Medievil German vs Hundred years war English - Continental

[Ninthplain]

Medievil German vs Hundred Years War English - Continental

Germans 13 BG British 13 BG
4 BG of 8 stand Pike 5 BG of 6 stand longbow with stakes
2 BG of 2 stand war wagons 4 BG of 4 stand Men at Arms
1 BG of 4 knights 1 BG of 4 stand Gascon Knight
1 BG of 4 cav 1 BG of 4 stand Irish light horse
2 BG of 6 MF crossbow 1 BG of 4 stand LF Irish Kern
2 BG of 6 LF crossbow 1 BG of 4 stand MF Gascon crossbow
1 BG of 8 HF halbediers 3 TC
1 FC
3 TC

Terrain
Open and enclosed fields covered both flanks. The British had a village on their rear edge and the Germans had more fields and a plantation on their rear edge. The middle of the field was open.

Set-up
The british set up in the right corner leaving the left open, longbow starting in the open fields on the right edge and extending out to just past the village in the center. Men at Arms and longbow battle groups mixed to create one solid line. The Kerns were placed to the front across from the German pike. The knights and Irish light horse placed in reserve on the left and one group of Men at arms providing rear support in the middle. Commanders placed to cover the entire battle line.
The germans set up by spreading out their line with the 4 pike battlegroups in the middle. German knights, cavalry, war wagons, and MF crossbow all set to the far right. The halbediers were placed on the left in an opening of the terrain across from the longbow. A group of LF crossbow holding the plantation. The commanders are placed with the FC on the pike and the TC dispursed to either side.

Initial Moves
The british go first and begin to wheel the entire battleline so that they are facing the center. The Irish kerns and light horse advance to begin their skirmishing duties. The germans make a general advance with everyone moving forward in their areas. The cavalry and knights begin double moving in the open right to begin turning the british left.

The battle
The german halbediers are shot to broken by the 2 longbow battlegroups across from them and leave the field. The same longbow groups see off the group of LF holding the plantantation and begin turning the german left. The german pike in the center make short work of 2 BG of longbow, kill the english general with them, and begin trading blows with the men at arms with the men at arms getting the worse of it. 2 groups of the british men at arms go to fragmented but hold even with losing bases to failed death roles. The pike following the broken longbow contact the rear supporting men at arms group as another men at arms group moves into charge range of the pike rear. The german knights, disrupted from shooting, pass the test to charge the longbow group that failed to place stakes. The british knights perform an interception charge and see of the german knights. The british knights chased down the german knights for the auto-break and get a charge off into the MF crossbow breaking this unit also with the lose of a base for the effort. The german cavalry charge the Irish light horse and Gascon MF with mixed results. The light horse evade off the table but the MF hold and win the impact phase killing the german general in the process.
At this point the lead had changed twice with the british currently winning.
The german MF crossbow, broken by the knights, succeeds in getting away and rallying back to disrupted as the disrupted knights pass the test to charge a group of war wagons. This ends poorly for the knights and they are broken in the combat and flee to the rear. The last british longbow on the left finally gets squeezed between two enemy groups and breaks. The german cavalry and the Gascon crossbow continue to fight with neither side able to win. Another german general moves into the cavalry group to help. The british men at arms break a group of pike as the broken longbow leave the table. The remaining british begin the push from the right side but are not able to help the left and the battle ends with a close german win; the score being 13 british to 11 german.
The lead in this game changed 4 times making it one of the best we have played.

Aftermath
British
Didn't realize that knights have no POA against war wagons. Charging them with a disrupted BG down one base was a disaster and broke them in one round.
Rear support is powerful. The addition of the extra on cohesion tests made sticking around possible.
Stakes - never used them but everyone had them. The points could be used for another BG possibly.
German
Halbadiers in bad going against longbow is a bad idea
War wagons are powerful but are very slow

<BRIAN>

[recharge]

We forgot to break off the German Cav vs. the Gascon Cb. Ooops! They might not have held as long if they kept getting impacts in addition to the melee

John

[philqw78]

We forgot to break off the German Cav vs. the Gascon Cb. Ooops! They might not have held as long if they kept getting impacts in addition to the melee

With the cavalry breaking off the Xbow have massively improved chances. Shooting with no return after the break off, and, normally, a roughly even impact because of extra shooting dice.

[recharge]

Well, the Cav was armored/lancer/sword. So the impact POA is big in their favor as I recall.

Oh well, for some reason that's the one thing we forget most often

John