Hussites: Battle of Kutna Hora 1421

[stockwellpete]

This scenario was requested by Sabratha.

EDIT: version 3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15461007/Battle ... 20PWv3.rar

Please note: I have "invented" a new unit for this scenario - MF handgunners in the Hussite army. They still have the usual symbol for LF, of course.

Historical rule (optional): basically, the Hussite have two options - stay put and fight a defensive battle in a fortified position - or try to break out of the encirclement. So the Hussites can win in the normal way by breaking the enemy army or they can win by getting the Jan Ziska war-wagon unit to any baseline hex belonging to Sigismund's army.

It is recommended that "double moves" are switched off when playing this in multi-player.

Any comments and suggestions for improvement will be most welcome.

[Micha63]

Thank you.

[Sabratha]

Its an interesting scenario.
The royalist right flank is very strong, to the point of "filling up the field" with units lining up to fight the ennemy in a cluttered position, which to be honest helps the Hussite player as the royalists are not able to make full use of their numerical superiority. The wagons are good against cavalry, but somewhat too brittle to crossbow fire, but I guess that's an issue with FoG mechanics and not the scenario itself.
The AI doesn't manage the multisided battle too well - it kept a far too large of its forces centered around Kutna Hora itself, while leaving the army facing the Royalist main force far too small. The AI also overextended its outer line, allowing me to brake inside after routing one or two units. Thus once I was able to break through the outer Hussite ring, I could then surround and chop the Hussite groups one after another. The Hungarian cavalry proved to be a mobile and versatile unit, arguably more usefull than the heavy knight sin this scenario.

All in all its a good scenario (especially looking forward to multiplayer), thanks for making it. I'm sure that the human player would have done a better job as the Hussites than the AI had. Maybe it would be good to make an additional "AI version" of the scenario without the Kutna Hora garrison and Hussite siege units. I think then the Hussite AI would fare much better.

[TheGrayMouser]

Cool, cant wait to check this out

Medium foot with handguns: nice touch, the best thing is the AI actually uses them unlike trying to give non skirmishes javelins. ( the ai just fuddles around thinking they are skirmishers but cant fire) The only thing is handgunn infantry dont get any xtra dice for the handgunne support when charged frontally. They should because i think some infantry from the the Dragons expansion officially has medium handgun units that do so, obviously just not programmed in to the game, sadly , as they likly arnt going to do that pack.

[stockwellpete]

Its an interesting scenario.
The royalist right flank is very strong, to the point of "filling up the field" with units lining up to fight the ennemy in a cluttered position, which to be honest helps the Hussite player as the royalists are not able to make full use of their numerical superiority. The wagons are good against cavalry, but somewhat too brittle to crossbow fire, but I guess that's an issue with FoG mechanics and not the scenario itself.

Yes, it is not possible to edit the war wagons, to make them "superior" perhaps, or maybe "protected" or even "armoured".

The AI doesn't manage the multisided battle too well - it kept a far too large of its forces centered around Kutna Hora itself, while leaving the army facing the Royalist main force far too small. The AI also overextended its outer line, allowing me to brake inside after routing one or two units. Thus once I was able to break through the outer Hussite ring, I could then surround and chop the Hussite groups one after another. The Hungarian cavalry proved to be a mobile and versatile unit, arguably more usefull than the heavy knight sin this scenario.

All in all its a good scenario (especially looking forward to multiplayer), thanks for making it. I'm sure that the human player would have done a better job as the Hussites than the AI had. Maybe it would be good to make an additional "AI version" of the scenario without the Kutna Hora garrison and Hussite siege units. I think then the Hussite AI would fare much better.

In my opinion, the AI is only any good for learning a bit about the game when you first buy it. All my scenarios are for multi-player and I don't even use the AI for play-testing now - I just play against myself to make sure that I have got a reasonable balance of troops and things like the starting positions OK. I then put the scenario out to multi-player and incorporate useful feedback into updated versions.

In this one the starting positions of the royalist army are meant to represent them being in camp and being taken by surprise by the Hussite attack at dawn.

[stockwellpete]

I have a few play-tests of my own on the go in multi-player at the moment - and I am finding the scenario a bit lop-sided against the Hussites. The army points are currently 725 to 625 in favour of the Royalists although the Royalists do have 40pts bottled up in Kutna Hora.

What I think I will do is reduce the army points advantage of the Royalists by a half, so the armies will be 675 to 625 and I will also make another gate in the walled ramparts of Kutna Hora so that the Hungarian cavalry there can intervene more easily in the battle. The Royalists will now have 66BG's to the Hussites 39.

I will put version 2 on here tomorrow.

[stockwellpete]

Hmm . . . I have been doing a bit more pottering about and I have re-read my notes. What I can also do is reduce the range of the leader flags of the Royalists because they were taken by surprise by the Hussite "break-out" attempt at dawn. The other thing that I will experiment with is having "Double Moves" switched off for this scenario.

So it is still 675-625 army pts in favour of the Royalists, but now 68-40 in BG's.

[stockwellpete]

Version 2 now available at the top of the thread.

[stockwellpete]

Version 3 now available at the top of the thread. All I have done for this latest change is to spread out the deployment positions of the Royalist army a bit more. There is a much better balance to the scenario now.

[ZeaBed]

Thanks for yet another fine scenario stockwellpete! I played out the first version against the AI and of course the Royalists won (but with a very bloody nose). Will try the new version soon. What an incredible feat by the Hussites. A friend of mine is of Czech extraction and he told me how his father would rave about Jan Ziska and his crew.

[stockwellpete]

PLay-testing for this scenario is finished now. If you are playing this in multi-player then it is highly recommended that "double moves" are switched off.