Slitherine

We enter the final phase of the campaign.
The French have moved from being the financier of armies that oppose the Habsburgs to being the army that fights the Habsburgs.
It is the year 1648, Leopold Whilhelm of Austria leads a Spanish army of 1645 to 1648 to resist the Duke of Conde who leads a French army of 1643-1648.
The Imperialist sets up the battle, large armies, Open battle in agricultural terrain, password 1648

The opponents are.
KiwiWarlord versus Gribol

awesum4 versus TyroneC

PeterthePainter versus AKVGoeben

MarkLeslie versus Jaerho

Lascar versus Ironclad

Chang Dao versus Doyley50

AHuyton versus CiberPencho

SMJohnso77 versus Dilly

Game set.

This seems a bit like facing Swedes but under another name.

awesum4 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 20, 2025 9:25 pm
It is the year 1648, Leopold Whilhelm of Austria leads a Spanish army of 1645 to 1648

I can not find the Spanish Army of 1645 to 1648 Andre.
Have you made a mistake with the date ?

Thanks

KiwiWarlord wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 6:51 am

awesum4 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 20, 2025 9:25 pm
It is the year 1648, Leopold Whilhelm of Austria leads a Spanish army of 1645 to 1648

I can not find the Spanish Army of 1645 to 1648 Andre.
Have you made a mistake with the date ?

Thanks

1635-1648?

gribol wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 7:44 pm
1635-1648?

That's the one I used, it seemed an obvious error.

Game set up for Doyley50

I presume everyone has figured out it is the Spanish army of 1635-1648, its the only one that covers that year,

sorry for the confusion,

Andre

This is why the Empire always conquers, inbreeding ensures our monopoly on big brains*.


*amongst a variety of other freakishly large apendages.

Changdao's Spanish win against Doyley50's French 8-50 routed.

While the cavalry in the flanks held position, the more numerous Spanish infantry extended their lines to the right to occupy a small hill, while the larger Later Tercios and a redoubtable Tercio Viejo held the center. In a furious engagement, the French infantry was overwhelmed from the hill, while the Later Tercios and the Tercio Viejo mostly repulsed their attackers. With the Spanish cavalry gaining an advantage on the flanks and routing many enemy squadrons, the French forces collapsed suddenly.

Thanks for the game!

(Lascar) Spanish vs Ironclad (French)53/60. A very close finish and the outcome would have been closer, or a French win, if an unexpected flank march, imposed on the French had not happened. This resulted in 11 French cavalry units being off the map until the later part of the battle. Not to be expected in an open battle scenario.

jaerho (French) defeats markleslie (Spanish) 67-49

After a strong central push while the French were still establishing their line, the Tercios broke through the French center. Surpisingly, multiple Tercio Viejo overpursued, buying the Veteran French Pike and Shot enough time to defeat and then envelop the remaining Spanish forces. A fun, tense battle. Thanks for the game!

AKvGoeben's French defeats PeterThePainter's Spanish 50-60.

15,779 French faced and ultimately defeated 17,283 Spanish in quite a bizare and brutal contest. The majority of the Spanish force was deployed opposite the French right, with only a light covering force facing the French left. The French commander gambled on his right, with reinforcements from the centre, holding long enough for a long left hook consisting of cavalry and foot arriving in the Spanish rear in time to save the day.

This nearly didn't pay off, with the French right quickly crumbling under the onslaught with only the piecemeal commitment of troops from the centre staving off disaster. Adding to the stress, the vaunted charge of the French infantry seemed to largely untrouble the veteran Spanish tercios who held on admirably against attacks from both the front and left.

The eventual arrival of the French left on their long flank march indeed saved the day, outnumbering the opposing Spanish cavalry, and attacking the degraded Spanish infantry from the rear.

The French army held on with the loss of 3,636 killed and wounded along with 8 guns, with the Spanish suffering 5,721 casualties and losing 16 guns.

Good game to Peter and well played!

gribol (French) defeats Kiwiwarlord (Spanish) 50-25

The narrow battlefield was bounded by a large and difficult hill on one side, and a swamp on the right.
The Spaniards set up a strong infantry line in the center between the hill and the swamp, and began flanking the French.
The French used a maneuver from the middle position, and brazenly frontally broke through the Spanish center and began to roll it sideways.
It wasn't easy, as all the Tercio Viejo were untouched, but the regular line infantry fled in droves!

Thank you for an interesting battle.

I wish everyone a happy Easter!

tyronec (French) defeats awesome4 (Spanish) 61-37

The French did a flank march which looked like it arrived in a timely manner but duly got wiped out.
In the end French firepower prevailed over Spanish mass.

Thanks for another good competition.

The French flank march did its job, I had my defensive line all set up to take on the French when 9 units arrived behind my right flank. The units I had to detach to deal with them fatally weakened my main line.
Its the most effective flank march I've ever seen, normally they just weaken their army by however many units they contain.
Well played to Tyrone, he played it superbly.

Reports have come in that Dilly has won a very hard fought battle against SMJohnso77 by 52% to 60%

That leaves only the battle between Ciberpencho and AHuyton to be completed.

After a promising start, the French crash into the Spanish wall. 16 - 48

Thanks for the game.

ciberpencho wrote: ↑Fri Apr 18, 2025 4:53 pm After a promising start, the French crash into the Spanish wall. 16 - 48

Thanks for the game.

I think, Pedro, you were rather unlucky. The big cavalry melee ended the game in my favour, but it was all about the dice rolls. Thanks for playing an attacking game.

This campaign has ended with another good round for the Antis winning 5 battles to 3.

The Imperialists started well,
round 1 antis 3 pro 5
round 2 5 9
round 3 6 15 an amazing 5 win advantage to the Imperials
round 4 12 17 a very good 4 win advantage to the Antis
round 5 17 20

So the Imperials win, but not decisively.

The individual scores;
Antis; Gribol 375, Jaerho 333, TyroneC 324, Dilly 277, AKVGoeben 274, Ironside 254, Ciberpencho 248, Doyley50 228

Imperials; KiwiWarlord 345, Changdao 333, awesum4 325, AHuyton 319, PeterthePainter 312, Lascar 289, Marklesley 283, SMJohmso77 236

But but ... my powder is still dry and a few balls left looking for a home.



Cheers to awesome4 for herding all the cats over the finish line, and of course, another hearty cheers to all I bested and was bested by!