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. 

ADLG Marius' Romans vs Mithridates

 

In 2026, I'm going to try for more regular ADLG games. Its a system of rules I like very much, although I can't say I understand all the movement nuances. I had prepared to play my Gallic army but, on request from a friend, I switched to Mithridatic. This is a list that I enjoy playing and I think I'm close to determining the list I prefer. I was up against Ian and his Romans. 

The Romans in question were led by Marius - a strategist - and were a very small force. To be honest, I think Ian may have stuffed up his points somehow as even the image above shows a very small force. But, he did have many costly options .... legionaries, elite cavalry, 4 light horse, heavy artillery and an fortified camp. 

I didn't have many expensive options. Above you can see my main battle line consisting of mediocre pike and imitation legionaries. 

These are the real legionaries. On the top left you can see Ian's heavy artillery which he promptly advanced past and masked its field of fire for the whole game. This was just one of a series of command mistakes that the Romans made. I don't know what one earth Marius was thinking. 

Marius had failed to protect either flank of his expensive front line. He even had troops in a partial second line seemingly waiting to be outflanked. Above shows my heavy cavalry wing - Sarmatians and Greek cavalry (one elite) plus LC javelin support. These troops would monster the opposing Roman cavalry that was totally inadequate for the task. The entire Roman command would be lost. 

On the other wing, my left consisted of a mass of archers, javelin men and two bases of Thracians with 2HW ... oh, and some gallic heavy foot. 

The Romans threw forward their light cavalry. I didn't have any cavalry to oppose by enough foot to counter and flank this force. 

My scythed chariots were winding up and were protected by enough light foot with javelin to drive away any threats. 

My left wing drove back the light cavalry then began to turn inwards on the very small Roman force. Being elite is good .... but leaves your force numbers low. 

The Romans were marching right down the middle at top speed. They were playing directly into Mithridate's hands. That second line I'd mentioned was struggling to get out from behind the legionaries but this was slow going. My javelin light foot had driven off the Roman lights. 

My cavalry smashed into the Romans. The Sarmatian impact had a direct ... impact ... and my elite Greeks won their fight too. My light cavalry chased their opposition right off the table - you see see this in the top right. I think Marius wanted to hide behind that dice container. 

I also had two bases of heavy spear advancing to support cavalry or hit the Roman line too. 

Those chariots are getting closer ... 

On the other side, the Romans just charge straight into the Gallic foot. The Roman lights had placed a point of disruption on the Gauls previously and this saved the Roman cavalry ... at first.  But now, the Romans were pinned, in a fight they would not win, and were set to be flanked by Thracians with two handed weapons. Again, Marius had blundered. 

Above, the Roman left flank was also evaporating. Marius had lost the fight on both flanks. 

The Romans just tromped ahead but in piecemeal fashion. Some fought the scythed chariots - who had done horrible damage to the legionaries - and heavy spear. Other Romans advanced into my main foot line. But, it was only three legionary based against 6 of mine. 

The Romans were all but destroyed on their right ... by this stage, but their sub-commanders had died. 

The Roman left was a nightmare for them. You can see a lone base of legionaries against heavy cavalry and heavy spear. None of my troops were disrupted and even a scythed chariot remained. 

My light cavalry had even chased down the Roman light foot completely behind the Roman battle line. Marius was in a total pickle as he had lost both flanks and several central fights and completely disjointed his own line. I have no idea what his plan was on this particular day ... but it should never be spoken of again. 

Mithridates humbled Rome. I think the points were something like 19 to 5. I have lost one scythed chariot and suffered 3-4 disruptions across the field. Rome had been crushed due to terrible tactics - just advance down the middle and ignore the movements of the enemy. 

I don't really know what else to write. I guess I just need to make the final decisions on army composition. Maybe some medium spear instead of javelin or reduce the archers by one and substitute medium spear??? Not too sure. 

More Medieval ADLG Venetians

 

It has taken me ages to return to these images and add some simple text. The old '2025 malaise' has struck again! 

I really wanted to play a lot more ADLG in 2025. I didn't work that way for various reasons. Late in the year, I managed to fit in two games and this is one. I trotted out my MUCH beloved Condotta army. It didn't go too well. 

Above shows an image well into the battle. My Condotta, always an elite force, is quiet small and surprisingly missile capable. My pike line was standing off from closing with the opposing German knights due to the missile from crossbow and longbow raining down on them. 

On my left flank, I had a favourable match up against the Germans with my small light command, repeatedly shooting at the medium spear. They were quite caught on the hill as their command needed all CPs to fight in the centre. 

On the right was a different story. I mucked this up a lot and my German opponent rolled out of his skin over several rounds. I dismounted my knights but had fewer troops to fight. I didn't use my lights effectively to 'gum up' this flank and delay this mismatch from occurring. 

The prolonged right hand melee between dismounted knights. 

I was still wearing the knights and other cavalry down. 

Hang on ... these images and going back in time ... shit, I've left the flux capacitor on again!

Above, Italians shooting Germans. 

The Condotta are very, very pretty. 

But, they lost this game. This was a rare loss and really shows how out of practice I was with ADLG. I got my deployment a bit wrong and some of my on-field tactics. Oh, well ... this just shows I need more practice. 

I really like ADLG and want much, much more in 2026. 

ADLG Army - The Gauls Return

With the advent of ADLG - as the dominant ancient rules - armies do not demand the same number of miniatures they once did. With this in mind. I decided to get my Gauls back on the table. This was the first army I collected for ancients. I never used it very often and, when I did, it never performed very well. As it would cost me nothing (almost nothing I purchased new bases), I retouched the paint and rebased by Gauls. 

This is certainly not my best work with the brush, but I'm pleased with the mass effect and will only use the army on occasion. So, it works for me!

Most miniatures are Old Glory 15s with a smattering of Museum and Irregular thrown in. Some were truly horrible sculpts and many of these were thrown away - but I did keep one or two and sneak them in across the army. 

I've six bases of cavalry, two of light cavalry, seven light foot (jav and slingers) and - the meat and potatoes - fourteen bases of heavy foot. So far, I've done 2 generals in chariots with one more on the painting desk. 

I do like the irregular, surging effect created by the mixed poses. It portrays a seething mass of humanity ready to charge forward. 

Above is the shot from my drone. 

The big cock at the back is my camp. In most ancients games, a camp is required and with the symbol of France being a rooster ... what better than a giant cock to waggle at your foes! 

My thanks to my friend, Mick B, who gave me this miniature some years ago. It is Corvus Belli's Boudicca. She'll be my 2nd in command. 

I only have 8 bases of medium infantry Gaesati to paint - that's only 24 miniatures. This will give me the earlier option of medium elite infantry for ADLG. I believe this is the better option. My current version is the later solduri option with two bases of heavy elite swordsmen with armour. ATM, I intend to use my cavalry to support the main line almost from the back - plugging gaps and looking for a flank to exploit. As the heavy foot are all impetuous, I view this as the only part of the force I can actually control with any certainty.