Journeys through the Eternal Empire - Part Six

[massina_nz]

One knight had anarchied last turn, there was no way of getting it to retreat so I just kept on advancing – this turn I had to retire a militia spearman and brother spearman from the line, it’s looking rather tenuous now. I might have to consider retreating my bowmen to the hill, because eventually they will have to fight.

[massina_nz]

Turcopoles have good odds and attack some Janissaries. Even the Knights have even odds.



Have to advance some troops to protect rear of my knights, and suicide one of my spearmen to protect the retreat of some of my crossbowmen.



I begin to withdraw at the top of the map, using my knights to cover the retreat.

[massina_nz]

A brother spearmen unit routs and drags some Turk archers out of the trees. Only mildly useful to me, as my nearby knights can’t do much with the opportunity. Elsewhere, one of my knights succumbs to a rear attack (after anarchy) and things start to look a little grim, I retreat what I can towards the hill.

Can I last until turn 24?

[massina_nz]

One knight has to charge, there is nothing else it can do, the other knights attempt to hold off so others can escape, but both enemy infantry units don’t disrupt despite great odds, so my knights will break off, exposing the spearmen.



I set up defensive positions on the hill, something I should have done way earlier in the game.

[stockwellpete]

I set up defensive positions on the hill, something I should have done way earlier in the game.

Her-hum!!

[massina_nz]

I set up defensive positions on the hill, something I should have done way earlier in the game.

Her-hum!!

Yes Pete your earlier advice was very sage.

[massina_nz]

I manage to rout one enemy cavalry thru excessive casualties. Unfortunately a lot of my disrupted troops on the hill don’t rally.

[massina_nz]

Far left flank disappears.



One knight left for dead. It really is a death by a thousand cuts.

[massina_nz]

Knight Commander about to bite the dust. Lots of my units are now very close to auto-rout level

[massina_nz]

A few more units succumb to missile fire and quite a few are within 10% of auto-rout.

[massina_nz]

The end is near, and so is the agony of defeat....More units succumb to auto-rout, and next turn it is all over. I forgot to take a record of the final casualties which may have been interesting.

And so my sequence of Eternal Empire AARs ends in a damb squib.

I would like to do some AARs for the Decline and Fall expansion. I'm hoping it will be included in the 8th season of the LOEG. If so, I will write an AAR for each of my LOEG games with my preferred army. I assume I'll be playing opponents of less variation of abilit, so I expect the games may be more balanced than the Eternal Empire ones I've done.

[stockwellpete]

Never mind, Craig - our "plan" nearly worked. The Teutonic Knights only lost by 42-5!!

[massina_nz]

Never mind, Craig - our "plan" nearly worked. The Teutonic Knights only lost by 42-5!!

Shame it would have been a very different battle if the terrain hadn't been so against me. That would have been way more interesting, instead we got paint drying.

[stockwellpete]

Never mind, Craig - our "plan" nearly worked. The Teutonic Knights only lost by 42-5!!

Shame it would have been a very different battle if the terrain hadn't been so against me. That would have been way more interesting, instead we got paint drying.

Yes, it was the perfect battlefield for the Ottomans - you didn't really stand much of a chance.

[davouthojo]

Thanks for this Massina! I have enjoyed all your AARs and appreciate the effort in creating them. The BP result was lopsided - I can't remember the casualties either, but it was much closer than the BPs - 2:1 or so.

I agree with stockwellpete - as I noted up front, I could not see how you could get a win on this battlefield.

You could easily have got a draw, by staying away from the woods - or even baited a trap for a win if I had been foolish enough to take my MF more than a move from cover. But the AAR would have been a damp squib!

As it stood, I was lucky to get the win - even at the 20th turn, I was not expecting to rout enough units by Turn 25. Fortunately the effects of attrition are cumulative.....a long period of nothing happening followed by sudden collapse. As we noted in chat, makes for a "watching paint dry" AAR, but a useful one......one of the biggest attributes that separates top players is patience. If you have a missile edge, plan on winning your game in turn 15-20, not 5-10. Not many 22 turn AARs out there!

Another tactic for new players to note - massina neutralised my attrition well by pulling units out of the front line and retiring them to a missile free zone behind his lines. See the 5-6 units close to auto-rout on the top-right of the photos. Just one of the tactics that separates average players from good!

Thanks for the game - you can get revenge next encounter!