FoGR: The Louis XIV Years - The Oxford Doubles 2014
Buccaneer vs Quing Chinese
Game 1 Buccaneer vs Later Danish
Game 2 Buccaneer vs Quing Chinese
Game 3 Buccaneer vs Louis XIV French
Game 4 Buccaneer vs Imperial Spanish
The first afternoon, and a win under ooour piratey belts meant that me hearties looked with some optimism on the afternoon adventure.
The opponents were a deadly Dave and a Cunning Kevin - and an incrutible Chinese army to boot. This might be our chance to be Wo-Ku Pirates !
Pictures of Pirates from our Photo Directory
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Yo ho, yo ho! Yet again the Ship failed to get onto the table, as we lost the initiative - 70 points wasted over the weekend so far.
The table had a few bits of scrubland, but was generally as bald as Bald Jack McBald's head on a head-polishing evening aboard the Bald Pearl. This worried the innumerable Chinese not at all, as they put out a wall of bow armed infantry which filled the table from edge to edge - apart from a big artillery park and two wings of a couple of mounted units. unusually the plan adopted by the Pirates was that of a rapid attack to try and overwhelm the enemy foot before their mounted units could cause any trouble to our flanks.
What's a picklin' me lemons here then?
This game is so straightforward that you won't need these bits this time. Just look at the photos and work it out for yourself
Raise the Jolly Roger! The Pirate artillery were deployed on one flank, and ranged in quickly on the enemy cavalry - deductingt bases from the oriental horsemen with some alacrity. The Chinese were wide, but solid and s left gaps at the endes of their formations, which the sniping Pirate LF took full advantage of, supporting their gunners shooting to deadly effect.
Why does it take pirates so long to learn the alphabet?
Because they can spend years at C!
Heave Ho! The Quing Chinese horse were losing bases at an unsustainable rate and were now on the brink of breaking very early in the game.There were a lot of troops behind them as well - a break would be very problematic.
And a huge problem it was - the routing base burst through multiple units of pedestrians causing cohesion drops across the table,and rattling the already shaky morale of the other cavalry unit who dropped to FRAGGED. The Pirates now had a soft target on the left to charge at !
Another volley from the Warrior Foote and a second unit of Chinese cavalry broke and fled - this time only bursting through one unit of foote! The flank was a catastrophe for the Chinese.
Arrr!
Thar she blows! On the right however the shooting was going the other way, with the awesome firepower of the massed Chinese infantry taking fistfuls of bases off of the Pirate infantry. The Chinese cavalry on this flank were enjoying much more success, and were actually quite irritated that their infantry were doing so well, as they missed out on a flank charge...
What's a horny pirate's worst nightmare?
A sunken chest with no booty!
in the middle the two armies were locked in a death struggle, with both sides losing cohesion in toe-to-toe fighting - one wing was for the Pirates, one for the Chinese but the centre still had many men and many units in play.
Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! On the left the Pirate infantry weighed into whatever was left - the Chinese infantry were hanging on grimly, but their long, curled fingernails were at a point of maximum tensile stress as they hung on for grim death...
The Chinese had plenty of generals to bolster their lines, and the Pirates were forced to do some actual work as the Chinese clawed their way back up the cohesion ladder t try and prevent an almost instant collapse of the flank.
The centre is still nip and tuck, but the right wing is rapidly being rolled up by the CHinese, as their arrows blot out the Carribbean sun and their horsemen skittle out the loose formation Pirates with a succession of well placed flank charges. The Old and Mad Pirates in the middle have a limited amount of time left to achieve a breakthrough...
More shooting on the right wing ans the Pirates collapse as the final flank unit breaks and flees. The Pirate army has no right wing, but me band o'Pirates are surely ablout to start flooding forward in jubilation in the middle and left ?
Heave to! The carnage on the left flank continues to unfold as the wobbling Chinese fail to collapse as they surely should. A second wave of Pirates tee up another fierce charge, this time hopefully hitting the already-fragged and once burst-through ordinary Chinese unit. Unsupported, FRAGGED, facing better and numerically superior enemy and threatened by the risk of other units breaking around them the Chinese surely are only marking time before destruction
Suddenly the Chinese flood back in rout all across the middle, as the waves of eager Pirate troops faces up to the rather pleasant reality of being able to loot Chinese baggage and artillery in the very near future. There are thousands of bloodthirsty Pirates fresh from their victory against the Chinese foot now bearing down on the undefended attraition points in the centre.
Finally Chinese resistance ends on the left as well, and the countless legions of oriental warriors turn and flee with cutlassed whipping their retreating asses as they send them back towards Davey Jones’ Locker.
Me band o'hearties are in full pursuit towards the treasure, but astonishingly a Chinese cavalry unit has recovered cohesion after routing in the very early phases of the game and now looks set to try and prevent the Pirates from reaching the baggage!
A photo here for completists who may be wondering where the 4-base bomber unit and 3-base Dragoon unit are. The answer is that they are hiding in a palm tree plantation, as far away from any units who are capable of rolling 9 shooting dice against them as is humanly possible on this rather featureless tabletop.
Seen from the pirate helicopter, the left flank of the Pirates is in full pursuit, and the centre of the Chinese army is largley in tatters or exposed - but the right is a different matter as the smal numbers of Chinese horse are proving a massive problem for the shreds of Pirates who are left holding the fort whilst hopefully their colleagues do the winning on their own on the left.
It's desparate stuff as the Pirates try to fend off and delay the Chinese cavalry for as long as they can.
But their best efforts are not really good enough - the Chinese end the resistance of the warrior Pirates and steam forwards into the flank of the Pirate centre...
Only luck saves the Pirates, as the Chinese pursuit runs out of puff and ends up agonisingly short of a destructive flank charge.
The Chinese baggage is captured, as the Pirates cleverly opt to contact it in pursuit rather than in an interceptable charge... the Chinese horsemen gnash their teeth in fury at the phasing system inherent in the rules mechanics.
The lucky Pirates in the middle even now have time to execute a small wheel, leaving the Chinese horse to resport to a frontal charge instead of a flank charge. Their irritation gets the better of them as they lose focus and drop cohesion against the waving wall of swordsmanship they find themselves charging headlong into.
Everyone is now very close to breaking, and this band o'hearties makes a last chance saloon charge into far too many opponents as a least worst option t being shredded by 18 dice in shooting.
Finally, in the most undramatic of circumstances, Chinese resistance finally ends as one of their massive foot units loses its final base to Old Pirate shooting and breaks - taking with them the whole army as well!
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 me band o'Pirates Commander
Dolloping doubloons, despite a poor outcome in the Shipping Forecast, me boys still put in a great shift and ended up running out winners - although there were some s crapes along the way for sure!
To see our guns and grenadoes do such damage to enemy horse is a beautiful thing to be hold - the terrors of four legs are terrifying no more once you take their bases off so quickly!
My brave hearties in the middle also missed out on a number of photo opportunities, but their eventual success meant the win was oours - and the baggage as well, which is always lovely and in keeping with our piratey nature. If the coddling catfish on the right wing had lived a little longer thre margin of victory would have been even greater and it would be a tale to be told long and often in inns and bars across the seven seas and five foamy oceans !
Those lolloping Chinese landlubbers have been packed back off to the Orient !
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
My timbers are well and truly shivered by your display of ineptitude and lack of ambition in only seeking to win on one flank out of two - and to survive the game because one of your units was destroyed by shooting before the enemy managed to charge it in an undefended flank is really incompetence of the greatest magnitude .
And even though you captured the loot, I don't remember seeing any of your troops taking it away and burying any treasure, hoisting the Jolly Roger, or splicing any sort of brace, never mind a main one? Call yourself a Pirate? What a disgrace!
If you plan an attack on one flank and the centre, don't put more units on table on the flank you plan to concede on that you do elsewhere. The only decent thing you managed to do that showed any tactical acumen was to keep some of your troops so far away from the battle that they could not be lost!
Your army is simple. Your enemy obliged by lining up and then nthrowing some terrible death dice for their horse - and still you almost lost! I fear that these two victories will be the last we see this weekend and soon it will be the enemy who are swinging a Cat o'nine tails around your ears my lad!
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
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Game 1 Buccaneer vs Later Danish
Game 2 Buccaneer vs Quing Chinese
Game 3 Buccaneer vs Louis XIV French
Game 4 Buccaneer vs Later Spanish
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