Well, last Thursday Tim and I had an entertaining game - his Magyars versus my Anglo-Normans.
I was the defender, placing a river to cover my right flank and a wood to cover my left flank. I also had a fortified BUA on my table edge to take my baggage. Tim placed a couple of gentle hills, one of which sat nicely at the right-hand end of his deployment zone. The only other relevant terrain was a small patch of boggy ground between the hill and the table edge.
I deployed two commands on table. They were identical, and deployed almost identically: 12 Sp (I) supported by 4 Ps in the centre, 4 Bw (I) outboard of them, and 6 Kn (F) plus C-in-C/sub behind the Bw. Each command also had a couple of Cv (O): a total of 30 ME each.
Tim deployed three commands. On his left, mostly facing the bend in the river as it curved away to the side edge, was a group of of LH (S), some Cv (S), and a couple of Cv (O) and Ps (O). In the centre was a block of double-ranked LH (F) and some more Cv (S). On the right were some (dismounted) Bavarian Kn (I), along with some more LH (F), Cv (O) and Ps (O). Tim's three commands were all about 25-30 ME.
I then revealed I was using the Delay Battle stratagem.
My first round of PIPs revealed a flank march on my left. Otherwise, I pushed the infantry forward two marches, with the mounted tagging along for one march.
Tim sent some of his LH (S) across the river, and redirected the rest towards my right wing Kn. In the centre the mounted advanced on the Sp, and on the right the Bavarians advanced to the edge of the hill to face the Bw (and the Kn behind them), while some of the LH turned to face the arriving flank march. The LH attack in the centre netted 1 Sp.
My flank march was a small command of Welsh - 9 Wb, 1 Ps, 1 Cv and a general (10 ME). The Wb and Ps dived into the boggy ground, while the mounted elements deployed well away from the LH. Meanwhile, the Sp counter-attacked the LH and managed to spend a couple of them. On my right I got the PIPs to expand the column of Kn into a three-element wide block.
Tim was able to rely on some terrible shooting by the Bw on my left to get his Bavarians to advance in the absence of decent PIPs, while some LH advanced into the space between the Welsh and my left-wing Kn. In the centre the Cv (S) joined the combat against the Sp. I started to take a few losses from the Sp and Bw, mostly from the C-in-C's command on the left.
My Welsh Wb went impetuous, with 6 of them ganging up on a lone Ps they managed to recoil. The Kn behind a destroyed Bw charged into the Bavarian Bd which did the deed, and managed to kill it in its turn, but otherwise low PIPs meant the C-in-C's Kn were largely hemmed in. But on the right, good PIPs allowed the Kn block to wheel around to face the oncoming Szekeler LH (S).
In Tim's next turn a reserve Bavarian Bd and a LH (F) hit the said victorious Kn front and flank, destroying it and uncovering the C-in-C, King William I himself. More Sp and Bw died in the centre, against mostly from the C-in-C's command. Thanks to a couple of dead Kn, the left wing command was disheartened. And on my right the Szekelers hit the Kn frontally, and some Bw in the flank, fortunately destroying only the one Bw, and pushing back the Kn.
King William charged in, and destroyed the reserve Bavarian Bd, with a spare Cv (O) distracting the flanking LH (F). Again with few PIPs, I managed to deploy one Kn out to my flank to take on a LH, but to no great effect. But on my right the Kn and supporting Cv made a mess of the Szekelers, while the remaining Bw there held on. In the centre the number of LH spent by the Sp continued to edge upwards, as did the Sp's casualty count. The Welsh Wb continued to valiantly recoil the Ps they outnumbered 6-to1. And finally my other flank march diced to arrive, by now needing only a 4, 5 or 6 to arrive.
With some room to maneuver, Tim sent his C-in-C charging into mine, with another LH flank hit. King William copped it in the neck, and along with several more casualties to the now-very-moth-eaten infantry line, this was enough to break the left wing command. However all three commands were taking casualties.
The Welsh took advantage of decent PIPs for once to get frisky with the Cv and general against LH (F). Meanwhile, on my right the Kn block wheeled around straight again to charge into Cv (S) and dispatch a couple. And out on my right flank, the flank march had enough PIPs to allow the Kn (F) general and three Kn (F) to march into the flank of a block of two Cv (O), destroying both, while I lined the two Welshry Ax (O) up to advance on Tim's baggage. Tim's left wing collapsed, although the losses of his centre command were low enough for them to be unaffected, while the right wing command was too distant to be affected.
It was around this time that we called time on the game. Tim's right wing was close to being disheartened, although the only threat to them now was the comparatively very small Welsh command. His centre was in a bit more trouble, depending on whether I could keep control of enough Kn to swing around and hit the flank of his LH block. By contrast, although my C-in-C's command was shattered, the other three commands had lost very little.
A good fun game, thank you Tim, although Tim didn't get the best PIPs - his C-in-C's command never rolled above three PIPs, which meant he was often unable to exploit every opportunity he might have wished. But he killed my C-in-C with his own, which has to count for something...
I was pleased that my strategy seemed to work quite well. The Sp with intermittent Ps support held on better than I expected, and the two largely self-propelled flank marches delivered useful threats to both flanks of Tim's army. Though it also has to be said that the terrain was just about perfect for me. Anyway, a useful experiment with a book 4 army that can be applied to a range of other contemporaneous armies...
