Going The Way of The Warriors in Leighton Buzzard 2016
Buccaneer vs Mughal
Game 2 Buccaneer vs Eastern Forest Indians
Game 3 Buccaneer vs More Pirates
Leighton Buzzard is not normally associated with Piracy on the high seas, nor is it twinned with any exotic ex-Colonial cities from far flung continents (although being twinned with a town called Titisee is vaguely amusing). But, even so it was chosen for the latest round of the FoGR 1-day Singles....and so on a bright Sunday morning my Buccaneers and a large army of Mughals faced each other across the table
The lists for the Buccaneer and Mughal from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Leighton Buzzard can be seen here in the FoG:R Wiki.
This was Way of The Warriors, a one-day singles event for 'non-European' lists from 'Cities of Gold' or 'Colonies and Conquests', all time periods, 15mm, 800 points, but all lists had to contain at least 16 bases of Warriors and a maximum of 12 bases of 'battle-worthy cavalry/camels/elephants' (this does not include Light Horse).
You've seen them before, but if not...they are mostly Blue Moon and Peter Pig figures, plus the rather pricey Blue Moon/Old Glory Pirate Ship !
Pictures of Pirates from the Photo Directory
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Our`deployment was one which I suspected we would repeat in almost all of the games - a solid line o'Pirates across the table, with Mad Impact Foot and Superior Old Pirates interspersed in the middle supported by Boring Average Pirates with a couple of the skirmishy units racing out of the way of the advance (and the enemy shooting). Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats and so this deployment would also allow our Great Commander, with his 12' command radius to encourage almost all of our troops and make sure no unfortunate incidents happened before they got into combat
Well, tie me to the mizzenmast! Because the devious Mughals were rather restricted in the amount of cavalry they could take by the restrictions on list composition in this event, the Pirate horde could sweep majestically forwards across a fairly open plain with little fear of being trampled by the couple of mounted units on the far flank.
Thar she blows! The Mughal nobilty were rather irritated to see that their only opponents were a thin screen of local American Indian skirmishers, pinging away at them with muskets from distance and then falling back whilst the Mughals tried to shower them with arrows
With the ship in the distance keeping the Mughal infantry more than 6" away from the waterway, the asiatic army had concentrated its forces in a solid line in the middle of the table, with sharpshooters and handgunners interspersed to put up a wall of close range fire against the Jolly-rogerists who were even now forming up in a semi-solid line
FoGR hint - With three units of Warriors and 3 Generals, the standard tactic was to double-march the warriors in the first move, then for the 3 generals to fall back so they are able to bring the remaining Pirate infantry up as a Divisional move in subsequent turns
Ahoy there Jim Lad! The Mughals had been using a large artillery park to trim the Pirate numbers, but with a deadly charge imminent they had been forced to step through their own guns and form the line of combat ready to receive the charging Mad Pirates
Well, tie me to the mizzenmast! Whilst there was no realistic prospect of the ship doing any shooting at all, the Mughals had left a bit of a hanging flank as they sought to avoid the non-enfilading artillery fire it would dish out. This, exposed lone unit, found itself the target of the first Mad band o'Pirates charge of the weekend!
The attempt to chase down the gun line had caused many casualties as the Mad Pirates raced in, and starting an even combat with 2 losses proved to be a non-winning strategy - the 8-strong unit was soon halved in strength and turned and fled from the nappy-wearing warriors of Mughalia and their sharp sticks. This could be a setback... but the Mughal foot had not exactly survived the fray unscathed and now some more Organised and Old Pirates were joining in as well... the Mughals were also now close to Autobreak
Review of the Pirate army on Madaxeman TV
Arrr! On the left side of the centre of the table, the Mad Pirate charge had been more successful and the combination of more pre-combat shooting, better factors at Impact and much cooler and flamboyant choice of trousers had all quickly conspired to smash a hole in the Mughal centre
The Mughals were committing generals to the fray with alacrity whilst the 3-General Pirate army was just too scared to do anything other than trust to the raw naked dice themselves.... but, with benefit comes risk, and the band o'Pirates scored an elephant-sized victory by dragging a Mughal general from his howdah and making him walk the plank of doom ! The middle of the Indians army was now in serious trouble...
The smaller Mughal units started to fall in rapid succession and a cloud of piratey goodness was soon flowing like milk over Captain Pugwash's Ricicles down the hill towards the Mughal baggage in full Warrior-esque pursuit of the routing Indians.
FoGR hint - Some types of troops will keep pursuing routers even when they lose contact with them. In most cases you can take a test to stop pursuing, but here a continuing pursuit means the warrior Pirates will move 4" towards the enemy baggage in both players turns - twice as fast as they would do normally!
The Mughal artillery park was considering a life on the ocean wave as a distinct possibility as the lasy remains of their protecting infantry were whittled away and pirates lapped round them on both sides.
As the Boring Pirates looked and considered where they might take their spades later on that day, on the Mad Pirates headed for loot to bury...
Both flanks of the Mughal infantry line were now as fully stove in as if they had been hit by a ships anchor - one unit of gunnes had already been overrun, the other was soon to join them
The Mughal cavalry looked clever, and they had fragged the Indian sharpshooters... but this was not a great return on investment with the rest of their army in tatters
With nothing to hold them back, Pirates gang-planked up on what few units of Mughal foot were still left to chase - here a 4-pack of LF loses its second base and autobreaks
Finally, having stormed forward in multiple pursuits the Mad Pirates reached the Mughal baggage, resplendent with its flying carpet and camel train... all of which would soon be put in the hold and sent back to a small deserted island...
The Result is a decisive win for the Pirates!
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 Buccaneer Commander
To see my brave band o'pirates win against the Mughal horse-armed foe in what was basically a toe-to-toe mano-a-mano matchup was wonderful to see, and reflects well on me, their brave captain. And anyone who says otherwise will walk the plank!
My brave hearties could have faltered, but they manned up and gave better than they got here, although it must be said that the Mughals were cowardly dogs for not taking the punishment from the rather expensive ship. But still, that unwillingness to deploy near the waterway cost them dear when combined with the speed of our warriors advance and relentless will just to get stuck in and fight whatever was put in front of us anywhere we go across the seven seas and five foamy oceans !
Dolloping doubloons, what a spectacle - and to finish in the most pirate-like way by looting the enemy camp - that is indeed poetry of the highest order
This is just the start we wanted - long may it continue me hearties!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
What a ridiculous analysis of this hard-won victory! How can anyone claim the credit for a battle in which you committed every unit to the mercies of the dice gods? There was barely a single flank charge, or any sort of maneuver other than a full-on frontal charge at anyone who you could see. This is not the mark of a master tactician, more of a blind train driver on a single track to despair!
You were lucky here, nothing more and nothing less - winning a battle of attrittion by a small margin against an arguably inferior quality set of infantry. Call yourself a Pirate? What a disgrace!
I think that if you regard this lack of a plan as being a succesfully executed plan we are in for a long and hard weekend ending in shame and crushing disappointment. It will not be the first, and I am sure it will not be the last.
You really do need to start thinking - but I fear with your lack of brains and your army's lack of variety that this task willl be some great distance beyond you even if the next game was not coming so soon
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
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Game 2 Buccaneer vs Eastern Forest Indians
Game 3 Buccaneer vs More Pirates
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