Medieval and Later Dark Ages in Godendag 2016
French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Nikephorian & North African Arab
Game 1 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Ottomans & Serbs
Game 2 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Nikephorian & North African Arab
Game 3 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Swiss and Condottiere Venetian
Game 4 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Swiss & French Ordonnance
Round 2, after the usual Uskian stunning lunch and the Byzantine / Arab coalition faced us across the table.
The lists for the French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta and Nikephorian & North African Arab from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Godendag can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
Pictures of Byzantines from my Ancients Photo Directory
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This was an altogether more open battlefield - in theory good for our Knights, but in reality rather one-locational for the Longbowmen who craved rough terrain like a chocoholic craves original recipe Cadburys Creme Eggs
What's Going on Here Then?
The Byzantines & Arabs have concentrated their forces left of the table, and are refusing the right side with some skirmishing cavalry. The Skoutatoi are the anchor in the centre of the table, with a mass of Arab horse to their left. The Italo-French army is massing it's knights against the Arab horse, and has deployed the potentially vulnerable MF Almughavars a little further back to allow them to be something of a reserve - although this does leave a gap in the middle of their line. The Italo-French longbowmen already look like they may struggle to have an impact in the game for the second game in a row. (This graphic does not show all the enemy commands separately, but instead shows the major blocks of troops)
The Skutatoi and their integral archers had all deployed butted up to the terrain on the edge of the table, having missed out on a waterway - a fairly narrow tract of water that in ADLG serves more to close off a flank march rather than to eat up a large chunk of the table. Our two heavy infantry commands were facing them off, with the Almughavars as a reserve of sorts sandwiched in between them. Knights made up a right hook on the right - a lopsided medieval deployment.
A forest of pikes waved in the early afternoon light as the two sides lumbered towards each other, both intent on initiating combat (but the Byzantines hoping to do some shooting first). By now the Byzantine Kavalleri had moved into the rear of their foot, leaving the Franco-Italian left wing facing only skirmishing light horse. The Byzantines had the advantage of density - did they have the advantage of quality too in this matchup?
On the far right of our line the organised formation of both sets of knights was looking to get into lance range as quickly as possible, as they clearly outmatched the Arab horse facing them. Middle eastern bowmen loosed volleys of arrows as the tin-plated nobility emerged from the gloom of the post-lunch sweat miasma floating across the playing room and closed the distance between them and close combat.
Franco-English longbowmen found themselves free to dance and manoeuvre like giddy helicopter pilots in a cold war north European plain wargame as the Byzantine army melted away and retreated in front of them.... the longbowmen put a cautious toe outside of the terrain and instantly the Byzantine horse turned about and thundered back towards them. Who's confidence would be misplaced in the longbow in the open against cavalry battle?
What's Going on Here Then?
The Byzantines & Arabs have withdrawn all of their cavalry from the left, whilst the Italo-French knights are steaming straight towards the Arab horse and weaker foot. The reserve of Byzantine horse is maneuvering to support the Skoutatoi in the centre.
Aaah! Tricksters! Baggage-hunting devious Byzantine horsemen were almost on another battlefield as they skirted the edge of the board, and also the edge of the world in an effort to sneak past the medievalists lines and cause a degree of havoc in their rear areas in a pun-laced metaphor that even Frankie Howerd
The wall of chivalry had closed to charging distance without suffering any markers or damage from the limited volume of Arabian archery being sent its way. This looked good for France & Italy, and not quite so good for the proto-GCC forces arrayed against them.
The well-organised Byzantines with their carefully painted shields had advanced and separated, allowing a pointy-shaped wedge of lancer-armed goodness to insert itself into the cracks inbetween - and in so doing the cunning chaps from Constantinople had neatly managed to neutralize at least one of the medieval halberdier units which threatened to do so much damage to the inferior spearmen of the Skutatoi formation.
LArt de la Guerre hint - Mixed Bow/Spear formations shoot like bowmen, but fight like Inferior Spearmen. Of course. Halberdiers win on a tie against spearmen anyway, so Inferior Spearmen are pretty much their ideal target.
The Byzantine lancers impetus smashed the medieval line and soon the Kavallarii were punching through and staring a rather shocked, and now disrupted set of skirmishers in the face.
LArt de la Guerre hint - if your unit is less than a base width behind someone who dies in combat, you take one hit. LF die on 2 hits, so having one is a bit of a problem...
The Knights go IN! Even with a hanging flank, the advantage of better armour and all-round quality is enough to inspire the noblemen from two countries to take the initiative and steam full tilt into the line of Arabic horsemen (and the odd shellshocked pedestrian archer).
LArt de la Guerre hint - being hit in the flank by Light Horse is a bit of a downer, but not as bad as being hit by real combat troops, which is catastrophic. LF can't charge anyone in the flank unless it's in terrain.
And the knights go straight up, over and through at first contact against the hapless bowmen - unarmed medium foot in the open against Superior Knights is not a great matchup in any ruleset, and demonstrably not so in ADLG.
What's Going on Here Then?
Battle is joined across the line, but the hole left for the Almughavars has allowed the Byzantine Skoutatoi and their reserve cavalry to do fairly well against the Medieval infantry of the Italo-French alliance. The French and Italian knights however are doing much better and are running through the Arab horse, as their left flank comes under huge strain.
In the centre the two lines of infantry have now clashed and are starting to trade markers as the fight develops into a prolonged slog. The Medievals have better factors, but the Byzantines have width and overlaps in their favour - and they also have a rogue Kavallarii Lancer who looks set to have an embarrassment of targets as he considers which flank of heavy medieval foot to charge first
LArt de la Guerre hint - LF do not cause a ZOC on non-light troops, so the Cavalryman is free to turn and move away
The big hole in the middle of the Medieval line is suddenly exposed as a big hole in the competence of the Medieval commanders as Byzantine infantry and Cavalry seek to exploit it by turning and teeing themselves up for charges against the flanks of Pikemen and halberdiers. This looks to be a major issue for the medievals, who all start to take up prayers that their knights can sort their sh-t out quickly enough that the catastrophe in the centre that is about to unfold stays as well folded as a Benetton sweater in a closed shop.
The Knights however have been so successful that gaps have opened up in their line too as they plough forwards, and the Arabs find that their greater numbers of less-good horsemen can now also exploit gaps and flanks. Gendarmerie still has the punch to press on, but the rollup is now something that cannot be ignored as a threat.
The Italians and French throw more resources at the flank, feeding in infantry and more knights to what is fast becoming an incoherent battle line as the Knights fail to keep a straight frontage and open themselves up to Arabian attacks on both flanks. Will quality or numbers tell...?
The Byzantines were now ripping a huge gouge in the heart of the Italo-Frankish army, as the Skoutatoi ponderously turned and then accelerated outwards in a fan of destruction. A solid Skoutatoi formation also pushed straight ahead, potentially seeking an embarrassing baggage capture opportunity in the rear of the Italian army.
What's Going on Here Then?
The French & Italian knights have largely won on the right and are starting to turn into the centre and attack the flanks of the Byzantine & Arab infantry, so whilst the Byzantine Skoutatoi continue to do well their colleagues are being rolled up and removed from the table at an unsustainable rate.
The two solid blocks of medieval infantry were now besieged on all sides, and even as the Pikemen ground down their frontal opponents their flanks were hammered by the men from Constantinople. Further to each flank the French Knights and Longbowmen were both starting to make headway, and threatening to trump the Byzantines envelopment with a double envelopment of their own - it was practically Cannae on acid !
But perhaps the Pikemen wouldn't need to worry about their flanks if they could keep up their forward momentum? The combination of halberdiers and the extra factors of pikemen had slowly and steadily been wearing down the resistance of the line of Skoutatoi they faced, and once the line began to fracture and generate overlap factors for the Pikemen the pace of collapse hastened dramatically. The Byzantine flanking attack suddenly found that the troops it was flanking had no frontal opponents!
And as their foes melted away under a welter of cohesion markers the French & Swiss Pikemen saw the Byzantines threatening their flanks get caught up in an onrushing wave of Longbowmen, as the outermost envelopment of this veritable pass-the-parcel of pugnaciousness suddenly neared its end-game.
The Knights too were making serious inroads, and with both sides rather shattered by now the stamina of the tin-can-wearing French and Italians was starting to tell. The Knights regrouped and took heart as their reserves of LH moved up as well to start a second wave of low-intensity combats against the remnants of the exhausted Arab forces
The Swiss were now enjoying the game - almost no meaningful opposition save some rather nervous enemy LF and a clear field as the Skoutatoi and their pretty shields had all made their way back into the box. They looked good, but once they started to fall they fell fast, hard and permanently.
What was once a vital cog in a dangerous breakthrough, the Kavallorii now found itself a lone agent of Byzantine imperial ambition, marooned in a sea of tin can wearing central and southern European unwashed peasants as the halberdiers swept away the last Skoutatoi moments before the Kavalleriii could join in to help. The Byzantine and Arab army had been whittled away to the point of defeat!
And with that, the game ended with the Byzantine centre crushed under the weight of medieval infantry technological prowell, and their allied Arab lancers having come off distinctly second best against the forces of plate-armoured Christendom on the Franco-Italiote right flank.
What's Going on Here Then?
The French & Italian knights early victory against the Arab horse sees them have time to reform and roll up the Byzantine and Arab foot, whilst the Byzantine Skoutatoihave faltered as they struggle to grind down two commands of medieval armoured foot before their army collapses to 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 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta Commander
Aaarh! For King, Country, The Pope and for the region between France and Italy where I shall look to take my next hunting holiday in honour of this great victory against the unlikely allies of the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs who so unfairly wiped them from the pages of history at some point either before or after my army was established!
In this battle my men braved the need to advance under a hail of arrows so thick that if they had been made of treacle they would no doubt have been the dark kind. Whilst that metaphor may need more work and a great deal of simplification, the plan of having a wall of Knights and then charging them at a wall of cavalry who weren't quite as good as them before the Arabs had chance to get round our flanks was certainly a mark of great genius, and laid the foundation stone on which this great Italo-Frankish empire I am now establishing is to be founded.
One lesson learnt here is that leaving a big gap between my two blocks of infantry is probably a bad idea, and allowing the enemy to march into it is also not the best plan I have ever had either. But, in the end it worked out and now we are back in a Leonardo da Vinci designed submarine hoping to climb up the leaderboard from the very bottom and see how far we go.
At least tonight we have camped a short ride from here and I will not have to go to that god forsaken apology for a curry house in Usk for another year. Whilst I am dining on fine wines and the haunches of young Flemish maidens I wish you good night fair Sirs!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
You hopeless toad-spotted hedge-sniveller! Was any general ever so lucky as to win a game whilst allowing enemy infantry to waltz unopposed through the very heart of his army in the heat of battle?
How could you let such a thing happen, as it cast you inches and dice pips from a pox-borne humiliation - especially after the catastrophe of the first games flanking inflicted pain?
You also managed yet again to have a command almost removed from the battle by the simple act of your opponent of concentrating their forces in part of the table instead of - like you you rump-faced ass-brain - spreading them like butter on a whore across the whole width of the board
Such pribbling profligacy will surely not be tolerated and will not go unpunished by the gods of fate 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 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Ottomans & Serbs
Game 2 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Nikephorian & North African Arab
Game 3 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Swiss and Condottiere Venetian
Game 4 French Ordonnance & Italian Condotta vs Swiss & French Ordonnance
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