
flank march arrived, the LC, and my opponent's army converged on it and
eventually it was destroyed. However, on my right the gallowglaichs moved
forward to
meet the Jannisaries and the cavalry. The shooting was much more favorable
on that front and I was able to drive off the cavalry and its supports after
passing only 1 waver test. This isolated the Jannisaries and allowed me to get
my knight ally on a disordered HC unit. All three of those units broke on
the same turn and the ensuing moral tests put the Turks on the brink. A
couple more charges broke their back and I finished with a 5-1 victory.

Overall, I went 3-1-1 and had four very enjoyable games. Even the game I
lost was fun to play. Unfortunately, I was not able to play any of the 7
people ahead of me in the standings. This meant that I never really had a
chance
at the title, oh well. I would also like to thank Phil Gardocki for coming
in to play me on Wednesday night. Without him, I would not have been able to
play in the NICT because of schedule conflicts.
Jacob Kovel


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[joncleaves]

>First, my army:
>2E LC, JLS, SH (1/2 Irr B, 1/2 Irr C) including CinC with PA
>6E LC, JLS, SH (Irr C)
>12E LI 1/2 S, SH   1/2 JLS, SH (Irr C)
>3x 8E LMI 1/2 2HCW, JLS, SH   1/2 JLS, SH (Irr C)
>3x 8E 1/2 HI, 2HCW, JLS, D   1/2 MI JLS, D (Irr B) one including a Sub
>General with P
>2x 4E 1/2 HK, L, SH   1/2 HC, L, SH (Irr B) one including an Ally General
>with P>>

Jake, unless I am reading that incorrectly, you only have 11 units at 1600
points, which I *personally* would consider a major issue. Also I have not done
the math, but that does not look like it adds to 1600. Did you leave someone
out?

J

[Jake Kovel]

In a message dated 8/1/04 1:10:01 PM, JonCleaves@... writes:


> >First, my army:
> >2E LC, JLS, SH (1/2 Irr B, 1/2 Irr C) including CinC with PA
> >6E LC, JLS, SH (Irr C)
> >12E LI 1/2 S, SH   1/2 JLS, SH (Irr C)
> >3x 8E LMI 1/2 2HCW, JLS, SH   1/2 JLS, SH (Irr C)
> >3x 8E 1/2 HI, 2HCW, JLS, D   1/2 MI JLS, D (Irr B) one including a Sub
> >General with P
> >2x 4E 1/2 HK, L, SH   1/2 HC, L, SH (Irr B) one including an Ally General
> >with P>>
>
> Jake, unless I am reading that incorrectly, you only have 11 units at 1600
> points, which I *personally* would consider a major issue.  Also I have not
> done the math, but that does not look like it adds to 1600.  Did you leave
> someone out?
>
> J
>
You read it correctly. There are 11 units. The cheapest unit in the army
costs 97 points, with 3 units costing over 200 points each. There are 34
scouting points and 3 commands so I was never outscouted and I generally got to
put out the last command, giving me a slight amount of flexibility in the
initial stages. It is a brute force army. If my opponent wants to get some
points, he or she will have to commit to a battle. Despite my poor dice
rolling
most of the tournament, irregular troops with 2HCW and JLS always pose a
threat. In total, in 5 games I killed an average of 900 points per game.
With a
turn or two more in game three that average would have been closer to 1050.
Of course, I lost an average of about 700 per game. They kill elephants and
most other infantry. The Gallowglaichs have darts and will do serious
damage to any cavalry and most other missile troops. They even beat knights.
The Bonnachts are very difficult to beat in any poor terrain and if they pass
the waver test, can beat cavalry in the open.

My terrain choices managed to clutter the battlefield in 4 of the 5 games,
making the combinations even more deadly. I told my son before we started that
I could get 3 points per game with this army playing blindfolded.
Essentially, that is what happened as I scored 4, 2, 3, 3, 5. On the other
hand, my
opponents scored 3, 5, 2, 3, 1.


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[joncleaves]

In a message dated 8/1/2004 16:04:04 Central Daylight Time,
Eaglewars@... writes:

You read it correctly. There are 11 units.


I think that isn't enough to cover the table properly. And after the grudge
match, don't try and tell me you are the master of deployment...lol


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[scott holder]

I would also like to thank Phil Gardocki for coming
in to play me on Wednesday night. Without him, I would not have been able to
play in the NICT because of schedule conflicts.

>As would I. Phil, thanks a bundle. As an ump, players who can be flexible,
particularly in terms of army and scale, help not only me but more importantly,
your fellow players. Everybody should be appreciative that players like Phil
help out in this unseen, yet highly important manner.

scott

[Jake Kovel]

In a message dated 8/1/04 5:10:34 PM, JonCleaves@... writes:


> You read  it correctly.   There are 11  units. 
>
>
> I think that isn't enough to cover the table properly.  And after the 
> grudge
> match, don't try and tell me you are the master of  deployment...lol
>
>

The table is 8 feet wide. A major water feature reduces that to 7 feet,
hopefully :)

With a 100 pace gap between units, my main battleline (6 units) is a little
over 6 feet long. That still leave me with 5 units, 4 of which are cavalry.
I don't have much problem covering the field. In none of my games during
the NICT was I in danger of being outflanked. In fact, I was able to sweep
around my opponent's flank in 3 of the games.

And since you missed the deployment phase of the grudge match, we will never
know if you could have done better. lol :)

Jacob


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[joncleaves]

>
>With a 100 pace gap between units, my main battleline (6 units) is a little
>over 6 feet long.   That still leave me with 5 units, 4 of which are cavalry.
>I don't have much problem covering the field.   In none of my games during
>the NICT was I in danger of being outflanked.   In fact, I was able to sweep
>around my opponent's flank in 3 of the games.>>

Interesting. You and I need to play our two armies.

>
>And since you missed the deployment phase of the grudge match, we will never
>know if you could have done better.   lol >>

the trunk monkey could have done better..lol