Alright, here's the first match I played that's up on Richard Yorke's channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCJ5Whwt1Ps
It was a Biblical match, my Carthaginians with Greek allies against his Kyrenean Greeks. My deployment was meant to take advantage of the rough ground and the river which divided the battlefield. My left was anchored on the river, the left wing of the army was mixed medium and heavy foot which would fight in the scattered patches of rough ground, and my right wing was more heavy foot as the terrain became more open. I put heavy chariots on the far right to give that side some offensive punch, and backed them up with some cavalry, but overall my infantry was the main focus. The Kyrenean deployment did catch me off-guard (although based on the list it really shouldn't have as much as it did, especially as he used something similar against me in an earlier season!) - they formed a massed block off to my right where the terrain was more open, with a large column of heavy chariots on their left. I marched parallel to my initial line with the right wing to confront the head of his column while the left wing advanced at the oblique through the rough terrain. My hope was that my cavalry and chariots - heavily outnumbered by the Kyrenian chariots - could at least tie up the enemy horse for a bit, while I tried to crack the front right corner of the enemy "box" of hoplites.
Things went more or less to plan. My line ended up forming a right angle around his formation. My left wing did engage right on the edge of the rough terrain, where the medium infantry had some shelter from the enemy hoplites. They managed to force a few flank charges, although the dense Kyrenean formation meant they had reserve units to push into gaps. My right did significantly less well, attacking uphill against at least equivalent infantry. My cav and chariots did tie up the enemy for a bit, but they collapsed sooner than I'd have liked. In the center my spears managed to flank an enemy veteran hoplite and drop it to fragmented, but those guys put up an absolutely heroic defense - surviving a couple of turns melee outnumbered and fragged
before rallying back to disrupted. Eventually they did break, and my left wing managed to drive through the enemy right, but it was too late - the enemy cav and chariots had rolled up my right wing, and the battle was over. Had that veteran unit broken before it did, I think I might've been able to get some better results on my left and break that wing earlier, but given the state of my right flank I don't know if it would've turned it around. Might've at least gotten me a 1-3 defeat instead of a 0-4 one.
I think in retrospect my biggest takeaway was that I should've refused my right more. Get them close enough to tie up the enemy advance, but stay out of contact while the left engaged. That, and I should've done a better job of thinking through where the enemy would choose to engage - I should have known that an army which relies on hoplites and chariots with next to no medium foot available (maybe none at all even) would not march out and meet me on that rough ground. And I should've handled my light troops with a bit more care, but then I know I am generally too aggressive with my light troops and view them as more expendable than I should.
I have started my next match against baldrick as well - Classical Antiquity, Ptolemaic vs Indo-Parthian. When I played this Ptolemaic list in the Chaos Tournament against the Huns, they didn't do too well - though I intend to try and apply some lessons from that match (press forwards and keep pressure up, mostly). Then again, the Huns didn't have cataphracts or elephants, so not sure how that'll shake out.
I'll be sure to make some notes on that match, then. Might have to find the video, it'd be interesting to see the match from the other side.
