Warfare 2007 FOG Report (1) - vs Serbian [w/pictures]
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:56 pm
Despatches from Warfare (Introduction)
As ordered, your humble servant has penetrated the highly secret world of Field of Glory (FoG) and is dutifully and truthfully reporting on the performance of the Imperial Russian army’s progress at the recent Warfare 2007 clash, on a cold and wet English weekend in Reading. The army was lead by Prince Dimitry (pictured below). Unfortunately Prince Dimitry was unavailable for comment about his less than zealous performance as he is currently overseas awaiting treatment for a medical condition.
All figures painted by Matt Hayward
As you will know, the Russian Imperial Army, also known as the Post-Mongol Russian Army, historically operates against fast steppe nomad horse archers to the east and south, and against heavily armoured knight armies to the west. Its cavalry is better armed that the horse nomads and fully capable of engaging in archery duels or close combat, as circumstance dictates. It is more lightly armed than the iron-encased men-at-arms of the west, and therefore must use nomad tactics to evade and harass until the enemy weakens.
Fortunately the FoG rules recognise this and allow both tactics for the cavalry on the battlefield, unlike the predecessor DBM. It is not clear what DBMM allows as the priests are still trying to decipher and agree on the meaning of the rules.
The Russian army consisted of:
4 x Boyar cavalry – 4 bases armoured Cv, bow, sword, superior
1 x Boyar cavalry –as above but average
2 x Cossack light horse – 6 bases unprotected LH, bow, sword, average
2 x Spearmen – 6 bases protected HF, defensive spear, average
1 x Bowmen – 8 bases unprotected MF, bow, average
1 x Cossack light foot – 8 bases unprotected LF, bow, average
1 x Handgunners – 6 bases unprotected LF, handgun, average
4 x General officers
The Boyars are back in town:
Prince Dimitry had reported to his staff that he was worried about facing armoured knights as they were very difficult to beat. Fortunately they hadn’t proved very popular in preceding completions so what were the chances of meeting more that one knight army at Reading?
Game 1 vs Later Serbians
The Serbians were commanded by Lance Flint, a recent defector from the world of DBR. The layout was as follows:
The mercenary Serbs are on the left, the heroic Russians on the right. Lance had decided to maximise on knights (in the centre of Lance's line) but brought enough Cuman cavalry and light horse to ensure that an army such as mine couldn’t evade the knights without some risk of being caught during the evade. In addition he scoured his country for every peasant and country yokel he could find to fill out his army with light foot archers. The military capability was laughable but their numbers were alarming and they successfully screened the knights from harassing fire.
Prince Dimitry’s plan was to use the spearmen as a defensive strong point, forcing the knights to split, some chasing evading boyars whilst some faced off the spears. The spearmen can be seen in the photo near the blue pen, which is (hopefully) prodding them onto victory. The boyars and light horse in the centre and left would retire before the knights and cumans, whilst the right would attack and try and a right hand sweep across the field.
That was the plan. This is a closer look at the hard-as-nails Serbs, carefully screened by their light foot:
Meanwhile, on my far left Lance had skilfully used a combination of Cuman cavalry and light foot to extend his line and force back the Cossasks...
In the centre, the knights were closing with the Boyars:
Eventually the lines clashed:
The Boyars in the foreground were deployed in combat formation, and despite numerous orders to deploy into skirmish order, refused to do. Under cross-examination they claimed that the documentation they received wasn’t correct. Eventually the right documentation was found and they agreed to deploy out correctly just as the Serbian knights lowered their lances for the charge.
The Boyars evaded, but somewhat tardily. As a result of this unpatriotic behaviour two groups of knights tore into the Boyars, swiftly routing them and creating a huge hole in the Russian centre. The loot-hungry Serbians then turned on the baggage and looted the camp.
Prince Dimitry, to add to Mother Russia's dishonour, had not deployed his spearmen correctly and the knights had largely managed to by-pass them. The only success on the field that morning was by these patriotic working-class spearmen and archers, who eventually did pin one unit of knights and Cuman cavalry and overwhelm them. This was in sad contrast to the petty-bourgeois behaviour of the Boyars who left the field as fast as their horses could carry them.
The Russian infantry can be seen ready for action, supported by more Boyars:
Eventually the heroic spearmen start to surround some Serbian knights, who are too stupid to realise that they are badly outnumbered and continue to win their combats:
Finally, close to total Russian collapse, time was called. The end result was 25-7 in BHGS currency, to Lance. His knights had been hard to counter, and the light foot had been successful in screening them until the decisive charge arrived. Lance also skilfully withdrew his lighter troops facing my right wing attack to give the Russians little to fight against whilst the game was decided by the knights.
Game 2 report can be found by clicking here: viewtopic.php?p=35904#35904
As ordered, your humble servant has penetrated the highly secret world of Field of Glory (FoG) and is dutifully and truthfully reporting on the performance of the Imperial Russian army’s progress at the recent Warfare 2007 clash, on a cold and wet English weekend in Reading. The army was lead by Prince Dimitry (pictured below). Unfortunately Prince Dimitry was unavailable for comment about his less than zealous performance as he is currently overseas awaiting treatment for a medical condition.
All figures painted by Matt Hayward
As you will know, the Russian Imperial Army, also known as the Post-Mongol Russian Army, historically operates against fast steppe nomad horse archers to the east and south, and against heavily armoured knight armies to the west. Its cavalry is better armed that the horse nomads and fully capable of engaging in archery duels or close combat, as circumstance dictates. It is more lightly armed than the iron-encased men-at-arms of the west, and therefore must use nomad tactics to evade and harass until the enemy weakens.
Fortunately the FoG rules recognise this and allow both tactics for the cavalry on the battlefield, unlike the predecessor DBM. It is not clear what DBMM allows as the priests are still trying to decipher and agree on the meaning of the rules.
The Russian army consisted of:
4 x Boyar cavalry – 4 bases armoured Cv, bow, sword, superior
1 x Boyar cavalry –as above but average
2 x Cossack light horse – 6 bases unprotected LH, bow, sword, average
2 x Spearmen – 6 bases protected HF, defensive spear, average
1 x Bowmen – 8 bases unprotected MF, bow, average
1 x Cossack light foot – 8 bases unprotected LF, bow, average
1 x Handgunners – 6 bases unprotected LF, handgun, average
4 x General officers
The Boyars are back in town:
Prince Dimitry had reported to his staff that he was worried about facing armoured knights as they were very difficult to beat. Fortunately they hadn’t proved very popular in preceding completions so what were the chances of meeting more that one knight army at Reading?
Game 1 vs Later Serbians
The Serbians were commanded by Lance Flint, a recent defector from the world of DBR. The layout was as follows:
The mercenary Serbs are on the left, the heroic Russians on the right. Lance had decided to maximise on knights (in the centre of Lance's line) but brought enough Cuman cavalry and light horse to ensure that an army such as mine couldn’t evade the knights without some risk of being caught during the evade. In addition he scoured his country for every peasant and country yokel he could find to fill out his army with light foot archers. The military capability was laughable but their numbers were alarming and they successfully screened the knights from harassing fire.
Prince Dimitry’s plan was to use the spearmen as a defensive strong point, forcing the knights to split, some chasing evading boyars whilst some faced off the spears. The spearmen can be seen in the photo near the blue pen, which is (hopefully) prodding them onto victory. The boyars and light horse in the centre and left would retire before the knights and cumans, whilst the right would attack and try and a right hand sweep across the field.
That was the plan. This is a closer look at the hard-as-nails Serbs, carefully screened by their light foot:
Meanwhile, on my far left Lance had skilfully used a combination of Cuman cavalry and light foot to extend his line and force back the Cossasks...
In the centre, the knights were closing with the Boyars:
Eventually the lines clashed:
The Boyars in the foreground were deployed in combat formation, and despite numerous orders to deploy into skirmish order, refused to do. Under cross-examination they claimed that the documentation they received wasn’t correct. Eventually the right documentation was found and they agreed to deploy out correctly just as the Serbian knights lowered their lances for the charge.
The Boyars evaded, but somewhat tardily. As a result of this unpatriotic behaviour two groups of knights tore into the Boyars, swiftly routing them and creating a huge hole in the Russian centre. The loot-hungry Serbians then turned on the baggage and looted the camp.
Prince Dimitry, to add to Mother Russia's dishonour, had not deployed his spearmen correctly and the knights had largely managed to by-pass them. The only success on the field that morning was by these patriotic working-class spearmen and archers, who eventually did pin one unit of knights and Cuman cavalry and overwhelm them. This was in sad contrast to the petty-bourgeois behaviour of the Boyars who left the field as fast as their horses could carry them.
The Russian infantry can be seen ready for action, supported by more Boyars:
Eventually the heroic spearmen start to surround some Serbian knights, who are too stupid to realise that they are badly outnumbered and continue to win their combats:
Finally, close to total Russian collapse, time was called. The end result was 25-7 in BHGS currency, to Lance. His knights had been hard to counter, and the light foot had been successful in screening them until the decisive charge arrived. Lance also skilfully withdrew his lighter troops facing my right wing attack to give the Russians little to fight against whilst the game was decided by the knights.
Game 2 report can be found by clicking here: viewtopic.php?p=35904#35904
