After all the work of launching the Legions of Tékumel miniatures line, Scott and I are finally able to return to work on the rules. We thought the best way to start work was to play a game, as we had not done so for many months. We were a little slow off the mark, but eventually we got things moving.
We decided on a pretty straight forward battle of Mu'ugalavyáni versus Tsolyáni in the Chákas. The image below shows the initial deployment, with the Mu'ugalavyáni on the left and the Tsolyáni on the right. Scott decided he wanted a stream down the middle, as he was defending. I think it was a critical feature, as we shall see later.
Scott decided to deploy the Red Hats in The Inexorable Sea, while I deployed the Tsolyáni in the more compact Two Gates of Wúru, the Many-Legged Serpent of Gloom.
View overlooking the Tsolyáni forces.
The Tsolyáni Left - The "Sapphire Kirtle" are in the middle of the stream in the Waves of Chanayaga formation. The entire Legion "Sweet Singers of Nakomé" are deploy in left and right wing of the Mighty Block. The Legion "Prince of the Blue Room" is in the Stone Mountain in support.
Mu'ugalavyáni Legion "Invisible Rain" backed by "Destroy in Glory" on the left and "Victorious in Vimúhla" on the right.
The Mu'ugalavyáni longbow "Long Arrow" in Sword of the Blade formation moved out of their initial position in the village and delivered a powerful volley or arrows against half the Legion of the "Sapphire Kirtle."
Mu'ugalavyáni center probed by the right wing of the Legion "Sapphire Kirtle"
At the end of turn 2, the Tsolyáni center is struggling to get across the stream. It is not a major obstacle, but the deadly shooting from "Invisible Rain" Is slowing and causing damage to the "Omnipotent Azure Legion," depite the use of the Buckler of Qiyor spell to enhance the armor protection from missiles.
Turn 2 and the Mu'ugalavyáni superiority in missile troops is telling.
Tsolyáni center is beginning to take damage from the crossbows of the "Invisible Rain"
The left wing of the "Sapphire Kirtle" are already Spent from casualties inflicted by "Long Arrow."
On Turn 3 the Tsolyáni advance grinds to a halt. The devastating shooting from "Invisible Rain" in the center has stopped "The Omnipotent Azure Legion" and is now turned to hit "Serqu Sword of the Empire, assisted by the Hláka. On the near flank "Long Arrow" has sent the "Sapphire Kirtle" packing and now begins to wear away at "Sweet Singers of Nakomé."
Turn 3 the Tsolyáni advance is halted with shooting.
Summary
- The stream slowed the advance. During set up, I actually had the option to remove the stream, but decided to just adjust it some. I should have removed. Mistake 1 for the Tsolyáni.
- I don't have any good archers or crossbow units painted for the Tsolyáni, so I have to depend on the integral archers of the heavy units and the few lighter javelin formation. Problem with the army I have, rather than the army I wish I had.
- I had originally planned to deploy one of the Sapphire Kirtle units in Blade of the Sword covering the front of my heavies. However, I decided I wanted to be able to shoot with their integral bows. Mistake 2 for the Tsolyáni. I should have used the skirmishers to screen and that would have let me get across the stream with less damage.
4 comments
Hi, I see have managed to fat finger my efforts to respond yesterday. So what I meant to say was:
Very interesting, thanks. A few thoughts:
1) If you are using the stats from the Armies of Tekumel booklets the missile capabilities of the Tsolyani heavy legions are almost entirely worthless, so you would certainly handicap yourself with that!
2) The Tsolyani and Mu’ugalavyani really do not like mixed legions. On p78 of the Sourcebook we have “The Tsolyani, Mu’ugalavyani and Livyani divide their armies according to troop types” whereas “The localised clan based legions of Yan Kor and the feudal levies of Salarvya . . include all troop types within one and the same legion”. And the rather less canon Kenengdalikoi has this to say: “A number of special rules apply to the mixed legions so beloved of the Dog Eating Yan Koryani and the grease dribbling pomandered Salarvyani (happily the mighty forces are Ssa’atis can ignore this drivel).” The rules were written from a somewhat Ssa’atis centric perspective.
3) You might give some thought to reducing the effectiveness of missile fire. A legion as heavily armoured as OAL should probably not have had so much trouble. If one looks at Agincourt without too much Sean Bean English propaganda it does look as if the French foot knights had only limited difficulty from arrows in getting to the line of English men at arms. They were of course completely exhausted from the slog uphill in the mud in heavy armour and were then dispatched without too much trouble.
4) My equivalent to your Buckler of Qiyor was Diaphanous Veil of Ulela enhancement, which made visibility worse rather than increasing armour. And was countered by the Hideous Visions of Kukligash the Eater.
5) I really liked the way you were using the different legion formations, to me this is completely central to any Tekumel minatures game.
6) Did the army formations (ie Two Gates of Wuru) have any particular game impact? I have tried to integrate these but without any real success so far.
Waiting with bated breath for the next episode,
Furodhu hi Vriddi – Molkar of the Legion of Red Devastion, or Molkar hi niqomi hi karikh tumekh (all grammatical corrections gratefully received).
Looks awesome! Really looking forward to the release of the rules.
Very interesting thanks. A couple of thoughts:
1)
Nice looking game and figures. Well done.😀