Wintercon last weekend featured a 240AP comp with armies limited to Armies and Enemies of Classical Greece and Rome.
I devised a Lysimachid army around a few considerations:
1. I wanted to field an army with elephants - at least two given I felt that a lone elephant could be contained too easily. The 240AP rules specify that maximums are halved and rounded up, so I needed an army which fielded at least three elephants.
2. I wanted at least two Kn (F) elements.
3. At 240AP, brilliant generals seemed like good value.
4. I wanted a decent phalanx.
5. All of the above meant I needed a decent screen of cheap troops to provide a wide frontage.
I looked at Seleucid and Asiatic Early Successor (Demetrius) armies but decided the Lysimachid army worked best.
My army was as follows:
Command 1 (19 ME)
Brilliant General as Reg Kn (F) SBW
2 Irr Ele (O)
2 Irr LH (O)
4 Reg Pk (O)
5 Irr Ax (O)
3 Irr Ps (S)
(1 Irr Bge (I))
Command 2 (12 ME)
Sub as Reg Pk (O)
7 Reg Pk (O)
2 Irr Ps (S)
Command 3 (15 ME)
Sub as Reg Kn (F) SBW
2 Reg Kn (F) SBW
2 Irr LH (O)
5 Irr Ax (O)
3 Reg Ps (O)
(1 Irr Bge (I))
Stratagem: Change Deployment
Although stratagems remain the same cost as full-size games, I felt it was worth the "extra" cost, as the ability to swap the flanks of Commands 1 and 3 could be quite powerful.
My first run with the army was against Doug's Gauls. (As it turned out I wasn't able to play in the comp, so it was my only run with the army...)
Anyway, Doug was the invader. Weather and time of day played no part in the game.
The terrain included a BUA on my left flank, a patch of rough on Doug's right flank, and a gently hill on my right flank. The BUA was really the only terrain feature that played any part in the game.
I chose to deploy C3 on the left and C1 on the right. I figured that if Doug had Ps in large numbers he'd have them on his right facing the BUA, so I wanted to keep the elephants away from that danger. The deployment dice then favoured me, and Doug deployed first.
Doug deployed Spanish allies on his right, with Ps (S) and Ax (S) facing the BUA and the open space inboard, with a couple of Cv in reserve. In the centre was a block of about 24 Irr Wb (O). On his left was a command with about 6 Ps and about 8 Irr Cv (O) chariots.
I then deployed C3's Ps (O) in the BUA, along with the left end of the line of C3's Ax (O). The Kn and LH were in behind. In the centre was the phalanx, facing the Wb. Then on the right C1's Ps (S) faced Doug's, then the Ax were outboard of them. The Ele and LH were again in reserve. I could have used the Change Deployment stratagem if I wanted, but I was happy with my deployment.
My plan was to hold on the left and attack in the centre and on the right. I felt that the Kn (F) and phalanx could beat the Wb, and that C1's Ps and Ax could beat Doug's Ps and hold his chariots while the elephants moved into position.
Yeah, sorta...
Doug's Spanish started the game by being unreliable, which suited me fine. He held the Wb and advanced the chariots, which, when shaken out into a line, overlapped my line of Ax.
For me, C1 got the highest PIPs, C3 the middle PIP dice and C2 the lowest. I started with terrible PIPs, but was at least able to advance the phalanx and the right flank. I also advanced C3's Ax to help cover the flank of the phalanx.
Doug, having saved 3 PIPs from the C-in-C's previous PIP dice, then managed to roll high enough with the allies that they became reliable. The Ax (S) and Ps (S) swarmed forwards, and suddenly my Ax (O) and Ps (O) looked both outnumbered and outgunned.
I continued my own advance in the centre, with my Ps (S) charging into Doug's Ps ((O) and (I) IIRC). I moved the elephants out to the flank of the Ax, and the LH out beyond the elephants. Lysimachus stayed out of harm's way, although some time around here I seem to remember using a brilliant stroke to increase C2's PIPs from 1 to 2 (still getting pretty terrible PIPs).
The Ps combat was a disaster for me, with all three Ps (S) dying in short order. C1 had to deploy its 4 Pk into line to block the Gallic Ps. The Ax had a bit more luck, destroying one or two Ps. They also did reasonably well to hold off Doug's chariots. The elephants and LH attacked, and I think I netted one chariot.
On my left flank the Spanish Ax (S) crunched into my Ax (O) and quickly destroyed a couple of Ax (O). At least I still had the LH (O) to cover gaps. The Kn (F) and the C2 phalanx kept advancing on the Wb, and I moved the Ps (S) from C2 out to the left to help cover the flank of the Kn.
Doug moved the Spanish Cv over to face the Kn (F), who of course couldn't quick-kill them. However the lack of overlaps against the Kn, and the support of the phalanx helped the Kn eventually destroy the Cv after a few bounds, opening the path to the Wb.
The Kn and Pk charged the Wb together, and shaved off most of the front rank at first contact. I held my breath for the Wb counter-attack against the Pk, but at 4-5 the odds were just enough in my favour. I ended up losing one Kn (F) which was hit in the flank, but the remaining elements ground their way through the Wb.
On my right my advantages took a long time to accrue. One elephant kept pushing a lone chariot back, never quite getting a good enough score to double it. Meanwhile the two LH isolated another chariot, but took a couple of bounds to dispatch it too. A destroyed Ax meant I had to commit Lysimachus to combat against a chariot, so I decided to use his last brilliant stroke. Just as well I had an overlap, as the 6-1 against could have been embarrassing. Finally, however, a bunch of combats went my way, with about three chariots destroyed in one bound to dishearten Doug's left flank.
On my left combat soon dissolved into an Ax brawl. Doug's early good PIPs for the Spanish soon disappeared, leaving his Ps (S) stranded in the BUA one move from my Ps (O), and a few opportunities for his Ax unable to be exploited. The Ax (S) continued to rack up casualties against my Ax (O), but my lads showed that Ax (S) were vulnerable to bad dice rolls in their own bound, or to flank hits in mine.
C3 became disheartened, which threatened to slow down my Ax, but even with the -1 in combat one last useful result was sufficient to break the Spanish command. The 2ME penalty was sufficient to break the Gallic left wing, and thus break the army.
My losses were probably in the 10-20% range, so with one command disheartene I think the score would have been 22-3 to me.
Thank to Doug for an entertaining game in which my lads had to get a bit lucky in combat to get back into the game after some terrible early results.
And it was pleasing that my army worked pretty much as intended. The Ax (O) did a reasonable job of holding off their opponents; the Kn and Pk overran the Wb; and the elephants dealt with the enemy in front of them.
Comment on the 200AP rules:
In general things worked fine, although two things about the rules stood out:
1. While the terrain adjustments keep terrain size reasonable, the "second" terrain dice for each terrain feature isn't changed from the normal rules, which means that terrain spreads across the table far more in 200AP games than in normal scale games. Perhaps the value of that dice should be halved.
2. The 2ME penalty for broken commands affects friends at the same range as in the normal rules. Had the game been played at 400AP, it's entirely possible Doug's wing commands would have been far enough apart that the loss of the Spanish command wouldn't have affected the chariot command. Perhaps that distance should be reduced for 200AP games.
