Slitherine

SnuggleBunnies (French) defeats lascar (Imperialist) 41-13

GG!

GentlemanRanker (Imperialist) takes Savoy from GDod (French) by 64-35

The map presented a large tiered central hill, flanked by woodland on the Imperialist left flank; the French side of the board was relatively devoid of terrain features.

GDod is a general for whom attack is the best form of defence - he selected a mix of pike units: two Swiss, with at least seven further Landsknecht and Italian kiels; a strong complement of artillery, medium foot to contest the woodland, leaving sufficient points for only a thin screen of gendarmes and light cavalry. The Imperialists needed to attack and win to secure the province, so took all eight units of Landsknechts, six units of gendarmes, all the light foot and light horse, with supporting longbows and arquebusiers - they had no artillery.

Both sides rushed their pikemen for the crest of the hill, the Imperialists won, providing an excellent target for the French artillery, who caused several disruptions. The small Imperialist ambush force in the forest on their left flank was quickly swept away by the French medium foot attack, and with two-on-one uphill attacks by the French pikes on the exposed Imperialist Landsknechts, they built up a significant early lead. However, the French cavalry was annihilated by their much more numerous Imperialist counterparts, supported by a blizzard of bolt and arrow fire, which then left their artillery vulnerable to the enemy’s light cavalry.

The game was decided by the outcome of the pike battle; after their early losses, the Imperialist Landsknechts steadied, managing to hold up the Swiss, and gradually winning against their French Landsknecht counterparts and the raw Italian kiels. This was helped no end by the tendency of pursuing French pike units to charge Imperialist units cowering in the patches of woodland dotted around the hilltop, thereby severely disordering themselves.

GG Gavin! Surely next time …

With only the battle for Germany between Speedy and Doyley to be decided I will start round 3.

The underhand Imperial attack on Germany has been defeated 60-54.
What began as a protracted artillery duel developed into a visceral fight where the outcome was in the balance until the end. Good game thanks Speedy.

After a bit of a delay for round 2, the Kalmar Union under AlexDetrojan 40 has defeated the Spanish under smjohnso77 63. Glory to the Scandinavians!