Wars of Religion - week 2

A decent turn-out again this week so we were able to fight all three games. To balance up the sides the Ottomans have turned mercenary and will fight for whoever is short handed. In all three games the attackers were on the march and got intercepted by defending forces. The games all featured a Vanguard who them had to be reinforced by the remaining troops.

Game 1 - Landsknechts (north) vs WOR (south), For King or Country

The variation of the theme here is that both sides had a forlorn hope who must try to stay with 12" of the table centre to score additional points, as well as points for killing the enemy. The Germans deployed 4 Tercios with a small amount of supporting units, with two of them as Forlorn Hopes, hoping to swamp the middle with large units.   

Landsknecht tercios attack

The larger WOR army was also more mobile and so moved to flank the Germans. As a tactic this has limited effect as they are in field square and so can not be flanked. 

So, hard fighting in the middle saw the Germans pushed back after some losses and the WOR able to claim a victory for a defender win. Southern Win.  

Chaos in the centre

Game 2 - Polish (north)  vs WOR (south) , A Question of Honour

In this game additional points are scored for having more units over the half way line as well as the traditional kills.  The Polish deployed their infantry as a Vanguard with the cavalry looking to come and save the day.  The WOR more or less matched this deployment. 

Some early cavalry action was in the WOR favour as they routed the Lost Men with their Demi Lancers. They also managed to gain the upper hand in the fire combat with them doing better than the Polish foot.   

Some tricky turns saw the Hussars on the left routed and so the WOR were able to claim the win on kills. Southern Win 

Game 3 - WOR (south) vs WOR (north)/Ottoman, A Question of Honour

The Northern troops deployed with the WOR on the left and the Ottomans on the right in the Vanguard. This placed the Ottomans opposite some Southern horse and lighter troops, needing to hold off the Southern infantry centre long enough for the Northern units to arrive.  

Janissaries await the attack  

Some smart shooting from the Janissaries and guns saw the southern troops on that side in retreat after a couple of turns which allowed the Northern main bode to arrive and block the Southern advance. The Turks then turn the flank with a Northern win in 5 turns. Northern Win

Campaign Position

Despite being at a slight disadvantage the defenders won all three games and so the attackers are pushed back into the centre of the map foe next week.