Italian Condotta vs. Bosporons--Quick report
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:09 am
This report is for all those who feel that LH w/Bow aren't so effective in this rules set.
800 points per side, 8x5 table 40mm MU 25mm figs.
Italian Condotta (as I remember--he was 12 points over) under my friend Al.
2x6 Heavy Armoured Knights, Lance, swordsmen, Av.
1x12 HF Protected av. pikemen
1x4 HF Armoured skilled swordsmen av.
1x4 HF armoured heavy weapon av
2x6 LF Crossbow Av
2x6 LF Handgun Protected Av
1x6 LH Unprotected Xbow Av
1x6 LH Unprotected Light Spear, Jav, Swordsmen, Av
1x6 LH Unprotected Bow
1xFC
2xTC
Bosporon
1xIC
2xTC
1x4 Armoured Sup. Cav Lancers, swordsmen
3x4 Unprotected Av LH Bow, swordsmen
1x6 Unprotected Av LH Bow, swordsmen
1x6 Armoured Av MF Light Spear, swordsmen
1x8 Protected Av MF Offensive Spear
1x6 Unprotected Av MF 1/2 Light spear, all Bow
1x6 Unprotected Av LF Javs Light Spear
1x6 Unprotected Av LF Bow
Scythian Ally FC
1x4 Armoured Sup. Cav Bow, swordsmen
1x6 Unprotected Av LH Bow, swordsmen
1x8 Unprotected Av MF 1/2 Light spear, all Bow
I won initiative and chose agricultural, as my Bosporons have now discovered that our infantry component does not enjoy the steppes--especially against knights...
All of the terrain ended up on my side of the table--three open fields, an open space, a plantation and a gentle hill. The only terrain that mattered was the three open fields which ended in a clump in the center, with a double sized one just my side of the center line. Huzzah! A place for my MF to live.
My opponent set up with a long line of LF in his center, backed by the two 4 base HF units His left was held by the pikemen in two ranks. His right had all his LH backed by all his cav.
My left, facing his right, had all my Bosporon LH and my Bosporon Armoured Cav in a single rank so that they could evade the knights.
My center had all my MF except the Scythians in one battle line behind a screen of LF.
My right consisted of my Scythian ally.
My opponent moved first. He double moved his LH on my left, parking them 6MUs from my LH. (40mm MUs are long...)
In the center, his LF moved forward, and on my right, his pikemen advanced and wheeled to refuse the flank.
On my turn one, I charged his LH with all of mine. (Shrug. This is the way I play as a LH commander). He chose to fight. One combats was drawn on the right, in the center where his LH with Light Spear (Stradiotes) won against my middle unit. I passed cohesion. His Stradiotes had dealt out five hits and taken 4 in return--I passed the death test with a 6, while he failed with a 1. This turned out to be pivotal... on the left, my unit ticked his but forced a cohesion test and he dropped to disrupted.
We both threw our flank commanders into this LH brawl. No one died.
On my turn one maneuver, I revealed the Scythian MF in the woods on my right (immaterial, really,as his line didn't extend that far) and moved them, double moving my Scythian nobles and LH at his pikemen. My ally-general then left the line to join the MF and make them move faster. My center, seeing no knights nearby, left the safety of their open fields and plowed forward at his LF. My Armoured nobles on the far left moved up to charge one of his LH units in the flank next time.
But in melee, his leftmost LH unit took a bunch of hits. He rolled a 2 on cohesion and routed. None of my troops could pursue.
On his turn he brought up his knights to prepare to charge my LH line (talk about a sledgehammer vs a walnut--12 bases of HA knights vs. my LH--ouch!). In melee his Stradiotes won again and again lost a base, while my guys dropped to disrupted. In his center he advanced again, shooting ineffectually (as did I). On my right, his pikemen adjusted the line, advancing an MU or two. His FC joined his routers and rallied them to Fragmented. NB due to appalling luck, his FC spent the rest of the game tied to this unit, failing with a series of 3s and 4s to ever rally them to disrupted.
On my turn 2 (goodness, we're only on turn 2!!!) my uncommitted 4base LH unit slapped the flank of his LH line. My armoured cav, balked of their prey (they had already routed) simply prepared to receive the knights. The 4 base flank charge disrupted the enemy LH and then fragged them in combat.
In the center, my LF charged his and dusted some of them off. My MF advanced fully.
On my right, my Scythian ally-general got his whole firing line into position and fired 9 dice at the pikemen, killing a base. They passed cohesion.
In melee, his whole LH wing collapsed, one unit breaking under the combined pressure of two of mine while his trusty stradiotes won again, lost another base in death rolls, and exploded during the JAP. In the subsequent pursuit, all my LH were able to get out of the charge reach of his knights. This was a huge stroke of timing luck (what my friend Mike Putre calls "critical luck").
Turn Three
Al's knights now have to position themselves again for a charge. Al said (with some bitterness) "I'm never going to get a charge, am I? I'll just ride around without a target, now." Too true.
Deprived of an impact phase, his infantry adjusted to prepare for my charges. His knights maneuevered to try to pin down some LH.
In his shooting phase, my Scythian ally general rolled 11 dice (his pikes advanced). I killed another base but he passed Cohesion.
On my turn, My MF reached charge range from his HF. My LF and a unit of MF archers were pursuing all his LF, who couldn't stand and were mostly disrupted by shooting. My LH on my left pummeled the knights from 3 directions but failed to kill a base. He passed cohesion. On my right, my Scythian ally general moved up a little and rolled 12 dice, killing a third base of pikemen and they failed cohesion, going to disrupted. There were no melees.
Turn 4
Al's knights maneuvered again, as they had no Impact targets. He chose not to charge my 14 bases of MF with the 8 bases of HF he had. His pikemen moved forward to charge range of my Scythian ally ( he moved to about .01MUs, actually). In shooting, I failed to kill a base ( I rolled just 3 hits on 12 dice, but as he had only 9 bases left...) he failed Cohesion (down 25%, bad flank, no general...) and dropped to fragmented...
On my impact, all My Scythians charged his pikemen. They passed their cohesion and then died in melee, taking something like 9 hits and then failing cohesion. Also on my impact, I charged his leftmost Knight unit from two directions, mostly to show my opponent why I wouldn't actually do this. Sure enough, despite all the advantages the system offers, my LH lost to his rear-facing knights and my Armoured Cav lost to his front facing knights. No one routed, but my point was made... Since I had no need to charge, I was better off not charging.
In the center, all my MF charged. They then rolled really well. Al rolled really well, too, so we had two drawn impacts, but he lost a base in one. In the melee phase, both of his HF units lost badly, swamped by more bases at equal or worse factors. His skilled swordsmen got nothing facing steady Off Spear, while his Heavy Weapon was wasted against my protected Thrake. In each melee, I had 6 dice for 4s vs. 4 dice for 5s. Both units fragmented.
At this point, he had 8 units routed, off board, or fragmented, to my none. His FC, who had failed on like four die rolls to rally his fragmented crossbow LH, was swept off the field by a charge from my LH. He threw in the towel.
This battle was won by LH. They did the shooting, they won the melees, and they pursued and killed broken units. Al has changed his list, and I suspect the next battle will be very different. But both LH and shooting can be decisive, and large units are the place to use archery.
800 points per side, 8x5 table 40mm MU 25mm figs.
Italian Condotta (as I remember--he was 12 points over) under my friend Al.
2x6 Heavy Armoured Knights, Lance, swordsmen, Av.
1x12 HF Protected av. pikemen
1x4 HF Armoured skilled swordsmen av.
1x4 HF armoured heavy weapon av
2x6 LF Crossbow Av
2x6 LF Handgun Protected Av
1x6 LH Unprotected Xbow Av
1x6 LH Unprotected Light Spear, Jav, Swordsmen, Av
1x6 LH Unprotected Bow
1xFC
2xTC
Bosporon
1xIC
2xTC
1x4 Armoured Sup. Cav Lancers, swordsmen
3x4 Unprotected Av LH Bow, swordsmen
1x6 Unprotected Av LH Bow, swordsmen
1x6 Armoured Av MF Light Spear, swordsmen
1x8 Protected Av MF Offensive Spear
1x6 Unprotected Av MF 1/2 Light spear, all Bow
1x6 Unprotected Av LF Javs Light Spear
1x6 Unprotected Av LF Bow
Scythian Ally FC
1x4 Armoured Sup. Cav Bow, swordsmen
1x6 Unprotected Av LH Bow, swordsmen
1x8 Unprotected Av MF 1/2 Light spear, all Bow
I won initiative and chose agricultural, as my Bosporons have now discovered that our infantry component does not enjoy the steppes--especially against knights...
All of the terrain ended up on my side of the table--three open fields, an open space, a plantation and a gentle hill. The only terrain that mattered was the three open fields which ended in a clump in the center, with a double sized one just my side of the center line. Huzzah! A place for my MF to live.
My opponent set up with a long line of LF in his center, backed by the two 4 base HF units His left was held by the pikemen in two ranks. His right had all his LH backed by all his cav.
My left, facing his right, had all my Bosporon LH and my Bosporon Armoured Cav in a single rank so that they could evade the knights.
My center had all my MF except the Scythians in one battle line behind a screen of LF.
My right consisted of my Scythian ally.
My opponent moved first. He double moved his LH on my left, parking them 6MUs from my LH. (40mm MUs are long...)
In the center, his LF moved forward, and on my right, his pikemen advanced and wheeled to refuse the flank.
On my turn one, I charged his LH with all of mine. (Shrug. This is the way I play as a LH commander). He chose to fight. One combats was drawn on the right, in the center where his LH with Light Spear (Stradiotes) won against my middle unit. I passed cohesion. His Stradiotes had dealt out five hits and taken 4 in return--I passed the death test with a 6, while he failed with a 1. This turned out to be pivotal... on the left, my unit ticked his but forced a cohesion test and he dropped to disrupted.
We both threw our flank commanders into this LH brawl. No one died.
On my turn one maneuver, I revealed the Scythian MF in the woods on my right (immaterial, really,as his line didn't extend that far) and moved them, double moving my Scythian nobles and LH at his pikemen. My ally-general then left the line to join the MF and make them move faster. My center, seeing no knights nearby, left the safety of their open fields and plowed forward at his LF. My Armoured nobles on the far left moved up to charge one of his LH units in the flank next time.
But in melee, his leftmost LH unit took a bunch of hits. He rolled a 2 on cohesion and routed. None of my troops could pursue.
On his turn he brought up his knights to prepare to charge my LH line (talk about a sledgehammer vs a walnut--12 bases of HA knights vs. my LH--ouch!). In melee his Stradiotes won again and again lost a base, while my guys dropped to disrupted. In his center he advanced again, shooting ineffectually (as did I). On my right, his pikemen adjusted the line, advancing an MU or two. His FC joined his routers and rallied them to Fragmented. NB due to appalling luck, his FC spent the rest of the game tied to this unit, failing with a series of 3s and 4s to ever rally them to disrupted.
On my turn 2 (goodness, we're only on turn 2!!!) my uncommitted 4base LH unit slapped the flank of his LH line. My armoured cav, balked of their prey (they had already routed) simply prepared to receive the knights. The 4 base flank charge disrupted the enemy LH and then fragged them in combat.
In the center, my LF charged his and dusted some of them off. My MF advanced fully.
On my right, my Scythian ally-general got his whole firing line into position and fired 9 dice at the pikemen, killing a base. They passed cohesion.
In melee, his whole LH wing collapsed, one unit breaking under the combined pressure of two of mine while his trusty stradiotes won again, lost another base in death rolls, and exploded during the JAP. In the subsequent pursuit, all my LH were able to get out of the charge reach of his knights. This was a huge stroke of timing luck (what my friend Mike Putre calls "critical luck").
Turn Three
Al's knights now have to position themselves again for a charge. Al said (with some bitterness) "I'm never going to get a charge, am I? I'll just ride around without a target, now." Too true.
Deprived of an impact phase, his infantry adjusted to prepare for my charges. His knights maneuevered to try to pin down some LH.
In his shooting phase, my Scythian ally general rolled 11 dice (his pikes advanced). I killed another base but he passed Cohesion.
On my turn, My MF reached charge range from his HF. My LF and a unit of MF archers were pursuing all his LF, who couldn't stand and were mostly disrupted by shooting. My LH on my left pummeled the knights from 3 directions but failed to kill a base. He passed cohesion. On my right, my Scythian ally general moved up a little and rolled 12 dice, killing a third base of pikemen and they failed cohesion, going to disrupted. There were no melees.
Turn 4
Al's knights maneuvered again, as they had no Impact targets. He chose not to charge my 14 bases of MF with the 8 bases of HF he had. His pikemen moved forward to charge range of my Scythian ally ( he moved to about .01MUs, actually). In shooting, I failed to kill a base ( I rolled just 3 hits on 12 dice, but as he had only 9 bases left...) he failed Cohesion (down 25%, bad flank, no general...) and dropped to fragmented...
On my impact, all My Scythians charged his pikemen. They passed their cohesion and then died in melee, taking something like 9 hits and then failing cohesion. Also on my impact, I charged his leftmost Knight unit from two directions, mostly to show my opponent why I wouldn't actually do this. Sure enough, despite all the advantages the system offers, my LH lost to his rear-facing knights and my Armoured Cav lost to his front facing knights. No one routed, but my point was made... Since I had no need to charge, I was better off not charging.
In the center, all my MF charged. They then rolled really well. Al rolled really well, too, so we had two drawn impacts, but he lost a base in one. In the melee phase, both of his HF units lost badly, swamped by more bases at equal or worse factors. His skilled swordsmen got nothing facing steady Off Spear, while his Heavy Weapon was wasted against my protected Thrake. In each melee, I had 6 dice for 4s vs. 4 dice for 5s. Both units fragmented.
At this point, he had 8 units routed, off board, or fragmented, to my none. His FC, who had failed on like four die rolls to rally his fragmented crossbow LH, was swept off the field by a charge from my LH. He threw in the towel.
This battle was won by LH. They did the shooting, they won the melees, and they pursued and killed broken units. Al has changed his list, and I suspect the next battle will be very different. But both LH and shooting can be decisive, and large units are the place to use archery.