DBMM Forum
General Category => Battle Reports => Topic started by: Barritus on November 09, 2012, 02:40:43 AM
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My Burgundians had their second outing recently, against Michael's Middle Imperial Roman army led by the Inert Macrinus.
I was the invader, with weather and time of day playing no part in the game.
The important terrain came down with a small difficult hill on my left, a large wood in front of it on the Roman right, and a piece of difficult going on my right.
Michael deployed a large command in his centre, consisting of double-ranked Bd (O) supported by Ps (O), with some Art (F), Bd (X) and Ax (O) behind, and a more distant reserve of Kn (F). Two small wing commands consisted of Cv (O), LH (O) and Ax (O), one of them led by the C-in-C. Michael had deployed the centre command obliquely, with the right flank leading.
I deployed my dismounted Kn in the centre as Bd (S), and Bw (X/S) on the flanks. Both large commands kept small mounted reserves. The small command of Art (O) and Pk (I) behind Fixed Obstacles, and mounted Bw (S), sat on my right. My plan was to lead with the left wing, crush his right flank, and try to roll up his centre.
Michael advanced his centre, slowly advanced his right wing, sent his left wing out to the left, and moved his C-in-C over to join the large block of legionaries in the centre. Wary of his Art (F) I held the Bd (S) back and advanced the Bw (X/S) from my left wing. But once the Bd were in range of his artillery, I moved them forward, seeking combat as soon as possible. On my right I used the sub-general to lead the mounted Bw around the difficult terrain to seek out his mounted, in the hope of causing a few casualties with shooting.
Michael caught me out by moving a column of Ax over the hill on my left, and a lack of PIPs meant I couldn't challenge them with my Ps. He then supported them with some Bd (X) from the centre. Meanwhile he also used his C-in-C to lead a block of legionaries straight ahead while using the legionary general's PIPs to wheel the rest around in a direct advance on my Bd (S).
My Bw (X/S) on the left knocked over one Ax element, but otherwise their shooting was uninspired against other Ax and Cv. By contrast, the shooting of Michael's Art (F) was deadly, their first shot destroying an element of Bd (S). Within the next couple of bounds I lost a couple of Bw (X/S) elements from my centre command to his bolt shooting carts too.
The Bd (X) and Ax (O) pushed off the hill and into my Ps, knocking over a couple of elements, and forcing me to (wince) commit a Kn (O) against the Bd (X). I got lucky, but the advance on my left had completely stalled.
Finally I got the dismounted knights into his legionaries, and they started to do their job. Not well, because early on all I achieved was recoils. But eventually I started to knock over a couple of elements, as overlaps and (S) in combat started to tell. However, the legionaries being temporarily led by the C-in-C also started to get into combat - with the remaining Bw (X/S) of my centre command. And they also made immediate inroads.
The casualties began to rack up in both the left and centre commands, although no major line breaks had occurred. Then one of my Bd elements broke through the second line of legionaries. An artillery cart was directly ahead, and the sub-general was directly behind the cart...
But by then we had to call time. Neither of us had lost any commands, although my centre and left were in disarray. Had the game continued, my centre was going to be in a lot of trouble, and if it went, the ME penalty would probably have been enough to push the left over the edge too, taking the army with it.
A very entertaining game which probably finished 14-11 to Michael. I have to say that combination of Ps-supported double ranked Bd, supported by Art (F), is a deadly combination. About the only troops which could confidently take them on would be Wb: Ele would be shot down by the Art; Kn would have to go in against factor 6; and Cv and non-Wb infantry would be perforated by Art before being mown down by the Bd.