CLWC One Day Tournament

For my first ever ADLG tournament I decided to take a balanced force of Later Macedonians. The broad plan was to take the enemy head on with the simple pikemen command, use the cavalry command to delay and refuse a flank, and use the strategist command flexibly to extend the line with more pikemen whilst bridging any patches of rough going with the medium infantry. My list was as follows:

Strategist
2 Medium cavalry elite
3 Pikemen
3 Medium swordsmen 2HW
1 Medium spearmen
1 Javelinmen
2 Light infantry javelin

Ordinary general included
1 Pikemen elite
3 Pikemen
1 Medium spearmen
2 Light infantry bow

Ordinary general included
1 Heavy cavalry elite
2 Heavy cavalry
1 Light cavalry javelin

1 Fortified camp

Game 1 Vs Later Macedonian

In this game I was defending in the mountains, with a steep hill slap bang in the middle of my deployment zone. The pike command took the open space on the right, whilst the cavalry command held my left with the light horse in ambush on the extreme left in the gully. The strategist took the space in between with most of the medium foot in ambush behind the hill. My opponent had a mixed command led by a brilliant general of pike, Galatian heavy swordsmen, and cavalry on the left. In the centre he had a simple command of mostly elite pikemen, and on the right an Illyrian allied command of medium swordsmen and elite light infantry.

Outclassed on my left flank and unable to enter the bad terrain with my pikes on the right, I adopt the dubious strategy of refusing both flanks and pushing forward to engage in the centre. 

Things start to go wrong as I have the worse of the initial fighting, and my thracian's are prevented from rolling up the flank over the steep hill by elite light infantry. On the left my light horse in the gully have done a good job of disrupting and slowing the enemies cavalry wing.

Finally my cavalry on the left have run out of room to retreat and are about to be destroyed. My centre has evaporated under pressure from the enemy pikes and galatians, whilst on the right their medium infantry have charged out to face me in a desperate bid to tip me over my breakpoint. Unfortunately the game is timed out before reaching its inevitable conclusion, and is declared a draw. With me on 16/24 breakpoints and my opponent on 6/26.

Game 2 Vs Aramean

Attacking in the plains this time, I put my strategist command on the right in the open space between a plantation and the waterway. My pike command squeezes into the centre, whilst my cavalry command are ready to swing out beyond the field on the left. My opponent has a gentle hill swarming with bowmen and covered by fortifications in the centre, tapering away to some heavy swordsmen and javelinmen on the right. Beyond them are a bow armed camelry command, with a strong strike force of impact heavy cavalry tucked in next to the waterway.

The strategist and pike commands converge on the heavy infantry at the base of the hill. A small phalanx and the elite cavalry frustrate enemy efforts to outflank by the waterway, and weather the storm of arrows from the light horsemen. My opponent has split his impact cavalry command in two, sending half back around the archers to intercept my cavalry on the left. Having drawn off their reserves and not fancying a serious attack on the hill, I take the bulk of those cavalry and swing back through the field in the centre.

My attempt to trap the impact cavalry on the right is nearly undone by the heroic enemy light horse, who stand when charged by my pikemen and hold out for 3 rounds of combat! My cavalry commander has successfully redeployed behind my lines to get stuck into combat. 

Though eventually swinging my way again, the impact cavalry make a devastating impression and at this moment it looks like I'm losing on this flank despite committing most of my cavalry and a large chunk of infantry to securing it.

In the centre my two commands converge to smash apart the heavy infantry at the base of the hill, and chase some of the camelry off table. Eventually my Thracian's push on to capture the enemy camp, just tipping their army beyond its 27 breakpoint before the time runs out. With my army on 16 breakpoints, this is a hard fought but solid win.

Game 3 Vs Campanian

For this final game I am attacking in the mountains. A wood neatly cuts the battlefield in half, so i put my strategist command with all its medium foot in the centre whilst the rest of the command leans right. The pike command extend the line out to the right whilst the cavalry occupy the open space left of the woods. My opponent puts two commands down on either side of the woods, both mostly heavy swordsmen with a sprinkling of heavy spear, medium swordsmen, cavalry and light infantry. Unbeknown to me the third command of elite medium swordsmen are in ambush in the woods opposite my pike command.

The medium swordsmen come hurtling out of the woods, with one unit pummeling my theurophoroi and dangerously close to turning my flank. My pike and strategist commands advance to engage all along the line, refusing the flank slightly against the superior numbers of enemy in the woods. I also pull the cavalry from that command back round from the left to hopefully form a reserve in the centre. Way out on the left my cavalry command successfully draw the attention of a whole command of heavy infantry, evading before their charges and keeping them out of the decisive clash.

The theurophoroi are wiped out and my flank is turned, but in the same moment the commander of my enemies elite medium foot is killed! This means for the rest of the game my opponent needs a 3 or more on the pip dice with this command to exploit the success and slam into the rear of my line.

The fight shifts to and fro with both sides bloodied all along the line. We find that the dice consistently award victory to the unit with the worst factors so that almost all units end up fighting with some loss of cohesion. My opponent pushes forward with their medium infantry in the woods, hoping to turn that flank instead before his line crumbles.

With units evaporating across the board, the fight breaks down into individual combats. My left flank has been turned by the medium foot, but on the right consistently low pips stops my opponent from exploiting their earlier success. My cavalry reserve decisively plug the gap to prevent a breakthrough in the centre. In an absolute knife edge my opponent reaches their 27 breakpoint whilst I just about cling on at 23 of 24 breakpoints, leaving my Later Macedonians victorious.