ADLG: Northern League (Manchester, May 2018)

On a hot sunny Sunday, in the middle of a British bank holiday would you believe, I made my way to Eccles in Greater Manchester.  I arrived so early that the hall was closed but I didn't have to wait too long and once inside I helped Geoff Pearson & Brian Pierpoint put the tables out and set up the chairs.

The plan for the day was to test my knowledge of Art de la Guerre (ADLG).  I did this by taking a Timurid army made up of medium & heavy cavalry (with a couple of units of elephants to spice things up) to a medieval themed round!  I expected most of the other armies to comprise heavy knights & foot so I knew I would be sorely tested and that I'd have to be nimble to get any sort of result.

Date	06 May 2018
Competition	Northern League 2nd Round
Venue	Manchester
Army	Timurids with Steppe Mongol Ally
Army list	List details
Army number	258
Army date	1471 AD
Results	Official results grid

After three games I finished 7th (or joint 6th?) of 16 with 144 points, enough to place me 9th overall after two rounds. The latter is a somewhat false position and I don't think I'll be challenging for a place come Christmas. However, last time out I finished 9th of 10 with 109 points so I feel I'm making some progress.

Overall, I think I passed the test I set myself but only just. As always I learnt a lot.  The games were notable for a number of reasons:

• I played two Medieval French armies one after the other in the first two games.  So I was "in at the deep end" right from the start with lots of heavy foot & knights to try and avoid.
• In the second game I managed to get a lot of terrain in the centre of my opponent's deployment area.  This ruined his deployment and helped me enormously.  I'll try this again. 
• I achieved my first "Mutual Destruction" result which is the best result I've had so far.  I have been close to winning but had never broken an opponent until this game.
• I learnt that losing commanders, attached or included, late in the game is never a  good thing.  It is clearly one of the finer points of ADLG knowing when to commit and when to move away.
• Finally, I learnt that losing an included commander doesn't always result in the loss of the unit (Page 25, 3rd paragraph).  It may do but it doesn't always; it depends on the unit's cohesion level prior to the loss.

Read on for photos of my opponents, game details, and the individual results.

Game #1

Opposition	Alan Carter & Paul Cole
Army	Medieval French
Army number	226
Army date	1429 AD
Initiative	Lost
My Posture	Defender
Terrain	Plains
Game time	02:20
Attrition	09/19 to 11/21
Decisive	No
Points	43 - 46
Result	Losing draw

Game #2

Opposition	Bob Middlemist
Army	Medieval French
Army number	226
Army date	1370 AD
Initiative	Lost
My Posture	Defender
Terrain	Plains
Game time	01:45
Attrition	23/23 to 22/21
Decisive	Yes
Points	58 - 58
Result	Mutual destruction

Game #3

Opposition	Adrian Steer
Army	Condottieri (Naples)
Army number	224
Army date	1427 AD
Initiative	Lost
My Posture	Defender
Terrain	Plains
Game time	02:15
Attrition	12/20 to 19/21
Decisive	No
Points	43 - 56
Result	Losing draw