Lord of the Steppes at the Southern League, Bournemouth 2023
Hunnic vs Yuan Chinese
Game 3 Hunnic vs Medieval Hungarian
The first freezing morning of the wargaming calendar saw ice scraped off the car before an early drive down the wide open spaces of the M3 to Dorset for the final Southern League One-dayer of the year at Entoyment
The event was themed for The Steppes, with every army having to have Steppe terrain in its list of permitted home territories.
To further skew the battles towards wide open plains, anyone selecting "Steppe!" as their chosen terrain prior to deciding Attacker/Defender would enjoy an additional bonus on their Initiative roll.
So, of course, with all this Steppe encouragement, my first opponent with a Yuan Chinese army elected to bring a bucketload of infantry and, winning the initiative anyway, defended in the Mountains to narrow the table down considerably !
The Yuan has the potential to be a Mongol-type army, but it also has plenty of Chinese-style mixed spear+bow infantry, and in some incarnations very tasty elephants too. However Elephants were banned in this event, so the mixed shooters were still a potent anti-mounted weapon in waiting
The lists for the Hunnic and Yuan Chinese from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Southern League near Bournemouth can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
The two armies arrayed across the plain-shaped bit of the board that was not covered in mountains and other terrain inimical to the Hunnic cavalry, a wall of mixed shooters spanning much of the board for the Yuan.
Across the vast expanse of the battlefield, the Hunnic horse warriors surged forward like an unstoppable tide, a thunderous symphony of hooves resonating through the air as the two on table commands rushed forward and the off table flank march quivered in the distance.
Yes! an immediate arrival with a 6 rolled in their very first turn signifying a massive stacking-up of Hunnic warriors on the Yuan right
The Yuan had left a hapless Korean allied contingent on that flank, and no doubt the Yuan commanders would be delighted that the weight of Atilla's attack would not be falling on them.
Thundering hooves announce their arrival, the Hunnic horde on the horizon, a storm of impending doom.
Atilla's Dinner time
With the game moving on at some pace, thundering hooves and terrible command and control dice condemn Atilla's contingent of Impetuous Herul lancers to initiate an unwise charge that sees the Germanic riders hurl themselves at the Koreans, their steeds cutting through the battlefield like living blades.
Amidst the chaos of battle this is the moment the Germanic horse warriors have been hoping for, and it has arrived really early doors as well.
They charge forward, their unruly hair streaming behind them like unfurled banners of war, a tribute to the untamed winds of the high steppe and, perhaps, also evidence of a somewhat neglectful commitment to booking themselves in when the perambulations of the mobile barbershop that roams across the Eurasian Steppe serving the many itinerant tribes crosses the path of the Huns mighty baggage train.
The crazed Heruls had been employed by Atilla to carve pathways of chaos through the enemy, but sadly they appeared only to have read the first half of that requirement and seemed content to create chaos for Atilla by following up their over-eager charge with a disastrous round of combat to open their account.
As the Heruls clashed with the Koreans, a pungent aroma wafts through the air, a unique blend of equine musk and the questionable perfume of well-travelled warriors who might have overlooked a bath or two.
The Hunnic army was now fully committed to the attack against the Koreans, with those few units not involved in this furious assault being withdrawn away from a rapidly advancing wall of Chinese infantry intent on peppering the retreating horsemen with arrows and crossbow bolts which slice through the air with an unrelenting determination.
With a primal grace, the Hunnic horsemen turn and seek to ride away from these many threats, as if the very earth beneath them is their ally, navigating the bare and open terrain with an innate mastery of their craft and a wargamers theodolite-like view for staying just out of range of enemy archery wherever they can.
My Hunnic Army List
Command 1
Competent Sub General
1 Noble, Heavy Cavalry Bow Elite
3 Horse Archers, Medium Cavalry, Bow Elite
2 Alans, Light Cavalry Bow
1 Horse Archer, Medium Cavalry Bow
2 Infantry Archers, Bowmen
The army is predicated on two key principles.
Firstly that Elite Medium cavalry are very efficient shooters who can rely on their Elite status and their penchant to run away from danger to compensate for not being (armoured) Heavy Cavalry.
Secondly, it needed to use all of the Hunnic bases I retained from the collection of a clubmate who passed away a couple of years ago, and who's full collection I sold on behalf of his family. That had half a dozen Medium cavalry Hunnic bowmen, 2 bases of Light Horse, and two lance/javelin armed Heavy Cavalry - so they all needed to fit in the list, with the resat being my own older stuff.
Huns obviously do what Huns do, ride around, evade, some back, shoot a lot and then charge in when the enemy is ragged - so the infantry bowmen are the interesting element here.
In a "Steppe" period where terrain would be mostly Steppes I chose them on the basis that they could vaguely occupy rough ground, and their extra firepower and range against mounted opponents could be a nice way to tip the balance in key areas of the table where most of the action would be Cavalry vs Cavalry
Suddenly, as if with a thunderclap of incompetence, the Heruls are back in the carrying tin and the Koreans are victorious.
The clash of steel and the anguished cries of the the dregs of the Heruls gently ebbs away, as fresh waves of slightly second string Hunnic warriors realise that they cannot rely on their hard-charging friends and that they too may need to gird their loins and get ready to plunge into the midst of their adversaries to gain the upper hand that their strategic position demands.
Manoeuvring with a predatory grace, the Hunnic riders weave a way through the storm of enemy archery with care and precision, closing in on the static lines of enemy foot soldiers and unleashing deadly barrages of their own to contest the archery battle in a way the Yuan and Korean infantry had not anticipated.
With the Korean cavalry now facing another tide of Hunnic horse archers, the flank marching Hunnic command was chewing it's way into some hastily redeployed Yuan cavalry who now stood between the flank marchers and the flank of the entire Korean contingent.
Steppe Warriors Foodstuffs
The battlefield becomes a kinetic tapestry as the riders execute manoeuvres with a dance-like precision, their horses an extension of their untamed will, and, for those figures which happen to be one piece castings, a literal extension of the rest of their riders bodies as well.
Fighting at close quarters right behind the line of transfixed Koreans, the Huns fresh from their urgent ride around the flanks swung swords and axes at close quarters, each thrust and hack finding its mark with a cruel precision, turning the Yuan reserve cavalrymen into a patchwork canvas painted with the crimson hues of despair.
The gleam of the two sets of warriors swords is matched only by the gleam in their eyes, which, if you squint, may reveal a shared affinity for horse-saddle assisted fermented cheese that transcends even the most pungent of aromas and links these two tribes of steppe nomads despite the centuries of horse-based dairy fermentation expertise between them.
What's The Odds of That Then ?
This chart shows the casualties that can be expected when an Elite Medium Cavalryman goes into melee with an Average Heavy cavalryman
Overall the total number of expected hits on each side is pretty even - 16:15 - however the Elite MCv just about shade it overall.
The Elite Cv will however also gain benefit from their Elite status when shooting, as they add +1 to all low dice rolls in shooting too, gaining benefit offensively as well ass defensively. This was essentially the paper-thin justification for my selection of a predominantly MCv Elite army rather than a HCv army with more average troops in it
Far, far away from the excitement of close quarters swordplay, right across to the other side of the Hunnic army, it was possible to catch a glimpse of an extremely worried Hunnic warrior.
His unit of non-Elite Medium Cavalry was essentially an archery magnet, and it seemed that he had been left to hold up the entire left wing of the Yuan army on his own - bearing in mind the Yuan could pretty much all shoot, that was not a great career choice at all.
As the earth trembled beneath the galloping onslaught of the Yuan Khans Guard, the last Hun gives a wan smile, exposing in the process a dental array which served also as cautionary tales for the perils of neglecting oral hygiene during long rides in the saddle across the Eurasian Steppes (especially flossing. That's the really, really important bit, otherwise those bits of yak meat can get really stuck in there. Yeuch!).
Like apparitions of a former war, the Hunnic cavalry were now in full scale retreat from the advancing Yuan army, who's eager riders streaked across the landscape (fully clothed but fast - not the other kind of streaking) to quickly occupy the parts of the battlefield that the Huns had so recently vacated.
The Hunnic baggage guards looked on carelessly from their stockade, confident in their knowledge of the ADLG rules on Fortified Camps, and grateful that their real-world antecedents had been far more assiduous at maintaining nocturnal perimeter security than they were at more boring stuff like gardening, agriculture and personal hygiene
L'Art de la Guerre hint - Every army in ADLG has a baggage camp, which damages the army's morale if captured by the enemy. You can pay extra points for a Fortified baggage camp, which is then impossible for Light Troops to capture, and even stands a pretty decent chance of resisting capture by enemy combat troops too, with enemy cavalry finding it harder to assault it's walls than infantry would.
These camps also boost your army break point by 1 more unit - however not every army is allowed this option, only those with a bit of a record for actually having them.
Attila's equestrian disciples were now turning the screw on the embattled Koran contingent, having emerged like avenging spirits from their flank march clad in armour that glinted malevolently in the early morning electric light.
Charging into the fray where they could, and peppering the Koreans with skilled archery where they dare not close in, the horsemen and their archery-skilled riders were starting to carve a path through their bewildered foes who, in addition to fending off swords, had to contend with the fact their commander was busy fighting for his life in mortal combat as well as slathering on the occasional dab of eau de fromage.
L'Art de la Guerre hint - If the General leading a contingent/command of troops is in combat, then it takes extra command points to give any orders to the troops in that command - I guess as he's quite busy ?
Dust billowed and began to obscure the horizon as the Yuan left wing swept imperiously forward to try and deflect the Hunnic warriors from their self-given mission to eradicate the Koreans from the map.
Both sides were involved in a swirling maelstrom of chaos, the Hunnic horse archers doing their best to remain in the centre, soaking the Yuan infantry with skilled archery until the last possible moment before retiring out of their path with grace, speed and a more than faint whiff of that peculiar kind of flatulence that comes from the perfect digestive fusion of man, horse and past its sell-by date fermented goats milk
Beneath their helmets, the Huns wore grins that spoke of a camaraderie forged in the crucible of battle, or perhaps in the sharing of a particularly potent cheese wheel?
In the hazy shimmer of the battlefield, Korean resistance on behalf of their Yan overlords collapsed like a deck of cards, as the Hunnic horse archers broke through the Korean lines seemingly at will, silhouetted against a blood-streaked sun.
This battlefield was not only a test of arms but also a test of olfactory endurance, as the horsemen's distinctive odour had long since developed into a formidable weapon in its own right, but now the unpleasant stench of Korean fear, turbocharged somewhat by a lifetime of Kimchi as an accompaniment to every meal, added itself to the nasal confrontation
Swords clashed, horses neighed, and through it all the Hunnic warriors' laughter echoed like the joyful cackling of jesters who just happened to have a penchant for fermented products of all kinds as they fled from the sweeping Yuan left hook.
The sky above the fleeing Huns darkened with a shadowy cloud, but it was not indoor rain that was falling — instead, a hailstorm of lethal Yuan projectiles descended upon the unarmoured Hunnic horsemen as they scrambled to get out of the way of the onrushing Yuan forces who were squeezing Atilla's men into an ever smaller pocket of the board.
War cries blended with the ominous hum of arrows as the Hunnic horde suddenly realised that the Koreans had both lost their Commander, and with him any semblance of command and control.
Atilla's men swooped upon their prey with ruthless precision, their battle cries a peculiar blend of menace and mirth, creating a surreal symphony to accompany the clatter of weapons and the subtle, cheesy undertones of the skirmish as they ripped through the last scatterings of the Yuan army's right flank leaving only a handful of stunned and time-limited survivors in their wake.
The Catalaunian Plans Battle
Veils of dust rise as the riders of both armies gird their loins to approach one another yet again, re-joining battle across an entirely different axis to the one that they started the morning fighting across.
The future outcome remains unclear, a both sides having been nearly shattered by the barrage of death that the sheer volume of archery in evidence has unleashed upon the tabletop.
In the midst of all of this combat, with the Yuan considering retreat having seen their Korean partners eviscerated and the Huns being staggered to tot up their losses from the relentless Yuan infantry and mounted archery, every now and then a particularly enthusiastic warrior might offer a foe a wedge of fermented goats cheese as a makeshift peace offering, creating a quirky interlude in the midst of such desperate conflict.
The air is now thick with the acrid scent of burning feathers as flaming arrows add an infernal touch to the deadly dance which both armies have seemingly locked themselves together in.
Arrows fly, swords sweep, bodies tumble from saddles and fall under onrushing hooves as both armies suddenly realise that the game is afoot, and both have suffered unsustainable casualties.
The Result is a Mutual Destruction, with both armies falling to their knees before sloping off home to recover
L'Art de la Guerre hint - If both armies reach their break point in the same turn, both break and the result is classed as a draw - although one where both sides earn a few more points than a non-decisive game in which neither side breaks
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 Hunnic Commander
Brave warriors of the Hunnic horde, hear me now as we reflect upon the recent clash with our formidable foes, the resilient Yuan Chinese tribe and their Korean allies! A battle where the gods themselves must have paused to witness the clash of titans, for neither side emerged unscathed, and both were forced to retreat with a taste of bitter struggle lingering in the mountainous air.
Now, my valiant comrades, let us address the tactical intricacies of the battlefield. Our enemies, cunning as they are, lured us into a narrow pass, where the mountains themselves conspired against our beloved hit-and-run tactics. The very terrain, like an unyielding adversary, denied us the open space we crave. But fear not, for in the face of adversity, the true spirit of the Huns shone bright!
Behold, my brilliant strategic manoeuvre! A bold flank march that nearly turned the tide of battle! Yes, my friends, the glory of that masterstroke was mine to orchestrate, a testament to the genius that guides the destiny of the Hunnic horde. We danced upon the precipice of victory, and though the spoils of triumph eluded us this time, the credit for the valiant attempt rests upon these broad shoulders.
Now, some may question the choice of ground on which we waged this monumental struggle. But let me be clear – the mountains themselves conspired against us! We, the Huns, are creatures of the vast plains, not confined to the rocky embrace of narrow passes. It was not a choice, but a circumstance thrust upon us by the whims of fate. Blame not the general who navigates treacherous terrain but marvel at his ability to dance upon the precipice of victory despite such challenges!
And now, my warriors, as we regroup and prepare for the battles that await us, let not the scent of defeat linger in our hearts. Instead, let the aroma of a grand feast fill the air, a feast of fermented vegetables, milk, cheese, and the finest horse offal delicacies! A banquet fit for champions, to restore our spirits and rejuvenate our resolve. Yes, there may be risks, perhaps a bit of pungent cheese-induced flatulence, but what is victory without a touch of aromatic bravery?
To the feast, to camaraderie, and to the undying spirit of the Hunnic horde! May our next battle be as fierce as our appetite for triumph! Onward, my comrades, to glory and full bellies!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
What lamentable tale dost thou bring to mine ears? A clash 'twixt Huns and Chinese nomads, thou sayest? Verily, 'tis a fable of folly and tactical missteps that would make even the bumbling fool in a Shakespearean comedy blush!
Atilla, that misguided leader of the Huns, doth bungle upon the stage of war like a drunken actor in a farcical play. First and foremost, the man hath chosen to wage his battle in mountainous terrain, where even the goats would hesitate to tread. Was he, perchance, trying to re-enact a tragic tale of Sisyphean struggle, where victory is an unattainable boulder forever beyond his grasp?
And lo, the lack of proper armour on his men – a choice so absurd it rivals the whimsy of a court jester! Did Atilla believe his warriors were impervious to the arrows of the enemy, as if protected by some invisible cloak of invincibility? Methinks his strategy had more holes than a wheel of mouldy cheese!
In the throes of battle, as victory danced on the precipice of his grasp, did Atilla snatch it from the jaws of defeat? Nay! His fleeting success was but a cruel jest played by the gods, who, like mischievous sprites, revel in leading foolish mortals astray. A master tactician, he was not – more like a shepherd losing track of his unruly flock.
And now, let us turn our gaze to the culinary choices of these Huns! Fermented delights, thou sayest? A diet fit for wayward bandits, perhaps. But, ah, compare it to the delectable Kimchi of the East – a fermented masterpiece that would put the Huns' sorry fare to shame! Even in the realm of sustenance, Atilla cannot secure victory.
In conclusion, this battle, this sorry spectacle, is a testament to the inadequacy of Atilla's leadership. His strategy is as flawed as a counterfeit map, his choices as puzzling as a riddle spoken in tongues. The gods themselves must chuckle at the tragicomedy that unfolds under his command. Verily, a grumpy old general such as myself cannot help but wag a weary finger at such folly and sigh wearily in fear that the same mistakes will be seen again in the next game
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
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Game 3 Hunnic vs Medieval Hungarian
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