Companions Cup - Gaul vs Gaul

[massina_nz]

Rotary hoe - next AAR is up - this time as pormised it will be my current Companions Cup match, as part of the parings for 1st and 2nd place.. I'm representing the rest of the world, whilst my opponent is representing the British Isles - always nice when one of the dominians can upset the mother-country

In my first round game I was able to get a relatively comfortable victory using the lowland Gauls against the Celtiberians. Guessing there would be a fair proportion of MF in the Celtiberian army I went for a cavalry heavy army. I was able in the to match the cavalry against said MF, and I think that was probably the deciding factor in the battle.

This time I'm taking an opposite track as per the screen-dump below.



Focussing instead on HF and a Iberian Ally. Why an iberian Ally?

1. We have to play on a mixed map, so there's a high likelihood of some rough terrain
2. My opponent is also likely to choose some MF for the same reason, so if they win initiative they will likely pick a map that suits MF
3. The Iberians look very different to Gauls, so it will be easier to tell which troops are allies
4. The Iberians will give me a light horse which may be useful

Given that there is also a chance that my opponent won't choose any MF, then I didn't really want my cavalry to face a HF army with little room to manuever.

I've also maxed out on family units to bump up my break point level.

[massina_nz]

I win the scouting phase and I go for bottom right map – as it doesn’t leave much real room for cavalry and can use my MF Ally on my left flank aggressively due to the plenitudes of covering terrain and I’ve played this map before.



Firstly I make sure all troops in command range so they can double move in my first turn where possible. This may be limited by any opposing skirmishers.

I leave the three Soldurii in a rear rank in the centre, sort of like a small hidden elite reserve. Looking at my opponents BP level of 63 I’m guessing it’s a cavalry heavy army, and probably armoured at that. My HF should be able to resist them in impact combat, but will be a POA down during melee combat due to the assumed better armour of the enemy cavalry. Something the Soldurii would negate.

[massina_nz]

I see a hill tribe ally amongst my foes– well I would like my HF to get to grips with them. I also see some armoured cavalry in the woods, but can’t see much else – there maybe nothing on the right side of the screen capture. If this was the case then it’s highly likely and the Gallic warbands would be double ranked. I’ll have to advance on my left to find out.



My Iberians scout ahead and see nothing, if this flank is empty, I could use their superior movement to envelope my opponents right flank.



I advance in the centre as well, occupying the hexes behind the ditch. Whether thsoe anarchy prone troops actually stay behind the ditch is another matter. I'm assuming they won't advance into the ditch because it disorders them, but they could charge beyond it. I'm best to turn the facing of these troops askew to mitigate the anarchy tests.

[batesmotel]

Your HF behind the ditch won't anarchy across it since they don't have enough movement to move beyond it in one turn. The one at the end of the ditch could anarchy out through the clear hexes.

Chris

[massina_nz]

Your HF behind the ditch won't anarchy across it since they don't have enough movement to move beyond it in one turn. The one at the end of the ditch could anarchy out through the clear hexes.

Chris

Of course it costs 1.5 MPs to enter the ditch hex, so if I turn the unit facing the clear hex, one hexside clockwise, then it won't anarchy. Thanks.

[massina_nz]

My opponents hill tribe ally moves into the woods’n’bog.



My scouts indicate there are no enemy on my left flank and I think my Iberians with superior numbers should have the upper hand here – so I press on my left flank and do nothing on my right .

I also remember to set all my skirmishers to ‘always evade’.

[massina_nz]

My opponent retreats – guess they saw all the Iberians and thought better of it.



Iberians push forward – there may be a few more turns of skirmishing before any side decides to take the initiative.

[massina_nz]

Looks like relatively even numbers, I make sure I place the Iberians in difficult terrain so they don’t anarchy. I’m probably best to use my skirmishers to harass the MF for a few turns either to disorder them or tempt them to anarchy. I seem to have more LF than my opponent so I could afford to spend a few of turns skirmishing to see if I get an advantage.

[massina_nz]

Enemy cavalry make an appearance on my left flank – note one enemy MF has anarchy problems and is exposed (circled in red).



I’m able rout the exposed MF with a rear attack – I first attempt with four skirmisher units to get a disorder (then a two step cohesion loss will cause a rout), but with no luck. Then the MF charged in and got a disrupt followed by a rout due to “lose badly result”, and with no rout path the enemy unit was destroyed – however that leaves the MF exposed to an attack by enemy HF. So I position some other MF my troops so if the HF charge I can drag them into the forest with unit A (blue arrow).

I’ve also made sure my Iberian LF are in a clear hex (yellow octogons) as that may tempt further anarchies– at the end of my turn an Iberian MF anarchies when it was placed in swamp hex – thought it wouldn’t do that.

[massina_nz]

My Iberian MF that anarchied last turn, gets hit from behind but only suffers a disruption only [A]. Meanwhile the Gallic MF charge in and more enemy cavalry are seen. As expected my opponents HF charge my MF at [C]. Combat results are relatively even.



I charge my MF at the enemy HF using the woods as cover, I get good odds but the combat results are inconclusive, at least it helps out the subsequent melee attack which gets 50% vs 23% odds as there is a supporting unit.



Note that I get good odds in this combat as it is a flank attack and the opposing unit cannot turn to face - 63% vs 11%.



I charge in with my MF to support all my MF already engaged. I inflict a couple of disrupts and my disrupted MF holds on. I’m also able to disrupt the chariot unit with missile volleys which is useful as it may prevent it from charging next turn as it should need to take a cohesion test for being disrupted.



Rather than shoot at the opposing LF, I charge at them with my skirmishers, causing them to evade. Now his HF is exposed to anarchy charges, so I will get a small benefit if the opposing HF charges in piecemeal. I figure this is the weak point of my opponents line, it’s here I will concentrate my forces in an attempt to roll-up the enemy line.

[massina_nz]

The surrounded/disrupted MF continues to do very well, disrupting two further enemy units, and I see there’s a mass of enemy cavalry arriving, presumably being transferred across the battlefield.

I get some crap combat results in my turn and a couple of units rout, which opens up one unit to a rear attack next turn.



I lose a couple of LF to rotten evade moves (they actually rally at the end of my turn, so no real harm done) – but notice that the bulk of the enemy warbands are out of command range – now is the time to be bold. At least my HF will have a slight advantage in the cohesion tests.

I now have to move quickly here before the enemy cavalry on my left cause trouble, so I order a general advance.

[massina_nz]

From a perceived position of strength my left flank begins to look precarious



Meanwhile in the centre, I suffer a couple of routs, who choose to rout through my own troops rather than empty hexes. The enemy formation is beginning to shape like a crescent.



The Iberians hold their own – but I don’t hold up much hope next turn



Melee exchanges are pretty even in the centre, I even send my general in to force a gap to no avail. I’m at a disadvantage in troop quality as their Elite troops are in the midst of battle, whereas my Soldurii are still lagging behind, the ditch has been more a hindrance than a help.

[massina_nz]

My left flank continues to slowly disintegrate. My C-in-C charges into a high odds combat, only to lose his life, It's going to be even harder without my inspired general. There's alot of disordered units on both sides, so there's potential for some domino routs.

[massina_nz]

My troops hold on, there’s a few fragments that I may be able to exploit next turn, I realise now that I’ve deceived myself, I really should have advanced my left and delayed with my right. Will my right flank hold long enough for me to rectify my mistake?

[massina_nz]

I get the benefit of most of the domino routs in the centre. So I'm able to bring the BP disparity closer together. Whilst my left flank continues to crumble, the free enemy cavalry troops on that flank have along way to travel to get to the centre, wheras most of my troops in the centre are already in action.

[massina_nz]

After a general melee, the end is in sight, although my opponent has good chances on rear attacks and the combats on my left flank, I just need to eliminate those six warband units on my right to win, before his cavalry returns to the fray.

If you notice the bunch of four routed Warband units of mine, they were all pretty steady last turn, but one freakish result went against me and they all routed one after the other! Ouch!

[massina_nz]

I'm able to seize the victory, as I can attack the flanks of the Warbands on my right flank, cause thme to rout and then follow-up with rear attacks on the exposed enemy units, almost all of the enemy Warbands are now in flight.

I was lucky that I realised my mistake early enough, caused by the fog of war, where I thought I had the numerical supriority in MF. I was wrong, and then caclulating that I in fact had superiority in HF, I was able to advance and attack the weak points of the enemy convex formation.

[camlan]

Very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing. Can you tell me how you save a picture of your screen, and then place circles and arrows on it. Sorry, a bit naive when it comes to that kinda stuff, but would like to do that and keep it in an AAR file. Might learn from my mistakes. Thanks,

Dave

[massina_nz]

Very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing. Can you tell me how you save a picture of your screen, and then place circles and arrows on it. Sorry, a bit naive when it comes to that kinda stuff, but would like to do that and keep it in an AAR file. Might learn from my mistakes. Thanks,

Dave

NP, it's a bit low tech really. I take a screen dump using the <print_screen> button, paste it into word, and then add symbols over the top of the picture in word. I'll generally write up some text under the picture, to remind me what to ssay when I post the next turn on the forum, sometimes it may take me severals days from the actual turn until I post it. I then use a screen scraper, called Screen Hunter 5.1, to scrape the pictures from Word into a jpeg file, then upload the jpeg file into Flickr.com (I have unlimited pictures limt as my ISP has a deal with them). From Flickr I can grab the HTML address of the picture and paste it into the forum posting, making sure it has the [img] tags around the picture.

[massina_nz]

Here's my 6mm DBA Gallic army consisting mainly of Heroics and Ros figures



The Warband, using a mixture of Heroics and Ros Figures and Baccus figures



Some British chariots masquerading as Gallic Chariots



Finally the Gallic cavalry