Feudal Ages at Warfare 2021
Feudal Hungarian vs Tuareg
Game 1 Feudal Hungarian vs Komnenan Byzantine
Game 2 Feudal Hungarian vs Tuareg
Game 3 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal English
Game 4 Feudal Hungarian vs Jurchen Jin
Game 5 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal German
After a frantic IT support session involving trying to juggle two wifi networks and a route marhc across the venue to discover the room where the 25mm ADLG was being played and print off their draw for round 2 as well, the second round for the almost-successful Hungarians hove into Honvedic view.
This time the enemy was not from the Balkans, but from further South - straight outta the Empty Quarter of The Sahara Desert to be more accurate, in the form of the camel-riding Tuareg.
Tuareg is of course The camel army of choice, with Elite Impetuous dromedaries and a load of screaming nutters on foot as well to provide a challenge of unusual form to most armies in some way or another.
Camels in ADLG are very dangerous and intimidating, but however are not quite the knight-munching monstrosities of other rulesets, as they have all been graded with less armour than all Feudal and Medieval knightly types, and the Tuareg army itself is a little hamstrung to say the least with sub-par command and control which largely compels at last 1/3 of the army to attack whatever lies in front of it, for better or worse.
The lists for the Feudal Hungarian and Tuareg from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Warfare can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
Tuareg Rock Music
Unsurprisingly the Arabians elected to defend in the Desert, resulting in a suitable locate for the Hungarian battle mat and then covering large lumps of it with both Brush and Dunes, all of which Camels ignore for all effective purposes (aka running down enemy infantry).
Equally the North African Almost-Bedouin had two commands of mad camelry and one command of mad nutter foot. Faced with such a swirling horde the Hungarian army bunched up into a tight line, avoiding most of the terrain except where they absolutely had to in order to fit on the tabletop.
L'Art de la Guerre hint - It's normally seen as better to attack than defend in ADLG, so anyone winning the initiative roll will often attack. For some armies though, such as the Tuareg, their limited number of terrain types (erm... desert) and reliance on an ability to exploit dunes means defending is very important. This allows them to cover as much of the table as possible in terrain that hampers their opponents, but not their troops. Their army structure is also so one-dimensional that even the disadvantage of deploying each of their commands before the attacker is not really a big deal, as the army is not really all that full of surprises
The Tuareg command on the Hungarian left was more one-dimensional than a completely straight line of purely nominal width (sorry, I started that metaphor and then ran out of ideas how to finish it), with a plan that surely must involve attacking with Elite Impetuous Camels.
Having cunningly figured this out the Hungarian army had assembled a complex shuffle-play arrangement of different troop types to face them down, mixing up their own best quality Knights with stick-poking infantrymen who knew that as long as they could survive the first round of melee would be more than a match for the humped mounts and lumpy riders.
The appearance money alone might let me put my kids through school!
The Hungarian host however was somewhat lacking in Knightly Goodness, certainly when it came to filling the full width of the field of battle and so a rag-tag band of Szecklers and archers were surprised and fearful in equal measure to find themselves torn away from playing with their Rubik's Cubes (invented by a Hungarian...I don't just throw this sh+t together you know...) thrust into the front line as the stampeding horde of camelry bore down on them in a seeming effort to get to the bring and buy long before most other games had gotten past late-stage deployment.
L'Art de la Guerre hint - When, like the Tuareg, you have a lot of impetuous troops and very limited command and control, a rush attack to try and catch the enemy before they are ready is often the best, and only, option open to you!
As in the first game, Magyar shooting had been desultory by the time the enemy camel riders got to nasal hair-smelling and potential charging distances.
Having failed at the whole archery thing, the archers decided than now was the time to slip away and try and get to be first in the afternoon Goulash queue back at Camp Budapest. While the rest of the Hungarian line stepped forward, the many of their peasant bowmen turned and inched themselves away in 40mm increments to get out of the line of imminent scrimmage.
Waving banners seemingly scaled for 28mm Saga figures, suddenly the first wave of Tuareg riders hit the Hungarian line like a widescreen duststorm GDI's in direct from the latest cinematic iteration of Dune!
The simple organisation of a shed load of camels and their crew came face to face with Mercenary German knights, exotic archers, sizzling Szecklers and - over in the distance - yet more proper Knights from Hungary's most recent Upper Class Twit Of The Year intake
This would be a decisive moment - would the centre of the Budapestian line hold this time, or would we see a dice-inspired repeat of the first game yet again?
OK, so the archers and non-Szeckler cavalry proved to be the weakest link in that strategy then.
No-one looked on in surprise and amazement at all as the carpet-riding Tuareg/Generic Fantasy Arabian Commander urged his hordes of camel warriors onward and through the shattered Hungarian line, which by now resembled nothing so much as an Arrakeen shieldwall destroyed by Harkonnen Atomics (am I laying this on a bit thick now?)
L'Art de la Guerre hint - this looks great, but as the Impetuous camels are required to follow up when winning in their own turn they have no enemies left to their front and will now become rather harder for their commander to order around and push into new targets. This is the Tuaregs great weakness - an army command value that gives little scope for anything cleverer than a headlong attack.
The gap widened into a gaping chasm in the heart of the Honved formation as yet more medieval warrior slumped to defeat against the shocking attacking power of the crazed camel charge!
Far from securing an early bowl of steaming paprika-infused stew, the peasant bowmen found themselves directed to try and draw the attention of as many cameleers as they could, sacrificing themselves in the process to leave some of their more capable brethren in arms to continue the actual "winning" part of the fight at a later date.
Hungarian Facts
The Hungarian language is said to be the hardest language to learn, and that might be true, especially in Europe as there is no other language that is like it.
The main reason for this is because the language originates from the steppe of Central Asia and the ancestors of the Magyar tribes who founded Hungary.
It does not therefore share common roots with other European languages
The Tuareg
But, with defeat staring them in the face already, and with a whole game having already been lost to their lack of competence the Hungarian Dice finally decided that now was their time to shine.
Wheeling out potentially inappropriate WW2-related graphic imagery, they rolled across the table to hurl up a slew of sixes, halting the cameleers in their stride at their very moment of potential triumph!
The other camel command was faring far worse, with its only target being a more robust set of quality Knights with supporting troopers providing additional width and overlaps to boot.
Bursting apart on the Hungarian spearmen's hedgehog formation, the Tuaregitanians were first checked, then despatched, and finally outflanked by a force that had at last proved brave and competent enough to stand up to them in simplistic frontal combat.
The third block of Men of Tuar Town in this near-compulsory army design were white-robed Arabian swordsmen of a decidedly impetuous flavour, and they had taken no chances and no time in getting engaged.
Sweeping through the rough terrain they fell upon the Croat axemen and spearmen, only remembering at the last moment that Impetuous doesn't count against stationary enemy swordsmen.
The Croats were keen to make up for their urban failings in the initial round, so proceeded to win as many evens dice rolls as they could to blunt the Arabians wild initial charge even as a unit of mercenary Hospitallers finally realised why they had been inserted in an almost entirely infantry command to emerge blinking into the light just as yet more Arabians foolhardily stepped out of the terrain.
Seriously, did you forget I existed?
L'Art de la Guerre hint - The way Impetuous infantry don't get a bonus when charging enemy swordsmen who are "at the halt" is one of ADLG's interesting mechanisms that looks odd at first glance but works well in practice. The prototype here is the Roman Legion vs the Barbarian Warrior matchup, where the Romans are better able to withstand the initial fury of the barbarian charge if they can do so at the halt, making the initial factors 2:1 to the Romans. If the Romans initiate the attack, the Barbarians charge back anyway and the odds shift to 2:2. This factor-shift creates a tension between the barbarians innate wish to attack anything and everything as soon as possible while discouraging the Romans from just going hunting aggressively for barbarians wherever they can find them. In either case the Barbarians get Furious Charge, giving them an extra hit if they do end up winning the combat. Decisions decisions, the essence of an engrossing yet simple system
Goulash Ahoy! This was an opponent the Hospitaller Knights could fight quite happily all day - but sadly for them the Bedouin infantry had no desire to entertain the Christans martial fantasies and promptly exploded as only Medium Foot caught in the Open by Knights have known so well how to do in rulesets throughout the ages.
The left wing of the Magyarorszag army was proving more than a match for the Tuareg assault, blunting it with nary a camel-toed scratch left on their shining armour in much the same way as Tokaji wine blunts the senses when consumed after a meal rich in stew and dumplings, and forcing the Bedouins into a stuttering fragmentation as they came up against superior eastern block technology and greater numbers.
A set of Essex light javelinmen suddenly realised they too were now at risk of being run down as paprika-infused cavalry broke through what had only moments before been a solid line of camelflesh and riders.
Hungry - unofficial National Anthem
As the white-clad desert warriors struggled to slip-step through the sand in homage to the latest iteration of the Dune movie franchise (and over-extended series of books, of course) and make it out onto firmer ground, Hungarian horsemen and Croatian axemen did their best Zoltan Gera impersonation to kick them firmly into touch
The Tuaregs were fast being booted back into the endless plains of rolling dunes (OK, plain green nominally scrub terrain, cut from thin cardboard) from whence they had so recently emerged.
Tuaregs Attack!
With the Tuaregs now engaged in fighting across the park, their command and control capabilities had all but evaporated like the dew on the surface of a dune, with nary a sandworm to come looking for it.
Their discombobulated troops raced hither and thither in penny packets, not quite sure if they were supposed to be attacking or panicking at this stage of the game
This dispersement was in turn allowing the well drilled Hungarian forces to pick them off one by one with some well placed charges from the I Can't Believe We Actually Had A Reserve Military Orders Knights and a supporting cast of Croat Spearmen
The plate-clad (rather earlier than perhaps they should be) but horse-barding-free Hungarian Knights were now in full flow, sailing Imperiously across the table to wards the North-African-Arabianesque Endzone.
The Tuaregs had simply run out of men, unable to sweep away the Hungarians with their ferocious initial charge, and ultimately falling victim to their own impetuosity and poor command and control
The Result is an 84-26 Victory for the New Mighty And Seemingly Reborn Hungarian Empire
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 Feudal Hungarian Commander
That was indeed more lovely than a dip in a hot spring on the banks of the slow-moving and mostly blue (except when there is a rise in pollution) Danube. I felt my army looked like it could have trouble, but in the end a solid forward defensive stroke seemed to block, and then unseat the cameleers and restore me to Imperial glory.
The fear that Camels inspire seems to be somewhat misguided in retrospect, with the better armour of my Noble Knights allowing us to bully them from the field quite effectively in the end
As an expert in sitting in thermal baths, the warmth of invading the desert was a welcome balm to my aged bones, and a battle where the main approach seemed to be to wait for the enemy lose patience and rush at our army in a piecemeal fashion was also relaxing in the extreme
Perhaps Global Warming will turn the HUngarian Steppe into a simlilarly hot all year round desert, which if it could be done without also affecting the Danube and the underground aquifers supplying our hot springs would indeed be fantastic.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Thou sodden-witted lord! Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows if you are thinking this outcome is a foretaste of more success for your one-lost, once-won army of halfwits!
If you have not been paying attention, which let's face it you shameless tallow-faced infection, seems rather likely, you will notice that there are no more Tuareg armies in the competition, so the luck of the draw which saw your knight-lite, spear-heavy army come up against this sort of force which falters against exactly such an opponent will certainly not repeat, at least this weekend.
The possibility of a totally unique result, achieved in the main by simply indecision and delay, is one which a even pribbling fen-sucked hugger-mugger such as your self could just about scrape through and succeed at!
You have spent too much time in the desert I fear, and as a result your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a long sea voyage. Perhaps the ship of success has however now sailed permanently for you, and we will discover what happens only when we see you facing off against the Feudal English in the next game
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition to see how the Hungarians cope with the longbows of the Feudal English army
You may also like....
Game 1 Feudal Hungarian vs Komnenan Byzantine
Game 2 Feudal Hungarian vs Tuareg
Game 3 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal English
Game 4 Feudal Hungarian vs Jurchen Jin
Game 5 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal German
See more pics of the Hungarian Army being painted
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