DBMM Forum
General Category => Battle Reports => Topic started by: Barritus on October 21, 2012, 06:01:24 AM
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Well, a few nights ago I took my brand new Burgundian Ordonnance army out for a spin (so new that over two-thirds of the figures were ring-ins).
My army was based around a large number of Ordonnance Kn, and Ordonnance Pk and Bw converted to Bw (X/S) double-based elements. Charles and his first sub-general both commanded 5 Kn and 12 Bw (X/S), along with a miscellany of other elements, and the second sub-general commanded some Art (O), Low Countries Pk (I), one Kn and a couple of mounted Bw (S).
Doug had brought along a late Medieval German – ironically commanded by Maximilian, Charles’s posthumous son-in-law. Max commanded a Kn (S/I) wedge, a Kn (I) double-based element and some Ps (S) handgunners. His sub-general commanded some Pk, Art (S), Cv (S) mounted handgunners and a Bge (S) standard wagon. His baggage was protected by fortifications and some Hd. A small army, but scarily powerful. (I assumed at deployment there was another command in the offing.)
I was the invader, in autumn (delayed one season by the dice). The terrain ended up as a difficult hill at each end of Doug’s central deployment zone, a rough hill at each edge of the table at the front of my deployment zone, and a small wood in the middle of my deployment zone.
Although I was the invader the dice decreed that I had to deploy first. Charles deployed in the centre, with the large Ordonnance command on the left and the Pk and Art on the right, sitting behind a line of Fixed Obstacles. I figured the FO would allow me to safely deploy the Pk in one rank, interspersed with the Art, and that if any infantry came after them the cannons would be able to break up their ranks. Charles’s Kn formed up in column behind the Bw (X/S), while the left wing’s Kn formed up in line beyond their Bw (X/S). Ps (S) sat in a column on the rough hill on my left.
The deployment dice also decreed the weather was extreme: possible mud and risk of rain.
Doug only deployed two commands, and I started to worry about flank marches, particularly when he declared he was using the Delay Battle stratagem. The delay turned out to be six hours, which guaranteed the morning mud had dried out.
My plan was to advance as quickly as possible, to crush the two on-board commands before the flank march could embarrass me. Doug, however, caught me out when his first bound showed he actually had a delayed command, and what a command! A large block of Kn (S) (Burgundians!) plus another Kn (S/I) wedge charged onto the board on Doug’s right, heading towards the Kn of my left wing. Ouch! Doug also advanced the Kn of his two starting commands, and brought the bombards and Pk forward too, though not as far. The Cv (S) mounted handgunners swung out wide on Doug’s left. Out of all this, what I was happiest about was that the bombards would now be silent for three bounds.
I rushed my Ordonnance Bw (X/S) forwards to start shooting at the troops in front of them, and was rewarded with the destruction of the Kn (I) DBE, which opened a bit of a hole in Doug’s line. On the left the Kn advanced to meet Doug’s newly arrived Kn, while I tried to form up the Ps in a way which would allow them to support the Kn. On the right, I advanced the general along with the Kn and the mounted Bw (S). I moved Charles’s Kn across the rear of the army to get into a position to face Doug’s Kn.
Unfortunately, my shooting also allowed Doug’s left wing sub-general to press forward into contact, and he broke through the Bw (X/S) DBE he faced. The only element I had which could respond was LH (I) mounted crossbowmen, although I was able to turn another Bw DBE onto a flank and had an overlap on the other flank. However, supported by the Bge (S), the general survived and I lost the flanking Bw DBE spent (unable to recoil off the flank). Meanwhile, other archers were able to shoot down one of Doug’s Cv (S), and I was starting to surround the other two.
Doug then charged his remaining Kn from his centre command onto my remaining left wing Bw DBEs, and he wiped out virtually all of them. He also charged a Cv (S) onto my Bw (S) facing them, getting stuck in combat.
On my left, I charged my Kn into Doug’s more numerous Burgundians, figuring I had more to lose by waiting, and I was rewarded with one enemy Kn destroyed. However his Kn overlapped my line, and in his next bound the available elements surrounded mine. Only lucky dicing kept things manageable.
I also sent the right wing sub-general up to support the Bw in combat, and pulled back the second rank Bw element to preserve it against the possible destruction of the front rank element. The Cv (S) survived, and Doug then turned the remaining Cv (S) element to charge into the sub-general. Disastrously, both the general and the Bw died, suddenly putting the right wing on the edge of breaking.
In the centre, Charles’s Bw DBEs had pushed forwards to engage Doug’s Pk and Art (S), taking advantage of the bombards’ silence. The DBEs charged down the Pk and shot down the Art (S), while another Bw DBE shot down the standard wagon. All of this was enough to break Doug’s left wing, although both my wings were also in dire straits. Charles’s Kn, another LH (I) and a lone Bw (O) element from the left wing were able to delay Doug’s centre command Kn, but things were tense on each side.
Some of the Kn from the left wing attacked Doug’s Ps (S) handgunners, some of which had come down from the difficult hill they’d been deployed on. The Ps (S) hung on, preventing me from exploiting an overlap against Doug’s Kn.
And then finally disaster engulfed my left wing. Doug was able to swing some Kn into the rear of mine, resulting in the destruction of the left wing command. Unfortunately for me, troops from the opposite wings were close enough to each other that the right wing suffered the 2ME penalty, and this was enough to push them over the edge too. That broke the army. Doug’s centre and right commands were close to being disheartened, but my successes against them were too little to affect the result. 17-8 to Doug.
As always, thanks to Doug for a very tense but entertaining game.
Overall I was satisfied with the result for a first run with the army. I copped a bit of bad luck in combat (particularly losing the general to the Cv (S) handgunners) and had paralysingly low PIPs in a few bounds, but I also had some exceptionally lucky combat results too. I’m interested to see how the army goes next week…