Art De La Guerre

[Bertrand du Guesclin]

Hello everyone,

I'm completely new to L'Art de la Guerre. After my first reading of the rule book I have a few rules questions I was hoping the knowledgeable folks on this forum might be able to help me with. Some of these are probably obvious to an experienced player, so please bear with me. Without further ado...

P. 8: Under 'How units are represented' it says that 'It is quite acceptable to base all the ranks of an infantry unit together on a single stand or base of either the appropriate depth or one UD deep.'
- I assume it is equally acceptable to base a cavalry unit in this way?
- I assume a base 1 UD deep would still qualify as non-standard basing if this is different than the 'Base min' in the table on p. 7?

P. 10, 'Groups of Units'
- Am I correct in thinking that a group of units could for example form a 'U' or 'O' shape, as long as the rules on p. 10 are followed? I have some lingering doubt because Warhammer Fantasy's drilled into me that only a unit's rear rank may be incomplete. Would be glad to be rid of that past conditioning so would be very grateful if someone could confirm.

P. 24 'Command value' and p. 25 'Strategists'
- The table on p. 24 seems to say a strategist counts towards 3 points of an army's command value, whereas p. 25 says 2. Which is right?

P. 81: 'Budget'
- How am I supposed to use the tables on this page? 'Commander and camp' seems to give some information that is not included in the individual army lists so I guess I should read it in conjunction with those. 'Foot units' and 'Mounted units' however seem to just give you information that's in the army lists already. What gives?

[KevinD]

[Bertrand du Guesclin]

Thank you very much! That was very helpful.

You've picked a very topical example too, since I'm planning on starting with a medieval French list with Du Guesclin. It should be only a matter of time now till Wargames Atlantic releases their plastic 10mm Agincourt range...

[KevinD]

That’s one of my favorite lists. I like (from the 1370 Pontvallain campaign):

Strategist du Guesclin
5 HKn Impetuous Elite (dismount as FKn 2HW Elite)
2 MI Sw Mediocre
2 LI Javelins
2 LI XB

Ordinary Included Olivier de Clisson
3 HKn Impetuous Elite (dismount as FKn 2HW Elite)
2 LI XB

Ordinary Included Sancerre
3 HKn Impetuous Elite (dismount as FKn 2HW Elite)
1 LI XB

Fortified Camp

21 units (inc camp) +3 Initiative

The Sergeants are also worth looking at to catch enemy cavalry fleeing your knights and maybe downgrade Sancerre to unreliable to upgrade one MI to Ordinary and one LI Javelin to Elite. (Elite LI are very nice.) Try to cover your flanks with difficult going where the LI and MI can lurk while the knights run over everything in front of you.

[Bertrand du Guesclin]

Interesting, your list's made me realise that for HYW French I should always take mounted knights over foot knights because I can dismount before battle starts if it's advantageous. Good to know.

Would you say there's a place for LMI crossbowmen in a HYW French army? This particular list seems very much of the 'get in their face, then wreck it' variety so I assume crossbowmen wouldn't play well here. But I do like the idea of pavises with heraldry on them so it would be nice if I could find a way to usefully include say 4-6 units.

[KevinD]

I’ve painted gpthem up but never used them. I keep thinking there’s a use for a stand if two of Elite Genoese but in the end think it just detracts from what I want to do with the army.

[Hazelbark]

[Bertrand du Guesclin]

Thanks for the tips! I'll endeavour not to get carried away with the crossbowmen then.