Epsom 2002

The Lithuanians rode again for this comp, after an unsuccessful foray with the Sicilians last time around. I had 2 lists in play, one was this standard one ,, the other was a more silly and scary "10-0 or 0-10" version. It never saw light of day.....

Up first I fought a Beja Army  

I liked this a lot, as it was big, scary and had lots of ability to deal with different things, although in practice it totally failed to deal with my War Wagons. Because of a well placed bit or RGo it was fairly clear where the camels would be, and my wagons were placed to meet them as they emerged. They proceeded to do what it says on the tin by shooting the Cm (S) into ribbons after they were becalmed by a string of 1's on their pip dice, which meant they were only able to get into combat piecemeal. 

I would have been tempted to take an ally with more Cm (S) rather than the 4th sub general, but then again that's me - probably one I'll try out some day. 

The 2nd game was against the tall Belgian, who was using a Pike army - Alex Imperial - who later was to turn up collecting the 2nd prize ! 

This was a big problem - with only 5 blades and the threat of the Indians, and a river my plan was based on assuming the pikes would be close to the river, and that my Wagons could outshoot any Indians, so splitting the Wagons. It didn't really work like that, and a couple of unlucky early combats say me on the back foot. Eventually my Teuton command broke through the LH & Kn (F) wing, after avoiding the elephant, but in the meantime the massed auxilia were overwhelming mine. Right at the death I killed the Alexandrian CinC with a Teuton LH who was swinging round the back of the Pike block, but he passed the following dice roll and then finally beat my sub generals command, and with it the army for a 1-9 defeat. 

Next - The Ch'in

I think I'd fought this army before at Derby - but this time I managed to get 2 bits of long RGo in one sector, both touching the center. This created a "Bow Motorway"^tm down which the Chinese flung a load of bowmen, and alongside which they tee'd up the spears. I skirmished off against the spearmen whilst throwing the full weight of the Teutons (initially unreliable, but obligingly throwing a 6 at the perfect moment !), my CinC with 3 Wagons and also the small LH command, whilst the other command concentrated on chewing lumps out of the bowmen in the rough with wagons, bowfire and auxilia. This all proved fairly effective (after some initial hesitancy by the sub general) and soon the Chin were being rolled up like a chinese carpet. 10-0.

Game 4 - Jez Evans Italiote Greeks 

There were definitely a few more Ps hiding around as well, but, hey, who's counting? This game was a theoretical exercise - can I disrupt the Greek formation enough with steep hills and wagon fire to get in a clean charge with the Teutons? Well, I did, it broke a command, but then the Teutons found themselves surrounded and also died - although Jez had to risk sudden death with a Greek general to achieve it! I again caught another General towards the end of the game that gave me a 9-1 shot, but again the enemy passed the dice roll and it was a 5-5.... but with a lot more action than most people may have suspected looking at the matchup and the result.

Game 5 - Samurai

After 2 spear armies and 1 pike army, another good matchup.

An aggressive army, but deployed in a corner with a flank march from the Red command to boot. The Bd sat in RGo throughout, and were only dislodged by furious shooting to break up their formation, whilst the Bw (S) in the blue command did grave damage to my wagons and blades as we attempted to close. In the end the flank march was probably a couple of bounds too late to turn the "Come and have a go if you think you are hard enough" strategy into "you're going home in a Tokyo Ambulance" as I was well into in full baggage sacking mode after clearing a gentle hill of auxilia with my LH at he back of the enemy lines when they hove into view. 10-0, but very close to the other way around. 

So, a continually improving result at Epsom, with a very healthy 9th place out of about a zillion, with chances to win all my games 10-0  with a following wind and a bit more luck 

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