My first ADLG competition!

I played in my first ADLG Competition this weekend.  The theme was 55BC, so any army from the lists for that date was allowed.  The event was organised by my club mate, and hosted at our club, so the entry bar was low.  I took a force of my newly painted Graeco-Indian troops.  Heavy on the elephants, bows and pikes but light on cavalry.  For my debut game I was facing a horde of Thracians, which almost outnumbered me two to one. 

This picture below was from later in the game but not quite at the end.  We both tried to outmanoeuvre each other.  I messed up moving my pikes at one point and was too slow engaging on the left but it wasn't a total disaster.  Fortunately, the Thracians rolled some bad command dice and that slowed their mass flanking movement on my right wing.  I did managed to kill some light cavalry, and eventually reached the guys hiding at the back in the swamp.  We ended facing off across the width of the battlefield when time ran out.

If I remember correctly, it was 11-8 to me at the close, but the much greater size of my Thracian opponents meant it was a losing draw for me on the points system.

Game two was against a Ptolemaic Egyptian army.  The main line were all pikes and elite armoured legions.  On the left I was facing four impact cavalry and a supporting unit of light cavalry.  I felt outmatched on all sides. 

I don't think my setup was great but I'm not sure what I could have done much better.  Maybe I could have placed my main Indian command on the left.  The cavalry on my right emerged out of an ambush to make matters even worse.

At first things didn’t go as badly as I feared and we held the cavalry on both flanks whilst closing in on the infantry.  The main lines clashed and again it wasn’t going too badly but then I had one especially disastrous turn and lost all along the line.  After that the collapse began in earnest.  The impact cavalry broke free on the left and holes started appearing everywhere.

I can't remember the final score but it was quite a comprehensive defeat.

Game three was against more Ptolemaics.  I deployed my pikes alongside the beach with the Indians massed on my left.  I forgot Elephants are heavily penalised in Plantations, confusing it with brush, which they ignore, but, after being reminded by my gallant opponent, came out just in time.

On the right the Egyptians advanced against my pikes with their main phalanx, and a mediocre elephant on the flank.  They also brought some mediocre pikes from reserve to face my Indians, with some scary rhompaia-armed Thracians in support.  

On my left the Great Pharaoh had more second rate Pikemen, another elephant and some skirmishers facing just a few of my cavalry.

Things went okay against the main Ptolemaic line.  The palace guards were obviously in need of some training, despite their supposed elite status.

Eventually the Egyptian right got into position to threaten my left but it was too little too late. The Thracian attack was also a damp squib and the Indians cut through them and a part of the Phalanx.

Although my army had suffered considerable losses across the whole front, and was getting close to breaking, it was holding together where it counted.   By the end, the main Ptolemaic Phalanx had collapsed and with their best Pikemen gone, and the included general killed, we tipped them over the break point. 

A surprise victory, 24-18.

Other than some very friendly WAB game days, years ago, that weren't very competitive, I had never played in any wargames competitions before.  So, I was a bit apprehensive going in but I'm glad to say my fears were unfounded and it was fun to play against new and challenging opponents.  Better still, the other players were very decent and didn't at all match the nightmare tales of 'competition wargamer' stereotype.  The day left me mentally exhausted but happy with my mid-table mediocrity.  I'm not sure I could take a two day tournament but I might try another one day event in the future.