4 TC’s
1 superior Savoy Guard foot, 5 musket-bayonet/1 pike
1 superior Bavarian Guard, all musket-bayonet
7 average Savoy/Mercenary foot, 5 musket-bayonet/1 pike
2 average Huguenot foot, 5 musket*IF-bayonet/1 pike
1 average Medium artillery
1 average dragoons, 4 bases
1 average DH, unarmoured pistol/pistol
The main feature of this army is the width and shooting power. Also, the detached shot/pike version with 1 x 4 pike, 2 x 6 musket-bayonet, 1 x 8 musket-bayonet meant I could hope to dominate any terrain. I spent ages working out deployment versus mounted armies always ensuring I had a general and rear support to maintain cohesion in any shooting match.
I made notes and took a couple of photos of each game with the idea of doing a write-up. However, as it makes depressing reading I’ll not bore any readers with the details. Officially, I came 4th from bottom at Britcon but only because I had a bye for game 4. If I had been given half of the bye points – as seems more fair – then I would have come last. I also came bottom at Koblenz. Am I really that crap? Errr Yes
I’ve now been at or near the bottom in singles competitions for 3 years. Sigh.As the games went, wherever I attacked in strength versus weaker forces, I failed to make a decisive breakthrough in any of my games. Either my shooting dice let me down and/or my opponent inevitably passed his saving rolls. I often did start to make progress but it was slow and always too late. Wherever my opponent had the advantage in numbers/quality then I’d usually collapse quickly instead of holding out. My dice were often average but in most of my games, my opponent rolled much better dice than me at crucial points. In only one game (in the last Britcon game against Simon Clarke’s West Sudanese) were my dice much better. We say the dice average out over time and I suppose so as I always do ok in practise games or doubles tournaments and I am a whirlwind when it comes to Ludo
Prior to Britcon, I had a practise game with the Savoy versus Charles Masefield’s Later Spanish and I won 25-0. My dice were awesome, Charles’s were truly crap. In 11 games, I had 5 instances when my steady musket/pike were charged straight up by cavalry. 4 times my opponents broke through making the game decisive in their favour. The 1 instance they failed was Simon’s Tuareg allies. There were several other memorable moments.
For instance, a long line of foot versus Ray Boyle’s Anglo-Dutch. Long range, 17 dice, all hitting on 4’s – first round I get 5 hits, second round I get 1 hit! Ray’s dice are average and I lose several bases on death rolls
Another was the penultimate game at Koblenz. I really thought I had the best chance for a big win here versus a very small but tough Early Swedish. On my right I had 5 foot units all average with rear support and 2 generals versus 2 superior Swedish brigades with 1 general and no rear support. He also had 4 heavy guns way back on a gentle hill. By the time I got into long range musket fire I’d lost 3 of my units, losing 9 cohesion tests in a row and 6 bases on death rolls. The battle on my left didn’t fare any better despite being in an even stronger position. The Swedes didn’t even need to get into contact for me to lose! The last game proved even worse with me losing 0-25 and summed up the whole month.
Despite my frustration in many of the games, I actually did enjoy both weekends, everyone was friendly, the atmosphere and organisation were great. It’s just losing game after game proved too much by the end of Koblenz. I’m now at a point where I don’t trust my dice at all in single competition games and feel that my opponent will always do better. I know its not just down to dice and I do make errors but not so much that I lose so often and so decisively. I must have done something very bad in a previous life – shagged the Duke of Savoy’s wife perhaps?? All that time and effort with zero results. I reckon I’ll stick to Snap in future.
Cheers
Richard
