This week's game vs Mark, and he requested to try out his Medieval 100 Years War French against my Senguko as this was his worst pairing for the upcoming Ribble Rumble at Element Games Stockport in November.
His wish was my command...
The terrain and deployment. Mark was aiming for open plains, he ended up in very dense mountains! Not often you get to out roll a legendary commander. Two villages, rocky ground, magic terrain, a wood, all landed in front of Mark's deployment area, with cavalry, not good for him!
Wine gums were chosen by Mark.
On the other table, Paul and Andy took Vandals and Early Franks, and in shock news, Paul lost to Andy!
Back to our game...
Phew, that was a close one with my allies!
Mark split his forces, one knights, a crossbow, his light infantry and his ribaulds holding the right, that I can live with. On the left, four units of knights, a unit of powerbows and another lump of crossbows. Difficult mix to deal with, was pondering how to win this one! Fluffy takes his units left to try and ameliorate the inevitable damage.
Of all my hands this night, this really was the most annoying! Mark and I had pretty naff cards all night, especially when I really need to get things moving off a straight line,
Pivot to face. The Great Director sends a cavalry unit to support and guard the flank.
On the right, things get going with a flank charge on Mark's crossbows, a frontal charge from my superior and average allies, and Mark throws in against my average boys. Meanwhile, in the rocks, Mark's Ribaulds pile into my archers.
Oh this is gonna hurt!!! All my bonuses for standing and taking on a charge, gone!
My cavalry charges the flank, and steps through onto his third rank. His crossbows kill a superior on the way in (embarrassing).
Despite all Mark's bonuses, he only causes a wound. I lost another superior spearman (even more embarrassing).
This is what a superior flanking unit does to unprotected crossbows (Superior +1, Melee Experts +1, Flank +2, General +1, +1 Unprotected = +5 so red and green, both overlaps are red and white). That's one way to take out a unit of 8!
The crossbows evaporate. In the rocks, the Ribaulds charge causes a wound, with their nasty short spears, whereas my shooting from my bows was completely ineffective, even on a green dice (as these French peasants were unprotected). (2-0)
The follow on charge into the knights went well too! (4-0) Mark realised that this plan was a bad idea.
On the left, and after a lot of intake of breath, Mark charged in. One unit had already tried to charge my cavalry, where he had lost a base and half to skilled powerbow fire (when will people learn to not do that against my Samurai?).
I had been steadily pulling back my spears and Samurai bows, Mark tried to charge my larger spear unit in the flank (top right), but when measured, he was not behind their flank, so he took a frontal charge on my powerbow armed samurai instead.
CRUNCH!
Wounds taken, and one kill on the superior knights, not too bad.
Post melee phase I realised that superior melee experts with a talented general (+3) were somewhat outclassed by superior heavily armoured melee experts, with a legendary general (+5!). Normal stands were Mark on a +3, me on a +2, their life expectancy was suddenly, diminished.
In the background, my 6 of average spears is suffering from missile fire, having lost 2 1/2 bases out of 3 1/2 to break, which happened shortly after this (4-2). My other cavalry unit, after dealing with the crossbows, and then fled from Mark's charging knights on the right.
Meanwhile, I try to turn to face Mark's Ribaulds, as we are both within a hit of breaking, so fingers crossed. Mark's skirmishing crossbows shot and missed (on black dice) and while he swings for me, because my bows are protected, I am rolling green dice against his white and blacks.
I move towards Mark's lancers and take a cheeky shot (Green plus) which removes a base from a wound, then my spears, superior with long spear, deal the damage and break his lancers (6-2).
In the rocks, my archers finish off the Ribaulds, (8-2) but then hit the light foot behind. Normally, these would skedaddle, but as I am a hit of breaking, Mark can stand. I kill a base on impact, then this is the melee phase. Mark only needed a wound, again, and he missed (black dice have one wound in 6) Skirmishers only need two kills to break on a unit of 6, and we did that! I got lucky, really lucky (9-2)!
My Samurai bows and Fluffy dies! NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Oops! (I had polished off two of Mark's generals by this point though. (9-4)
Due to the horrific nature of what happens next, here's a nice shot of terrain and dieing skirmishers.
In the centre, Mark's knights who had tried to catch my cavalry, were firstly shot at by returning cavalry (a kill), the next turn they try to charge my cavalry, and they are shot by my mounted bows (a kill), then they charged in the flank by superior spears (skull and a wound), breaking the unit and Mark's army. (15-4)
This was an interesting game, Mark really did not want the terrain to fall the way it did. It severely hampered his plans. Detaching 4 units did not help as I could take those apart with my spears and bows (although my archers were within a hit from breaking, I got lucky there). I was sweating about how to deal with the combined arms of crossbows and lancers, especially the superiors backed up with a legendary general, that almost did for me! They rode down my superior archers, which does not often happen. Mark was unlucky with his cards, and it meant his crossbows could not turn to face my flankers.
Still a great game, unfortunately, Mark has now lost four straight against me, and his revenge will no doubt be bloody!
His wish was my command...
The terrain and deployment. Mark was aiming for open plains, he ended up in very dense mountains! Not often you get to out roll a legendary commander. Two villages, rocky ground, magic terrain, a wood, all landed in front of Mark's deployment area, with cavalry, not good for him!
Wine gums were chosen by Mark.
On the other table, Paul and Andy took Vandals and Early Franks, and in shock news, Paul lost to Andy!
Back to our game...
Phew, that was a close one with my allies!
Mark split his forces, one knights, a crossbow, his light infantry and his ribaulds holding the right, that I can live with. On the left, four units of knights, a unit of powerbows and another lump of crossbows. Difficult mix to deal with, was pondering how to win this one! Fluffy takes his units left to try and ameliorate the inevitable damage.
Of all my hands this night, this really was the most annoying! Mark and I had pretty naff cards all night, especially when I really need to get things moving off a straight line,
Pivot to face. The Great Director sends a cavalry unit to support and guard the flank.
On the right, things get going with a flank charge on Mark's crossbows, a frontal charge from my superior and average allies, and Mark throws in against my average boys. Meanwhile, in the rocks, Mark's Ribaulds pile into my archers.
Oh this is gonna hurt!!! All my bonuses for standing and taking on a charge, gone!
My cavalry charges the flank, and steps through onto his third rank. His crossbows kill a superior on the way in (embarrassing).
Despite all Mark's bonuses, he only causes a wound. I lost another superior spearman (even more embarrassing).
This is what a superior flanking unit does to unprotected crossbows (Superior +1, Melee Experts +1, Flank +2, General +1, +1 Unprotected = +5 so red and green, both overlaps are red and white). That's one way to take out a unit of 8!
The follow on charge into the knights went well too! (4-0) Mark realised that this plan was a bad idea.
On the left, and after a lot of intake of breath, Mark charged in. One unit had already tried to charge my cavalry, where he had lost a base and half to skilled powerbow fire (when will people learn to not do that against my Samurai?).
I had been steadily pulling back my spears and Samurai bows, Mark tried to charge my larger spear unit in the flank (top right), but when measured, he was not behind their flank, so he took a frontal charge on my powerbow armed samurai instead.
CRUNCH!
Wounds taken, and one kill on the superior knights, not too bad.
Post melee phase I realised that superior melee experts with a talented general (+3) were somewhat outclassed by superior heavily armoured melee experts, with a legendary general (+5!). Normal stands were Mark on a +3, me on a +2, their life expectancy was suddenly, diminished.
In the background, my 6 of average spears is suffering from missile fire, having lost 2 1/2 bases out of 3 1/2 to break, which happened shortly after this (4-2). My other cavalry unit, after dealing with the crossbows, and then fled from Mark's charging knights on the right.
Meanwhile, I try to turn to face Mark's Ribaulds, as we are both within a hit of breaking, so fingers crossed. Mark's skirmishing crossbows shot and missed (on black dice) and while he swings for me, because my bows are protected, I am rolling green dice against his white and blacks.
I move towards Mark's lancers and take a cheeky shot (Green plus) which removes a base from a wound, then my spears, superior with long spear, deal the damage and break his lancers (6-2).
In the rocks, my archers finish off the Ribaulds, (8-2) but then hit the light foot behind. Normally, these would skedaddle, but as I am a hit of breaking, Mark can stand. I kill a base on impact, then this is the melee phase. Mark only needed a wound, again, and he missed (black dice have one wound in 6) Skirmishers only need two kills to break on a unit of 6, and we did that! I got lucky, really lucky (9-2)!
Due to the horrific nature of what happens next, here's a nice shot of terrain and dieing skirmishers.
In the centre, Mark's knights who had tried to catch my cavalry, were firstly shot at by returning cavalry (a kill), the next turn they try to charge my cavalry, and they are shot by my mounted bows (a kill), then they charged in the flank by superior spears (skull and a wound), breaking the unit and Mark's army. (15-4)
This was an interesting game, Mark really did not want the terrain to fall the way it did. It severely hampered his plans. Detaching 4 units did not help as I could take those apart with my spears and bows (although my archers were within a hit from breaking, I got lucky there). I was sweating about how to deal with the combined arms of crossbows and lancers, especially the superiors backed up with a legendary general, that almost did for me! They rode down my superior archers, which does not often happen. Mark was unlucky with his cards, and it meant his crossbows could not turn to face my flankers.
Still a great game, unfortunately, Mark has now lost four straight against me, and his revenge will no doubt be bloody!
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