ADLG: King In The North (York, 15 - 16 Oct 2022)

This post is slightly longer than my normal competition posts so it's split into sections so you can skip any boring bits.

Background
As I noted last month we're trying to move house.   Six weeks on and we're almost at the stage where we can think about dates.  Please note the almost in the last sentence.   In an attempt to escape the stress I decided to enter the "King in the North" ADLG competition organised by Macro Baroni ably assisted by Paul Dawson.

Marco & Paul (centre) discuss the coming day's games.

After entering I got cold feet.  Why did I ever think entering my first two day competition, with no practice and little wargaming since July, was a stress free way to spend a weekend?

However, if I keep putting things off I'd end up doing nothing.  So a B&B was booked and off we went.  I say we as my wife came along.  She spent the weekend shopping in York.  We arrived in good time on Friday afternoon and stayed until Monday: a proper long weekend.   All in all, everything went well and we both had a really great weekend.

The B&B was excellent.  They even prepared breakfast a little early so I could start of the competition at 09:00 fuelled by a full English breakfast Yorkshire style.  This helped settle me down as I had quite few drinks on Friday night as we "toured" Haxby checking out the local restaurants and pubs.  Some of the drinking was the result of finding a Sam Smith's pub selling their excellent bitter at £3.00 a pint!

Waiting for the day to start.

There was ample parking at the venue.  It was clean, airy, spacious and warm.  There were hot and cold drinks available all day and chocolate biscuits if you got peckish.

The venue.

Event Summary

Event	King in the North
Date	15 & 16 Oct 2022
Rules Version	ADLG 4
Theme	Feudal or Late Middle Ages
Venue	Wiggington Recreation Hall, York, YO32 2LL
Army	Ilkhanid Mongol with Armenian Allies
Army list	270.0.05
Army date	1329 AD
Entrants	26 players (1 dropped out due to illness)
My results	21st of 25 with 190 points. 4 draws & 1 loss.
All results	Final placings minus byes.

Interesting!
This was the most common comment about the composition of my army and its deployment (see below).  The presence of heavy spear and four medium knights was unexpected by many of my opponents.  Likewise the deployment seemed to surprise some.  I felt this gave me a small advantage as my opponents had to reconsider their approach once everything was on the table.

Strategy
I've used this army in competitions before but never really had a strategy.  I tended to react to circumstances looking to fragment my opponent before using my army's flexibility to strike.

I knew it was hard to beat, and so it proved in this competition, but having read far too many battle reports online, I realised I was missing a trick.  To rectify this I got in touch with Tim Porter of Madaxeman fame to discuss strategy.

The call resulted in two options based on the assumption there would be a lot of slow moving medieval foot in my opponent's army.   Both involved deploying the Armenian ally in the centre, or slightly off-set, then either refusing one flank and stacking the other or deploying the remaining commands either side and immediately switching the smaller to the opposite flank passing behind the Armenians.  Naturally, no plan survives first contact but I felt much more confident having ready made options.

Now if you want more details of the games read on.

Game #1

Opposition	Hugh Cameron
Army	Vijayanagar Kingdom
Army number	276
Initiative	Lost
My Posture	Attacking
Terrain	Plain
Game time	Timed out
Attrition Scores	16/22 to 9/23
Decisive	No
Points	39 to 51
Result	Draw

This match-up was better than I expected even if there were elephants and medium impact swordsmen a plenty (Death Stars in ADLG-speak).  Hugh was very patient, and a gentleman throughout, as I refreshed my memory of the rules.  Attacking in the plains helped me a lot: I advanced my heavy cavalry quickly thus slowing the advance of the infantry & elephants.  The pre-planned strategy worked well.  Working a flank was my best option but it was slow going.

Game #2

Opposition	Jim Gibson
Army	Ghaznavid
Army number	201
Initiative	Won
My Posture	Attacker
Terrain	Steppe
Game time	Timed out
Attrition Scores	13/22 to 15/22
Decisive	No
Points	47 to 44
Result	Draw

Another excellent match-up.  Marco & Paul chose the early rounds well.  More Death Stars but heavy cavalry exposed on one flank; an ideal target for my heavy, medium & light cavalry command.  My ally proved unreliable but soon joined in.  I've played Jim before but a long time ago in 2009!  We are both still learning the intricacies of ADLG so we had a nice steady, friendly game.  Working a flank again paid benefits but the breakthrough didn't come that quickly.

Game #3

Opposition	Gordon Miller
Army	Burgundian Ordonnance
Army number	246
Initiative	Won
My Posture	Defender
Terrain	Steppe
Game time	02:20 (approx)
Attrition Scores	10/20 to 22/22
Decisive	Yes
Points	20 to 90
Result	Loss

My third Scots opponent and the first heavy metal opponent.  This was always going to be a true test made more difficult because many of Gordon's models were not easily identifiable (he forgot his figures).  The strategy worked well but my heavy cavalry got too close and were caught in the rear after fleeing.  After this 4 point loss the ability of the army to manoeuvre and delay almost gained a draw but Gordon broke my army a few minutes before time was called.

Game #4

Opposition	John Hogan
Army	Medieval Irish
Army number	233
Initiative	Lost
My Posture	Attacking
Terrain	Forest
Game time	Timed out
Attrition Scores	19/22 to 11/28
Decisive	No
Points	38 to 53
Result	Draw

Sunday morning brought John's Medieval Irish with spear and heavy swordsmen 2HW: not an ideal opponent.  The terrain didn't help as it was nearly all on my side.  I decided to run a flank march on the right to get behind the wall of heavy infantry.  It arrived just as my heavy cavalry had opened a gap on my left.  As the end of the game approached, I gambled and committed my included brilliant general (elite LH) to combat.  It promptly lost to a 6:1 gifting John four points making the score look more one sided than it was on the table.

Game #5

Opposition	Kev Ellis
Army	Swiss
Army number	231
Initiative	Won
My Posture	Defender
Terrain	Steppe
Game time	Timed out
Attrition Scores	4/22 to 6/20
Decisive	No
Points	45 to 39
Result	Draw

The last game arrived far quicker than I thought it would.  Kev was up against it; I won the initiative and we fought on the steppe.  Even so, elite pike can't be dismissed.  Kev doesn't play regularly (like me really) but has such a jolly approach to the game we spent most of the game chatting and laughing our socks off.  The game itself was cagey, and a bit slow, as I worked positions on both flanks thanks to my flank switching strategy.  Nonetheless time passed quickly and it came as no surprise when time was called before too much damage had been done to either side.

A note on the scores
My total using the individual scores above is 189 points.  My official total was 190 so I've picked up another point from somewhere but I can't spot where.  Not really important in the grand scheme of things but the difference should be recorded.