Last round, game 4 v Mongol Conquest (Dave)
Not only the same army as Anton's, but the same year!
Once again I was the defender. Once again I chose a river, a BUA and a road. The river ran behind my rear from the right flank, then swung around to cover my left flank before leaving the left edge of the table on Dave's side. The road ran from the right side of my table edge over to Dave's table edge. The BUA was between the road and the table edge, near the centreline. There were a couple of gentle hills in Dave's deployment zone, one to the left and one to the right.
Once again deploying first, this time I placed C3 on the left and C1 on the right. Going to the extreme I placed the Pk now in one rank (keeping the general of C2 in the second rank). The Cv and LH of C1 were in column on the road, and the Ele were again in reserve (as I knew Dave's army also had Art). Likewise I kept the Kn (F) in reserve for the LH (O) on the left.
Dave deployed four commands. On his left was a small command of LH. Next to it was the C-in-C with the Art (on the left gentle hill), some Cv (S) and a few LH (I). On the right were two more LH commands (which, IIRC may have had some Cv in them too). In the centre my Pk were advancing against open space.
So once again my LH (O) were facing massed LH (S). And once again my plan was to push forward as quickly as possible to pin my opponent in place.
And once again moving first I rolled bad PIPs.
On my right things started reasonably promisingly, as I was able to get the Ax (S) to face the LH of the small Mongol command, and even loop some Ps out of the BUA around the Mongols' flank. I took some losses but was able to deploy some Cv and LH to keep the fight going. I managed to destroy a LH element in his bound, and then in my bound hit the sub-general in front and flank, the flanking element preventing the recoil of another LH element. Defeating the general would break this small command and open up the flank of Dave's C-in-C's command. But alas I didn't win the combats, and the small command continued to hold Dave's left flank for several bounds more.
Meanwhile the Pk of C1 advanced to contact the LH (I) of the C-in-C's command, and managed in two bounds to spend them all.
In the centre, however, the Pk of C2 were being destroyed by the Mongol artillery. And over on my left, the LH (O) and Ax (S) were taking a hammering from the massed Mongol LH. The losses were enough that I had to commit the sub-general along with the Kn (F), and they achieved some success, but poor combat rolls caused the loss of a couple of knight wedges too.
Before long C2 broke, uncovering the flank of C3. Fortunately for me it took a couple of bounds for Dave to collect the victorious LH of his right wing. This gave me time to move the LH of C3 out into the open space between Dave's left and right wings, and make a bee-line for the artillery on the hill. Dave was unable to stop it because the Cv of the C-in-C's command had moved up to support the LH of the small command on his left.
Eventually I caused enough casualties on the small command to break it, although Dave pulled the general back to keep him safe.
C3's adventurous LH hit the flank of the bolt shooters and mowed them down. It then charged down hill onto the sub-general of the broken command, and destroyed him too. Nearby, my Pk were facing off the Cv (S) of the Mongol C-in-C, and in theory I had enough troops to put him under pressure, if I could only get decent PIPs. But I never did.
Even as I was scrambling to build pressure against Dave's C-in-C's command, the LH of Dave's right wing swarmed across the table and overran the disorganised phalanx of C3, breaking that command and the army. 23-2 to Dave in another complete shellacking for the Macedonians.