Game 2 v Medieval Portuguese (Greg)
I was the defender. As invader, Greg placed a massive difficult hill, which sat in the middle, stretching from my deployment zone to Greg’s. No other terrain played any significant role in the game, although I placed a vineyard on the left end of my deployment zone.
Such a large feature was always going to be tricky to defend given my small number of Ps, and by splitting the table in two it left me unsure how to deploy. I eventually discarded the idea of flank marching C3, and placed C1 and C2 on the left of the hill, and C3 on the right, with the Ps (S) on the hill. Greg placed a command of Irr Bw (O) and a couple of Art (I) in the gap to the right of the hill (as Greg saw it, facing C1 and C2) angled back to his table edge. Next to them were English allies – a couple of Bd (S) and a bunch of Bw (S). Then, behind the hill was a block of Irr Kn (O) under the C-in-C, with some light troops and Hd (F) in the hill. Finally on the left of the hill (as Greg saw it, facing C3) was a command of LH (O) and Reg Bw (O).
The deployment dice specified that the weather was a strong wind from my right to left.
My plan, such as it was, was to push forwards quickly on the flanks with the mounted. I figured the cataphracts could see to the Bw, while the Kn and LH of C3 could take on the LH of Greg’s left wing. Meanwhile I planned to use C2 and the Ax of C1 to take on the English.
Only, my PIPs weren’t much help. C2 kept getting only 1 PIP, which meant all it could do was advance straight ahead. C1 and C3 didn’t do much better, meaning the charges of the cataphracts and the Gothic knights were stately in the extreme.
Greg responded by transferring his C-in-C’s Kn from his right over to his left to support the LH, sending his English forward in a column along the edge of the hill nearest C2, and advancing the light troops through the rest of the hill. Due to lack of PIPs the Irr Bw on his right had to stand and await the arrival of the cataphracts.
To help develop C2’s attack on the hill I left behind the column of Bd and Ps nearest the hill, but the ongoing 1s for that command’s PIPs meant I actually lost control of the Wb. They lurched forward, blocking the remaining Bd column from swinging around to attack the English.
In contrast, Greg received enough PIPs to swing around the English so they could shoot at C2. And what shooting! Shooting downwind, the English Bw tore apart C2’s Wb and repeatedly recoiled the Bd. Eventually I managed to get a single column of Bd and Ps into contact, but the English won the combat, then counterattacked with a flank hit to destroy 2 Bd. This broke the centre command.
Meanwhile the Ax and LH of C1 kept getting in each other’s way as they turned inwards towards the hill and the two Portuguese guns, and the ongoing lack of PIPs made it hard to maneuver them in useful ways.
Then, finally, Greg got great PIPs for his Irr Bw (O), allowing him to turn them into column and march them across to his left, leaving the cataphracts charging at air, and his Art (I) to face the wrath of C1 alone. This didn’t seem to be a problem, as a shooting 6-1 destroyed one cataphract. I let a couple of LH (S) charge impetuously onto the Art, but thanks to terrible combat dice, one LH died and the other fled, recoiling some Ax they had to burst through.
By now my only hope for something good lay with C3. Things got off to a good start when I charged some LH (O) into Reg Bw (O) and managed to knock over two elements. Our Ps (S) forces also engaged on the difficult hill, but Greg’s larger numbers allowed him to gain a small advantage in the combats. Greg was able to line up his Kn to face mine, but couldn’t prevent me from charging into combat first. Sadly, despite starting with the destruction of a LH and creating an overlap for the first Kn-Kn combat, my combat dice rolls were average enough that all I could manage was a couple of recoils each way.
Greg’s Kn were then able to knock over a couple of my Kn, while his LH also destroyed a couple of my LH. This was enough to break C3, and along with the loss of C2 and the minor losses in C1, enough to break the army. Greg’s losses were as minor as mine had been in the previous game, meaning Greg won 25-0.
Once again my PIPs had been below average, with again only the one PIP score above 4, and C2 rarely getting more than 1 PIP. However this time my combat dice were generally poor as well, the only exception being the performance of my LH (O) against the Bw (O). By contrast, while Greg had sweated for several bounds waiting for decent PIPs to get his Irr Bw (O) out of the way, his other three commands seemed to get one or two good scores each bound among them, and his shooting dice were hot.
= = = =
So, end of day one, and I was as in the middle of the field as I could be.