ADLG: Northern League Round 1 (Leeds, 09 March 2025)

Introduction

It was dark when I got up on Sunday morning! Too early by half. I picked up Gareth Jones south of Warrington before crossing the M62 to Leeds. The weather was kind, as was the traffic, so we arrived 10 or 20 minutes before the 09:00 start. I had time for a cup of tea and a look round the excellent Hicks Hall, home of the Leeds Wargaming club since late 2020.

Hicks Hall is named in honour of Brian Hicks a long time member of the Leeds club from Ilkley. He left them a substantial bequest on his untimely demise in 2018 with the condition they used it to enjoy their wargaming. The club used the bequest to buy their current premises. Signs of its previous owners are still evident on the wall outside.

Event Summary

Event	Northern League Round 1
Date	09 March 2025
Rules Version	ADLG 4
Theme	Classical and Roman: 500 BC to 492 AD
Venue	Hicks Hall, Burley, LS4 2JR
Army	Later Macedonians
Army list	45.0.8
Army date	200 BC
Entrants	18 players in 16 teams.
My results	15th of 16 with 89 points. 0 wins, 1 draw & 2 defeats.
All results	Official grid

By the numbers

The Later Macedonian army has a poor record in ADLG. As of 16 Feb 2025, the ADLG database records 50 games under V4: 12 wins and 17 defeats for a efficacy rating of 41.0%. The average efficacy for all armies is 50%: so statistically the army is a touch below par. My efficacy rating for the event was 16.7% so well below average.

Strategy & review

In my three games I was: shot to pieces; trampled by elephants & shot to pieces (again); and then failed to chew through lots of armoured heavy swordsmen. Not really a "good day at the office".

As the army is relatively small my plan was to place terrain to secure a flank; ideally a coast. I failed to do this in all three games. I planned to keep the two infantry commands together. I failed to do this in two of the three games. I also procrastinated when faced by shooting. There's no point if you can't shoot back; it only weakens you when you do get into combat.

In my defence, my command dice were consistently low (a lot of 1s &2s). It didn't really stop me attacking but it did stop me rallying troops, bringing up reserves, and protecting my flanks. I don't remember my combat dice being much better; I even changed dice mid-game in round three.

I will have to seriously reconsider how I use this army. It's not very good (see By the numbers above) and it certainly doesn't suit how I prefer to play. I may fiddle about with the list, but I will see if I can use the core troops to field a different Hellenistic army.

Game #1

Opposition	Graeme Carroll
Army	Achaemenid Persian
Army number	64
Army date	485 BC
Initiative	Lost
My Posture	Defending
Terrain	Plains
Game time	01:30
Attrition Scores	25/25 to 11/21
Decisive	Yes
Points	20 to 90
Result	Loss

Graeme had lots of shooting, nearly all of which had longer range than my paltry six bow & javelin armed light infantry. By the time I got my units into combat they had nearly all lost at least one cohesion point. Needless to say they combats didn't go well. I made a deployment error and tried to hold off Graeme's far better cavalry with my weak cavalry command. Bad idea. This game was soon over. Having said this, I was surprised to find I had inflicted as many losses as as I had.

Game #2

Opposition	Mick Hood & Paul Carter
Army	Classical Indian (Gupta)
Army number	79
Army date	350 AD
Initiative	Lost
My Posture	Attacking
Terrain	Plains
Game time	02:00
Attrition Scores	25/25 to 18/23
Decisive	Yes
Points	25 to 85
Result	Loss

Round one with Rotherham’s answer to the Chuckle Brothers. I refused my left and flank marched the cavalry on my right. The latter soon arrived. I struggled to hold back the elephants & medium foot THW on my left until they attacked three LI on a hill. The LI battered them until flanked and destroyed. One elephant reached my fortified camp and spent seven turns trying to capture it. My command dice were appalling, but my cavalry almost reached their camp. Then the elephant succeeded for the win.  Close.

Game #3

Opposition	Andy Wallace & Martin Routh
Army	Early Imperial Roman
Army number	85
Army date	101 AD
Initiative	Won
My Posture	Attacking
Terrain	Mountains
Game time	02:30 (ish)
Attrition Scores	20/25 to 14/23
Decisive	No
Points	44 to 50
Result	Draw

Round two with Rotherham’s second answer to the Chuckle Brothers. By this stage all three of us were knackered and the game was littered with strategic and other errors. I struggled against armoured swordsmen (some elite). I "won" countless melees only for enemy's armour to save them. Against elite troops I really had to win by three to guarantee a result. Long melee's left me with open flanks which were my undoing. I did manage to surround & kill a cavalry general. All were glad when time was called.

Closing remarks

The less said about my performance the better, but there were still lots of positives with this event: the excellent venue; the ease of parking; Gareth's company; and the general good nature of my opponents.

Otherwise, it was a physically demanding day; possibly too much so. The early start and two hour drive weren't ideal. To cap it all, I'd only just shaken off a cold days before. Needless to say, I was absolutely drained by the time I got home and didn't recover until Monday evening.

It was hard to reconcile a "fun day out" with how I felt on Sunday evening. I'm sure it wasn't just my poor performance. Perhaps age is catching up with me? I hope not.

To finish here are some photos of the inside of Hicks Hall showing the excellent facilities:

In the following, the DBMM games are on the left with ADLG on the right. The game in the foreground is a club game: