Battle of Edgehill 1642 - AAR (kind of)

[Adebar]

First of all: I suck in doing AARs. Because of that I don't go deep into details and wargamer's metaphysics, I just want to give an overview of the events. I even cannot tell what I did on which turn - this is how I suck!

So don't expect to much, it's all Panta rhei, just go with the flow! Or not.

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The scenario plays as the King's army against the Parliament's. My forces are positioned on a hill, a fact I'm quite content with. The enemy's army is a bit larger (3000 men or so); I've got good musketeers (medium infantry), pikes (which I don't trust so much) and excellent cavalry. Also some medium artillery while the enemy has none.



Question is: What will the enemy do? Will he attack my center or does he wait for me to move? - I decide to send in my Cavaliers to challenge his cavalry.
Here's this moment on my right:



On the left I face 3 Dragoon units which are of better quality that mine and outgun them. The result is obvious. With the rest of my cavalry I try to outflank them. (I succeed.)



On the right the enemy cavalry couldn't accept my approach and moves in! Skirmishers harass my Dragoons and here too they have to suffer badly under enemy fire.



The cavalry battle continues. Two opposing units flee in panik, being pursuited by my Cavaliers. Enemy infantry moves in to support their cavalry.



Can beat the two skirmisher units. Ememy infantry close in on my right flank.

[Adebar]

One of my Chevalier units is mindlessly hunting the fleeing enemy without noticing that it parades in front of the whole enemy army! It draws the fire of no less than 10 infantry units on it.



Meanwhile, on the left, my cavalry is heavily engaged with the enemy horsies that tried to save their Dragoon comerades.



On turn later: Victory! - Problem is that most of my keen horesmen are now in pursuit and have no ear for further orders.



All the time in the center I did nothing except to bombard the enemy lines with my medium artillery. Now that my cavalry caused some disorder on the opposite side ... I guess the time has come for a frontal attack!



At first only a handful of enemy infantry units seem to respond at my approach. Victory could be near ...



And then the most dramatic moment of this battle: The enemy starts a massive counterattack! (This had a real "epic" feeling, and a screenshot cannot illustrate that.)
At the whole front heavy fighting. A realy die-hard foe.

[Adebar]

Night is falling, the battle is over. I'm informed that the enemy uses the darkness to escape.



Now I'm told that I've lost! Why that? Looks more like a draw to me.



The statistic also states that I've lost two guns. The enemy didn't come near my arty, this is nonsense.

Apart from that I really enjoyed this battle. The cavalry fights were challenging and the counterattack amazing.

Haven't played another game that intensly since Age of Rifles and Panzer General 2. What a great game!

[rbodleyscott]

Night is falling, the battle is over. I'm informed that the enemy uses the darkness to escape.

Now I'm told that I've lost! Why that? Looks more like a draw to me.

A draw was a strategic loss for the King. If he had won the battle, he could have marched on and captured London, and the war would effectively have been won. This is why the King's army did not historically sit on its hill bombarding the enemy with its artillery...

A draw allowed Parliament to regroup and resulted in the King's eventual defeat and beheading.

The statistic also states that I've lost two guns. The enemy didn't come near my arty, this is nonsense.

Your front rank pike units had attached light guns. (You can see them in the top screenshot). You must have had one of those units routed and hence lost the guns.

[Adebar]

Thanks for the (historical) info. I started my frontal attack 6 turns before the end of the scenario. Guess I've waited too long. I had too much respect for the Parliament's infantry, feared to get outnumbered.

Your front rank pike units had attached light guns. (You can see them in the top screenshot). You must have had one of those units routed and hence lost the guns.

Ah, I see. You're right, one of those units was routed. Didn't notice the missing guns, will take a closer look at this detail next time. Thanks again!

BTW, I forget to mention that I've played the scenario on "Sergeant Major General" difficulty (German: "Hauptmann").

[jomni]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I also had an experience of decimating the enemy but still losing the battle.
This time, I got too many losses (in Lutzen as Catholic).



Take note that my losses should not exceed 31%



Just by looking at the stats, it looks like I have won but I haven't.

[rbodleyscott]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I also had an experience of decimating the enemy but still losing the battle.
This time, I got too many losses (in Lutzen as Catholic).

Just to explain this for other readers, the multiplayer historical scenarios are not altered from the historical situation to equalize the chances of each side winning the battle.

Instead, the side with the advantage has to win the battle without taking too many losses. If he does take too many losses, even if he wins the battle, he is deemed to have suffered a strategic defeat.

This probably doesn't stand up to close scrutiny as a true representation of reality (although such strategic situations did occur from time to time) but is a way of balancing the two player's chances of winning the game without altering the historical scenario.

So jomni won the battle, but lost the scenario.

This means that the side with an advantage in forces cannot just rely on his force superiority and attrition to win the battle, just like the disadvantaged player he has to play well to win the scenario.