Field of Glory Wargaming at Roll Call 2009 

Two games down, and one win so not too bad. As long as I faced a decent honest army that couldn't simply just run away I might be fine. And so it proved - in theory - as another 100YW English Longbow fest faced up against me in the final game.

Pictures of 100YW English Troops from my Ancients Photo Directory

The terrain was incredibly cluttered, as we had both put plenty down. I had lobbed a few woods around, but the English this time had lucked out with 2 huge bits of rough going positioned centrally on the field of battle. There army was almost as tiny as mine and the list is is available here. 

John Hawkwood:  "Where's my Burrito? Where's my Burrito?"

For almost the first time ever I had deployed some ambush markers, just to get some of my honorable men a bit further up the field at deployment really.

... but it did allow a column of men at arms to join in with the crossbows as they wheeled round fairly early on looking at another flanking opportunity.  

On the right, all of my celebrated knights and cavalry were massed, but they were sent on a long march round a neatly tended and rectangular forest knows locally as "One Tree Wood" for some unfathomable reason. But they moved fast being on horseback so surely would be there in time to make a difference to the game. 

John Hawkwood:  "Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice normal family."

In the middle there was a juicy gap between the two large areas of broken ground in which the English would be relatively unprotected against my eminent close formation men at arms. This could be the weak point in their line - if only I could force them to engage me there first... 

The English were being forced to drop back units to face my advancing flank attack, further weakening their center. Even in the Rough Ground my law-abiding heavily armoured close formation infantry were now starting to fancy their chances. 

But the longbowmen moved like greased lightning across the intervening space and set themselves up astonishingly quickly as my own notable men crawled forwards. 

John Hawkwood "Can you believe it!? Pretty soon, I'll be able to quit my job and live off the boy!"

The surprised yet principled Free Company longbowmen wondered in puzzlement what they had done to not be granted their own sets of rapid deployment skateboards ! But still there was a gap in the uneven field into which my men at arms were throwing themselves. 

And on my right win an almost unopposed attack of unstained knights and infantry was slowly moving up - but what's that in the top right of the picture? Yes, the cowardly English had adopted LH tactics with their longbowmen and simply marched their entire right flank away from my advancing knights and foot ! Surreal!! 

The two longbow units exchanged fire - but the illustrious Free Company were confident that as long as they could hang on, they were still pinning the proper English, and then the Free Company flanking infantry and knights would arrive and smite a mighty blow into the English flanks... 

John Hawkwood "If something is too hard, give it up. The moral my boy is too never try anything"

But in the very act or arriving, my celebrated flanking force in fact aided the English in getting away, as now with distinguished men at arms breathing heavily into their left ears, they found themselves pinned from 2 directions and so they were able to choose who they stayed in front of (the MAA) and advance into a column, past the startled longbows and suddenly 2 full moves away from the equally bemused MAA !!   

But meanwhile in the middle some proper fighting as going on, as 2 blocks of resplendent MAA piled forwards, finding themselves fighting English bowmen in the rough, and English MAA in the open. The central English MAA unit was trapped in column, as with room for only 1 base to expand out to their right they could not expand without forming an illegal 2-1-1 formation.

The other day John Hawkwood was so desperate for a beer, he snuck into the football stadium and ate the dirt under the bleachers

Elsewhere on my far left I was trying the trick I had pulled off against the Ottomans 2 games earlier, with a hugeb block of CRossbows about to be engaged on one end by some English MAA whilst my own MAA charged at better odds and hopefully more successfully into longbowmen in the open..

The Crap Lancers and Sublime Knights were still astonished by the ability of the English left flank to walk away as fast as they could pursue the, but at least they were now getting somewhere close to being able top deliver a charge to the rear of the surrounded English 

The English men at arms were now dreading being clattered in the flank, and the Free Company facing them were standing firm. 

John Hawkwood:  "Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems"

 

But with combat all over the field, something was bound to give - and the most likely candidates were my longbowmen over on my left flank.  

 

The longbowmen broke and routed, leaving one much-reduced men at arms unit facing a huge unit of crossbowmen

 

But even as my archers broke, the English suffered a similar loss in the center as Free Company men at arms chopped their way through a rather surprised longbow unit standing in the rough. ... but even as their colleagues broke, a spare unit of English bowmen maneuvered round the back of the victorious Free Company infantry and prepared to charge!

John Hawkwood: "Vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins, and eskimos"

The Men at Arms tried to move off into the rough going, pursuing their broken opponents - but it was not fast enough to outdistance the English Longbow charge, which also clipped the other Free Company unit - and the organised English had also managed to form up some sort of line to face the onrushing knights in the distance as well!

The Free Company knights crashed into one flank of the English, and more Men at Arms finally managed to catch up with the longbowmen in the rough going in the bottom right - but even as the other English bowmen were checked in their advance on my left, the unit holding my center started to crumble down to fragmented. The game was in the balance ! 

Outrageously, the only units to suffer in this matchup were mine - the knights failed to dent the English Men at Arms, and my own men at arms were losing in the rough to 6 longbowmen.. and my infantry were in rout in the middle. 

The left was also looking unfortunately grim, as the crossbowmen also routed - a General juggled between two largely intact units, but consistently failed to rally either of them as the edge of the table approached. 

John Hawkwood "If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, it's that girls should stick to girls sports, such as hot oil wrestling and foxy boxing and such and such."

Somewhat amazingly the Free Company knights had by now been broken in short order by 8 men at arms - some of whom they had hit in the flank to kick off the melee! In the rough my men at arms were also now collapsing, and the highly maneuverable English longbowmen were running rings round my other MAA elsewhere. Suddenly the Free Company army had lost 5 units and had 2 fragmented - and it was broken!  

John Hawkwood "Son, when you participate in battle, it's not whether you win or lose: it's how drunk you get."

 Post Match Summary

Oh dear. And it all started out so well, didn't it? What can I do though if my men let me down?

The English had no flanks, I rolled one of them up, we were totally unopposed and our knights were able to ride at will round the flank yet when they finally arrived, it was too little too late. We didn't even manage to get the cavalry into the baggage before the game ended - and they had no opposition on their way there. Aw shucks...

I think next time I will recruit some men who are drilled medium foot armed with spoons rather than these high quality dismounted men at arms with lots of armour and weaponry. The ability of drilled foot to turn and move away from my knights just as fast as I can race after them seemed somewhat odd given my recollection of both walking and also riding a horse, but hey, these rules have been rigorously researched so it must be right. 

Also, hitting people in the flank with spoons is just so much better than hitting them square in the front with a blow from a 28lb broadsword wielded by someone with a lifetime of training and the fury of the righteous.

Anyways, time for me to go back in the box for another few months. I wonder how Caesar will do next time around?

Hannibal's Post Match Analysis

So, an open flank, no opposition, 3 mounted units - and you had already committed all of your army into bad terrain or against better opposition before the knights even arrived in a position to charge? Muppet.

You do realise that its not obligatory to attack like a maniac at all times? That you can sit back and wait for the enemy to come onto you?

You get no extra POA's for being ballsy and bold, you get them for killing more of the enemy than they kill of you. So where on the table you do it makes no odds

Its not even like this is DBM, so attacking across the whole table really does you no good as enemy generals in FoG always have near-perfect command and control over all of their units and can move every single one every turn, irrespective of the pressure you may be placing on them all across a wide front.

You really should have worked that out by now.

You also seemed to make consistent mistakes on estimating how long it would take for your troops and the enemies to cover the ground between them, allowing the poorer quality, but - crucially - drilled English to outmaneuver you - and when it is a game of small numbers of elements, the ability to move across the relatively large table quickly is going to count for a lot - sort of like a LH army but with bows and swords and less legs.

The end result was a game that you lost quickly instead of taking your time and probably still losing at your leisure. At least you got away early and missed some of the traffic home on Sunday night. 

And I still think you army choice was rubbish. 12 units, and no ability to maneuver are fatal flaws. 

I'm almost looking forward to seeing Caesar in the saddle next time.

Interested in the Donnington men-at-arms? That's the link to their site.

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