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Condotta Italian vs Alexandrian Macedonian
Game 1 Condotta Italian vs Condotta Italian
Game 2 Condotta Italian vs Ordonnance French
Game 3 Condotta Italian vs Bactrian and Indo-Greek
Game 4 Condotta Italian vs Alexandrian Macedonian
So, with three wins under the belts of the Italians, the final game hove into view. With 2 Medieval and 1 Classical army played, the stage was set for a mirror-image Classical #2, in the shape of Alexanders Makedonians. Or something very similar.
The lists for the Condotta Italian and Alexandrian Macedonian from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Devizes can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
This time fields and plantations fell in the middle of the table, giving the Greeks a solid place against which to but their flanks, and a perfect home for the Thracians in the army. With immensely more pikemen than in the previous army, this was a Greek grouping with a simple bullldozer-like plan. The Condotta had a completely open field to set up across, and so with the Knights on the left and the Heavy Metal of Hawkswoods men down the middle the stage was set for a lot of leftwards drifting.
The Condotta had seen this many pikes before, but not held so firmly by men in skirts - for them the usual pike-ist was a man in a flouncy top in bright colours, almost certainly slashed to the navel to reveal exuberant undercrackers. This would be a real test of the efficacy of the Halberd against the Pike.
Alexander the Great
The Gendarmes however found themselves fortunate enough to be facing off against no Elephants this time, just some Companions formed up in a column. This looked like a race to the left
The entire, 3 Competent Commander-led Condotta army sailed across the terrain serenely, looking to squeeze the Makedonians into the back of the table. The Condotta right flank appeared somewhat out of the game, but if they managed to lose off a shot or two against the Greek LH and Cavalry before they surely skedaddled this would still count as a small victory for them.
The Greeks however were not entirely convinced that running away would be the best ever idea, ad their glamorous baggage was temptingly in front of the mercenary Longbowmen - an easy set of pickings if left unguarded.
Anyway, sod it, who cares about the camp followers anyway - although to be fair, the emergence of another group of Thracians from the woodlands on the right did rather dampen the enthusiasm of the Longbowmen to rush down what was now quite obviously a trap.
L'Art de la Guerre (ADLG) hint - yes, you can ambush stuff in ADLG. Defenders get to do ambushes in a bit more of the table depth than attackers. Surprise Surprise!
Clearly deciding that their plan was far too simple, the long line of bowmen, pavisers, pikemen and assorted pedestrians decided that this was the time to start doing all that clever stuff they had learnt on the parade ground over many bloodless years, and, astoundingly, "wheeled" a little bit over to the left. Of course.
The Greeks had started to concertina outwards, matching the frontage of the Condotta troops more than one-for-one. Faced with the thought of taking on Pikes, the Condotta mercenaries paused for a moment, looked to their left and prayed to their pecuniary gods that the Gendarmes would win big, win quick and roll up the Makedonian flank before they themselves were called upon to participate in the battle.
Unfortunately for the Gendarmes, the Greeks had failed to stand still like a row of plums and be squashed flat by the plate-sheathed knights hammers. The Spearmen had stepped forward, the Companions had held back, and now the Gendarmes found themselves with no real way of avoiding putting at least one unit into the Hypaspists. Frontally. Ouch.
With the Greek cavalry out of the way, the full force of the Italian shooting was able to be felt by the Thracians cowering in the rough terrain. Crossbows are not the most devastating weapons, but with no opposition shooting back they can have a devastating effect given enough time and bolts. The Thracians, tasked only with holding the flank of the Pike phalanx, were clearly afraid to come out of the terrain and risk death against the much more numerous Italians and could do naught else but stand and take it.
The initial charge into the Hypaspists could have gone better, but also could have gone much worse. One hit for the Gendarmes, and now their heavier armour would start to help protect them in the protracted combat, without the impact-phase advantage of the Hypaspists to counteract it.
Realising that the time for subtlety was over, the Gendarmes raced onwards to take on the Companions - leaving their hapless colleague to fight the Hypaspists alone!
By now combat was spreading like melted butter in a Devizes coffee shop sandwich as Pikemen an halberdiers from both sides were inexorably drawn into the fray one by one.
But, halberdiers rolling up against Pikemen rolling down is not that long a combat - and the Gendarmes were equally as fortunate, as a blaze of spectacularly good (and bad) dice blasted a hole into the hitherto solid line of Makedonian phalangites! Suddenly the soft underbelly of the Greek army was exposed!
The remaining Pikemen conformed into the Halberdiers, and the Gendarmes reciprocated into an overlap as the battle started to turn rapidly in favour of the Medieval gentlemen - overlaps at both ends of the line, and the morale of the Greek dicerollers already close to shattered.
On the opposite flank (which was sort of the centre of the table, but the flank of the battle) was not seeing much respite for the Makedonians, as the Pike and Longbow combo ground forward for Italy - but, with a heroic Thracian throw the Peltasts struck down a longbow unit and dared to dream of if not success, at least respectability in defeat.
Led by a General, the Gendarmes had gone straight through and over the Companions - in much the same was as previous games, with their better armour counting in the end. The rear of the Greek army lay open before them, as did the rather closer right flank.
The Phalanx was putting up a good fight now their backs were very much against the wall - markers sprung up on the Halberdiers lines as the pikes pushed and the war trumpets of Makedon blared out one last huzzah
Trumpets can boost morale, but they provide no shelter from crossbow bolts and arrows - the Condottieri Pavisers had eliminated their targets, and were now free to join in the shooting elsewhere
The Gendarmes turned about in the distance and moved slowly towards the Hypaspists - who were rather pre-occupied with the mass of enemy troops to their front as well
The Thracians had completed their task of punishing the Longbowmen for being so impudent as to get close to enemy combat troops, and now were trying their luck and 2HCW against INferior Pikemen - a near-perfect opponent for the men of Thrace
But, with Alexanders army teetering on the brink of defeat all across the field, the telling last blow was fittingly delivered by a swing of Hawksmoor's bill - the last unit to fall was the Phalanx, and with them victory went to the Italian Condotta!
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 Condotta Italian Commander
Gordon's Alive! Indeed he is, and so likewise the future itself now holds no fear for me, and the past is but a land in which I can only recall victory and in which my many enemies are stuck with the bitter taste of defeat to temper the reflux burps of a rather fine curry and local ale chaser which did pass many of our lips last evening. What more garlands and laurels could a noble brow such as mine accommodate other than those which are thrown at the victor of a clean-sweep tournament?
The power of my mind is surely greater than that of any supercomputer yet to be invented, as my incredible ability to work out that the enemy mounted might well be on the flank.
But, then, above this brilliance, in a moment of inspiration so decisive that worlds have been sharp enough to surely carve asunder whole worlds, suns and asteroids across great swathes of the heavens, my ability to remember from the morning's game that my Gendarmes would be better than any Alexandrian era cavalry and so deploy them there too.... let's just say that the thinkers of the Greeks and the Renaissance geniuses of Leonardo and Michaelangelo will clamour to be on my pub quiz team next time I venture down to the Morning Star and Artichoke in fashionable Florence.
This must be the greatest arny list ever committed to paper. I must look to use it at every opportunity henceforth !
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
My spleen hurts, my kidneys are sore, and my eyes burn deep pits into my skull as my entire body tries to reject the vile disease that your crushing overconfidence and incoherent analytical so-called skills are applying so inaccurately to this weekend of battles.
In a game when Gendarmes rode over Pikemen, where crossbowmen massacred proper infantry at long range, and where your mounted nobility managed the not inconsiderable feat of attempting to impale themselves on what was in all reality literally the worst possible enemy unit for them to fight across the entire 6' width of the battlefield it is hard indeed for me to see how anything other than gross fortune handed you this battle
The fates however are cruel and unusual mistresses, and here I can only assume that your four opponents have made some impressive collection of unspeakable Faustian pacts in the recent past, and that all of those raven-winged chickens came home to roost in a flurry of feathers and called-in debts in the same weekend - to your sole benefit.
Your list is thin in combat troops, lacks flexibility, has committed almost all of its telling foot in an allied command of uncertain committment, and boasts a mounted wing of barely adequate training and quality. I truly hope you do use it again, as only then will luck balance out and your veneer of competence will be stripped away as if a spiders web caught in an area denial MRLS strike. Only then will we see the real you, cowering like a cur under the desk, not strutting like an idiot peacock around the suburbs of Devizes. Begone foul animal, and let me see you again in more usual circumstances - those of unmitigated but well deserved defeat.
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Game 1 Condotta Italian vs Condotta Italian
Game 2 Condotta Italian vs Ordonnance French
Game 3 Condotta Italian vs Bactrian and Indo-Greek
Game 4 Condotta Italian vs Alexandrian Macedonian
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