A Tang Tale at the Brian Boru Trophy 08

this was a 200AP, 3 round comp in Dublin.
My list was:
C1: 1xRCvS CnC, 7xIAxS, 1xIPsO, 2xRPsO, 2xRBwO, 1xIBgI - 16.5ME
C2: 1xRCvS SG, 5xRBdF, 4xRPsO, 2xRBwO, 1xIBgI - 15.5ME
C3: 1xRCvS SG, 1xRCvO, 8xRPkF, 1xIBgI - 15ME
Feigned Flight stratagem

Not a great army but it is what I'm painting at the moment so I was
determined to use it. Armies like this with many minima/troop types
tend to be scrappy at 200AP as you have a mix n match of troops
hence I maximised the foot to make the army more homogeneous.
The Irr foot version of this army is probably better but I haven't had
time to paint Irr Bw yet so I stuck with the Reg option.

The PIP allocation is basically always hi, med, low to commands 1,2
and 3. C3 is really designed to skirmish with the CvO and general (gulp)
and the Pk generally just hold well back but can at least use their free
march to apply a bit of frontal pressure to an enemy who is having their
flank eaten by BdF/AxS (or at least thats the plan).

Round 1 vs Brian Roynane with Han Chinese

The Han invaded and put down a river which flowed from long table edge
to long table edge diagonally so that both our left flanks were wider. I put
down a 1FE scrubby hill which landed on my left, 2 0.5 FE marshes which
landed on my right, one on my side of the board one on his.
I decided to mass my troops on my right in columns etc so that I could
charge out of the marsh with my Ax supported by the BdF who were in
column in the open beside the marsh. The Pk cowered at the back
in my centre (but still on the right of the river) and the 2 Cv from that
command skirmished out front.

Brian's army was approx (all reg):
C1: 20ME, CvO CnC, 2 CvO, 6BwO, 2 BdF, 3 BdO, 2 BdI
C2: 14.5ME, CvO SG, 3 CvO, 2 LHF, a few foot
C3: 2xReg BgO, 1xArtI

Brian deployed more towards the centre of the board (away from the
marsh) and deployed his main infantry line to box me into the corner
while his smaller command drove off my skirmishing Cv and started
to race around the river to get at my Pk/Bg which were on my board
edge. I advanced my BdF to take on his Bw/Bd line and ran my AxS
down the flank and started infiltrating through the marsh and along
his rear board edge (behind the marsh) towards his Bg.

Brian's shooting was very effective vs my BdF and the one Bd that
pressed forward into combat was double over-lapped and destroyed
by the Bw :-( Nonetheless I was leading his Cv in a bit of a dance
with my Cv and my AxS/Ps from command 1 were threatening the
flank of his foot line (held by BdF). I did get a BdF in and flanked
him with a Ps so started to break through. My second line of Ps
were filling gaps in the BdF vs Bw fight but it was still all going
Brians way. To the rear Brian reinforced his Bg with 2xCvO and
2x BdI. On my left the narrowing river made things hard for Brian
to get an advantage as when he advanced my lesser numbers
of troops were able to match him. He also got distracted by my
advance on his Bg and diverted energy into shoring up that
flank. This proved to be a mistake as my larger numbers eventually
overwhelmed the defenders there and this plus the losses from
his C1 on my frontal assault broke his C1 and thus the army. My
BdF command had been disheartened though. So it ended 18-7
to me.

Round 2 Willie Coughlan with Tuareg

I invaded (never a good idea) and was dismayed to see that dunes
go down before steep hills so Willie got to clutter up the centre
of the board with them, I then placed 2 steep hills which luckily
landed 1 per flank on my half of the board so at least I had something
to hide on. Then Willie placed his Oasis on his left corner.

I decided that the only way to cope with the Cm was to go around them
and hence deployed C2 on my left, my more vulnerable flank, and C1
in column on the steep hill on my right and C3 to the left of that steep
hill but still very much on my right flank.

Willie's army was 3 commands of CmS and a few PsI/O and 2 LHI
In fact he used exaggerated troops to deploy only 2 commands at
the start but it looked like 2 of them were in 2 waves behind one
another on my right flank. I slowed down the Cm with my Cv, hid
my Bds on the right and used my PsO to beat up his LHI and
attack his PsO a bit less sucessfully (they were out of command
radius duw to his CmS advancing and threatening my Bg I behind
the hill. The 2 Reg BwO in that command disrupted the Cm a
bit as they tried to maneuver. The real battle was on the other
flank as I got my AxS around behind his first command but
then the delayed command arrived on that flank and made
things awkward for my AxS in the open. However reg PIPs
told here and I was able to dance around/ use the bits of
terrain to break up his attack and kill some of his camels piecemeal.
Towards the centre on my right my poor C3 was in danger of being
overwhelmed so I retreated (180 turn with reg foot) and the 2 Reg
BwO from C1 came off the hill to shoot up the flank of the Cm
with support from C3s Cv. I was in real danger with my Pk as
they had their rear to his Cm and they were against the board
edge but my pressure on his flank and a couple of single element
moves meant that I could break them up and I disheartened the
command and killed its general - this meant the Cm were no
longer impetuous and had no general so my Pk was fairly safe
(by the skin of its teeth). Now there was a race to see if I could
get his second command before he could finish me off. Time
was called before we resolved this and it ended 15-10 in my
favour but we were both quite close to breaking so I think we
saw it as a fair result.

Round 3 vs Mark Gibson

I invaded and placed 2 scrubby hills, both landed on my left, one
towards the centre line on my half of the board and one in the
corner Mark placed a Sea (oops, he had no navy but we're still
learning) and a BUA. Thus the centre of the board was a billiard
table. I didn't really fancy this vs a wall of Kn, even if they were F.
I saw 2 options, try to use the terrain on my left to outflank him
or to risk trying to rush the BUA with my Ax. This was very high
risk as if I got caught in the open I'd be toast, so I went for the
more conservative option and holed up on my right with Ax and
Bd commands on the scrubby hill and the Pk defending the line
between the hill and the board edge with the 2 Cv strung out
to skirmish.

His army was approx:
C1: 7 KnF, 6 BwI, 4 PsO
C2: 8 KnF, 6 BwI
C3: 1 CvS AG, 4 LHS

He setup with his Bw in front and Kn behind and the LH ally on his
right, the side with the terrain. I surged out of the terrain on good
pips with the A, heading for the other rough hill in his corner but
the BdF just stayed in there for now. The C3 Cv skirmished.
Then his turn and his ally was unreliable - ouch. Now this meant
that if I continued my attack on the corner hill that I would activate
it by coming within 240p. If I moved my Bd out to attack his Bw
then they would be massacred by Kn. I was unbalanced by this
and decided to only send a token 3 Ax to take the far corner of
the hill on his side and to double back with the rest of them. I
then used 3 pips to take a single PkF out of my line to sacrifice
it to break up his Kn line. Meanwhile he cautiously advanced and
spent pips to prompt his ally.
Perhaps in an effort to tempt me in, perhaps by mistake he left
his CnC at the end of his line exposed to being attacked frontally
by my lone PkF and flanked by the CvS general. I would only
get 1 chance as the Kn from his second command would reinforce
and my oblique advance by BdF and AxS wouldn't get there fast
enough to ensure the safe extraction of my CvS general.
Foolishly I went for it as I felt that it would open the game up
either way - otherwise a fairly dull draw was IMO on the cards
and we were on the 3rd table so both had a good chance of
placing if we did well.
Of course his CnC survived and eventually my CvS general was
trapped, my Bd/Ax reinforcements made little headway despite
their numbers. 25-0 to him, ouch! Mark ended up winning the
event.

So I ended on 33 out of 75 pts for joint 8th position (of 13) and therefore
I have a great chance of improving my performance in the next comp! :-)