Two Mortiem et Gloriam games at Battlefield Hobbies

With the current lockdown easing, six of us gathered for safe and socially distanced gaming at Battlefield Hobbies in Daventry.

Game 1: Senguko Samurai vs Western Han
I took along my Senguko Samurai for the morning game vs Steve borrowing Hammy's Western Han, which was a teaching game, and in the afternoon, my never victorious Tudors faced off against Lee's nearly finished new 10mm Spanish that I had been painting for him.

Samurai deploy facing Western Han, as this is Steve's first game in a long while, his cards are on display and I was talking him through the system, so any rules, cards, lists etc in the background are Steve getting used to the game.

Terrain was in my favour, and I plumped for mountains, I even got both villages on the table. For the Samurai, my allies holding the gap between two villages on the right, and archers in the castle village, cavalry out left and the bulk of my foot in the middle.

Steve put artillery and his mixed bill/crossbow units in centre, on my right were his protected flexible 

cavalry, on the left were subject horse archers (unprotected). Shoring up each flank were guard cavalry and in the centre heavy chariots. Steve's cinc was floating so he could have more cards per command.

First few turns, I swung my Fluffy's foot units left to meet the crossbows. My archers came forwards
from the village and were joined by the allies. My cavalry pulled forwards to threaten Steve's subjects. 
All this to avoid the implied threat of his artillery.

Steve's skirmishers start to sneak through the shrine village to threaten the rear of my allies (good move), his chariots rumble forwards towards an 8 of Ashugaru, and horse archers close on my cavalry on the right.


Skilled powerbows vs unprotected cavalry rolls a red! Woohoo, oh, bobbins! That's not in the plan An 'S' miss only causing a slow, in return Steve wounds my Samurai horse (I left my wound markers at home, so jelly babies it was for now)!


In the centre, Steve's shooting slows my superior Samurai by two, but in return, three shots from skilled poerbows on yellow kill two bases of Steve's four of heavy cavalry, and a green does a wound on his crossbow/bills. Meanwhile, my eight average Ashugaru pile into two sixes of crossbow/bows, killing the crunch outer shell and reveling the soft, chewy underside (you know the link that is going in here).
 

The general situation as Steve's chariots close on my spears, and Fluffy wanders across to bulk up the spears who despite starting on an 8 are now down to 5 after Steve's shooting of 5 white dice on the charge (red card to buy through all those slows) and another two wounds in melee, but we kill another base of his on the way and wound the other unit. Steve leant me some wound markers as jelly babies were leaving sugar dust everywhere!

Shoot and charge cavalry hurts on the way in, but the spears hold firm, taking a chariot base back.
 

My foot powerbows deal rather brutally with Steve's cavalry (4s are rather brittle) (2-0).


During the melee, the chariots break under the pointiness of my spears. (4-0)
 

On the right my allies and archers are hit by cavalry shooting, and while trying to push his horses back, my allied superior spears had been surrounded by Steve's archers who were doing untold damage. His guard cavalry hits my archers and a hard fought melee. In the centre, depite being heavily mauled, my
spears break one of the units of crossbows facing them! (6-0)

Steve's unprotected subjects (obviously doesn't value them that much, he hasn't bought them armour) are suffering from the fire of my powerbow armed cavalry. Kill A Base (KAB) tests had caused a lot of damage to Steve's infantry units too.


We called it here as it was lunchtime, the score was 6-0 to me, but Steve had at least two of my units on the ropes (one of my spears and my allied superios spears which, off camera, was taking lots of shooting losses), plus my bows were in quite a lot of trouble against his better cavalry unit, which themselves only needed a wound to break. I suspect it would have ended with me breaking three more cavalry units, but not before I had lost three units of mine, and a 15-6.

Game two, Tudors vs Pre-Cordoba Spanish
More embarressment for Hen ry VIII, Italian wars style! Yes, Henry in his stupour is comprehensively outscouted by a mediocre Spanish general!

Forcing us to deploy in standard terrain, with a large, empty, billiard table in the middle, perfect for our pike blocks and knights.
Or many many pike blocks! Lee had 3, two with extra fire arms, one a good old fashioned 8, the others sixes of multiarmed godness... and 3 units of jinettes, 2 skirmishers on foot, plus crossbows and handgunners! He also had two four base units of superior flexible melee experts in the shape of sword-and-buckler men. Damn I wish I hadn't painted them so well now!  He massed his heavies on the left, and the shooty skirmishers on the right. Henry with a solid line of foot, backed up by the cream of
English celerychivalry, looks on. 

Side view, my archers occupy the village, but realise that they cannot stand up to all that coming their way! Lee tries a cheeck Jinette flank move, but my Welsh spears move to counter. A mass of skirmishers positions itself in the way of my Yeoman of the Guard and the Flemish keil.


My archers pull back, the keil goes bowling for buzzards, and seeing the mass of sharp pointy objects that are no good for my horses, my billmen try to pin the approach of the stickmen while the Household knights and my knights both dismount to try and deal on equal terms.


Four superior swordsmen vs eight bows, should be a fair fight...

(or not)
They go through me in one turn! OUCH! (0-2)

What, slowed by FOUR! That's a lot of shooty hits, trying to get a coordinated line moving here isn't working!

After munching my bows, my bills get flank charged by superior swords and collapse (0-4), leaving my now dismounted knights hanging in the breeze! Shortly after, the knights of the royal household, starting on a 4, with heavy armour, are shot to pieces and them run over by a Spanish shot and pike unit as their heavy armour offers no protection vs firearms (need to remember that for next time!).
 

 Crossbow mounted cavalry crash into men-at-arms to save them flank charging the Spanish pikes. Embassesssings though, Lee is now enveloping me with hordes of shooty stuff!

This was where my unprotected Welsh spears stood, cruely mown down by 8 green dice (0-8)

My one success came came from catching swordsmen in the flank, but apart from that, Henry was being torn apart! (2-8) 

And it was all over... 

A general collapse, despite losing 2-15, it was a great game, and lots of laughs with lots of brilliant troops types that you are not used to, well worth playing again!