Saturday 18 December 2021

Burgundians vs Swiss- posted by Josh Barton, 18 December 2021

Swiss vs Burgundian against Bruce at Warlords. As many people know my record against Swiss has been... historical to say the least and to say I wasn't confident is an understatement.
This time however Charles brought a secret weapon. A fence. The plan was to clog the battlefield up with terrain and present a gunline with the grand battery behind it, with the knights held back in support.
Of course, no good plan survives contact with the enemy, and the moment I Bruce revealed that had deployed only one command on the table, I realised that some changes were needed. Thankfully a paved road running along my backline allowed for rapid redeployment.
Thankfully one of the Swiss commands was delayed (counting German coin no doubt), but arrived on the second bound, letting me know where one command was and also to dispatch the Genitors to harass and delay the command. They performed the job excellently, holding up an entire command for the entire game.
The leading Swiss force attacked in column on their left, with the psiloi, blade and cavalry attacking over a wooded hill, while the pike attacked a small gap in the defenses.
However, the road and woods allowed the Burgundian bowmen to redeploy and the Burgundian handgunners also began skirmishing in the wood. Thanks to an early 6,6,6 pip dice, the right flank of the grand battery wheeled and opened up on the flank of the advancing pike. To Bruces' shock (and my joy) they killed the Swiss C-in-C and several pike.
The Swiss flank march arrived on their left just as this was happening and found themselves facing an organised Burgundian force lead by the Belgian pike and Charle's knights. However, the Longbowmen found themselves in no mans' land and, although taking their pound of flesh, they all died, which alongside the losses of the light horse, broke the knight command before they had seen any action. Things were on a knife edge though, as the Swiss vanguard broke at the same time.
With the Swiss reinforcements well behind, the crossbowmen redeployed to face the Swiss flank attack, leaving only the guns to defend the fortification. The Swiss flank march now found themselves isolated against the Belgian and Italian troops. In a confused melee by the woods the Burgundians emerged victorious and opened up the Swiss flank. Meanwhile the push of the pike began as Charles held his knights in place behind the brave Belgians.
With the exposed flank and the pre-existing losses from the skirmish the Swiss found themselves quickly disheartened and then broke just as the final command had reorganised themselves and prepared to march on the now-undefended fence line.
The result was a hard-fought but exciting Burgundian victory. Both Bruce and I pulled out several tricks and surprised one another in this game and he was unlucky in several fights, particularly against the tenacious light horse.

Still, I am certainly not unhappy to finally beat the Swiss! Those pike S are still terrifying, but I'm noticing a pattern in my Burgundian games- don't fight with the knights and they play much better. If only I could drop all of the gendarmes, but oh well. 

Lots more pics from the game at   https://www.facebook.com/groups/824840264342234/posts/1961433544016228/







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