Skythians in Finland - Games 3 - 6

[dave_r]

Game 3 - George Pakos (Santa Hooey Doodah)

Can't remember exactly what was in George's army - but here is what I remember (In no way lifted from Nik Gaukroger's report you understand)

IC
2 FC
Men-at-arms, 6 Kn, Superior, Undrilled, Heavily Armoured, Lancer, Swordsmen
Men-at-arms, 4 Kn, Superior, Drilled, Heavily Armoured, Lancer, Swordsmen
Jinetes, 6 LH, Average, Undrilled, Protected, Javelins, Light Spear
Jinetes, 6 LH, Average, Undrilled, Protected, Javelins, Light Spear
Jinetes, 6 LH, Average, Undrilled, Protected, Javelins, Light Spear
SHNC Spearmen, 8 HF, Average, Drilled, Armoured, Offensive Spearmen
Other Hermandad Spearmen, 6 HF, Average, Drilled, Protected, Defensive Spearmen
Hermandad Crossbowmen, 8 MF, Average, Drilled, Protected, Crossbow
Hermandad Arquebusiers, 8 LF, Average, Drilled, Unprotected, Firearm

I invaded and decided to choose Steppes for a change. The terrain was all inconsequential and we were effectively playing on a flat billiard table.

Really can't remember much more about this game! I know the knights charged my spearmen and were butchered, I seem to remember the crossbowmen giving some spearmen a right kicking as well, which was a bit disapointing to say the least. I believe they then got ridden down by cavalry which was better.

I think I caught the LF as well, which broke the army.

24-1 to the boys from Greece (as opposed to the player from Greece)...

Game 4 - Guglielmo Marlia (Later Republican Roman)

Again, I can't remember exactly what was in Guglielmo's army, but it had plenty of Legionaires, 2 BG's of LF, 2 BG's of Medium Foot offensive spear (I think) and 3 BG's of Light Horse.

I invaded in the steppes, the rough going finished on my side on the left and the gully finished on Guglielmo's side of the table on the right side. I flank marched on my right flank. Guglielmo deployed with his skirmishers on the right in the rough going along with the MF next to them (also in the rough going) then a solid mass of Legionnaires in the middle followed by a flank of Light Horse.

I deployed with my cavalry and light horse on the left ready to mug the Romans, largely nothing in the middle as all my spearmen were very scared of those Romans in the heavy looking armour so attempted to maintain a discrete distance on my right hand base edge. The remainder of the Light Horse and cavalry deployed on the right wing.

My Light Horse and cavalry ran forward on both flanks ready to mince the roman wings before the Roman infantry managed to do any damage to my already scared spearmen. My flank march arrived first turn!

I managed to nail two of the Light Horse units on the left, but the remaining BG led me a merry dance for about 2 hours before eventually being pinned in the corner and then evaded off table!

On the right I was hoping my flank march would come on behind the Roman Light Foot trapping them so I could ride them down. Unfortunately the useless gits straggled, so I had to do it the old fashioned way from the front. I also advanced the Poor Light Foot in case I managed to get at the fortified camp.

Very quickly I rode down the skirmishers and then began nibbling away at the end BG of MF. This BG had to turn to face to try and chase away my skirmishers which led me to advance the spearmen to threaten their flank. My Light Foot ran unopposed into the baggage and spent several turns scaling the walls before breaking in and looting the Roman tents.

The Spearmen BG which had moved to threaten the flank had also brought it dangerously close to the Roman Infantry, who promptly charged and then proceeded to give them a severe kicking. However, with the MF BG isolated and taking about 8 shooting dice per turn they eventually broke, which broke the Roman army without having to get at the good stuff (fortunately for me). The score was 24-1 with me having a BG of spearmen Fragmented and the Flank March Straggled.

Conclusions

My army is fairly effective against Roman, with the spearmen able to keep the legionnaires "honest" whilst the skirmishers and cavalry do their job on their counterparts. Once the wings had caved in it was a matter of time. The terrain again was crucial, with the Romans having nothing to anchor their flank on. The flank march also had an effect in keeping them honest, i.e. the Romans deployed in the middle away from the edges - although this exposed both flanks.

Game 5 - Lynda Fairhurst (Bosphoran)

I remember this game fairly well and Lynda's army was

3 BG's of Lance armed Cavalry
4 BG's of LH, Bow, Swordsmen
2 BG's of MF, Armoured, Average, Light Spear, Sword
1 BG of MF, Average, Light Spear
2 BG's of skirmishers

I invaded and chose steppes, the only meaningful terrain was a lump of rough going which ended in the middle on my side of the table. I managed to remove 2 of Lynda's four choices of uneven ground.

Lynda deployed with the 3 BG's of cavalry in the middle, 4 BG's of light horse on the left wing and the foot on the right. I had all the spearmen in the middle, I matched Lyndas 4 BG of light horse on the left and had everything else on the right. I flank marched on the right hand side.

The tale of this game was largely in the first 45 minutes. Lynda advanced along the line and I responded by moving my 4 BG's of LH to within an inch of Lynda's 4 BG of LH (all were absolutely identical). In the shooting that followed I managed to disrupt one BG in the middle, Lynda then charged with all four BG's. Given the distance involved I had no option than but to stand to received.

At impact Lynda lost all four combats, with one BG going Fragged (the previously disrupted one), 2 others going disrupted and the last remaining steady but losing a base. There was no hope of recovery from this and in the ensuing Combat phase one BG broke and another dropped to Fragged. One of my BG's broke, but with the 4 Bosphoran LH BG's actually removed from table due to losses then I managed to recover these to steady with the help of the Insipid commander.

My flank march arrived and proceeded to worry the right flank. I sent some LH to sack the camp (which they did) and then tried to concentrate all of my forces into getting the extra AP's I needed to break the Bosphoran army. My spearmen actually made contact with the Cavalry lancers, but I couldn't get LH behind to prevent the break off and this encounter was inconclusive. On the other side of the table my spear line got charged by the MF and were in the process of getting a real pasting when time was called.

The Bosphorans were 1 AP short of breaking and I had lost one BG of spearmen so the score ended up 17-3 to me.

Conclusions

This was sheer luck at the start with the Light Horse Lottery on the left wing. If the dice had been reversed then I suspect I would have been on the receiving end of a 17-3 rather than the giving end. My spearmen yet again proved how rubbish they were by being beaten up by MF in the open!

Game Six - JD McNeil (Medieval Cypriot)

I invaded for the sixth time this tournament and again chose steppes. Terrain was inconsequential. JD's army consisted of

2 BG's of Armoured Defensive Spearmen
3 BG's of Knights
2 BG's of LF
4 BG's of Light Horse
1 BG of MF Crossbowmen

JD deployed with the Spearmen at the back in the middle with the crossbowmen, one BG of LF, one BG of LH and one BG of knights on the left, with everything else on the other side. I deployed with all the spearmen in the middle at the back and two wings of LH and Cavalry. I flank marched with a single BG of LH on the left flank.

My plan was simple - destroy the left wing, ignore the spear in the middle and skirmish on the right - if the possibility arose then charge skirmishers to get some quick wins.

JD left the spearmen at the back in the middle (which suited me) and some knights on either side, playing a waiting game to see what happened. The Light Foot and crossbowmen advanced, supported by LH on the left and there was a general advance on the right.

My flank march arrived first bound!I That being the case I advanced boldly on the left and quickly broke a LF BG through shooting, on the right a general shooting war commenced with nobody really winning in the early stages.

When my flank march arrived I decided to not attack the wing of the Cypriots, but instead went on a baggage sacking raid (This was a game losing decision in hindsight), there was nothing the Cypriots could do other than stand and watch as the LH went away laden with loot. They must have been fairly well laden down as they accomplished nothing more meaningful in the entire game!

Meanwhile on the left my Cavalry had charged the MF crossbowmen who were in the open. It all started off fairly well, the Crossbowmen went Disrupted at impact which left me on equal dice at double plus in melee. I promptly lost the next two rounds, losing 2 bases and going fragmented. The crossbowmen then walked forward and shot the remaining bases routing them... Where I had perceived I had a large advantage had suddenly turned into a large disadvantage!

On the right there was a general skythian withdrawal. My Cavalry unit on the right decided that it had enough and broke through Cypriot pressure. Again I took a critical decision to attempt to rally the fleeing unit, meaning that all the other units were now out of command. I did manage to bolster the cavalry, but this had left two of my BG's on the right now fragmented and another disrupted.

I decided to advance the spearmen to support the falling back wings and hopefully snag some Knights. This worked a treat a BG of knights charged some LH to relieve the shooting pressure on the right which left their flank wide open. My Spearmen charged and broke the knights.

The Cypriot spearmen were now advancing and with the now suddenly strong left wing my spearmen were looking increasingly isolated. I turned the spearmen who had broke the Knights through 180 degrees to catch the Cypriot line in the flank before my centre crumbled. Unfortunately the Knights I had previously broken rallied to steady and after my spearmen had failed several Manoever Tests they charged them in the rear, breaking them.

It got fairly grim for the poor lads in the middle, being surrounded and largely at double minus in all of the melees (I lost one combat 10-0) and they all broke in short order.

This signalled the end and my army collapsed. 20-5 to the Cypriots!

Conclusions

This was a really good game - probably the best of the event for me, despite me losing. It could have been very different if my Cavalry had ridden down the crossbowmen, but, hey-ho. The two crucial decisions were to not attack the flank of the cypriot line with my flank march - this enabled a single BG of LH to wreak havoc which they would not have been otherwise able to do. As mentioned above I think if I had attacked this BG with my BG then the result would have been different. I may not have got the baggage so quickly, but I wouldn't have lost my left wing. The other decision was to attempt to bolster the cavalry on the right, effectively ignoring half my army, which inevitably meant they ended up a bit tatty. Only have two generals on table (one on each wing) meant I was simply unable to recover from this.

Overall

Well, I managed to finish second so I must have done something right. In hindsight the spearmen were a liability - they weren't good against anything and spent the entire tournament hiding. The command structure was also, dubious at best. Given that I had planned on always flank marching (and indeed did so 5 out of 6 games) then with the ally that meant I only had two Skythian generals on table - one of which was an IC who can't get involved in combat. This led me to have no end of problems with command and control. Having 3 BG's of spearmen with an ally also wasn't a particularly bright idea as he couldn't get involved in combat either.

I think the Skythians is a good list, but I perhaps need to think more along the lines of a "true" steppe army rather than include the heavy foot.