Eastern Armies at Devizes 2024
Ilkhanid Mongol vs Samurai
Game 1 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Samurai
Game 2 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Ghaznavid
Game 3 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Burmese
Game 4 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Timurid
Having headed to Scotland for the mid-July gaming fix last year, 2024 saw a return to the more traditional trip Westwards to the cradle of Neolithic civilization in Britain, the rolling hills around Devizes and the Attack! show.
As seems increasingly the point now, the gaming was book-ended by some tourism in the shape of a trip to Avebury Stone Circle - something I'd driven past many times but never actually gotten out of my car to walk around. And sheesh, what a thing it is!
OK, it's a field of big rocks, and they aren't as neatly cut and polished as Stonehenge... but this thing is BIG!
It's really challenging to try and wrap your head around the fact this was being put up at the same time as the Pharohs were ruling Egypt and building the Pyramids - of course Egypt was a staggeringly large empire by any stretch of the imagination, but for a small agrarian society on the chilly north edge of Europe this stone circle and the work involved is still a mind-bending achievement
When you think what these stones have seen - some are even older than Keith Richards
Let there be Rock!
After Avebury it was a straight line to an Air BnB in Melksham, as Devizes was too full to allow the 5 of us to find any accommodation. A bout of Adulting then took place as we declined the 6pm start in the pub (OK, some of us did) and headed instead to an up market supermarket to fill a trolley with BBQ provisions and an eclectic collection of canned hazy IPAs
Anyways.. getting onto the wargaming.. the theme of the event itself was an Eastern & Asiatic armies one, which skewed inevitably towards Elephants.
With that in mind I'd either need to take Elephants, or have a plan to deal with them.. so I opted for a very left-field approach to the latter, with an Ilkhanid Mongol army with an unexpected Armenian allied contingent which gifted this ostensibly Mongol-style army with a block of Heavy Infantry spearmen and double the number of hard-charging Knights to the couple who occasionally fight with the Ilkhanids themselves
OK, in reality the logic was a slightly less clever "how many of the unused 28mm plastic and metal Arab figures can I get on table in an army I've not used before?" combined with "I'm still childish enough to want to shoehorn some flatulence-related gags into my battle reports".. but anyway, the end result was much the same, so here we were with the Ilkhanid Mongols ready to play and facing in the first game a Samurai army!
This all resulted in a weekend of large scale colourful gaming, plenty of local food and beer and the aforementioned Neolithic tourism, all of which was subsequently covered in a Madaxeman Video Podcast also available in Audio-only format too. I'll drop in another link to the Podcast at the end of the reports too, so feel free to Read On and see how the games went before diving into the audio and video versions of tourism, list building and culinary adventures in the West Country that makes up the full suite of multimedia offerings of this epic Attack! weekend.
What did the Mongols Eat?
The lists for the Ilkhanid Mongol and Samurai from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Devizes can be seen here in the ADLG Wiki.
I'd done my utmost to try and clear out the terrain from this table, against the better inclinations of the Samurai who of course wanted lots of fields and the like to sit in and shoot my cavalry from at a safe distance, and to a fairly decent degree we both had ended up with things to be happy about.
The interesting development however was that both armies had flank marches, with entire commands missing from the table at setup.
I knew my flank march was as teeny one with three cavalry, so if it was on the same side as the Samurai force it would probably be driven back, arriving first in headlong panic with a larger contingent hot on its heels.
ADLG hint - If both sides flank march, as soon as one flank marching contingent rolls high enough to arrive then both players admit which side they are flank marching on. If it's the same side, they then admit how many bases they have - with the smaller force being driven back and arriving on its own next turn, and the larger force following on the turn after that.
The deployments had seen a block of heavy infantry Katana-armed Samurai in the centre facing off against the Armenian and mercenary Crusader-esque knights in the Mongol army - a pretty decent matchup for me as I didn't want the valuable Knights to be shot up (or indeed at all) before they charged into whatever they would end up fighting.
Facing exactly no archers, it already seemed like they would achieve this rather simplistic and limited aim with some aplomb
The knights hurled themselves forward as the Samurai stood waiting with their back banners fluttering yellowly in the stifling July air of the Devizes schoolroom where this epic battle was taking place
Samurai vs Mongols
On the left flank of the Ilkhanid army the cavalry were hanging back, fearful of the powerful recurved Samurai bow archery that might come their way should they unwisely advance.
Seeing that their targets were out of range, the Samurai suddenly decided that they were cool and hard enough to dare to step out of the relative safety of terrain, and bravely rushed forward themselves!
On the other flank the Armenian spearmen were advancing slowly in a barrage of colour and under a barrage of Samurai mounted archery next to a plantation in which opposing light infantry skirmished tentatively back and forth.
It wasn't entirely clear how their plan would develop if it continued to involve advancing towards the Katana-waving Samurai Heavy Infantry, but the Armenian peasants were sure that their Ordinary Commander leading his own retinue of noble Knights from the front would have thought of that... wouldn't he?
The Samurai Archers were now adopting a decidedly Bacon attitude towards engaging the Ilkhanid cavalry wing (which had been threatening to outflank them on the left hand edge of the table), and were closing in on them at pace, drifting to their right as they did so.
As has been the case with Noblemen throughout history, the Ilkhanid Guard cavalry had however sent forth a screen of their own Light Horsemen to absorb as many Samurai arrows as possible, and in so doing protect their lords and masters from excessive injury and hurt
The Samurai were numerous, but the Ilkhanids were hard-charging horsemen who liked nothing more than meeting loose formation enemy troops in open ground. And that certainly seemed imminent now.
ADLG hint - Cavalry (and Knights) can move or charge through a screen of their own Light Horse in ADLG. That gives the Samurai a very limited window in which to shoot away the (2-hits) Light Horse and unleash an effective volley at the Khans Guard before the shooting phase of the game will be well and truly over and the attention will turn towards combat!
The Samurai, faced with a twin tide of onrushing lancer-armed horror, separated by the static nonsense of the Ilkhanid artillery park, had now split and reshuffled their archers to create two separate formations, one of which had joined their Katana armed Heavy foot in the centre.
The Samurai shot bravely, but the Knights of the Ilkhanid mercenary wing were well armoured and the ninja-esqie arrows generally bounced off harmlessly as the Knights started to measure up their charge range with glee.
BOOM! The mercenary crusaders and allied Armenians suddenly lurched forward and hurled themselves at the line of Samurai, slamming in at lance point and putting the full weight of their mighty chargers behind each impact!
So soon in the game it already felt like do or die for the Samurai centre, as the tremendous force of the knightly charge had the possibility of sweeping them away long before their own flank marching troops even arrived to witness the battle unfold
ADLG hint - Troops on a flank march who have yet to arrive are not counted towards the break point of the army. In this game that leaves the Samurai on a rather brittle 18 as things currently stand.
Not wishing to be outdone, the Khans Guard on the Ilkhanid left also charged through their surviving skirmish screen to crash into the Samurai archers.
Like a tempest sweeping across the endless steppe, the Ilkhanid cavalry surged forward, their horses pounding the earth with the fury of a thousand storms, the very air thick with the scent of sweat and…other less pleasant aromas.
Just How Smelly were the Mongols?
The absence of the two flank marches might now make this a very quick game indeed, and the Ilkhanids were intent on making it a game of combat rather than shooting if that were to be the case.
Although the mercenary crossbowman in the Ilkhanid force perhaps had other ideas, as with all of the Samurai engaged against Guard cavalry and a gaping hole appearing in the middle of the enemy army as they skittered away from the artillery battery, they had been able to wander forward with relative impunity.
The initial charge of the Knight brigades had largely done the business, as the Samurai archers in particular took the brunt of the non-blunt force trauma and were either left reeling, or removed from the field entirely at first impact
The katana-armed foot were more solid, and had done a relatively better job of resisting the fearsome charge, but with their flank support in tatters their initial resistance may yet prove to be short lived in the extreme
Everywhere you looked, glossy red hit markers sprouted behind wavering Samurai warriors
The Khans guard were also gaining the upper hand - perhaps not as dramatically as the Knights, but still the Samurai here had come off worst, and now were being drawn into a protracted fight against better armoured mounted opponents as all the while the Ilkhanid's European crossbow mercenaries crept up into position to add a decisve flabk charge to the already uneven equation of war.
By now the two flank marches had bumped into one another off table somewhere to the Ilkhanid right, and the Mongol forces had realised that they were far smaller than the mass of Samurai and reacted accordingly.
In a sequence of events which could not have been better in retrospect for the Great Khan and his army, the small Ilkhanid flank march was the first to (eventually) arrive, the thunderous gallop of their horses hooves drowned out only by the ominous rumble of stomachs, bloated from vats of fermented yak milk, each rider belching forth a battle cry more foul than the stench of a forgotten latrine.
ADLG hint - The Ilkhanid flank march was the first one to roll high enough in its own turn to "arrive". This initiated a sequence that played out as follows: Having rolled enough to arrive, the two sides compared numbers of elements, with the Samurai flank march turning out to be larger.
This meant the Ilkhanids are "driven back, and will arrive in their next turn.
That turn (of course) happens after the current (Ilkhanid) turn finishes, and then the following Samurai turn also finishes.
Then the Ilkhanids arrive, and have another full turn
Only after that do the Samurai arrive at the start of their turn.
That sequence means that from the moment both players know that their flank marches are arriving on the same flank, there will be TWO sequences of movement, shooting and combat before the Ilkhanids arrive, and THREE sequences before the Samurai arrive.
With the Ilkhanids already well stuck into combat, they have THREE sequences of combat and shooting to win the game while the Samurai army's break point remains becalmed at a very brittle 18.
Seeing a chance to grab a quick and very dirty victory, the Knights redoubled their efforts to overrun the katana-armed Samurai heavy infantry in the centre, even risking committing the Armenian spearmen to combat against cavalry and katana-dudes in the hope of scratching out the odd extra hit point that may count in this brutal battle to get over the line before the flank march reinforcements came into play on their way from Japan
The Khans Guard, working in tandem with the mercenary crossbowmen in a Perry/Fireforge/Gripping Beast mashup which the all-Fireforge Samurai were clearly struggling to fully comprehend, finally managed to deliver the decisive blow to the understrength Samurai.
With swords gleaming in the sun and armour clinking like the chains of fate, they charged — a whirlwind of unwashed hair and tattered furs, leaving behind a trail of dust…and the unmistakable odor of men long estranged from a bath, breaking the already tattered morale of the main body of fighting Samurai even as what later turned out to be a mass of Japanese peasant infantrymen were still straggling to get onto the battlefield.
The Result is a spectacularly aggressive and decisive win, achieved against an understrength opponent suffering from the late arrival of a decent slice of their own forces
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Ilkhanid Mongol Commander
Today, we stand triumphant on the battlefield, our foes — those fierce Samurai — lay scattered before us. They thought their honor and skill could match the might of the Mongol horde, but they were sorely mistaken. This victory is a testament to my military genius, a strategy forged in the fires of countless battles. With every maneuver, I proved once more that the swift and the cunning will always prevail over the rigid and the proud.
Now, let us pause to reflect on the strength that fuels our bodies and minds. While the samurai indulge in their delicate sushi, a mere whisper of sustenance, we feast on the rich, nourishing power of yak milk! Its creamy essence fortifies us, giving us the vigor to conquer and the resilience to endure. They may have their fish, but we have the spirit of the steppe in every drop of our elixir!
And let us not forget the brilliance of the Samurai flank march! While the enemy expected us to approach them from the flank, it was my foresight that sent our best men straight forward and attacked their defenses frontally, striking how they least anticipated. It was this clever ruse that turned the tide in our favor, as the non-arrival of the hapless warriors they sent to counter our non-existent flank march meant that we had time to shatter their lines and sow chaos among their ranks while they were woefully short of numbers on the battlefield.
So, raise your cups of yak milk high, my brothers! Let us toast to our victory, to our unmatched strategy, and to the diet that gives us strength unmatched by our enemies. Today, we write another glorious chapter in the saga of the Mongols!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Ah, the Great Khan, the self-proclaimed architect of this so-called masterpiece of a victory! A man who would have us believe that it was his brilliance alone that scattered the Samurai like leaves before the autumn wind?
Shall we all genuflect before this warlord, this… unbathed sultan of sour curds? Or should we, perhaps, examine this battle with a more discerning eye? The Khan, whose breath could fell an ox at twenty paces, would have us believe that it was his cunning, his genius, that carried the day. But let us not be deceived by this tyrant of goat's milk and fermented odors
It was not strategy that won the battle, but luck—and, if we are to be honest, the sheer misfortune of the Samurai commander. This supposed master tactician, whose intellect could be clouded by a whiff of his own armor, faced an enemy who, I dare say, defeated themselves. The Samurai commander, gallant though he may have been, chose to send a significant portion of his finest warriors on a heroic flank march—noble, yes, but not particularly timely. These brave men, marching into the sunrise with all the valor of lions, arrived too late to so much as draw their blades. A grand strategy? Or simply the folly of a man who, I dare say, should have worn a clock upon his helm!
And so, our dear Khan, seething with all the intestinal fury of his fermented yak milk feasts, did the only thing a halfwit leading an army twice the size of his enemy might do—he attacked head-on. What brilliance! What audacity! What cunning insight! Ah, but let us not forget the true stars of this tale—the Samurai warriors, brave, disciplined, yet left to face the full brunt of Mongol hordes because their commander gambled all on a tardy arrival. Had the gods blessed them with swifter feet, or had their leader possessed the sense to keep them near, the Khan's victory might have been far less grand, and we would not be subjected to the stink of his boasts!
This Khan, this foul prince of pungent provender, with the breath of a dragon whose diet consists solely of spoiled cheese, would have us all bow to his supposed genius. But alas, my friends, let us remember: a lucky fool who leads twice the men is still a fool—no matter how much curd he consumes! So raise no cups in honor of the Great Khan’s brilliance, for it was not he who earned this victory. Instead, raise a cup to fate—and perhaps, a nose plug to survive the next time we must endure his fermented triumphs in the next game!
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
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Game 1 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Samurai
Game 2 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Ghaznavid
Game 3 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Burmese
Game 4 Ilkhanid Mongol vs Timurid
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