Slitherine

The first game then will be:

Late Middle Ages
English 1494-1542 v Scottish 1494-1557 (Age of Machiavelli) - a warm-up, plenty of pikes and bows
Open Battle, Agricultural terrain, wide, large armies


Here are the match-ups, please feel free to get going. I suggest that the Scots launch the games but it is no problem if the English players do it first. Please let me know asap if your opponent does not pick up the game in a reasonable time period. Let's try to complete by end-August.

Scots v English

Kiwiwarlord v Gribol
Snugglebunnies v Awesum4
AlexdeTrojan v Gdod
Lascar v Warrior230
snooky51 v ahuyton
PeterthePainter v Doyley50

Round 1 game for Gribol set up. Password has been sent by PM

Match up for awesum4, pw snuggles

Challenge for God to be sent shortly. Password: alex
Cheers

Challenge for Warrior230 English vs Scots round 1
pw = Scots

hello, im see that im arrived too late to join in to the Event, but...may be I can join in to the next roun????????

or..well if you do have place or need one more player in this...

Alan,

If no one else is available to play fybynn this round I'm happy to do so,

always good to have as many players as possible,

Andre

awesum4 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:16 am Alan,

If no one else is available to play fybynn this round I'm happy to do so,

always good to have as many players as possible,

Andre

That would be great, thanks Andre.

Welcome back Fabian!

I'll set it up...password fybynn

My Lord Brian The Bruce,

I am pleased to report that a Scottish army has overcome the English and thwarted their attempt to steal the Walker's shortbread (17-50 rout %).

I would like to report that this was the result of tactical brilliance but if the truth is told the Scottish pikes, supported by Highlanders, marched across an unbroken plain, drums beating, bagpipes swirling (replicated by Big Country in the headphones - ah Eighties Pop when making guitars sound like bagpipes seemed like a good idea!) and the troops chanting "Fix and Flank", straight at the English Centre. In reality there was little flanking, the highlanders did get to enjoy that experience towards the end, but the heavy lifting was done by the pikes. My opponent sensibly tried to make use of slight rise to blunt the impact of the pikes, but if it did affect the combat it was negligible. Men at arms, longbowmen, bow and billmen, all were overpowered by the pikes. Even one of the mercenary keils ran as it took cohesion checks as adjacent units broke.

Thank you to my opponent, Doyley50, who was courteous throughout despite the pain my troops were inflicting on his.

I am off to research the army lists for the next battle as I have heard a rumour they are difficult to tell apart. And the music is sorted for the next round "Border Reiver" by Mark Knopfler (if anyone tells you it is about a lorry driver fiddling his time logs and double de- clutching just ignore them. After all who would write a song about that? That is like making an electric guitar sound like bagpipes!).

Your loyal servant

PeterThePainter

Such Boldness, such speed in bringing the Sassenach invaders to their knees and dribbling Walker's Shortbread crumbs over them deserves the highest honour be bestowed upon you Peter the Painter, The Royal Claymore.
Brian the Bruce

SnuggleBunnies (Scots) defeats awesum4 (English) 42-16

Terrain did the English few favors in this battle. The Landsknechts were making progress by the end, but the rest of the army wasn't interested in keeping up the fight.

Well done snugglebunnies, defeating the Awesum Hammer of the Scots.
Your new suit of armour is awaiting your return.
We may yet get the Stone of Scone back from the Sassenachs

Brian the Bruce

It is certainly a tough fight for the English. Perhaps when the round is over, out top players can share some tips and suggestions?

Difficult for the English, heavily dependent on terrain. They need to camp hard with their more vulnerable infantry, while relying on their cavalry, landsknecht mercenaries and dismounted men at arms in the open.

The English have much better cavalry, and can use it to slow pike blocks, run down highlanders caught in the open, and turn the flanks. The Bow and Bill are trash, and you should take as few as you can. 96pts for a unit much worse in melee than the 80pt Scots pikes. They should be stuck into terrain, where they are far less Disordered than the Scots Pikes, and where they will gain their 50 Swordsmen POA thanks to the Pike being disordered. Terrain will also negate Keil Impact, and Forest will eliminate Keil melee as well. The Longbowmen again should hide in terrain - if the Scots pike are Moderately Disordered, the 100 Swordsmen POA comes into play, and the Longbowmen will be on even POAs + Disorder advantage. The Dismounted Men at Arms will fight on even terms with the Scots pike for 57pts, which is nice, but once they start taking serious losses Combat Strength Modifier will hurt them. The Landsknechts will be 75POA up on the Scots Pike, and can take on two at a time and still win, and fight three Scots pike to a draw.

The 1542 English list is *a little* better. It loses the Dismounted Men at Arms, which is a shame, but at Large size it gains:
2 Massed Arquebusiers - devastating to pike blocks, but extremely vulnerable to a highland charge in any terrain, and cavalry in the open
2 Light Mounted Arquebusiers - very useful to help win the cav battle even faster, and then start harassing from behind
1 Reiter - at 78pts, expensive, and might drop cohesion even from being charged by Scots cavalry. If they hold firm, they'll trash the Scots cav. Most useful for holding up a Pike block from the front and shooting it, hopefully with supporting artilery/archery to cause cohesion drop.

ahuyton wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:06 am It is certainly a tough fight for the English. Perhaps when the round is over, out top players can share some tips and suggestions?

The Sassenachs get their revenge at Culloden.

SnuggleBunnies wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 2:52 pm Difficult for the English, heavily dependent on terrain. They need to camp hard with their more vulnerable infantry, while relying on their cavalry, landsknecht mercenaries and dismounted men at arms in the open.

Some Round 2 hints & tips for the Scottish Generals would be most appreciated Snugglebunnies.....

KiwiWarlord wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:46 am

SnuggleBunnies wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 2:52 pm Difficult for the English, heavily dependent on terrain. They need to camp hard with their more vulnerable infantry, while relying on their cavalry, landsknecht mercenaries and dismounted men at arms in the open.

Some Round 2 hints & tips for the Scottish Generals would be most appreciated Snugglebunnies.....

Not much to say, it's just light cavalry madness. The only noteable thing is that the Scots pike Keils are 500 man units; once they've suffered ~150 casualties, they lose Keil status. In other words, at that point, they do not get the 100 Impact and Melee Keil POA, they can be flank as well as rear attacked, enemies can Fall Back from them. Their pikes will still provide POA and POA negation vs cavalry, but against infantry will only negate other melee weapons such as Heavy Weapon and Swordsmen. Of course you only get a few units of them, so mostly it'll be sweeping wide flanking movements with light horse by both sides...

Now we need some advice from Snugglebunnies for the English, after all we don't want to be racist and treat one nationality differently to another.


Actually my advice for both sides is ; maximise the light horse especially the veterans. Move like the wind, stack several shooters against one of the enemy. Charge in the front with identical units then hit the enemy in the flank. Use terrain wisely, and above all....throw lots of 6s.

Lascar (Scots) Vs Warror 230 (Englsih) 44 to 7. Scots victorious.

Masses of Scottish pikes with swarms of Highlanders over matched the English army.
If the English want to defeat the Scots they will have to reorganize their army along new lines.