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.