I was absent this week so the chaps did a single double-sized battle as there was a far bit of cavalry present and they wanted a decent amount of space. The scenario was Blood feud where points are earned for killed the enemies most powerful units.
It was Franks vs Anglo-Norman with 48 points a side.
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| Frankish infantry make ready |
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| Charge! |
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| AN column advances |
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| Irish grab the prize |
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| Roman attackers |
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| Franks block the Roman escape |
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| Great North War Russian infantry |
Just two games this week using the Convoy scenario. In this battle the attackers have three treasure tokens assigned to different units and must attempt to get them off the opposite corner of the table, scoring 2 points for each. The defender must try to rout the treasurer carriers, scoring 2 points for each.
This game is potentially very good for the Saxons as they are mostly heavy / light spearmen and so are happy being attacked. The Irish are a more attacking army and so this may not be too bad for them either.
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| Saxon attackers |
The Saxons formed a solid mass with the treasurer carriers at the rear. Unable to enter rough terrain their forces split either side of a field as the Irish converged from three sides.
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| Irish Warriors and Gallowglass |
The Irish skirmishers weakened a treasurer carrying unit before some Irish warriors finished them off. The other side of the village the Gallowglass were able to pin the Saxons back and attack the other two treasure carriers.
The result was 6 - 0 to the Irish.
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| Arthurian defenders |
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| Frankish defenders |
The attackers were fearful of being sniped and so took a long route through the dense terrain to limit the defenders fields of fire.
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| Anglo-Norman attackers |
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| AN skirmishers |
So the defenders withdrew their archers to cover the flanks of the heavy infantry blocking the exit path.
As the attackers approached the defenders were able to inflict some casualties. We then realized that there was an issue in the scenario - treasure carrier can nt launch attacks and the way was completely blocked. So we tweaked things to allow then to Attack on 8+.
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| Defenders are well set |
The weakened attacker launched several assaults at the Roman and Frankish infantry but bounced off. It was agreed the attackers could not break through so it was a 6-0 win for the defenders.
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| The final attack |
The scenario we played this week involved lots of movement - the defender was trying to cross from one corner to the opposite one, while the attacker tried to envelope them from the sides. The defender won by getting more than half their points off and the attacker won by routing more than half the defenders points. Following the Pope's ban on crossbows the Flemish have become Norse.
This was likely a good scenario for the fast moving Welsh who might be able to out manoeuvre the Anglo-Normans, and so they set-up to push straight down the middle while the ANs had mounted one side and foot the other.
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| AN knights try to cut-off the Welsh |
True to form the Welsh scuttled up the centre with their horse leading the way. Initially it looked like they might escape with minimal casualties and much of the light horse escaped unscathed. Eventually the ANs came to grips with them were able to kill enough to mean the Welsh could only get exactly half their units off. Draw.
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| Welsh foot in a bind |
Some slow movement from the defenders allowed the Norse to close the gap and bring them to combat in centre field.
After the struggle the Arthurian's lost over half their points and so were unable to win the game. Norse win.
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| Romans and Norse clash |
Game 3 - Franks (defender) vs Irish/Anglo-Norman
The attackers deployed with the Irish to the west and the ANs to the east. After initially moving up the centre the Franks pushed all their troops towards the ANs making it a classic hammer & anvil game.
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| Franks swing east to avoid the Irish |
With the Irish in hot pursuit the Franks engaged the ANs and were able to destroy their elite horse. Meanwhile the Irish warriors mowed down the Frankish archers and engaged their infantry. As the Frankish horse was whittled away it fell to their infantry to try and win the game.
In a tense finish the ANs final unit of spearmen managed to hold the Frankish up long enough for the Irish Gallowglass to kill more than half the Franks. Irish / Anglo-Norman win.
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| AN spears hold the line |
In this weeks battles we played Sausages with mustard - where the attacker is raiding the defenders supply lines. There are 4 supply points in the centre which can be burnt for 2 points by the attackers. Any that survive when half the attackers points are destroyed score 2 points for the defender. The defender starts with 1/6 of their points in the centre as guards.
The Saxons moved forward as quickly as possible, aided by some slow movement from the Norman knights, and managed to burn one of the supply points. Their matches were a little damp though and they were unable to burn more before the main body of the Anglo-Normans arrived.
A tough fight around the village saw heavy casualties on both sides with the defenders winning 6-2
The slow moving Flemish placed some of their feared Crossbows in the village with the rest of their infantry moving up. The quicker attackers looked to flank in the east and attack through the middle. Early on the attackers made progress but could not get the supplies to burn, must be the climate!
A hard fight followed as the Crossbows dominated the centre field and the fighting mostly occurred in the woods. With the attackers unable to burn any further supplies the defenders won 6 - 2
The Irish deployed some of their slower moving Gallowglass in the centre with the rest looking to move quickly to the west side of the village. The Norse spread pretty evenly across the table. The Irish were looking to focus their forces to eliminate the attackers quickly, but were gambling on them taking a few turns to destroy the supplies closest to them.
The Norse had some superior fire starters in their ranks and were able to set fire to two supply dumps before the Irish could get to them. The Irish flank attack was able to cut through the more spread out Norse and prevent any further damage. Draw 4 - 4
