Field of Glory Renaissance in Oxford 2010
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So, on entertaining game down, three more to go. After a short break in which I was one of ony 4 people in the entire competition to find the nearest pub, the afternoon game hove into view along with a load of Ottomans - a very different army to the Pike and Shot Swedes and so another test of how the rules would cope in asymmetric warfare..
In the absence of a FoG Renaissance Wiki (just yet anyway) the lists can be seen here
This time the Manor House had been deployed as a built up area on the left of the Catholic army, and with an enclosed field closing down the right there was a nice narrow field on which to try and close down the easterners
| Yet again the checkerboard deployment can be clearly seen. Infantry and guns cannot be deployed in the outermost 12 MU of the table edges, forcing them into the middle and cavalry out to the wings |
I had again massed an even greater percentage of my cavalry on the right, with the presumably unbeatable Tercio defending my left. The Ottomans had a screen of light horse deployed in front of their powerful artillery park, which was angled towards my mounted wing. The Janissaries were looking to occupy a field in the middle, and their cavalry faced off against mine in the main.
The Ottomans raced towards the forward-deployed Catholic artillery hoping to run the hapless gunners down with their sabres - but they clearly had not read the rules on how effective artillery can be!
The Catholic Cuirassiers advanced nervously against unfamiliar opponents of the Ottoman Sipahis - somewhat unsure as to how any clash between these two troop types would work out (well, why bother reading the QR sheets - much more fun to roleplay the role of a Renaissance Gentleman general encountering the enemy for the first time!)
Sensing uncertainty in the Ottoman ranks, the Catholics moved up in a broad arc leading with the right wing
| Foot operating in a "Division" can make 2 march moves - Horse can make 3. This also means the flanks should engage before the center. |
The Catholic infantry moved up swiftly to protect their Guns from the maraudering Ottoman light horse - all of a sudden a lot of firepower was arrayed against the vulnerable Turkish skirmishers.
As the Catholics opened up a barrage of musket and cannon shot, the devastated Ottoman light horse reeled in shock - with a base down both units suddenly were forced to flee lest a further fusillade removed another base and broke them through base losses along.
| This is what having no minuses to the death roll for shooting by gunpowder weapons can achieve! Skirmishers need to be careful.... |
With the Ottoman skirmishers reeling, the Catholics moved up for the kill - but on the right, the Ottoman artillery was now finding its range - a unit of Cuirassiers was their first target and started losing bases and failing cohesion tests as soon as the missiles started to arc in from the distant gunners. With one Cuirassier unit becalmed and struggling, the Catholics suddenly found their advance on the right had become a rather confusing pile-up of units all fighting each other to get to the front line.
| A 98 year old Mother Superior from
Ireland was dying.
The nuns gathered around her bed trying to make her last journey comfortable. They gave her some warm milk to drink but she refused. Then one of the nuns took the glass back to the kitchen. Remembering a bottle of Irish whiskey received as a gift the previous Christmas, she opened and poured a generous amount into the warm milk. Back at Mother Superior's bed, she held the glass to her lips. Mother drank a little, then a little more and before they knew it, she had drunk the whole glass down to the last drop. "Mother," the nuns asked with earnest, "please give us some wisdom before you die." She raised herself up in bed and with a pious look on her face said, "Don't sell that cow!" |
The End was night for the Ottoman skirmishers..
And, finally, they were obliterated leaving the Ottoman General alone in the middle of the field. Lucky for him he could not be targeted !
On the right however things were going badly - whilst the second Ottoman LH unit had also been blown away by musketry, the Cuirassiers had been unable to psychologically stand up to the battering from 4 Superior artillery and had turned tail and fled. This left the Catholic cavalry somewhat underpowered against large numbers of well armoured Ottomans, and so the Catholic decided to hang on until their infantry could also join the fray.
With no targets in the middle, the Catholic general dispatched one of their units from the center off to the right to support that attack.
| Infantry cannot turn and move in the same turn - a "turned" pike and shot unit will also have to spend a turn reforming before it can form up in a proper formation. It's not easy to redeploy foot to the flank! |
The Ottoman artillery were picking off targets at will - now the Catholic infantry were losing bases. With the Ottomans out of charge range, the Catholics attempted a complex maneuver to turn and wheel their cavalry, moving the higher quality Cuirassiers over to the left in an attempt to accommodate yet more Horse. But, even supported by their General, the Catholics repeatedly failed the complex move tests, and this the turn-and-wheel took far longer than expected. Would the Ottomans take advantage?
Back in the middle, the Catholic foot were creeping forwards - but were unsure what they would do once they got close to the Janissaries who had taken cover in an enclosed field.
With the Catholics closing in, the Ottomans steeled themselves for an exchange of fire.
On the right the cavalry battle had at last begun to tee itself up. But the time the Catholics had wasted adjusting their formation the Ottoman artillery had targeted another Cuirassier unit, and when combined with the bow shooting from the Ottoman Sipahis it too had lost bases and cohesion. The cutting edge of the Catholic cavalry wing was now severely blunted.
| Shooting by bowfire alone still retains the same "-2" modifier on a death roll as in FoG:AM - but it still causes cohesion tests! |
The two lines of horse moved gingerly towards each other, with neither player quite aware what would happen. But, with the Cuirassiers being shot down to Fragmentation suddenly the odds swung in the Ottomans favour... The Catholics had to push their demi-cuirassiers forwards to prevent the Cuirassiers being charged and broken.
| No-one has to charge in FoG:R - so no CMT's to not charge either. But, with lots of units capable of shooting it seems that one side or the other always has a fairly compelling reason to initiate combat instead of standing there to be shot! |
The Catholic shot were struggling to make much headway against the well dug in and armoured Ottomans
| Armour counts against long range musketry, but not at close range. |
The Catholic cavalry were really struggling - although some of the Harquebusiers were chipping away at the Ottoman lines, they were failing cohesion tests in response to the hail of arrows - and a second unit of Cuirassiers had also broken in the face of telling artillery fire.
With the two lines clashing, things were nip and tuck...
But there were more nips and tucks being chipped out of the unarmoured Catholic Harquebusiers by the heavily armoured Ottomans - even though their swords were in theory no match for the catholic pistols.
| Pistols get a POA and cancel out Swords.... but only as long as their owners are steady. Once the Ottomans get in amongst the Catholics, the odds swing dramatically as the Pistol POA disappears and the Sword POA kicks in ..! |
The Catholics were collapsing without the Cuirassiers to provide a cutting edge - the better quality Ottoman cavalry were cutting through the lightly armed Catholic second line Horse whilst the Artillery Park continued to knock seven bells out of Catholic infantry units...
After careful consideration (and adding up how many of his units were being lost on the cavalry wing and seeing defeat just around the corner), a Catholic general decided to launch an attack in a desperate attempt to deliver a coup de grace to the now somewhat thinned-out Janissaries with whom they had been exchanging shots for the best part of the battle
The Pike are tempted ...
The Ottomans have by now utterly destroyed the Catholics right flank - the combination of three quality cavalry units together with the artillery had done for 5 catholic units..
The last unit hangs on gamely, but the tide has already receded on this particular Gallipolli beach.
Surrounded on all sides by irritating shooters, but unable to charge home into the enclosed field even the Tercio's morale slips away under sheer weight of incoming missiles.
| Tercio's count as 2 units for army break point and for deployment. Makes them bad things to lose... |
With the loss of the Tercio, the last flickering flame of life ebbed out of the Catholic cause, and the Turks were free to rampage again across Europe!
Post Match Summary
Ouch!
I feel as if I have been hurled out of a window rather than having led my men in
a brave battle against the forces of non-Christendom!
Really, this feels like a mugging - the outrageous artillery were so fortunate to pick off my best men, and after that the mysterious Sipahis seemed to outclass my men all too easily.
Finally, to find that a load of chaps in powder blue with what look like nuns headdresses were so well wedged into that enclosed field that they could not be shifted from it was a real turnup for the books - or, were I a Swede, maybe even a Turnip for the books?
Really, other then the performance of my men early doors against the skirmishing LH, there is little positive to draw on here - maybe out uniforms looked neater than those of the Turks, but... well, I suppose that is important.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Indeed,
a veritable debacle enlivened only by thoust honesty, creeping up and
forthrightly apparent 'ere this Great Captain couldst hurl his opprobrium upon
thy balding pate.
Forsooth, 'tis a simple game for the Turk - he has won e'en afore he taketh the field of battle agin'st a fool such as thou. A principal rule is to knowest thine own men like thou knowest thine own moustache, but yon cavalry were a mystery of the deeped dark night.
Didst thou not knowest that they would deliver a mighty smiting to the Turk - all thou needest were to hold heart in one hand, sabre in 'tother and CHARGE HOME!
Instead, thus dilleyest and dallyest, and a'changed the formations like a mightly flock of deckchairs upon the upper levels of a mighty ship - al whilst the Turks' Gonnes rained down death and ungodly hellfire in great quantities upon ye. Fool and Poltroon!
When thou ist being shot - Charge Home!
When thou have'st the big POA advantage - Charge Home !
The saving grace - and Grace cometh from God, not from thine own competence or lack thereof - was again a game of great interest and beauty. The Turk, with clever combination of Gonne and Horse, Powder and Bow, appeareth able to fashion from such base ungodly materials an army of power and effect, yet one which hath difference in style, substance and method of employment that differ greatly from the forces of Christendom. A clash of Empires, a clash of styles, but - sadly - not a clash of martial intellects, as thy enfeebled mind barely woke a'er its nights slumbers afore the game was gone and carried away by the Turk!
(next game)
FoG Renaissance will be out in September
It looks to have most of the buggy bits from FoG Ancients ironed out, and with less skirmishers and more people shooting in the Renaissance era, it is a lot more about beating your opponent by removing bases rather than making them fail reaction tests!
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