Early Renaissance in Derby 2016
Kalmar Union vs Maximillian Imperial
Game 1 Kalmar Union vs Italian States - Milanese
Game 2 Kalmar Union vs Maximillian Imperial
Game 4 Kalmar Union vs Italian Wars French
Game 2 and after a light and healthy lunch washed down with some of East Derbyshires finest home-grown wines and champagnes the Scandiavians fund themselves up against a French-driven Maximillian Imperial army.
The lists for the Kalmar Union and Maximillian Imperial from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Derby can be seen here in the FoG:R Wiki.
Max Imperial - one of the armies that rarely makes it out onto the table other than in very early periods such as this theme here at Derby. Very much a textbook early army, with high quality Landsnecht Keils and hefty Gendarmes in full armour.
The table was a bit better this time, with terrain on both flanks and an interesting field in the forward part of the enemy deployment area, which based on a quick squint at their list they may struggle to contest other than with handgunners and arquebusiers. This looked very much like a job for the Scots, and so they tee'ed themselves up in the centre of the table whilst the Kiel sat to their right. One unit of Gendarmes were in reserve, waiting to find the right place to stand - probably in front of a Keil.
The Imperialists did indeed have little to contest the central field, and so a rapid advance by the Scandianvian army soon had them pinned back. As the Scots advanced, the Germans with nothing really terrain-capable consoled themselves by putting a blocking unit of cavalry behind the field, keeping their baggage safe from an end-zone run down the centre from the Scots.
With a solid line of halberdier levy and Kiel on the right, and not much in the enemy army able to contest terrain the now-useless Horde spotted a possible opportunity to serve a purpose - they made for the terrain on the flank with the aim of sitting in it and being hard to kill through weight of numbers alone.
Holy Roman Empire
The Scots were taking some fire from enemy skirmishing handgunners as they advanced, but their own shooting was by now combining with artillery and crossbows from the Levy to start to erode the enemy skirmishers. The Field may be in grasp...
Avoiding the mistake of the earlier game, the Scandinavians on the right bunched up tightly, with crossbow-armed horse in the centre of their line to await the assault of the enemy Landsnechts.
On the other flank, hot Gendarme on Gendarme action was taking place as the reserve unit of full-fat noblemen flung itself into the fray against an identical enemy unit.
With the Gendarmes locked in combat - but already a base down - the two lines closed on each other. The Germans looked vulnerable, with the HF-fronted Dalarna Levy ready to crash into an exposed unit of medium foot Longbowmen in the open whilst the rest of the Scandianvian gendarmes occupied the enemy horsemen.
The Levy were in! Their halberds swinging wildly the front rank armoured infantry piled into the longbowmen ... no effect at impact, but in melee surely their better armour would tell?
On the other flank 2 Landsnecht Keils were inching towards a decisive charge, shrugging off the peppering of crossbow bolts and cannonballs hurled their way by the Scandi's as they advanced.
They were in! And immediately things went wrong for the forces whos' sisters had grown up with posters of Morten Haken of Ah-Ha! on their bedroom walls, as both the Keil and the Crossbow Sword Horse lost bases and cohesion at initial impact.
The Scots had been sitting in the field for only a short while, but some terrible death-roll dice and a lack of anything constructive to actually do had conspired to see them removed from the field, and The Field in literal and metaphorical actuality in fairly short order.
Hitting People in Medieval Germany
The Scandinavians Landsnecht Keil was crushed and obliterated with some double-drop catastrophe dice - they fled the scene and were removed from the table in double-quick order leaving a massive gap in both the Scandinavian line and their offensive capabilities.
As the German-owned Keil steamed forward it exposed it's own flanks to the Dalarna Levy - who failed utterly to capitalize on this apparent opportunity, losing the impact phase and dropping cohesion!
Everything on the right had also gone badly wrong, with the Levy failing entirely to beat longbowmen in the open and the Heavily Armoured Gendarmes losing in double-quick time as well. A vague attempt to play for time was now the only game left to the forces of herring-eating and carbine armed average Cavalry the only fig-leaf of respect left on this part of the table.
But, 2 rounds of desultory shooting later even they acceded to the inevitable, losing 2 bases on single hits and succumbing to defeat - taking the army with them as well
The Result is a terrible and complete defeat.
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Kalmar Union Commander
Oh dear me, this was not to be despite the most auspicious of lunches and of beginnings.
With kinder terrain this time, and a properly set up battle plan I did hope my men would be able to perform far more effectively than ever before, well, at least better than this morning, but in fact the outcome was far poorer, and their martial effectiveness was undone by the dice of doom.
What other explanation can I offer? The compelling logic for a union of the Scandinavian countries in order to allow us to form a military alliance capable of standing up against the forces of Germany has rather taken a battering in this game, and I fear that the renaissance of Denmark, so succesful in a stand alone format, may be the coming future.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
A kind man may say that in this game you did not have the best of luck. But a kind man would be a liar of the highest order as really your snivelling excuses are but a dried up goat scrotum on a string tied to a post and blowing in the wind compared to the depths of incompetence evidenced here.
Your plan should have been about defending, but it was sacrificed on the altar of an entirely pointless attempt to put the Scots into a piece of terrain who's only strategic value was that it would give the enemy open flanks once they advanced past it - an outcome which your precipitous advance rendered both moot and unlikely at a stroke.
Yet again your poor choice of Gendarmerie proved fatal as armour outwitted your dullards in a straight up fight, and an over-extended battle line saw your men with too much to do and to little co-ordination to achieve it.
This will be a long weekend, mark my words - I only hope tonights curry is a strong one, as you will need to surround yourself with oher stenches aside from the stench of defeat in your next game
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
You can also comment, "like" or give feedback on these reports on either the Madaxeman.com Facebook Page or the Madaxeman.com Blogger Site.
Game 1 Kalmar Union vs Italian States - Milanese
Game 2 Kalmar Union vs Maximillian Imperial
Game 4 Kalmar Union vs Italian Wars French
View My Stats for My Match Reports Pages
