Med. French "easy tourney" list

[Rattleshirt]

Hello all,

I'm headed to a "low pressure" tournament in about a month, which suits me fine as it's my first and I've only been playing FoG since September.

800 points, Medieval French from Storm of Arrows.
4 x French Men At Arms - knights, HA, sup, undrilled, lancers, swordsmen - 3 BG
6 x French Men At Arms - same as above - 1 BG
6 x French MAA - dismounted as HF, HA, sup, undrilled, HW - 1 BG
8 x Voulgiers - HF, arm, avg, drilled, HW - 1 BG
6 x French crossbows - MF, prot, avg, undrilled, crossbows - 1 BG
6 x Genoese crossbows - MF, prot, avg, drilled, crossbows - 1 BG
FC, TC, TC

That's it, 800 on the nose. Only 8 BG, but none are terrible with the weakest links being the crossbowmen. In fact, the various knight BG are pretty tough to crack. Thoughts/advice/jeers welcome, thanks!

Steve B

[SirGarnet]

* You can't "buy" the men-at-arms dismounted - their amour propre would be affronted. You must raise the Knights as horsemen and may dismount them during set-up as desired.
* You are stuck with the French crossbowmen - I would suggest spending the extra point each to bring them as drilled to make them more nimble - more useful for targeting and more able to avoid danger.
* The mandatory Brigans or Ribauds are missing. I suggest 16 points of Mob for that. More points for things that matter.
* The Valets de Guerre Lancers are undrilled Cavalry, half the price of Knights and much more manoeuvrable -- suitable for covering their flank, serving as a reserve, or providing interception support for the foot. Replace the planned dismounted MAA BG with these guys.
* I'd leave the Drilled Xbow work to the French and not take the Genoese - take the Spanish skirmishers instead..
* 4 Poor French Longbow are a cheap 16 point battle group and can pitch in with some shooting if you handle them right - safer left in terrain somewhere.
* Knights cover a lot of ground in battle formation (most BGs 3 or 4 wide) so I would consider an IC and 2 TCs and see how that drills on the table. One TC leads the spearhead of 6 Knights and can fight in the front rank. The IC helps CMTs and CTs, stiffens the line in combat, bolsters, rallies, etc. One TC floats.

Mike

[Rattleshirt]

MikeK, thanks for the thoughts... you remind me that there's a lot more depth to the French list then I at first perceived. At the very least, it's going to be more of a play to have fun tournament as opposed to play for big prizes or whatever... but as to your points...

dismounted knights... should I call them a BG of knights which I intend to dismount? nudge nudge, wink wink? I just don't have any more knight models, so basically just decided to dismount some MAA.

French crossbows - I like the idea of having them drilled, but then they're poor. Sure, save a point per base (from 6 for avg undrilled to 5 for poor drilled), but I personally find that the crossbows are challenged enough to get hits at all, then to make them poor and reroll 6s??? I don't know, I'm no where near the best player but that seems like a wasted BG in my book.

Peasant levy - forgot 'em. Honest mistake, thanks!

Valets de Guerre... I've never used these guys, I may have to invest in a BG in the next month. I'd like to see how they do.

IC & 2 TCs... if making a few changes can get me those points, I'd love to have an IC!

Hmmm... I wonder what models to use for Valets de Guerre... gotta check Old Glory. Thanks Mike!

[Andy1972]

Place your crossbow last, to face against mounted.. Crossbow are fine against mounted units.(Just make sure to keep them in some terrian and unit nearby to help.. Gullys are quite nice.

[dave_r]

How about this:

3x TC's
4x4 Knights
1*8 Mob
1*4 French Longbow
1*6 French Crossbow
2 more BG's of assorted rubbish

1*TC Scots Ally
2*6 Longbow, Average, Protected, Longbow, Swordsmen
1*4 Hvy Weapon, Heavily Armoured

I have tried the Valets du Guerre and they don't work Average Cavalry in 4's are a disaster waiting to happen as I found out in every game I used them... Simply put the Knights in a big line and drive forward with 3 TC's use the Scots longbow to protect the flank.

[Rattleshirt]

Andy, good point... crossbows vs mounted I can maximize the matchup. Thanks!

Dave, good thoughts. I don't think I have the models to do the Scots, but if I'm going to be buying stuff....

As for the valets, I'd definitely take them in 6s. I know the trend around here is to go small BGs, but I play frequently against a HYW English opponent who has tons of longbows that will wear down my knights, valets, anybody if I go with BG that are too small. He only needs to get two hits on a BG of 4 to force cohesion... and I don't trust in "luck of the dice" too often.

Tactics sound good though.. a big battle line of knights ought to do well as long as my flanks hold and I'm not charging through muddy terrain into longbowmen with stakes.... ugh.... I hate Agincourt.

[rtaylor]

4 Poor French Longbow are a cheap 16 point battle group and can pitch in with some shooting if you handle them right - safer left in terrain somewhere.

I have shot up more than one marauding LH BG with these. Also, in the late game when the situation gets chaotic, they can get opportunities to sneak in and shoot up an opponent that cannot strike back, as Mike alludes to.

[zulu]

rattleshirt - since i am playing in the same tourney, i think i'll beef up on LB with stakes and place them behind muddy ground with woods on both sides i love agincourt!!!!!!!!

[Rattleshirt]

who invited zulu?

I'm thinking of the following

3x4 knights
1x6 knights
1x6 dismounted knights (or knights who show up and then dismount)
1x8 voulgiers
1x8 peasants
2x6 crossbowmen (french)
3 x TC

depending on opponent, just line up the knights and go forward or setting up two "attack groups" of knights, crossbows and the HF with more knights and the peasants slightly in reserve acting as fire brigade....

I figure if I do better than the French at Agincourt, I'm doing not half bad.