ADLG Kushite Egyptian v Medes

In our latest ADLG game my Kushite Egyptians took on Gordon's Medes, a re-run of a game we played quite a while ago which Gordon triumphed in.

This time I went for two mixed commands of mounted and foot with brilliant generals and an unreliable small foot command entirely of bowmen and medium swordsmen giving a substantial army with a 26 break point. Unlike last time I also opted for the new 'armoured' light chariots available in V4 of ADLG rather than the previous (now downgraded in my opinion!) heavy chariots.

Gordon won the initiative and decided to attack in the plains. I got a waterway to narrow the table and put down the maximum terrain I could then deployed the all-infantry command on the left with the two mixed commands in the centre and on the right:

The Medes had deployed with two mixed corps of their own on their right/centre and an entirely cavalry command on their left. They immediately began to advance as did the Kushite centre and right:

One Kushite light horse moves over to slow the advance of the Median right, with luck it will take the Medes a while to get these troops into action:

Feeling that they have an advantage facing the palm tree plantation and on the right the Kushites push forward quickly moving the archers up on the left to defend the flank:

On the far left the Kushite light horse hold up the Median advance again:

On the right the Kushites advance into missile range. The fire proves especially effective with hits sprouting all along the Median line:

On the left the Kushite archers manage to get a few shots off at some distant Median cavalry inflicting more damage. The light horse are still doing their holding job well:

Fighting has broken out in the palm grove with both sides having wins and losses. The Median cavalry wing retires but is followed up by the Kushites:

On the left the delaying Kushite light horse have been dealt with while in the centre the two lines will clash soon. Kushite archery has already inflicted some hits on the Medes:

The Kushites continue to press the Median cavalry wing:

The centres clash! The combats slightly favour the Medes but, unlike the Kushites, some of the Medes have already taken hits weakening their effectiveness:

In the palm grove the fight proves to be brutal with around equal losses on both sides. The Median cavalry have been forced back almost to the table edge:

In the centre the Kushite archers and chariots overcome the odds, holding off the Median cavalry and managing to destroy an already weakened Median spear element:

A closer view of the fight in the centre and palm grove:

On the left there are still a lot of Medes out of the action, a couple of Kushite swordsmen continue to slow them down:

Having taken a lot of shooting hits and lost several elements the Medes are close to breaking, their cavalry are forced to turn to face their pursuers:

A couple more elements destroyed in the centre and the Kushites are victorious!:

Pharaoh watches on as the Medes break and flee: 

So revenge is sweet for the Kushites and my ADLG winning streak extends further! I guess some of the lessons Gordon has taught me must finally have sunk in and I think I've improved at both choosing a more competitive army composition and deploying it with some sort of plan.

The Kushites also shot very effectively (perhaps helped by Gordon's fondness for medium cavalry archers and mediocre spearmen), much of Gordon's army didn't really get into the game and when they needed to the Kushites also fought well.

As the Byzantines, Carthaginians and Kushites have all had outings recently that leaves the Late Romans or Huns to see some more action or maybe a new army that I'm working on......

Egyptian additions for ADLG

Having played a couple of games with the 25mm Kushites when I had to order some 10mm WW2 infantry for the Juno game from Minifigs I added a few extra figures for the Kushites.

The army can have an internal Egyptian force which allows some impact heavy chariots but requires you to have single elements of Egyptian swordsmen and bowmen and the option of a single light horse archer. I thought I'd add these to give the army a bit more variety:

I tried to paint them in the same style as Bob's original figures and they do look similar though the bases are a bit different. They probably won't get much use though if I expand them to a Libyan Egyptian ally (which allows some decent foot) they might increase in numbers!

ADLG Kushite Egyptian v Medes

Another outing for the 'Mighty Men of Kush', this time against Gordon's Medes.

Looking at the Mede list it seemed tough with supported heavy spearmen, lots of elite cavalry with bow and archers, javelin men, light cavalry and skirmishers to make up the numbers. To give the Kushites some attacking power I upgraded the chariots to Impetuous Heavy Chariots and dropped a slinger to make up the points.

Both sides deployed across the table with the Medes having a strong cavalry wing on the Kushite right, a large block of heavy spears in the centre and a mixed command of archers, medium spears and more cavalry on the Kushite left:

Both armies advanced on their right where they felt strongest and retired on their left pivoting around the plantation for the Kushites and the field-covered hill for the Medes:

The Kushite left falls back:

The Medes have broken formation, maybe there is an opportunity here for the Kushites:

The Kushites on the left form a coherent line while the Medes mill about uncertainly:

In the centre some Kushite cavalry delay the Mede spearmen. The Kushite chariots are badly placed facing rough terrain and the archers are trying to lure the Mede cavalry forward though it is unclear if this is a good idea!:

The left flank Kushite chariots are badly placed as well a long way from the action:

The Kushites charge home on the left with mixed results, destroying one Mede group but taking hits everywhere else:

Things get worse for the Kushites as the Mede cavalry joins in:

On the right the Kushite archers managed to get hits on all the Mede cavalry before impact but promptly collapsed in combat as did the Kushite light horse. The chariots are unable to help out:

Things continue to go badly on the left:

The last stand of the Kushite archers on the right:

On the left there is just a heap of bodies where the Kushite attack failed:

It's all over as the Kushite army breaks having inflicted minimal losses on the Medes:

I played badly throughout this game, I managed to get half my chariots trapped against a rough hill and the other half aimlessly left at the back of the army. On the right my cavalry were not able to support the archers and again were  wasted.

I think I probably had the worse of the combat dice and the command dice a few times but I doubt that affected the result much though the combat on the left could have gone my way with a little more luck. Ironically I'd probably have been better off sticking with the light chariots as they move faster and can shoot!

ADLG Kushite Egyptian v Middle Assyrian

I own very few armies that I didn't paint myself. One such is a 25mm Kushite Egyptian army which I swapped for a Viking army back in the days when I was a regular at the Bun Shop club. The army was painted by Bob who sadly passed away a log time ago.

Bob was a fantastic painter and had a Maccabean Jewish army in 25mm which was one of the best looking armies I've ever seen with lots of individual conversions and so much character. The Kushite army was made up of Minifigs figures and I'd not used it in years.

After our last 25mm game Ted was keen to play again so I suggested the Biblical period so I could use the Kushites. Ted used the contemporary Middle Assyrian army.

When the army was first pained under 6th Edition WRG rules it was an interesting one in that the army list allowed you to upgrade all the troops in the army to 'Irregular A' religious fanatics who charged into combat at the drop of a hat (which was not necessarily great as many of them were bowmen and light infantry!).

Under ADLG however the fanatic option isn't there and they are a rather vanilla Biblical army mostly of archers with a few medium swordsmen. chariots and cavalry. Middle Assyrian has large numbers of elite impact swordsmen which are ideal against the Kushite foot and elite impact heavy chariots which are ideal against pretty much anything in the Kushite army so to have any chance of winning the Kushites would have to take advantage of their greater numbers.

The Assyrians elected to defend in the plains and most of the terrain fell on the Kushite left. Initial moves saw a strong Kushite cavalry force move forward on the left flank to attack the undefended Assyrian camp and the Kushite chariots, cavalry and light horse moving forward on the right. The Assyrians totally ignored their right flank relying on the terrain to protect them and advanced in the centre and on the right :

Kushite slingers move up to slow the Assyrian foot in the plantation:

The slingers are driven out of the plantation and the Assyrian heavy chariots split into two groups, one to support the infantry and one the light chariots:

Two Assyrian infantry rashly charge into the Kushite light chariots on the left. One infantry is destroyed and the other badly damaged:

On the left the Kushite cavalry are returning from looting the Assyrian camp and have managed to pick off a lone Assyrian mixed swordsmen and bowmen unit. In the centre however, things have gone unsurprisingly badly for the Kushite foot with one medium swordsman being killed at contact and the rest of the foot taken down two levels each:

On the right the Kushite archers have inflicted some hits on the Assyrian heavy chariots weakening their charge. The Kushite chariots and cavalry have contacted the Assyrian light chariots but done badly:

The Assyrian heavy chariots charge home destroying one base of Kushite archers. The other base of archers holds on though:

In the centre the Kushite foot has been wiped out:

On the right the Kushite cavalry and chariots finally make some inroads into the Assyrian light chariots while the Kushite archers hold on:

The Assyrians start to collapse on the right. With the loss of the camp the small Assyrian army is close to defeat. The Kushites are better off but their own camp is at risk and the Kushite infantry continues to be slaughtered:

In a flurry of charges and combats the Assyrians take the Kushite camp and finish off most of the remaining Kushite infantry. On the right the Assyrians lose more light chariots though:

A count of losses at this point shows that the Assyrian army has broken while the Kushites have lost 25 out of 26 break points! A hard-fought win for the Mighty Men of Kush!

It was great to get Bob's army out of the box and onto the table again. The game was an exciting and close one, for a while I thought I would win easily (as did Ted) but as I suspected the Assyrian foot and heavy chariots made short work of the Kushite foot who are pretty hopeless against them.