Scots Irish in the Munster Open 2009

[LawrenceG]

Scots Irish in the Munster Open 2009

I had entered the Munster Open at the last minute in answer to an appeal from the organisers for someone to make the number of entrants even. Any army from book 2 was allowed and I decided to use the Scots-Irish more because it seemed appropriate than because I expected it to be a killer army. With a core of Cv(O), Ax(O) and Ps(I), a compulsory ally and only one subgeneral, on paper the army has little to commend it. However, with the few options it does have, and some strategems, I thought it could be made effective enough to give interesting games and a reasonable chance of victory.

My (hastily concocted) list was:

Army baggage 4 Bg(O)
CinC Cv(O), 3 Cv(O), 14 Ax(O), 6 Ps(I), 2 Ps(O)  = 20 ME
Brilliant Sub ChuChulain Cv(O), 6 Cv(O), 10 Ax(O), 6 Ps(I) = 20 ME
Ally Cv(O), 2 Cv(O), 8 Ax(O), 2 Ps(I), 6 Bts(I) carrying 4 Wb(S) and 2 Wb(F), 2 Bg(O) = 20 ME
Ally Cv(O), 7 Cv(O), 8 Ax(O), 2 Ps(I), 2 Bg(F) = 20 ME

All elements are irregular. All Cv(O) are chariots.

Strategems: Scouts, Guides, Ambush

The brilliant general and strategems were there mainly to reduce the number of figures that I would need to carry on the aeroplane. The boats were to allow me to use my very nice-looking sea that had been redundant since the waterway size rules changed in DBM.

The concept behind the design was to attack along a sea, or down a river, with the wet ally,  the CinC next to her (I?d had to press my Boudicca and Maeve figures into service as the ally generals to make the numbers up) and ChuChulain holding the open flank until the other ally arrived from a flank march with large numbers of fast-moving chariots (hence the Bg(F) in that command). I thought the Guides would be useful in case the flank march was blocked by terrain and in that case the scouts would prevent it being ambushed. The warband was on the boats on the basis that once it had disembarked, it would be self propelled: the Fianna Wb(F) towards the baggage and the Attecotti Wb(S) towards actual combat.

In the course of a couple of test games after I had sent the list in, I made a number of discoveries:

1.  The first march by naval troops each bound costs no PIPs .
2.  The ally always needs a 6 to arrive from a flank march.
3.  ChuChulain can?t hold off a serious attack long enough for the ally to arrive.
4.  A flank marching brilliant general can use a brilliant stroke to arrive on a dice roll 1 lower than normally needed.

The net result of this was that I changed the concept of operations to put ChuChulain on the flank march and the chariot ally defending the flank.


Game 1: Vs Padraig (pronounced "Porrig") Bracken with Middle Imperial Romans

I invaded via the sea and Padraig placed some gentle hills. I decided to put 2 chariots in ambush behind a hill in my rear right corner with a  view to surprising any Romans who tried to attack the flank of my ally, and flank marched as per the revised concept of operations .  It then turned out that I would be attacking under cover of a moonless night for a couple of bounds, followed by the limited visibility of dawn.

The Romans deployed a command of legionaries with a cavalry general, 2 LH(F), 1 Art(F), 1 Ps(O) and 3 clibanarii Kn(X) behind on a central hill. To their left was a command of  8 Ax(S) and 4 Ax(O) with supporting Ps and one LH in reserve with a cavalry general. On the open flank, on another hill was a column of 5 Cv(O) including a general, 1 Kn(F) and 2 LH(O). By the seaside was an Arab ally command of 8 Cm(O), 1 LH(I) and  a LH(O) general. A fortified camp sat centrally at the back.

I deployed to fight the camels with auxilia and the auxilia with Chariots, leaving a largely open space in front of the legionary command.



On my first bound I rolled a 6 for the flank march, so that was able to sneak on undetected, and everyone else advanced, but I was still over 400p from the enemy lines when the sun rose. 

The Romans responded to their dawn surprise by throwing forward the Kn(X) and some auxilia with supporting Ps, while the mounted command redeployed against the rear table edge, facing the flank march. Both the Kn(X)  and auxilia came too far forward and exposed their flanks, resulting in the loss of 2 Auxilia and 2 psiloi fairly quickly. The knights, however, counting as (S) versus my cavalry, threw off all attackers.   The Roman auxilia in reserve wheeled out to cover their exposed comrades and support the mounted command.

The camels extended their line with the Arab LH general and a LH(I) guarding the flank. Two Roman LH(F) came out to block the gap between the Arabs and the legions. Low pips meant my ally was still some way off engaging the Arabs, but I was able to move out the chariots to threaten the Arab skirmishers while the boats maintained their inexorable advance.


 
The Legionaries came off the hill to support the knights and attack the flank of my CinC?s command. However, the adjacent LH(F) became spent and this exposed the camels? and legionaries? flanks and the artillery to attack. Meanwhile, the camels and my warriors were exchanging elements. My chariot attack on the Arab LH failed and they pulled back out of charge range, exposing the camels? other flank, so I had a big advantage here. The Roman Auxilia command brought its reserves into action and the mounted command got into a big melee with my flank march, leading to heavy casualties on both sides.

Time was called. When the dust settled, it turned out that the Roman mounted command was broken and the Arabs were disheartened. I had lost 10% of my army but nothing disheartened, so it was 15-10 to me.



Observations:

My army concept was working, although it looked as though it would struggle to get a result in a three-hour game.
Padraig handicapped himself with his PIP allocation of averaging all three dice. If he had given the legions a high dice, he would have been able to attack much more strongly through my weak centre. As it was he was losing on average 1 pip per bound due to rounding.
The artillery seemed quite effective and even survived a round of close combat.

[LawrenceG]

Game 2 versus Tony Bergin with Seleucids.

I defended, so no sea. Tony chose 2 gentle hills and a scrub, I chose my compulsory marsh and three more scrub, preferring terrain I could move through over woods that I could ambush in. The two hills ended up on the left hand side of the table and the marsh and two scrubs along the right hand edge. We each had another large scrub in our deployment zones, towards our respective lefts.

The Seleucids deployed first with a central pike phalanx, fronted by scythed chariots, a right wing of thureophoroi, knights and a couple of LH(F), and a left wing of more thureophoroi and knights plus 2 elephants under the CinC. There was also an assortment of psiloi scattered around and six horde deployed at the back around the baggage. My opponent then said he shouldn?t have deployed the baggage as it was a delayed command and took it off. My scouts revealed there was nothing hidden behind the hill or in the scrub.

I deployed the chariot ally on my left with chariots in column on the flank and the infantry in the scrub. Also in the scrub were the CinC?s infantry, with a couple of auxilia and the slingers strung out to oppose the expendables, chariots in reserve. Then there was a gap in front of the phalanx and expendables, then the boat ally with auxilia facing the elephants, Wb(S) ready to advance past the marsh, Wb(F) and more auxilia positioned to advance through the marsh, chariots in reserve. ChuChulain was on a flank march on this flank.



Tom gave the high pips to the pike/exp command, middle to the knight/auxilia command and low to the CinC. The delayed baggage rolled a six, so would arrive next turn in the position it had just been removed from. The phalanx also had 6 pips and used them to send two expendables to threaten the allied chariots on my left and two towards the ally on my right, while the pikemen used the general?s PIP and the free march to advance. The light horse made a wide flanking advance and the knights also came forward against my left.

I decided to run away with the chariots on my left, while pushing forward on my right and sending a few troops to interfere with the expendables in the centre/right. In the following bounds my scythed-chariot-baiting resulted in the destruction of three of them and the knight/LH attack on my left stalled as the PIPs were used to bring up the Ax(S) to fight my Ax(O). On the right, my warband advanced and the elephants wheeled to attack them. One warband(S) was destroyed, but in my counter attack I was able to get a flank contact on one elephant and kill it with warband from the front, while the other succumbed to a quick-kill from auxilia. A counter attack by the thureophoroi then killed more warband while my auxilia column that should have been outflanking the thureophoroi through the marsh got left behind from lack of PIPs. My flank march rolled a 6 on the third bound, drawing the Seleucid CinC?s knight reserve in that general direction.

On the left, with the expendables eliminated and the knights not advancing, I turned my chariots round again with a view to outflanking the knights (eventually). I decided to try my larger numbers of Ax(O) against the open flanked Ax(S) that had advanced to the scrub. I lost three elements on contact for no gain, and a knight came in and destroyed my outflanking element. I sacrificed another element to make the knight pursue into the scrub, where it was soon dispatched. However, the front rank of the pikes had been advancing to help the last remaining expendable fight my chariots, while some of the rear ranks turned against my right wing and others continued to pressurise the flank of my CinC?s command.

Time ran out before my flank march had any impact. My CinC?s command and the warband ally were both in trouble and I had failed to exploit my superior numbers on the left flank. I had slightly more penalty points, so 11-14.



Observations:

Even defending, the basic plan was OK, but I focused too much on the expendable and elephant threat rather than pressing my advantages on the flanks. I initially thought Tom?s giving the pike command the high dice was a mistake as the expendables were self propelled and the pike could just plod forward, but it paid off in the later game when the pike were able to exploit the space they had gained.

[LawrenceG]

Game 3 versus Donal Coghlan with Early Imperial Roman.

Having discovered the benefits of night attacks, I invaded in winter in order to maximise the hours of darkness. However, on checking the rules I discovered that night attacks can?t be done in winter, so the game started at sunrise, although there was mist.

The terrain was my sea on the left, a marsh in the centre of my table edge, a steep hill in the centre of the Roman table edge and a BUA on a road at the front of their deployment area, between the steep hill and the landward (my right) flank. 

The Romans deployed Auxilia and psiloi on the steep hill and legionaries between the hill and the BUA, which was occupied by more Auxilia. Behind this was a command of  9 cavalry including a general, 4 LH, 2 Ps and 1 Ax. The baggage was mobile rather than a fortified camp. I deployed the boat ally in column intending to march up past the Roman flank and turn 90 into line to attack it in one half of a Hannibal-like double envelopment. The CinC?s infantry was opposite the steep hill, with his chariots opposite the legions. The other ally was opposite the BUA and ChuChulain flank marched as usual.


 
The Romans gave the cavalry command the high dice and moved the cavalry on the first bound with 7 pips towards the open flank. Luckily the mist reduced their speed of movement otherwise they could have outflanked me quite easily. The auxilia in the BUA came forward to support the cavalry, and the legions, by a combination of column formation and expansion, started shifting to my left in order to fight my CinC?s auxilia. On my first turn the mist cleared. Over the next few turns I was able to delay the enemy cavalry by sending out sacrificial elements of warriors, while battle was joined along most of the rest of the front and my ally near the sea advanced and turned inward as planned. The initial combats went well as my chariots punched a hole in the auxilia line in front of the BUA, exposing the Roman general to a possible flank-lock, and a lucky kamikaze Ax(O) destroyed a Cv(O) with the aid of the overlap for being near the table edge. I also outflanked the legions near the steep hill, but lost the combat.



On the fifth bound, my flank march rolled a 4 and I used a brilliant stroke to allow it to come on. Combat elsewhere resulted in more casualties on both sides. My flank march came on, causing a number of Roman elements to flee. One Roman general fled to where he protected the flank of the other one. That?ll teach me not to do the on-table moves before bringing the flank march on. Luckily, I had a chariot within reach of his other flank. Unfortunately I lost that combat and the Roman general was able to escape because he was not in the TZ of the recoiled chariots. However, the other general was now exposed and I succeeded in killing him. Meanwhile some of the Roman cavalry was beating my ally?s flank protection and threatening the rear of the warriors, while others were holding off ChuChulain?s chariots. In the centre the legionaries were starting to make a hole and on the other flank the cohort at the corner of the line survived three consecutive flank-locked combats.

At this point ChuChulain threw a 6 for PIPS and used another brilliant stroke to double them. He used 4 PIPs to move the chariots and the other 8 to march a column of infantry as close as possible to the Roman baggage. Alas, time was called before they could carry out their cattle-raid. 

At the end, the Roman cavalry had got around my right flank but had lost their general, the legions had blown a big hole in my centre, my CinC was disheartened and my attack on the outflanked command near the hill had failed to do any damage at all. Casualties were similar on both sides so it was 11-14.



Observations:

I probably should not have put down the water feature. Having the warband on-table would have given the legionaries something to worry about.
Must remember to invade in spring, not winter, if I want a chance of a night attack.
I was unlucky not to break open the flank near the hill, but I had benefited from my opponent?s poor luck in PIPs and combat elsewhere in the game.
Single elements of Ax(O) delayed the Roman cavalry?s attack round my flank, but did not prevent it. 

[LawrenceG]

Game 4 versus Tom Worden with Huns.

He invaded and placed two bare, gentle hills on (my) left table edge, one in my half and one in his. My marsh fell half-way along my right table edge and I placed my BUA behind it to seal off that flank from a possible flank march.  A large scrubby flat went in front of the marsh and my other scrubby flats wouldn?t fit.

After considering deploying well back, using the gentle hill and BUA to anchor my flanks, I decided it would be better to simply line up and advance, trusting to superior numbers plus my advantage on the flank with all the bad terrain. If he had warband and knights I should have a significant width advantage, if not, the chariots and most of the foot were on equal or better factors than the light horse, albeit not superior.

The huns had three commands of 15 LH(S), 1 Cv(O) and a Reg Cv(O) general, one of which was commanded by the brilliant Attila. Two commands were one behind the other in the centre. The other was on the hilly flank, ready to expand out to the edge of the table.




We both advanced. The rear Hun command moved through the front one. I?m not sure what the point of this was, other than to confuse me over which elements were in which command. I charged in and knocked out 4 LH(S) with my chariots immediately. ChuChulain?s command on the flank was hanging back due to the PIPs needed to get the chariots out to the table edge, and then because I did not want to be fighting up the hill.

Fighting continued and I found it very hard to kill any more LH, while I was losing a steady stream of auxilia. The warband advanced up the bad terrain flank, forcing Attila and his cavalry to back-pedal to avoid threats to their flank. Then the Huns charged off the hill into ChuChulain?s command, killing him and several chariots in a single bound, breaking the command. The 2 ME penalty took the CinC to disheartened. In my next bound I only had 2 pips on each of the intact commands, which was not enough to put together much in the way of attacks, although I had a slim chance of killing Atilla. Next bound my disheartened CinC broke, taking the army. 1-24.




Observations:

I should have selected rough hills instead of scrubby flat as these go down before bare gentle hills and would not have been blocked.
I should have hung back a bit longer and waited for my flank-turning manoeuvre through the scrub to make more progress.
Superior light horse is pretty good in combat!

Post-tournament conclusions:

I?m a slow player at the best of times and with most of us, including me, still having to refer to the rules quite a lot, three hours is not enough for me to get a win with this army.
Despite that, I had four enjoyable games and didn?t feel that my army was outclassed in any of them, i.e. it had at least a partial answer to all the threats it encountered (unlike in DBM).
The boats proved useful more in causing my opponents to deploy away from the sea, giving me an open flank to attack than by actually intervening. Only one element disembarked in any of the games and it never got into combat, so I might as well have had Ps(I) as crews instead of warband.  With the benefit of hindsight I can also see other ways to improve the army design and use of terrain. 
I didn?t have any trouble with the grading factors and it was only my second tournament.

I?d like to thank Richard Aynsley for organising the tournament, William Coughlan for umpiring and both of them for putting me up and ferrying me around during my stay in Cork.

[Richa_Eire]

Excellent report Lawrence, thanks for travelling over and I'm glad you enjoyed the weekend.

Richard