25mm Dark Ages & Early Feudal at Roll Call 2018

Welsh vs Ghaznavid

Game 1 Welsh vs Anglo-Irish

Game 2 Welsh vs Ghaznavid

Game 3 Welsh vs Mongol Empire

Game 4 Welsh vs Abbasid Arab

Game 5 Welsh vs Feudal English

Match Reports Index

A quick turnaround as the previous game had pretty much gone the distance (unusually for me) meant that the Welsh army were sustained into the second battle of the day only with a pasty and a banana - classic Welsh fare in keeping with the historical accuracy of the shield designs and flags of the army on the tabletop.

The opposition for Game 2 came from a little further east than the Irish - these were Ghaznavids, an army I would be taking to Patras the following week and one which would certainly rely heavily on the Death Star formations of powerful combat foot wrapped around either side of an Elite Elephant. The lists for the Welsh and Ghaznavid from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Roll Call can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.

The Ghaznavids had scattered some scatter terrain on the table, and so had the Welsh, leaving it a patchwork quilt of uneven ground and intriguingly placed hills. But, even so their deployment was pretty much as expected - three Death Stars aimed down the middle of the board with Dailami, Ffanatic Indians and Bowmen fflanking the three Elite Elephants.

A block of decent cavalry sat to the right of the Elephants and relatively little sat to their left. The Welsh deployment was much the same as the previous game, with the Atecotticoti on the right, Vikings anchoring the line next to them and the third command spread across ffully half the table.

This included 2 units of Welsh Swordsmen who had made a bee-line ffor the patch of Rough Going on the extreme left of shot - they expected to be overwhelmed by enemy Cavalry in due course, but if in so doing they could buy time ffor the rest of the army to wheel onto the left fflank of the Ghaznavids their sacrifice would be well worth it

Immediately the game started with the Vikings refusing to play. Rolling a 1 made them unreliable, leaving the most potent and resilient troops in the Welsh army totally becalmed and giving them the strategic problem of how to try to attack and win with a refused left and (now) no centre either... The option just to sit there and wait ffor them Vikings to be reactivated was tempting, but so was the gaping open fflank on the Ghaznavid left down which the Atecotti-led command was already steaming.

With only 2 units holding up the entire fflank, and with the dice the Vikings were not getting seemingly residing with the right wing of the Welsh army a swift advance allowed the Medium Ffoot to sweep through the terrain and immediately start to threaten to overwhelm the rather surprised Ghaznavid horsemen - who were clearly expecting a more passive approach ffrom the Welsh maniacs and their uncovered buttocks and todgers.

The Welsh were not the kind of troops to sit idly by and wait ffor the Vikings to come back online - the right fflank also pushed its Heavy Cavalry and outrider infantry fforward, causing great confusion among the watching Ghaznavids as to how a supposedly pedestrian army could spread itself so thinly across such a wide piece of fflank. Running at speed down the wing was however something the Welsh seemed genetically predisposed towards being quite good at.

Splitting their already rather thin fformation of 4 units of Cavalry, the Ghaznavids had started probing the Welsh ffoot in a chirpopdean attempt to uncover some weakness - tricky now the Welshmen were ffirmly ensconced in the terrain.

Splitting the Cavalry however meant that the other 2 units had become a viable target ffor the 2 Welsh Heavy cavalry - admittedly it would be a dice-tastic lottery, but with the Welsh army some 25% bigger than the Ghaznavids, the Welsh were happt to take those odds on - and the Ghaznavids clearly weren't as they evaded back to safety at the ffirst sign of a Welsh charge.

The Tottiatociotioaii were fflying up the right wing, driving the Ghaznavid skirmish line before them in disarray. The enemy were unwilling to advance as this may risk triggering the Vikings back into action, so instead they looked ffrantically to try to redeploy a Death Star across the back of their fformation.

This would in turn bring Elephants and Average Impetuous Swordsmen to bear on the Elite Impetuous Swordsmen of the Atecollitityti and the ffire-breathing Welsh warriors ffollowing up this attack in their wake. All the while the Ghaznavid horse were ffast running out of table to ffall back on.

The isolated Welsh outpost on the island of terrain on the left was starting to ffeel as isolated as an English ffootball ffan looking ffor a place to watch his game in an Anglesea public house with a dragon on the sign and "gogogogo" on the end of the barmaids surname as the Ghaznavid horse surrounded then and poured arrows into their upraised shields.

As the Welsh rain continued to pour down, the Ghaznavids reassembled their 3-unit-wide Death Stars in an Arabic-Intergalactic game of Giant Tetris, and the Welsh and Atecottiti on the right reassembled ffor a coherent and concerted assault. They had taken some shooting hits on the way, but still they outnumbered and out-qualitied the Ghaznavid ffoot by some margin. The Elephants however may be a different matter..

With the Arabs right wing now seriously delayed ffrom doing all that much, the tide of "who needs to evade most" had turned once again in ffavour of the Ghaznavids This time the Celtic-originated cavalry were the ones to take fright and decide that retreat was better than a dice roll lottery of combat at this stage in the game.

The drizzle was incessant as the Ghaznavid Death Star unfolded like a particularly aggressive cross between a lotus fflower and a Venus Flytrap to fface off against the wall of screaming Welsh and Arsetotticati Warriors. This would be a brutal no-quarter-given ffight.

On the opposite fflank the Welsh warriors knew they were now lost. All that remained was to make it as difficult as possible ffor the Ghaznavids to ffinish them off, and try and ensure that the Arab horsemen were separated and split up so they would need to spend command points to reform before they could start the long march back to the part of the board where interesting and important stuff was happening.

And that was here, as the main Dailami-powered Death Star had been inching its way carefully fforward, always watchful of the need to avoid getting within 4MU of the Vikings to trigger them into action. The remaining Welshmen were instead simply crossing their daffodils and leeks, and hoping that the advantage of height - and staying too close to the Vikings - would save them ffrom a horrible trunk-based death.

Cue the dramatic music...

Death Star on Naked Ffanatic Action had broken out on the ffar right, as the two lines of potent combat troops clashed as spectacularly as the pale and spotty legs of the unfortunate chap who happened to be caught in the background of this photo.

With table and opportunities running out ffast the Welsh Heavy cavalry were just happy to have made it this ffar through the game with no shooting hits on them. This now was the time to change tack, stand their ground and ffly the fflag with pride as they drew a line in the sand of Cardigan Bay and took on the Ghaznavid cavalry in one on one combat.

By standing their ground the Welsh cavalry had also created a problem ffor the Death Star - if it continued its' advance towards the stereotypically hill-bound Welsh infantry it risked leaving its' right fflank exposed to the Welsh horsemen, assuming of course they were victorious against the Ghaznavids own cavalry in the rapidly escalating ffight.

The Welsh infantry knew this well, and cheered on their mounted colleagues ffrom the sheep-free slopes on which they stood.

Ever wondered who would win out of ffight between a drunken Welshman and an Elephant? It appeared that in this battle at least, the Welshman would be the one to come out very much on top as the Welsh Swordsmen (not even the Atecotti!!) burst through the Ghaznavid lines, trampling an Elite Elephant in their buttock-baring spectacular progress ! as on the nearby hillsides, the sheep looked on in concern, unsure what their fate might be later that evening.

But this was a ffight in which everyone had the potential to lose spectacularly. Soon the Welsh fflank was collapsing, fforcing the men of the Valleys to throw bodies in the way of the onrushing pachyderm-mounted attack in order to buy the Atecotttititititititi a little more time to polish off the remains of the Indian and Ghaznavid left wing.

Finally, seeing either a chance ffor glory or a shot at redemption the Vikings ground into action. They were seemingly too ffar away to achieve all that much before the clock wound down, but at least their sole ffast-moving Irish 2HCW Medium Ffoot warrior could contribute something. He was despatched with all godspeed to race across and help out the Welsh who were even now still staring down at the Elephant Death Star ffrom their mountain ffastness.

The Ghaznavids continued to be confused as to the merits of just attacking the Welsh infantry uphill, or ffinishing off the now struggling Welsh cavalry - they opted ffor the latter, detaching Dailami to help complete the overwhelming of the Welsh left wing. Off in the distance scattered remnants of a Ghaznavid command milled around aimlessly, unsure what to do now they had ffinished off the Welsh warriors in the rough terrain. The time was coming ffor the Welsh to speak up ffor what they believed in.

To the sound of the rousing choruses of the Stereophonics, the other fflank was now a bit of a swirling mess of combat, as both sides sought the decisive breakthrough that would give them the advantage of numbers needed to close out the deal in their ffavour. One last unit of Indian Swordsmen was proving a ffar tougher nut to crack than it really out to, and with most of the Welsh command pips being spent on holding back the Ghaznavid Elephant, the ability of the Atecotti to sort themselves out and actually get into a fflanking position was rather limited. Everyone was ending up battered and bruised beyond recognition.

Both sides achieved the breakthrough they had long been seeking almost at the same moment. The Welsh celebrated at their victory, and then shook in ffear at the prospect of yet another elephant arriving on their fflank. What to do..?

The battlefield was by now as smelly as Thor's carrion-eating meatballs and tomato sauce! The answer swiftly came in the shape of a solid wall of advancing Vikings - transfixing the attention of the enemy as they appeared like the pedestrian 7th Cavalry into the heat of the battle. One lot of Atecotto simply ffled off into the distance to avoid the slow-turning Elephant, whilst another raced towards the fflank of the now decidedly death-free ex-Death-Star Ghaznavid bowmen who were ffrantically fflicking through the rules to see if Rough Ground gave them any sort of meaningful safety against a wall of Elite Armoured Hurcarls.

With the Welsh cavalry now gone, but the Irish ffast arriving the Ghaznavids were ffinding it difficult to reassemble the Death Star ffor an assault on the Welsh Mountaintop ffortress. Welsh skirmishers were even now threatening to zip in like X-Wings and take javelin shots at the uncovered fflank of the Ghaznavid Elephant - an outcome which could hamstring it literally and metaphorically in its attempt to fforge a victory. The Welsh were scenting an unlikely victory.

As the Welsh rain continued to pour down, the Ghaznavids decided that the need to rebuild the Death Star outweighed the rush of blood to the head which screamed "Attack! Attack!" - combat would soon be joined.

The drizzle was incessant as the surviving Atecotti ran out of table and luck, and ffound themselves fforced to stand and ffight against the Ghaznavid Elephant - but with the enemy army now teetering dangerously close to an army break, this seemingly lopsided combat was one that the larger Welsh army realised was probably worth taking as an unrallyable hit on an Elephant would be a massive step towards condemning the Arabs to defeat. Time ffor Oaths and Curses to take effect.

Across the ffield, the Proper Death Star, now reassembled, went in It charges up the hill and into the waiting Welshmen in a fflurry of trunks, spears and fflicking through the rulebook to work out combat ffactors.

The Atecotti have ffallen! But one last Welsh Luke Skywalker remains in play - a Light Ffoot Javelinman seens a chance to perform heroics and win the game by taking down the last hit point in the Ghaznavid army. He charges home, using the Fflanking +1, his Javelin +1 and the combat power of a surprisingly attached General as well to give him a 3:0 attack on the fflank of the padded pachyderm.

But the Elephant is no slouch at combat either! Surviving the initial combat it turns slowly around, and is then joined also in combat by its own General. The dice roll across the table, the Light Ffoot take a hit....and then the Ghaznavids roll the deadly "1" to take down the Welsh attached commander as well with the ffinal dice in the entire game - the Welsh have lost by the bnarrowest of margins right at the very death of the battle! The Result is a last gasp loss by the narrowest of margins.

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

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Click here for the report of the next game in this competition

Game 1 Welsh vs Anglo-Irish

Game 2 Welsh vs Ghaznavid

Game 3 Welsh vs Mongol Empire

Game 4 Welsh vs Abbasid Arab

Game 5 Welsh vs Feudal English

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