Facing the Rampaging Hepthalite Monster (A Response)

I don't care how deep you are, nor that they again started on a rock strewn hill, but the massed (6) ElS with LhS Huns (total 28ME command) that is lined up to run down your bow line is a SCARY thing. We may be three deep in places and have psiloi supports to pass through as first defence against the pachyderms but we were also 50% inferior bow and using the low PiP allocation from the regular command structure.

Add to that another huge (24ME) Hun command that was going to go around our left flank even if we were resting on another rocky hill. We were quaking in our boots.

Bob's given the background and general run of the battle. I'll just some comment from my perspective.

A last minute change of tactical plan saw the cataphracts switched form behind the rocky hill on out left, to be partly in ambush in the right hand dunes. This was a mistake as if we'd stuck to the initial plan we'd have met the outflanking Huns with a wall of steel surprise. Damn this double guessing yourself.

The dunes were placed to give ambush opportunities and I hadn't really thought about the Hepthalites have no terrain abilities. Both dunes did included suitable ambush troops although I tried to disguise this by having the centre command look like a viable light horse command anyway.

Once the armies were deployed I was clearly in trouble on the left with the fast moving, impetuous Hun LhS able to go completely around our left flank un-opposed. So our horsemen (LhF) were sent left to hold up the Huns on that flank for as long as possible (they did a reasonable job but died in the process) and the C-in-C's bowmen were formed into column and send to form a 2nd line on the threatened side. They did arrive but had little impact in the battle. The rest of the C-in-C command went chasing hordes and cavalry to keep our right side clear.

Our troops hidden in the sand dunes chose opportune times to show themselves to threaten enemy flanks and break them up. That was all we could do really, disrupt the enemy formation as much as possible before impact.

Surprisingly it worked. When they did hit we had enough overlaps to just swing it in our direction and not die, and only one elephant punched through the line, to startle the hell out of our KnX general but it then died to a double flanked and rear attack and our general breathed again - momentarily - as he then had to turn 180deg to single handedly halt some Huns who had already dealt to our horsemen and were heading into the rear of the bowlines. Initially he survived the double overlap charge of the Hun general and then 6-1 him in return after our bow shot one of the overlaps dead.

That dead General plus the small but regular casualties inflicted by various semi-isolated combats across the table added up to enough to break the enemy (19-6) and we mostly lived to change our under garments and fight another day.

However there seems to be no volunteers amongst the little lead figures to do it again.

Hepthalites

The Hepthalites were a bunch of steppe nomads who hung around Central Asia about 500 AD. They were possibly, or possibly not, related to the Huns, but anyway covered by the same DBMM army list. As is almost de-rigueur for anyone with an empire in Central Asia, a bunch of them crossed over the Hindu Kush and occupied a large swathe of northern India, giving rise to the delightfully batty "Hepthalites in India" section of the army list. At heart, they're still a Hun horse archer army, but in India can add 6 Elephants (S) and 8-18 Horde (O).

Well once I spotted this the army lists, I knew I had to give them a whirl with the elephants and hordes maxed out. For the first outing I decided to organize it into function groups. The horde were massed in one command with idea that they'd hole up in some rough terrain and hold a flank. A few cavalry would dissuade any enemy who came sniffing around. The elephants were similarly massed in one command with ten LH who could protect their flanks, or be interspersed with them to lengthen the line. The final command consisted of 19 LH(S) whose job was to sweep around the open flank, and be large enough to overwhelm anyone who got in their way.

Nasty big sand dune in the middle

Wayne decided to bring his Arabo-Arameans to the party this week, but organized in a new fashion as the army of Emessa with regular generals and regular cataphracts. The Hepthalites in India spent most of their time sitting around drinking beer and eating curry, so only have aggression 1, but Wayne's boys had even less interested in the outside world with aggression 0, so I had to attack. This allowed Wayne to put down two big sand dunes, one slap bang in the middle of the table, and one protecting his right. He also had a rocky hill protecting his left. I at least got some scrub on my left to hide the horde in.

Once the terrain went down, I knew it was going to be a tricky game for an army with no real terrain troops. Attacking on the left didn't seem to promising, as I'd have enemy held dunes on both flanks, but I thought the light horse could probably overwhelm the rocky hill, and assist an elephant attack between it and the central dune. Interdiction from there was something I'd have to live with, though I put some horde in there just to stop Wayne advancing through it unopposed.

Elephants had to start deep to fit

Wayne plonked down a huge command of bows in the path of my elephants, a mixed central command with some bows behind the central dune, and a large force of light horse (F for fodder). On the right he had another bunch of bows and some cataphracts commanded by the C in C. Wayne opened the play, sending his central light horse to cover the area behind the rocky hill, and marching the bows from both his central and right had commands over towards his left to counter my fairly obvious hook there.

Lined up and ready to go

I spent the opening few turns shaking out the elephants into a decent line, and advancing my light horse round Wayne's flank, with half of them tasked to remove a couple of psiloi from the hill, and the other to sweep round and get into horse archers (F for fragile). Assaulting the bow line head on was always going to be tricky, particularly with various psiloi and camels (LH(I) variety) appearing from ambush in the dune. A wiser course of action would have been to hold my attack until my flank attack had cleared out all the opposition, but that would have made a rather long game, and I wanted to see my elephants charge, so off they went. As was to be expected, with one flank being harrassed, various psiloi jumping in front of the bows (and bagging an elephant) and shooting getting the odd kill and messing up the line, the grand assualt ended up being a bit of a piecemeal mess. We killed a few bow elements, and one elephant broke through the line far enough for Wayne's general to get a whiff of his breath, but eventually the command broke.

Stinky breath elephant

On the other other, a bunch of auxillia and cataphracts had come out of ambush in the dune on Wayne's right and were laying into the horde opposite them, but the latter held on until the end.

Getting round behing

Meantime by light horse command had broken Wayne's and were pouring round behind his bow line and menacing his general. With one command down each, if I could bag him then I could still win. I couldn't get round his flanks initially, but managed to attack him with my LH general with two overlaps. This gave me 3 (S) vs 2 and a decent chance of a kill, but it wasn't to be. In his turn he followed up and finished the game in emphatic style by 6-1 ing the general and breaking the command.

The final humiliation

With no terrain troops, it was always going to be difficult attacking a foot army, so I'm quite pleased to have made a decent game of it. The army organization worked ok, with each command able to perform its role, though possibly the horde command had more pips than were needed. Will definitely try them again.

Victory Stolen from the Jaws of Defeat

Our spies had told us the usurpers were again on the rise and that they were planning some tactical changes.  The Biggest, Fluffiest, Most Comfortable Kushan (and rightful King) was required to again go forth, with a new cunning plan, and smite the foes.

Having lucked in to second deployment twice in a row, it was unlikely to happen again so the plan needed to cover deploying first.  The Kushans, for all their world beating KnX interspersed with ElO might, manoeuvre like a brick and their fearless KnX/ElO wall of tusk and steel (including generals) rarely have opponents who stand still long enough to actually achieve contact.  (We await the joyous day when we get to invade a nation with a heavy foot army - or anything non-steppe really).

So the answer lies in making our Kushans more manoeuvrable than their Kushans.  Additional ideas include terrain use to force match-ups favourable to ourselves and starting well back with a light horse screen.

The two light horse commands, optimised for disheartening points, remained unchanged, one Chiniote LhS, the other Kushan LhF.  All the elephants went into one smaller command, again optimised for breakpoints, with minimal support elements so that all the PiPs could be used on the elephants themselves.  That left an enlarged C-in-C command, with all the KnX and almost all the foot based on the idea that the knights in column with the free C-in-C PiP could move quickly either away from opposing elephants or into a safe target rich environment.

The dangers were a lack of PiPs when the knights needed to get into line and/or expanding/wheeling elephants onto the right heading.  To overcome this they need to start deep and get targeted early and deployed into formation with time to spare if the PiPs deserted at the wrong time.  

To deploy deep I wanted a narrow frontage so planned to use, if defending, two 2FE early(ish) laid terrain pieces, an oasis because its first up and a BuA as I can place it on an edge as required.  

As I was delayed by BKK traffic we started 30 odd minutes behind the intended time and things started to go wrong immediately.  As invader Bob picked first terrain including a wood (Wd) which under the Kushan list excludes my oasis (Oa) so it converted to a marsh (M).  But in the end I got my left flank protected my the march and my right protected by the large BuA, while front and centre running along Bob's deployment line was a long rocky hill (RH) and on his left flank (my right) was the wood.

Deployment showed that I had actually made the frontage too small and fitting everything in was a problem with both light horse and knights forced into sidewards facings columns to stay within their deployment rectangles.  The two light horse commands ran across the front of the battle commands with the intention of quickly moving to the flanks if the match-ups allowed the elephants and knights to get good combat options.

Bob then deploys, clearly at least one command was missing (concealed, flank or delay marching or ambush were all possible) with all the KnX failing to show on table but a line of elephants including the C-in-C on the crest of the hill.  "Good grief" I said, "elephants deployed in the difficult".  The horror on Bob's face was instant - having not put the rock markers on the hill he'd forgotten and used it as a GH.  Or he's a good actor and it was part of his cunning plan - something that nagged at me for the next few moves.

First PiPs and the Chionites are reliable with a 6, plenty of PiPs to get up close to the hill and block the elephants onto it so they have to fight against a QK from their difficult terrain if they wanted to exit the hill.  The other all light horse command goes right, leaving the command behind open to advance, and the Lh head for the road through the BuA from which it hopes to eventually emerge into the space between the BuA and the woods and thus attack the usurpers flank.  

Up come the first rule query.  Roads it turns out, are not good going but undefined.  Combat on roads is clearly stated as being as per ajoining terrain but it's also specific it's talking about combat effect and not any other effects.  After stumbling around the rules for a while we came to the conclusion that a BuA is a difficult area regardless of if its got a road painted on it or not.  This caused me tactical problems as road speed is only achieved for an entire march move along it, the entry onto the road (its an internal road only, no extension across the table) and the exit are at difficult speed which really slowed up the columns overall speed.  

Bob's turn and his Chionites are unreliable - they don't have the latest fashionable hats and wouldn't play until they got equal treatment**.  But his base edge delayed command does turn up, a mix of KnX and LhF and comes on as far away from my elephants as possible.  Apart from that Bob concentrates on putting as many PsO between my LhS and his elephants so he doesn't have to risk the QK.

I wasn't keen on fighting PsO up hill in the rough with my LhS but saw a standoff thereby nullifying the elephants as a worthwhile position.  I was going to get my KnX wall into the opposing Lh without fear as those match-ups where there for the taking.  The LhS were in two groups so I only needed 3 or more PiPs on the green Chionite dice, 2 would be okay and of course they rolled a 1.  So eager to prove again the value of shiny new hats** off the impetuous LhS go into the rough to fight PsO at a disadvantage and not a QK in sight.

The AxO foot were moving left to re-align in front of the elephants to take over the blocking role when the LhS withdraw had they stuck to the plan but failed to clear our KnX line in one move which delayed the wall of steel from advancing far.  Next move that task would be completed but by then it would be too late - the impetuous Chionite charge had got to close to the unreliable enemy Chionites and reactivated them.

From this point on we played a game that for me kept deteriorating - the well dressed Chionites were never going to have enough PiPs/combat outcomes to get away from the RH and they were outnumbered and occasionally hard flanked.  The other light horse command now trying to emerge from the BuA after the slow movement issues but were boxed in by the re-activated enemy Chionites who had switched formation and sent a majority of their element toward their flank edge to open up space for the delayed command to come into the battle line.  

On our left our elephants, while they had adaquate PiPs were positioning themselves to do damage also had to be wary of being out flanked.  While I can't complain about a lack of PiPs this part of the plan was not really successful, elephants in column, aligning then expanding just takes too long and is so easily signalled to the enemy that they can avoid contact.  The elephants didn't play much part in the battle, they were more a threat and a block, than effective (actually taking a loss as well) and floundered around for the whole of the game albeit by the end they were finally in position to engage enemy knights. 

We knew there were still a few enemy KnX unaccounted for and the Chionites soon found them lurking behind the hill.  

Despite sterling efforts against the odds the LhS finally broke but taking some enemy elements along the way, their general fighting on broken to do more damage until finally run over by a uphill KnX.  By then the foot were well in place to try and hold up the elephants and the steel wall (8 KnX including 2 generals and with LhF/O flank guards) was doing damage to enemy KnX and plenty of LhF/S from 3 different enemy commands (this becomes important later).  

We needed a big result from our wall of steel and needed it fast before things went bad elsewhere, as we knew they would.  This was not assisted by a round of PiPs consisting of 3x1s and a 6 - the 6 belonging to the broken Chionite command whose general was in combat.

The boxed LhF took the LhS charge on the lead element only, as planned, expanded out with good PiPs and did good damage in return (the Lh vs Lh low factor lottery) but then were in trouble in the enemy move as LhS on LhF took a big toll, leaving us one element off demoralised (a demoralised LhF command is as good as dead).

The enemy elephants came off the hill, charged our foot with overlaps, and rather ignomiously all of them bounced back.  But that fight was to continue and by the end we had swapped two AxO for an ElO, all from hard flanking.

While this was going on, I, the C-in-C, broke out of line turned 90deg and rear-ended a LhS that had played hard flank the move before with the plan of following up into the flank of the enemy Chionite general who was to be engaged.  Bob kindly reminded me KnX don't purse so we had to plan to do that damage over two moves with my rear protected and other threatening enemy elements ZoCed - so I thought.

It was the Chionite general I wanted as his loss would break them so I killed the Lh and ZoCed him.  He turned to fight, not having an exit route and found a LhF from over the hill to provide a hard flank on me - whoops hadn't seen that - so its +3 vs +3 and I die on a draw or worse!! 

We are made of stern stuff and always carry a Plan B for these situations - so we diced our way out of trouble!! * 

Bob's post has explained the interference of the psiloi on the intended general's escape route (although measurement was a little more respectable than 2mm), so in out next move we charged again with support and crushed him and the enemy Chionites broke, only just in time for our light horse command who were about to collapse as well.

At that point I thought I had a breathing space to work out want to do with the elephants on the left and the LhF on the right.  The wall of steel rolled on and took another bound to take just enough enemy elements to break a command and with that the knock-on effect and the spread of damage across Bob's commands it collapsed the army. 

I was a bit surprised, as I was still without a clear plan to force the issue and my elephant command had still to close down the enemy, my LhF almost damaged beyond use and Bob's elephants could only be held up for period of time and would eventual break through.

So I'm still King Kushan, ruler of the sofa.  While the wall of steel got engaged this time, and it worked, the elephant manuover ploy didn't and the terrain was not the best arrangement.  But we pulled it off.  I think I'll give the Kushans a rest for a while and find something else to engage Bob's new Hepthalite monster (like AxS & ElX toting Khmer ;-) )

Wayne

On a nice reclining sofa

Tha Luang, Lopburi, Thailand

5th March 2012

*   Plan B = "Dice Your Way Out of Trouble"  is in most players manuals.   

**  See early posts about the effect of newly painted improved hat details.

Kushan Civil War Part 3: A Comedy of Errors.

Since I hadn't finished painting up enough horde to field Hepthalites, we decided to resolve the Kushan conflict once and for all. We'd both been mulling over our tactics, tweaking our army lists, and dreaming up new and cunning plans. Having spend some time thinking about how to play as the defender, I naturally rolled high on the aggression dice and had to attack. Wayne's new plan seemed to involve having as narrow a battlefield as possible, so he put down a 2 FE marsh on his left flank, and a 2 ME BUA on his right. I put down a wood on my left just in front of the BUA and a rocky hill in the center with it's crest running along the edge of my deployment area.

Me on the left, Wayne on the right

It was difficult to come up with a tactically interesting plan given the terrain so I decided to just charge up the middle with the elephants and hope that by deploying second I'd get the match ups. I briefly considered flank marching, but as it was hard to fit in all four commands, I delayed one in a vain attempt to cause fear uncertainty and doubt. My idea with the wood had been to ambush some cataphracts in it to get them out wide, but since a huge BUA ended up about 300 paces in front of it, that didn't seem a good plan, so I hid the ones that started on table behind the central hill.

Wayne deployed his Chionite allies in front on the hill, with a screen of light horse between them and the BUA. Behind these was a large command of massed cataphracts and auxillia, and the elephants were all massed in a column deployed well back next to the marsh. I deployed with my auxillia on the right ready to contest the marsh, with an elephant, some LH and the ambushing cataphracts in support. On the left between the hill and the wood were my own Chionites. This left the elephants who I started to deploy on the hill in the center. Now gentle reader, the observant amongst you will recall that this was a rocky hill, and thus difficult terrain for elephants, a fact that I had completely forgotten. Wayne was kind enough to point this out while I still had time to reconsider, but after a quick face palm, I decided to put them there anyway and hope I'd have enough pips to get them out pronto.

What sort of idiot deploys elephants on a rocky hill ?

Wayne took the first move with decent pips all round. The light horse near the BUA formed column and retreated, eventually passing along some internal roads and emerging from the front of the BUA near my lefthand table edge. His Chionites moved to cover the hill and make it hard for me to get my elephants off, and some of them moved behind to make a second line. On my right his elephant column began a serious of indecisive maneuvers that led to them playing little part in the game (though one did get mugged by my auxillia near the marsh) .

On my turn my Chionites were unreliable, and I moved my psiloi to the front of the hill to screen the elephants, and advanced up to the edge of the marsh on the right.

New Chionite hats. Wayne assures me that Noddy blue was all the rage on the steppes c 390

Now Wayne had only intended to screen the hill in the center, but his Chionites, buoyed up by the successes of the previous week, their new hats, and that fact that their general only had one pip with which to restrain two groups, decided to launch a full scale assault. They managed to sustain this for several turns, but with unfavorable factors and no flank support they were eventually worn down and broken. Their assault did however bring them close enough to activate my Chionite contingent.

Get off my hill. The Chionite assault is repulsed.

On the left, Wayne's cataphracts moved up in a menacing line next to the BUA and his light horse continued wending their way through the village stopping at all the local attractions.
Over the course of the next few turns the Chionite attack on the hill raged on, my delayed command of cataphracts and light horse came on and moved to face off against his advancing Cataphract line, and most of my Chionites moved off to the left to deal with the LH emerging from the village. A couple though including the general hung around the hill area and picked off a couple of cataphracts who'd advanced beyond their flank support.

Cataphracts face off.

As the battle unfolded, Wayne spotted a chance to rear end an element next to my Chionite general with his own CinC. His cunning plan was then to follow up into the flank of my Ally General, which would hopefully allow a frontal attack to kill it. This was a good plan, with the small caveat that as a Kn(X) his CinC couldn't advance after combat. This left his flank swinging in the breeze, and allowed my ally general to turn on him frontally and to get a hard flank with another LH. The odds were in my favor and a kill would pretty much decide the battle in my favor. If I lost I reasoned the general could repulse beyond range of any follow up (otherwise he could be hard flanked himself).

So far the battle was going pretty well for me. My Chionite LH(S) were getting into his LH(F) near the BUA, I had already broken his Chionites on the hill, and on my right my auxillia and light horse were moving up to attack his elephants. It was at this point that I made my second mistake of the battle. Wayne's Chionites had broken and my central command of elephants and friends were streaming impetuously off the hill to attack a block of auxillia that he'd brought up to cover the hole. I was just about to do the spontaneous move for an element of psiloi, when Wayne queried whether they were in fact close enough to any of his broken command to count as impetuous. A quick measure revealed that were about 2mm out, but no matter said I, that command had pips left over, I'll just spend one to move them normally, totally forgetting that this would put them slap bang in the center of the space that I needed for my Chionite ally general to repulse (the extra 80p for an impetuous move would have taken them clear)

The silly psiloi (bottom left) that cost the battle.

Of course Wayne won the battle of the generals, my general could only recoil, and in his turn Wayne was able to hard flank and kill him, breaking my Chionite command and thus disheartening my center command too. This left the latter's flank hanging, and Wayne was able to quickly outflank an elephant and sweep up some light elements to break it and steal the game.

So I guess for now Wayne remains king of the Kushans, and the rebels will skulk off and sulk in a corner for a while. It's been interesting to play the same battle 3 times in row and gradually hone tactics and organization, but I think we'll do something different next time. With a bit of luck I'll get my painting finished and field the Hepthalites. This is a mad mix of elephants, hordes and light horse that's so crazy it might just work. So long as Wayne doesn't bring Khmer, I'm looking forward to trying it.