This week the Burgundians went up against an a-historical opponent in Raymond's Nikophorian Byzantines. This is an interesting list, and one that's even smaller than mine!
Raymond's army is mostly Cav(S) and Bw(X), but with two artillery and two kn(X) in double wedges. A very elite list, but one that I imagine can collapse pretty quickly. Going into the game I wasn't really certain on my plan, but I figured that Knights would generally get the better of Cav(S), and my longbowmen would make up for the difference in numbers. I'd moved the longbow into the artillery command for this game to make them less liable to disappear with the knights.
Raymond took a gentle hill and nicely got it in the middle of his line and put his bw(X) and artillery on top of it. I put my pike opposite the hill, but I definitely didn't want to attack it. However with 4 art(O) I was fairly confident that I could persuade the bw(X) off it if needed. Beyond that he placed two small commands of Cav(S) on his left flank facing my knights, and one command facing the artillery and bowmen.
The burgundians got the first turn and began moving the light horse up to give the knights the first charge. The longbow also began to reposition to help shore up the knight charge, while the artillery began their slow trundle toward the hill.
Raymond repositioned his third cavalry command, running it behind the hill and reinforcing his other two cav commands facing the knights. The cav(S) unsurpsingly got the best of the light horse, killing one and pushing the other three away. However, this gave 8 knights a clear charge against the cav(S), with a kn(S) general in there as well!
In the gendarmes charged... and lost every single combat, so failed to kill any of the cav(S). The cav counter-charged and killed one knight, but were mostly pushed back by the rest of the line. The light horse plugged the gap and again the knights charged, this time with a few overlaps.... and lost every single combat. Again. The light horse also died, allowing the cav(S) to work the flanks and quickly break the knight command without any losses.
Elsewhere the Burgundian guns killed one of the roman artillery pieces, and also began pushing back the Bw(X), but it was slow going.
The knights broke just as the longbow arrived and the blade detatched from the pike. At this point the Romans has lost one element - the artillery, and had taken out a full 1/3 of the Burgundian army.
However, the longbowmen decided to earn their pay in an ideal, target-rich environment and immediately killed a general. This was followed up by two more bases of cavalry who were working their way through the now shattered knights and breaking the command!
The blade also held up surprisingly well, refusing to go down to overlaps, shooting or anything else. I did screw up and let 3 elements of pike get hard flanked. Not a good move, but by this point I had basically admitted defeat.
The cavalry got into the longbow and killed a couple of them, but lost a few more as well. Elsewhere the artillery took out a Bw(X) and a light horse, further emboldening the remaining Burgundians. However, they were only 4 ME away from breaking and, with 2 generals in combat it was only a matter of time...
Both generals fought well, and I think the longbow did enough to dishearten a command, but it was always going to be a long-shot and a hard-flank on the blade general took the win for the Byzantines.
Another week, another fun, if frustrating game. Raymond played well, negating the impact of my artillery by simply walking away from it. However, I can't help but continue my obsession with the knights' failure. Given the massed ranks of the cavalry I didn't expect them to win overall, but I'd expected roughly a 1-1 trade given my quick kills. Instead the entire command failed to kill a single element and broke.
I'm going to look at cutting down on the number of knights in the army. Unfortunately it probably means replacing them with Bw(S) for the earlier list, and I really didn't want to have another 'English' army in the Burgundians. Honestly though the knights have been the first command to break in all 5 games, and I think they've killed 2 Bd(O), 1 Ps(S), 1 Bd(X) and that's it. Not a good haul for 12 ap units!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/824840264342234/permalink/1602530356573217
Artillery and Bw(X) on a hill. The ideal circumstance!
The light horse lead the attack
The Burgundian deployment. The column of Kn was to allow me to redeploy them if I needed to
uuuh the best picture I got of the Byzantines. sorry!
The first line of byzantine cavalry attack the light horse
but the knights are right behind them, ready to punish the Byzant cavalry!
meanwhile the Foot just take pop-shots at each other. Hell they're not paid enough so why should they go in?
Meanwhile the knights fail their first charge, leaving a nice line for a follow up
The longbow getting into position, while the reinforcing cavalry shore up the Byzant lines. They wouldn't be needed though!
The first gap appears in the Burgundian lines, just next to Charles
a bigger view - the Byzant reinforcements are there, and the gap in the knight line is getting bigger
It's all over for the knights, flanked and failing to kill anything. Worthless nobles
Thankfully the longbow are here, ready to cause havoc!
the longbow break up to concentrate their fire, and kill a general and several cav(S). Immediately earning their pay, and showing up the over-paid knights fleeing in the background. Their flank is horrifically exposed though
The lonbow line gets broken up, only the generals are holding, and if either of them die it's all over for the Burgundians
and it ends. Interestingly those double knight wedges are dead men - but having to follow up with knights, I stopped them from fleeing!
out of position picture of the inbred posh-boys failing to achieve anything
' xlink:href='%23b'/%3e%3cuse fill='black' filter='url(%23c)' xlink:href='%23b'/%3e%3cpath fill='white' d='M12.162 7.338c.176.123.338.245.338.674 0 .43-.229.604-.474.725a.73.73 0 01.089.546c-.077.344-.392.611-.672.69.121.194.159.385.015.62-.185.295-.346.407-1.058.407H7.5c-.988 0-1.5-.546-1.5-1V7.665c0-1.23 1.467-2.275 1.467-3.13L7.361 3.47c-.005-.065.008-.224.058-.27.08-.079.301-.2.635-.2.218 0 .363.041.534.123.581.277.732.978.732 1.542 0 .271-.414 1.083-.47 1.364 0 0 .867-.192 1.879-.199 1.061-.006 1.749.19 1.749.842 0 .261-.219.523-.316.666zM3.6 7h.8a.6.6 0 01.6.6v3.8a.6.6 0 01-.6.6h-.8a.6.6 0 01-.6-.6V7.6a.6.6 0 01.6-.6z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
No comments:
Post a Comment