Gaming Reference: Mortem et Gloriam - Spanish Iberian vs. Classical Indian (5/5/18)

Or, "How Average is Better".

Indian elephants at breakpoint - The moment when the Iberians win!

I first played Mortem et Gloriam at the MillenniumCon convention in November 2017. I filled in for someone who left the game early and I think I commanded imperial or republican Romans. I enjoyed the game very much and although I already had a Late Achaemenid Persian army I wanted to build something else. That night, indeed during the game, I looked online at the various army lists, did some initial research on miniature manufacturers and then finally settled on an Ancient Spanish army.

I chose to build a Spanish army because it could be used by itself or the units could be part of other armies. I can easily field a Celtiberian, Iberian or Lusitanian army. I can add other forces to build a Carthaginian, Roman or even Sertorian army. I'm sure there are other armies I can build using these figures as a basis. I figured that if I didn't like how they played on the table, I had other options and could add different units to get a wide range of options from the units.

But there's really not much to the Spanish forces by themselves. There's not much formed cavalry; most units do well in charge combat but get no bonus for melee; infantry is tribal which means there's not much tactical nuance. If you want to do anything other than moving straight ahead then you're going to need yellow or red cards in MeG to accomplish this. But the one thing they have going for them is their numbers. For slightly over 11,000 points I could field two cavalry TuGs, ten infantry TuGs and five skirmish SuGs. Any opponent would have to kill six TuGs (most infantry is eight stand units) in order to win.

So with amazing speed, I acquired and painted and fielded an army of over 350 15mm figures in less than six months. For the first time in a long time I completed a project - not, "oh I still have four packs of infantry to paint but I'm tired of this project" but honest to goodness, "I have completed the project as I planned and have nada, zilch, zero figures left to paint". Everything I ordered for this army has been painted.

Since the army was complete I needed to get them on the table to be bloodied and Grant obliged. He brought his Classical Indian army who I first faced a few months ago.

The Game

A large Iberian force managed to journey to lands dominated by the Indians and sought to force battle in order to claim this far-flung land. The Iberians managed to driver the defending Indian army out of the featureless plains into more dense terrain. Because of their preponderance of light troops, the Iberians also out-scouted the Indians and knew somewhat of their battle disposition.

Overhead shot of the two armies. Iberians on the left and Indians on the right.

Looking to limit the potential damage caused by the Indian elephants, the Iberians sought to align their loose order foot against the pachyderms. They also set a force of mercenary Celt-Iberians in ambush among a field of alfalfa along the Indian right flank. The Iberians placed their cavalry forces on the right flank, put the javelin skirmisher and slingers in front, set the superior noblemen and followers in the center flanked by the rest of the Iberian warriors.

The Indians set up their elephant units interspersed with archers and spearmen from the cultivated land in the center out to their right flank. Their left flank was dominated by three units of superior battle chariots augmented by guardsmen infantry and a host of archers and spearmen guarding their camp, led by a general too mediocre to even mention.

Another look at the initial set up. Looking down the line of battle from the Iberian left flank

The Iberians had a simple plan - Grant, don't read this part in case we fight again :) - wait for the Indians to move forward and then come into contact as quickly as possible to gain advantage in the initial impact. Since the Indians could out distance the ancient Spaniards in shooting, the goal was to limit time spent in the 3-4BW danger zone.

The Iberians moved forward with their cantabrian light cavalry on their right flank to prompt the battle chariots to charge while the Indians moved forward on their right flank to flush out any units hiding in the alfalfa fields.

Iberian cavalry prepare to throw their javelins and run away from the battle chariots.

The card denotes the location of the ambush - which proved to be real.

Mercenary Celt-Iberians (on the left) come out of their ambuscade to engage the Indian skirmish archers

The Indians hurled their chariots forward in an attempt to disrupt the Iberian right flank. Their attack was very successful, ultimately causing three infantry and two cavalry tactical units to break. It was very much a cascading event - when one unit broke it caused other units to panic and men fled to the rear. Two Spanish generals met their fate on the field of battle as well. The Indian's success was not without cost - all three chariot units were wiped out but their loss did not cause as much panic in the Indian ranks.

The moment when the combat outcome causes both units to break.

Where did all the chariots and cavalry go? All that remains of the Iberian cavalry is a unit of skirmish cavalry.

On the Iberian left flank, the warriors and mercenary Celt-Iberians drove off the archer and took the elephant charge head on. For many turns these forces traded casualties but couldn't break their opponents.

Here come the elephants.

Meanwhile, the center held as neither side committed to hand-to-hand combat while the flanks were in doubt. A unit of Iberian javelin skirmishers engaged a unit of elephants and eventually their ranged combat caused the elephants to flee. The Indian guardsmen did manage to destroy a unit of noblemen and followers but they were unable to turn the flank of the mercenary Celt-Iberians.

Units in the center remain largely unengaged.

Iberian noblemen in their red and purple capes, hindered by Indian archer eventually succumb to the charge of the Indian guardsmen in the top, center of the picture

The game was very close. By turn seven both sides were one unit away from breaking and both sides had units in dire straits. Eventually it was the breaking of the Indian left flank which decided the game. After what seemed like three turns engaged in hand-to-hand combat, the elephant units finally broke giving the victory to the Iberians. Once we totaled the score, it was a very close 15-12 victory.

There used to be an elephant unit where the "Run" arrow is now.

The other right flank elephant unit breaks giving victory to the Iberians.

Afterthought

It was a hard-fought battle. Both sides are predominantly tribal which means anything other than basic movement requires colored cards. I came away with a few thoughts about my Iberians:

Get into charge range as quickly as possible against "shooty" armies.
Most of my units can hold their own in charge combat but get no modifiers in melee - try to make the charges as advantageous as possible.
Overwhelm the enemy with numbers, not quality. I think I rolled a yellow die once but most of the time it was white and green.

I look forward to the next time I have the unit on the table. Now that this project is complete - I await the arrival of my Han Chinese order.

Additional Pictures