Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[scott holder]

Mini Open (25mm Only)

1) Rob Turnball, L Carthagenian, 17.8
2) Phil Gardocki, Anglo-Irish, 17.3
3) Greg Hauser, Ghaznavid, 14.2
4) Scott McDonald, Moldavian, 10.8
5) Dave Dietrich, Thracian, 8.5
6) Chris Schulitz, Catalan Company, 7.8
7) Fred Stratton, Neo-Assyrian Empire, 7.5
8) Rich Kroupa, Tang Chinese, 7.4
9) Sean Scott, Early Imperial Roman, 7.2
10) Bill Low, E. Ach Persian, 3.1

Doubles (25mm Only)

1) Rob Turnball/Chris Damour, Seleucid (Early), 28.5
2) Phil Gardock/Dave Dietrich, Alex Imperial, 22.1
3) Marc Cribbs/Jim Bisigani, Nikephorian Byzantine, 19.7
4) Bill Low/Scott Holder, Tepanec, 17.5
5) Scott McDonald/Mike Kelly, Moldavian, 16.8
6) Greg Hauser/Chris Schulitz, Ghaznavid, 15.9
7) Fred Stratton/Sean Scott, Neo-Assyrian Empire, 14.5
8) Don Carter/Mike Byrne, Early Lombard, 12.7
9) Mark Stone/Bill Chamis, Shang Chinese, 11.8
10) Rich Kroupa/Alex Kroupa, Hunnic, 9.6

Sportsman: Rich Kroupa
Best Camp: Rich Kroupa
Sponsor: Silver Eagle Wargame Supplies

I'll have photos up sometime this week.

Visual highlights included Rich's Great Wall O' Hunnic LC, a slew of nice camps and Mark's 22 chariots in the Shang Dynasty list.

scott

[Mark Stone]

After Action Report: Here's the Shang list that Bill and I ran at Cold Wars, along with a brief recap of our three games. Pictures to follow.

Shang Chinese

1st Command:
1 x 1 Irr B 4HCh 1 w/JLS,B 1 w/LTS,B (CinC)
1 Irr B 2HCh 1 w/JLS,B 1 w/LTS,B

1 x 2 Irr B 4HCh 2 w/LTS,B

2 x 3 Irr B 2HCh 1 w/ JLS,B 1 w/LTS,B 2 LI B on base

2 x 2 Irr B 4LCh 1 w/LTS,B
2 Irr B 2LCh 1 w/TLS,B

1 x 2 Reg C LI B

1 x 4 Reg C LI B

1 x 12 Irr D MI B

2nd Command:
1 x 1 Irr B 4HCh 1 w/JLS,B 1 w/LTS,B (Subgen)
1 Irr B 2HCh 1 w/JLS,B 1 w/LTS,B

1 x 2 Irr B 4HCh 2 w/LTS,B

2 x 4 Reg B LMI 2HCT,Sh/2HCT

1 x 4 Rg C MI LTS,Sh

2 x 2 Reg C LI B

1 x 4 Reg C LI

6 x Reg B LMI B

1 x 7 Irr D MI B

1 x 12 Irr D MI B

3rd Command:
1 x 1 Irr B LMI 2HCW,JLS,Sh (Ally)
1 Irr B LMI 1HCW,JLS,Sh
2 Irr B LMI JLS,Sh

2 x 1 Irr A LMI 2HCW,JLS,Sh
1 Irr C LMI 2HCW,JLS,Sh
2 Irr C LMI 1HCW,JLS,Sh
3 Irr C LMI JLS,Sh

1 x 6 Irr C LI B,Sh/B

1 x 4 Irr C LI JLS,Sh

25 units, 23 scouting points, 2003 total points

Basically you have 7 shock units: 4 heavy chariots and the three barbarian LMI units. You also have some secondary shock units in the form of the 2 light chariot units and the 2 Reg B LMI 2HCT units.

You also have an abundance of shooting: 124 figures of close order foot with bow, 40 figures of LI with bow, and the "shooting pod": 2 units of 2 horse light chariots with light infantry on the base, that by list rule can skirmish, accompanied by 24 figures of Reg B LMI with bow. The chariot units, when in skirmish, put out 8 figures shooting on 1 element of frontage, and are essentially impervious to shooting damage themselves.

The general idea is to use the chariots stiffened by the 2HCT guys against enemy cavalry and non-pike armed enemy foot, to use the combination of shooting and irreg LMI against elephants, and to use the chariots in a combined arms attack with the irreg LMI against enemy pike. Against armies with large numbers of LI or LC skirmishers you simply use your overwhelming superiority in bow fire to blow back his skirmishers, and then exploit whatever is exposed as a result. Note also that the light chariots will beat any enemy light cav that is not (a) impetuous, (b) JLS-armed and shielded, and (c) fighting in 1 1/2 ranks. Since chariots are a cause of unease, getting enemy LC to be impetuous isn't easy.

Overall I think it's a fine army that can play competitively if played well. It is also a finesse army, with a lot of specialty units that have to be used in the right situation, and thus have to be carefully maneuvered to be in the right situation. Furthermore, since the chariots typically operate in formations that are either 2 or 3 models deep, proper initial deployment and movement is difficult and not something you can correct for later. In short, a solid army that is hard to use when you're out of practice.

Round 1: Seleucids (Rob Turnbull and Chris D'Amour)

We are cramped by woods on either flank, and looking at a wall of pike, preceded by scythed chariots, and backed by elephants and EHC, in the middle between the woods. EHC is, by the way, the least favorite troop type for chariots to fight. The chariot crew are at relatively poor factors, and the horses don't get the "density" plus that they get against knights or SHC.

We put our irreg LMI in the left woods, looking for an opportunity to either fight elephants or work in tandem with the chariots to hit the end pike unit. We push hard on the left flank with 48 MI with bow, a light chariot unit, and some LI facing off against a peltast unit and some LC. We also have another light chariot unit on a flank march here.

Not having played against scythed chariots in more than a decade, we handle them clumsily. Bill gets charged then converted charged, has some units in distress, and in an attempt to shore up his flank he exposes the flank of an LMI 2HCT unit to a flank charge by EHC. Things more or less stabilize on the right at that point, but there's a net loss for us there. I avoid problems with the light chariots, but it slows me down too much and disrupts my attempt at combined arms coordination. The chariots and the irreg LMI never link up, and we run out of time. Meanwhile a series of bad die rolls do me in on the left flank, resulting in a routed MI bow unit, a shaken light chariot unit, and another light chariot unit being driven off the table because the troops that were supposed to be tied up are now free to oppose it. A command goes into retirement, which further unhinges the left side of our center, resulting in more losses. 5-1 for the Seleucids.

Round 2: Assyrians (Fred Stratton and Sean Patrick Scott)

Our shooting will do little against their own chariots and a wall of dart-armed, skirmishing LMI. We have brush in the very middle of the table, and another on the right flank. We opt to send our large MI bow units on flank marches (which works out fine), to refuse the center and left, and to put our irreg LMI in the right flank brush and push all along the right side of the table.

This should go well for us. Our chariots beat their LMI straight up, our chariots are slightly better than theirs, and our irreg LMI beat everything in their army. But the devil is in the details. We have some traffic control problems initially, and thus have difficulty getting all our chariots where we need them. As a result, we end up going into the enemy line more in piecemeal than in a unified manner. We have some success, routing one unit and pushing back another that should rout soon, but our pursuing and following up units are not well supported and we have some flanks hanging. We scramble to cover, but the CinC, who was a little too successful against his opponent, is too far out in front. He's going to get charged in the flank. I had thought this would be okay, but I had forgotten that mounted can replace routing LMI in combat, and so the CinC also gets charged frontally by enemy cavalry. The CinC routs, and the ensuing cascade of waver tests is just too much. Units shake, shaken units rout, the command goes into retirement. 5-1 for the Assyrians.

Round 3: Huns (Rich and Alex Kroupa)

A relatively open table with a woods to our left. The Huns come at us with 222 scouting points: all the LC, a handful of HC units, two MI HTW foot units, and a couple of medium camel units that accompany the MI units to make sure that threatening cavalry are disordered.

Again this seems pretty straightforward: we'll blast the LC with shooting, and the MI HTW guys are an obvious point of weakness. We put our irreg LMI in the woods, and plan to push hard just to the right of this against the camels and MI. Our only difficulty is when the ally general in the woods bumps his attack orders up to rush, resulting in his command emerging from the woods and engaging the enemy before the chariots can get there.

Some careful maneuvering and a re-issue of orders on Bound 3 mostly corrects the situation, although the ally general himself does eventually go down in a spectacular 4 unit melee (2 of ours, 2 of theirs) in which one unit is exhausted, one is routed, and the two surviving have 13 CPF and 8 CPF respectively.

Overall though, the Hun soft spot is too vulnerable. They cannot use the camels in the face of dense bowfire, the HC don't get there fast enough to support the MI HTW guys, and in any case the HC are not a particularly good matchup against heavy chariots. And the Hun LC is just helpless in the face of all our shooting. The general unease caused by chariots takes a toll, as die rolls of 2 that would normally pass a waver test for Irr B turn into failures. We rout the MI, he fails some wavers, we rout an HC unit, he fails some more wavers, and things cascade from there. A command goes into retirement, and the Huns only have 2 commands. Despite the loss of our ally general, the Shang emerge triumphant 5-2.

Bottom line: I'm pleased with the configuration and the performance of the army, and would happily play it again. I'm less pleased with my own rustiness and lack of practice. That really hurt us in the first two games. Looks like I won't make it to Historicon this year (new job and all), but I plan on returning to Cold Wars next year, and Bill and I will likely reprise the same army.

[Ed Kollmer]

Thanks Mark.
Sounds like 3 great battles.
Good to see Fred.
Faced his Assyrians at the Council of 5.
Ed the Grateful

[Ed Kollmer]

Great to see so many great names
Robert T congrats. I feel proud since when he lived near me. I can brag that I made him the player he is today.
Phil! Great. Keep up the great work.
JimB. Good to see you in the fray. Especially Nikes. Could I see your list.
ToddK is getting me to bring out my Nikes.
BillL looking forward to playing you.
Ed the Happy

[scott holder]

Photos now posted in the Album area under Tournaments.

One photo is of the scythed chariots mentioned by Mark. Another is of Fred's Neo-Assyrian chariots as they stared down Bill's Tepanecs.

Note the Great Wall O' Huns. Rich's army was gorgeous. I looked at it as the final chapter in his "Great Wall" army trilogy. First we had the Great (shield)Wall O' Vikings. Then the Great Wall O' Elephants (Khmer flavored). Now the Huns.

The full battle shot shows Marc Cribbs and Jim Bisigani and their Nikephorian Byzantines.

Chris Damour during our brief awards ceremony got up and said something to the effect of "This is the 3rd time I've been a winning partner on teams and it attests to my ability to coast."

scott

[Historian]

Live, from Lancaster, it's Cold Wars!

http://philonancients.blogspot.com/2014/03/tang-chinese-face-anglo-irish.html

This is the only one I took pictures of so there won't be more. Sorry.

[Ed Kollmer]

Nice AAR!
Congrats for the win!
I think it was unconscionable that the Chinese would think of invading Ireland.
Love the pics.
I have to learn how to do this.
Ed the Ignorant

[Mark Stone]

Posted a few pics of the Shang in action at Cold Wars,

[Historian]

Where would those pictures be?

[Mark Stone]

[Historian]

Thanks Scott. The album icons look like two little alien heads on my screen.