MESBG Men of the West fight Black Gate

 

It was around SA 2100 when the last MESBG game was played at my wargaming dojo. It was a welcome return but I felt fragile. I selected the bludgeoning force, low might, low magic and few profiles of the Black Gate to sooth my return. 

I was up against Nick's Men of the West ... with just men and no eagles. Oh, Legolas was jiggering about somewhere ... 

I only had two battlegroups. The larger deployed in a central position, while the smaller, above, went to the left. This smaller force had the Mouth and a troll. 

Aragorn himself marched with some clanking tin cans. Elsewhere, Pippin and a guard hero (Beregond?) led another force. Legolam was jumping about like a right solo tool. 

The Black Gate went up the guts. The Troll Chieftain was concerned about Aragorn and waited behind the line to discerns his foe's movement. 

We got closer and closer ... 

The Men of the Tower were ready. 

Wait for it ....

Pow! I charged in. Going 2nd helped as Aragorn was out of the first round. One Man went down and no Orcs. Good start. 

When I catch the bastard eagle that took the above image ... Seriously, it shows the battle line. On the top (left flank) the Orcs had secured one objective. In the centre, they had grabbed a second. A whirling melee rages in the bottom (right flank.) Here the Men have secured the third objective. 

But, as only a hobbit and a Beregond (?) hold one flank, I shift the troll around to the centre. I secretly hoped to double team Aragorn with both trolls OR just smash tin cans. This is what the Troll Chieftain was engaged in atm. 

A few more men fell ... things looked good. The red marker at the back is an objective in possession of the Men of Minas Tirith. 

Orcs totally surrounded the two heroes on the left. But, they were beaten back with loss each time. 

The melee on the right now swung around and a succession of Orcs fell. At the very top of the image, Legolas has climbed the ruins and he peppered the Morannon battleline with arrows. He was actually pretty ineffective. My orc banner was his main target but this would eventually fall in combat. 

Aragorn killed a few Orcs then made the fatal choice to fight the troll leader. The other troll appeared just in time to reduce numbers against the troll, meaning it would be a general vs general fight. 

Both used might to strike up ... 

Aragorn staggered back ... less a couple of fate and might. The other troll began to hurl warriors around. He did this with deadly accuracy. One plugged Aragorn, knocking him prone. However, the opportunity escaped as Good won the priority and the heroic move roll off. 

The  Orc main line numbers had been greatly depleted, but so had the men. On the far right, one warrior is running away with the objective. 

Again and again, men and Orcs clashed. Then, Aragorn lost another duel and relentless rending blows tore his armour asunder and battered his body into a lifeless state. 

While certainly whittled, the Mouth finally wore down Pippin's fate and wounds while the orcs eventually cut down the Minas Tirith hero. 

And thereafter, men fell like corn stalks before the scythe. Aragorn's banner effect and fearlessness robbed them of many bonuses. His death exposed the men to the savage fury of the orcs and trolls - both of whom were completely unscathed. The Trolls collected many kills. The objective had now been dropped. 

And the Mouth had won on his side too. Two orcs had been furiously running for turns with the objectives. They hugged terrain to prevent Legolas's unerring volleys from cutting them down (this did happen once.) But, the men were too few to prevent the Black Gate from securing the objectives, quartering their opponent, killing the general and narrowly avoiding their own break point. It was a crushing win to the forces of the Dark Lord. 

Nick and I both had lots of fun. My trolls did good work but the Mouth's magic achieved nothing. The biggest disappointment of the night was Legolas. He only killed a couple (2-3) but, no doubt, in his next game he'll slaughter a whole battalion. Aragorn lost all his duels against the Troll Chieftain - who, in his defence, is a mightily, dangerous beast. The other troll killed 5 or 6 warriors by throwing them about. The Morannons probably were a little disappointing but did account for a number of warriors. 

MESBG supplies another great night of wargaming. Bring on the next one (which will be frustratingly delayed due to a mass of marking and family events for the next three weeks of Mad March!) 

ADLG Feudal Germans vs Seljuk Turk

This week was back to ADLG for a Medieval Feudal period fight. I was running Eastern Seljuk while Ian was running Germans. I out scouted him and chose to attack on plains. Some brush narrowed the battlefield on each side. I pressed up in turn 1 to slow his advances. 

On my left was my foot command - medium elite impact with an elephant - my Mussaphant! Two bases of HC bow swung out to the far left to flank. This command faced knights backed up with some foot of variable quality. As usual, Ian struggled to get his troops into a line. 

My centre was mostly HC bow but one cataphract and one bowmen mediocre did appear. 

Ah, my mussaphant! What deeds will you do tonight?

My right fanned out and rushed up at full speed. This was a mix of LC bow and MC bow. It faced Ian's homage to Richard I - a mass of crossbow support with heavy spear ... in one big blob. 

Frederick Barbarossa led the German heavy knights. 

ON the left, my HC bow flanked the Germans and faced down two bases of MC crossbow. 

Then Frederick lost his mind and charged the mussaphant. 

The centre stopped for a while as the Germans were confident their large block of crossbow would achieve serious wounds on the Seljuks. My light cavalry were pushed forward to absorb the blows. Unfortunately, my cataphract took an early bow wound then another when charged by knights. 

The right was working for me. My LC were flanking the whole line while others poured fire onto a plodding spear unit. The MC waited for a tasty flanks to present itself. 

And my mighty mussaphant ... dear Allah! It annihilated the elite knights of Christendom while the swordsmen did the same. Frederick narrowly escaped by a flanking charge was ready to employ. 

And yet the centre ... where the Germans had the advantage ... looked on with little action. The sultan did manage to rally a point from the cataphracts. They were back in the fight! 

The right progressed. My LC bow were closing on the German camp. 

Brown trousers time for Germany! The knights were dead, Frederick had fallen and now this marauding death star smashed into bowmen. 

The Germans in the centre pulled their finger out and charged but ... as you can see ... the double line formation of German foot simply could not deploy in such as way as to bring its power to bear. This totaled about 40-45% of the total German force. My HC bow in the centre were getting beaten ... but they had the strength to die slowly. This enabled me to press my advantage elsewhere. 

And the Sultan fell in battle. It had only lost him and one base of HC thus far. 

Then my centre was all gone ... I'd now lost 4 bases ... but Germany's damage was insurmountable. 

My right wing skirmishing continued quite well soaking up units that could be elsewhere. 

Look at the back ... the camp has received the sack!

And now the mussaphant crushed the bowmen utterly (with elite impact swordsmen friends) and this formation was not getting tucked into the German spear. In the far background, my HC bow had decimated two MC crossbow. Both German flanks were gone. 

Well, Germany held most of the centre but elsewhere their forces had been scattered and battered. Seljuk losses were about 55% of their 23 morale. The Germans were crushed. Their general killed (the sultan had died too) and their camp sacked. The death star of mussaphant and elite impact sword had been traumatisting. Frederick had charged directly into the teeth of a horrible threat and paid the highest price ... his life was forfeit and all his knights were dead. This exposed the underbelly of the German force which could only mount a piecemeal defence against a rampaging force of Turks. 

A typical horse archer army victory with wins on the flanks while losing the centre. You can never win without loss with the old horse archers. The German force had all the tools to beat my Seljuks but could not bring these forces to bear to their own advantage. Initial deployment did significant harm and the mussaphant fought as well as any such beastie can fight ... and they are very hit and miss in ADLG - which is exactly as they should be. The panic the mussaphant spread among the knights was a real slap that made them vulnerable to the charging foot. A victory that will be hard to repeat as the turbaned cat is most definitely out of the bag ... but then again ... such as deathstar is always a potent tool. 

Pillage: The Dark Ages

 

This week I umpired two games of Pillage the Middle Ages to culminate the Icelandic blood feud campaign. First, Orm the Overbearing ambushed Thorkel Crone-Nose. 

Thorkel needed to cut his way to safety and moved his battle line out around a barrow to get off the board. 

Orm (the bald guy in the foreground) ordered his men forward in pursuit. 

A furious scrum erupted beside some large stones. Archers picked off supporting spearmen to even the odds. At times they threated Thorkel and Orm. 

Thorkel made a break for it! He did get away but at quite a cost. Orm's warband, was mostly made up of serfs but these fought well to inflict many casualties on Thorkel. It was a very narrow result but Orm had regained some of his honour ... but he was still an outlaw. 

So what does an Overbearing outlaw do? Burn Thorkel's long house to the ground with him inside. It didn't quite work and a fierce battle erupted around Thorkel's farm. 

His men stoutly defened the hall. 

Orm's men rushed onwards with murdered in the eyes and hearts. 

Again, archers rained down shots. Both sides targeted the leaders. 

By Odin! The hall of Thorkel was ablaze!

Scattered melee broke out across the farm as hatred surged in the hearts of all involved. Each side had suffered at the hands of the other. Both fought to end the feud once and for all. 

Orm, in the background, has suffered a wound. 

But so had Thorkel. Both reddened their axes slaying their foes but arrows whined again and again gnawing a shields and seeking a way between steel rings. Thorkel's forces were slowly being massacred. Finally, several arrows pierced his armour and this mighty warrior died. Orm was overjoyed but he was a hunted man. 

Bards claimed that Thorkel did not die but he never recovered his former battle prowess or vigour. Orm lived long in the wilderness, his inner spite eventually turning him into a troll. Many had died and the kinsmen of each swore an oath before the local gothi to end the feud.