The Hittites at the Challenge Day 2

[DaveMather]

Continuing from http://dbmm.org.uk/forums/index.php?topic=93.0
For army structure and rationale see http://dbmm.org.uk/forums/index.php?topic=82.0

Game 4 Sunday Morning

versus Chris Hanley and Huns led by Attila (but not reg)

Had thought about what to do against the Huns overnight and well fed and rested had decided to go against my traditional game style and play for the draw, which would all but guarantee me the competition, regardless of my final game's result.

So we intended to form Fortress Hattusa, hey that's what Hordes are for

I have a map I drew up on Saturday night that bears an uncanny resemblance to the actual battlefield

I was intrigued to see whether Chris would flank March or not - we had played twice before and both times Chris had lost -the non arrival of a flank march being a contributory factor in both games - had this left him physiologically scared

I had a 2FE vineyard on my left - minimising the flank march risk there and a BUA on my right - and some rough going just in front of where my fort was to be built. Chris I assumed had no choice but to launch a full out assault as I was so far ahead in points he needed to thrash me to stand any chance of winning.

I deployed 1 2 3 as norm - but had gone for the changing deployment - which would have allowed me to swap 1 and 2 around - this would have put the Wb in the vineyard - to protect that and keep them out of harms way and swap the Pk(F) with the Kn command providing the power in the centre  unfortunately we both rolled high and it was too late in the day for changing deployment - that was that plan scuppered - back to plan B hold tight and look for an opportunity to counter attack.

The Huns duly deployed 2 deep and yes there was a command missing.

The game started with the Huns piling forward and trying to push some Huns through the Vineyard to get to the Kns exposed flank. I was desperately trying to redeploy my Ps to protect this area but had to be cautious as I didn't know where the other command was.

The game in essence just became a race as to whether the Huns could break in before the 3.5 hrs were up.  The flank march turned up on my right - and rolled the classic 1 -which meant it could only pile forward for 1 - which gave the Anatolian lurking in the rough a chance at the subs rear which he flumped.

The position at this point is as per the picture -
The Hittite priest can be seen calling for reinforcements via the Stargate



the Hittites are slowly going down cannot get to grips with the Huns - and my infantry are being whittled away - and I can't trade 2ME Kns for 1ME Huns -fortunately last bound was called and we had hung on for a 10-15 which left me 15 points clear with 2nd and 3rd due to play each other it was looking good.

I found this the most interesting game in a sense - I chose to corner sit and suffered for it  I was never in control of the game and with more time would certainly have lost probably no more than a a couple of bounds Although I manipulated the terrain to my advantage - the loss of initiative, aggression and control did not sit well with me -which I think speaks well of the rules -even with the terrain stacked in your favour the initiative/impetus is with the aggressor 

Game 5 (Sunday afternoon)

And Steve Rathgay and his LAP with inert general

I will not dwell much on this game as Steve is writing up a piece for Slinghsot.

This was very much a race across the table and blow the Persians away 11 points guaranteed me the championship.

I deployed in traditional 1 2 3 formation - Steve deployed back in a box with the Scythed chariots forward on his right.

The LH and Cv(S) were dispatched to take them out lest they become a nuisance to the Kns which they duly did as Steve never had any PIPs to move them and with an inert general they are not impetuous.

The Kn(O)  battered the Kn(I) and Cv(O)  and although Steve's Cv(I) & Cv(O) got a few infantry it was soon wrapped up in a 25-0 Hittite victory   securing the championship by some distance.

This picture shows the situation towards the end - the line of mounted on the baseline are the Persian dead.


Steve deliberately picked this composition because of comments on the list 'not the best I fear' It has a lot of potential this army - low aggression,  all mounted - should get to get best pick of terrain as defender and use its all mounted to deploy second - dont underestimate the Cv(I) use against infantry or LH but dont use them against Kns

So a excellent if draining weekend  - all the results from the Challenge are at http://dbmm.org.uk/forums/index.php?topic=5.0 and look out for Steves article coming in Slingshot.

I enjoyed the competition - although only 6 of us it worked well as everyone played everyone else.  The army performed as expected - In each game  I had the crux of a plan including a rough idea in my head of the battlefield I was aiming to fight on.The terrain aspect is very much a sub game in its own right. A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE BHGS Guys for letting us participate and especially Nik for being list checker - can forgive him the sassanid craggy hill 

Would I change the army - probably not - its always tempting to use the Cv(S) instead of the Kn(O) but sometimes that QK is everything.. The Brilliant general was Ok I forgot about it in the game against Chris a real Doh!! Given a couple of times I had been starved of PIPs to try and mount some sort of counter attack against the Huns. Frightening how well LH(S) do against Kn(O) but not unreasonable - now what army do I  know that has LH(S) pref Reg, some Reg Cv(S) a brilliant general, a pip dump, and has a general with some level of 'romance' attached  - every picture tells a story - time for the man on the white faced bay to ride again.