Nechtansmere 685 AD

[dundas61]

Hi all,

Please see below for the link to a new scenario I created recently ...

http://www.filehosting.org/file/details ... 685_AD.zip

(PS thanks to the guys who advised this poor old noobie how to get this file uploaded)

[dundas61]

I'd like to dedicate this scenario to my manager, who sadly passed away suddenly on Mon 31st Dec after a very short illness over Christmas.

She will be sorely missed by all who had the good fortune to know and work with her in the 2 years she worked at our company.

RIP Ruth. Taken far too soon.

[Micha63]

This filehoster is a real pain . Please surch another one.

[lascar]

This filehoster is a real pain . Please surch another one.

What's the pain? It sends you a link by email, you click and download.

[Schweinewitz]

What's the pain? It sends you a link by email, you click and download.

Exactly that's the problem. One does not give a rather dubious filehoster an email adress just to download a single 5.0 kB file. The risk that the email adress is misused afterwards is too high.

You could try depositfiles instead: http://depositfiles.com/ - No registration required, downloads are (relatively) save.

[lascar]

What's the pain? It sends you a link by email, you click and download.

Exactly that's the problem. One does not give a rather dubious filehoster an email adress just to download a single 5.0 kB file. The risk that the email adress is misused afterwards is too high.

You could try depositfiles instead: http://depositfiles.com/ - No registration required, downloads are (relatively) save.

That is is bit paranoid don't you think? Spam comes to your email everyday. Your email address is no secret to the spammers.

[Schweinewitz]

If you think minimal precaution is paranoid I can't help you. Sorry.

[Micha63]

Schweinewitz is rigth .

[lascar]

If you think minimal precaution is paranoid I can't help you. Sorry.

Thanks for your concern, each person must weigh the risks vs benefits for themselves.

[dundas61]

Hey guys,

Didn't mean to start WW3!

Here's a link to the file on the alternative site suggested ... http://depositfiles.com/files/8dg3tuh32

Enjoy !

[voskarp]

Dundas, it is of course not your fault...

Thanks for the scenario!

[Schweinewitz]

dundas61:

Thanks!

lascar:

Thanks for the scenario, will try it soon. Looks interesting, I really like maps with a carefully made terrain.

Peace!

[lascar]

dundas61:

Thanks!

lascar:

Thanks for the scenario, will try it soon. Looks interesting, I really like maps with a carefully made terrain.

Peace!

Schweinewitz, Dundas61 created this scenario and he deserves the glory; I just wanted to make sure he was able to share it with others. All is well now.

[Schweinewitz]

Silly me!

(Will give some feedback as soon as I have played the scenario.)

[dundas61]

Cheers !

I'd recommend the Picts (excluding the decoy unit) stay well hidden until the Northumbrians enter the trap. The decoy unit obviously needs to run like hell in the meantime though.

BTW, this all actually happened about 8 miles from where I used to live many decades ago as a teenager, and I only found out about it recently as part of my ongoing Dark Ages research.

And apologies if the term "Dark Ages" offends any medieval experts in this forum due to it's not being a proper term any more in some academic circles, but I'm a bit old-fashioned.

Looking forward to the "Wolves from the Sea" add-on whenever it comes out !

[Schweinewitz]

So here's my first try - played the Northumbrians against the AI.

First of all - I'm not very familiar with early British history, and so I enjoy learning something about it through scearios like this or the great scenarios by stockwellpete and others.

The descriptions give a good introduction to the battle, and in regards to what happened back then I wondered if I would face destruction too or be able to gain victory nonetheless ... As said before: well done map, perfect for ambushes. Although the AI is limited and does not act 'historycally accurate' (which AI does anyway?), it does not bad. Soon as I moved my little army onward, the southern woods was teeming with Picts while the enemy warriors were blocking the way to the fortification. So far, so good (or bad for me).



Turn 6: To my relief I discovered that I've got some pretty decent cavalry units with which I could push aside the Pictish light horse and skirmishers. The king was involved in a fight with enemy infantry which was no match for him. And my infantry just trotted along ...



Turn 9: The first time my infantry sees action. The enemy infantry has almost vanished and their leader fights his last stand. The Pictish light units and some infantry are scattered all over the southern part of the map, hunted by my horsies.



Turn 11: Victory! Just marginal losses for the Northumbrians. King Ecgfrith is pleased!



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Playing the Northumbrians, this is a short but fun 'beating up some natives' scenario; playing the Picts will be very different. AAR will follow soon!

[dundas61]

Good AAR there !

Looks like the AI Picts totally ignored the initial setup and advanced headlong against a significantly superior enemy - any thoughts on how to stop this happening and keep the element of surprise, anyone ? If I make them immobile they'll still get slaughtered.

[Schweinewitz]

I'm afraid that this is not possible. You cannot give the AI complex orders, not even to act 'defensive' or 'agressive', which is a serious handicap of the game IMO. No waypoints, no reinforcements etc. Bigger battle scenarios tend to result in a chaotic mess of enemy and friendly units. The editor's leader adjustment does not work etc. etc. I hope the new version will fix some of the severe problems, and maybe make some more complex scenarios possible.

Seems that the best way to play your scenario is choosing the Picts. Will try that tomorrow. I wonder how the AI will act and if I can ambush it somehow ...

[Schweinewitz]

So here's the Pictish AAR:

Completely different thing, much longer, more challenging - but also different from what was orginally intended. Couldn't trap the AI, so I had to improvise.

As proposed I used the decoy unit ... as a decoy. The enemy army was slowly following.



The skirmishers were a pain, so the decoy didn't last long enough. Used a light horse to continue the job.



The main body of the enemy army got distracted by the routed (!) decoy unit and followed it southwards into the woods. For such nonsense I really hate the AI.



Fortunately this did not last long and the main body started moving in the right direction again. Unfortunately all leaders followed the decoy and left the main body leaderless. Therefore it was just able to move very slow.



It was foreseeable that the intended plan would not work. So I decided to attack the enemy king and a cav leader with my smaller eastern force. Killed the cav leader, but the king could break free.



After that I united all what was left of my eastern force with my western one to make front against the approaching enemy main body. Killed the bodyguard cav and a HF unit in the process.



Turn 25: The deciding moment of the battle - I managed to occupy the fortification to gain an advantage for my MF troops over the enemy's HF ones. This worked well.



With high losses I could repulse the enemy from the fortification. At the same time my cavalry routed the isolated king. Very narrow victory, in fact it's a draw. (For some reasons there seem to be no more draws in this game. Or am I mistaken?)





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My conclusion: I think you cannot recreate the real battle in all detail with the present AI. Nonetheless this is a very varied and exciting scenario - it depends on your decisions.

[dundas61]

Ok, I'm wondering if we could somehow use the "Blocked hexside" facility to stop the Northumbrians heading south into the adjacent woods?

I tried this in a previous version but it doesn't seem to work - anybody have any ideas why? (It's also very difficult to see where you place these hexsides.)

The decoy unit could also be changed to be light infantry ...