DBMM New Zealand : “Let it be” Polish vs Burgundians - Vince Cholewa

Saturday, 2 January 2021

“Let it be” Polish vs Burgundians - Vince Cholewa - 02/01/2021

“Let it be”: No toy soldiers for me this Christmas but I did get a t-shirt that I just had to wear to the first wargaming meeting of 2021 at the Wellington Warlords yesterday. My game was a late medieval clash between my early 16th Century Polish and Josh Barton’s Burgundian Ordinance. It is always a pleasure to play Josh, who is a good friend and an excellent opponent. This game was no exception 

Here are some pics of the game and our toy soldiers. The lighting on the Burgundians is, appropriately, somewhat on the dark side. 

My plan was to use my superiority in light horse to go around both flanks, with cavalry and knights in the middle. I had a small fourth command, 55 army points of Lithuanians, flank marching on my right. 

On my left was a wood that Josh filled with handgunners to protect his grand-battery of artillery interspersed with crossbowmen. His centre was pikemen and gendarmes, and on his left were mounted longbowmen. He also had small numbers of mounted crossbowmen (LH) on both flanks.

I sent the hussars from my CnC’s command around the wood, while that command’s cavalry and knights waited to see if the Burgundian artillery and crossbows would advance. They did, and the CnC moved to attack them.

In the centre, cavalry skirmished delaying the pikemen, while knights from both Polish sub-generals’ commands massed, preparing to take on the gendarmes. Importantly, on the right, cavalry and Tatars manoeuvred in front of and outside the longbows to do what they could to prevent the archers targeting the Polish knights.

My CnC’s attack went badly wrong. I underestimated the Burgundian firepower, quickly losing an element each of knights and cavalry. At the same time, the hussars underperformed badly against the mounted crossbows. Really, the command was over-stretched trying to both go around the flank and also through the front - one or the other might have worked but not both at the same time.

Luckily, on the other flank the Lithuanian flank march arrived quickly rolling six on bound two and then again on bound three.

My CnC’s command broke and with other casualties I had lost more than 30% of my army’s morale equivalents. Then, the t-shirt worked its magic - “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me” - the Polish knights and one of the sub-generals sang their traditional Marian hymns, charged the gendarmes and destroyed three elements. This was exactly what was needed to break the command, which had already lost a gendarme to the hard-riding Lithuanians, and its mounted crossbowmen and one element of longbowmen in the wide, flank manoeuvring and skirmishing. 

The Burgundian pikemen were now being attacked from three sides by elements from three of my commands. 

My CnC was doing everything he could to delay the rout of his command and the Burgundian crossbowmen and guns could not move fast enough to exploit their advantage. 

A 19-6 win to the Polish.