L'Art de la Guerre : Charles the Bold & Anton the B**tard

 L'Art de la Guerre (LADG) by Herve Caille, is a definite favourite amongst the guys, and, since I was never a big Ancients player, I have avoided them completely :O

However, I have obtained a copy (1) to see what all the fuss is about and (2) since there is much talk of their suitability for C17th fighting (with a rough expansion out there, and an official Renaissance book to follow).

I took some pics of the '2 Steves'  game below, just before I got the rules.

These are actually fantastic value:

1. Without going into too much detail, much of the 'broken stuff' surrounding DBx series games is fixed. I do remember throwing dice during the DBA period, and kind of missed DBMM, so the relief that many feel with ADLG is somewhat lost on me.
2. The book is 260+ pages of rules which simple to learn and hard to master, plus lists spanning hundreds of years - for ancients and medieval.
3. 200 point games have 20+ elements per side - and gameplay is very smooth.
4. Certain elements have to be played in certain ways, and there are 'chess' like approaches to play, but it all makes sense, and still gets a good game in, in a few hours at most.
5. There's a lovely wee terrain and army placement phase that sets everything up for set piece battle - all seems smooth.

I mentioned that the rules were originally French, right?

A few of Steve's wonderful 15mm armies presented here. He has the largest collection, of best painted troops ever seen in all o' Christendom.  His stuff is eminently better than the dodgy painting you see in most rulebooks and magazines :

Burgundians

Late Romans

Assyrians

The guys had a War of the Roses army facing Burgundian (I think) - with the Burgundians fielding both Charles the Bold and Anton the Bastard on the same battleground.

Following a Terrain placement phase, and setup, the armies were ready to engage:

English set up after terrain placement on their left

'We few, we happy few, we...  where'd everybody go???'

I sense a few flanking actions with a massive melee in centre...might be coming

'There be Pavisse...es...es.'

Charles the Bold, or Anton the B'stard

Early push from the Burgundians...despite how it looks, they are seeking a flank

...even as the English loose their light horse against t'other flank

'Get stuck in lads'

It all goes tit up on the English left

The English centre is going to break like a wave 

...there it goes...

Anton the B'stard, or is it Charles the Bold

At the far end of the table here, you can see Burgundian moves against the English camp, which would net them 4 VPs - plus all the damage they have already dished out. Once they hit VP soak, the game will end, so it's all to play for.

In the end, the Burgundians had dished out enough damage, that it was very close to English surrender. I had to leave early, but the guys were able to get another game in on the same night. Great game

I have 20mm plastics, which will work for ADLG, though I may be convinced to dip into 15mm again. The size and scope of the armies seems to make it work with an eminently suitable set of rules that actually make the period work very well.