Renaissance in Roll Call 2014
Later Imperial Spanish vs TYW Weimarian
Game 1 Later Imperial Spanish vs Early TYW Swedish
Game 2 Later Imperial Spanish vs TYW French
Game 3 Later Imperial Spanish vs TYW French
Game 4 Later Imperial Spanish vs TYW Weimarian
A fourth game, and a fourth chance at redemption for the Catholic forces of Spain. The game was about as close to a civil war as it is possible to get, with my erstwhile opponent having borrowed an army made up of my figures. In a spirit of sportsmanship I was now living to regret I had drawn up two lists utilizing as many of my figures as possible, and let Martin pick the one he wanted with the Spanish being left on the shelf. Having said that, he had then gone on to tweak it so many times that the list checker had almost lost the will to live, but finally the Weimarian list had emerged. Notably it had consumed all four of my regimental gunnes
The lists for the Later Imperial Spanish and TYW Weimarian from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Roll Call can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki.
The terrain was almost invisible and totally inconsequential - a straight fight on an open plain which in theory my higher quality Spanish infantry and Horse could excel at. The two armies lined up for battle, recognising their brothers in the opposing ranks
The Spanish infantry formed a tough block in the middle of the table, and with the Weimarian guns deployed off to the side, they looked forward to a clear run at the enemy
As the doctors in the baggage area sharpened their saws ready for some serious wet-work, the Spanish Cuirassiers checked their flintlocks and gave prayers to their Catholic god that this would be their turn again to be fortunate in their opposition to infantry
The Spanish right flank was weakly defended, and the Weimarians moved up their dragoons into an enclosed field on the edge of the battlefield to take a sniping position against the advancing Madrilenos
Faced by the threat of artillery decimating their ranks, the Spaniards hastily redeployed much of their mounted wing into the centre, as the Spanish foot now found themselves tasked with the capture and dismemberment of the enemy gunnes.
The rest of the Spanish cavalry had seen some shot-only units in the Weimarian lines and were racing towards them at speed, hoping to catch the unprotected foote before the Weimarians could close ranks and intervene proper Pike and Shotte units to protect them
What's Going on Here Then?
The Spanish have up until now invested all of their time and effort to move much of their horse out of the path of enemy guns, and are now attacking in a deep formation down the middle. The Weimarians are content to sit and wait for the attack to arrive.
The Weimarian gunnes slowly wheeled inwards, as the Spanish, having hastily reformed their strategy, started to advance with their own horse lurking behind the protection of their high quality Tercio foote.
With no terrain to impede the attack, the two lines were soon into close quarters shooting range - and the Weimarian battalion gunnes were ensuring that they were coming off better in the initial exchanges, with a number of Spanish losses already visible in their ranks which were now thinning faster than a mid-40's wargamers hairstyle
The Spanish horse had been blocked from their ideal target, but working on the basis that their luck was overdue to change they charged home against a Weimarian unit - would the Weimarians stand firm, or would they crumble and expose in the process the entire heart of their army to the brutal charge of the Cuirassiers?
Everywhere the Spanish foote advanced they were coming under withering fire from the Weimarian infantry and their integral gunnes - bases were being pre-packed for the journey home at a rate of knots.
The Weimarians had taken losses for sure, but the Spanish infantry were now almost at single-rank strength across the line. This would need to be a quick and decisive early charge for the Spaniards to win from this position of sustained losses.
The Spanish in Flanders
Suddenly, close combat broke out across the whole width of the table simultaneously!
Massive co-ordinated Horse and infantry attacks went in with the all-or-nothing Spaniards committing Generals to a combat which they had to win quickly…
And, somewhat inevitably, this soon led to the departure of the first of the Spanish generals …
But, elsewhere a breakthrough had been achieved as a weakened Weimarian infantry unit collapsed and evaporated under the mixed Horse and foote assault. There was now a huge hole in the middle of the enemy line through which Spain was pouring Cuirassiers!
What's Going on Here Then?
The Spanish have committed eveything to a concerted attack along the whole frontage - and the results are encouraging but as yet inconclusive. One gap, one problem area caused by a dead general. The Weimarian line is holding up relatively well.
But, despite achieving some successes in damaging the enemy morale, the Spanish infantry were by now all dangerously close to autobreak levels, with no more base losses being possible… this was a dicey time indeed.
And as the Spanish infantry faltered, so did the Spanish Cuirassiers - those which had not broken through were suffering badly, and soon the first of them turned tail and fled having taken a terrible beating (and lost their general) to enemy foote.
The Weimarians were now in the ascendency across almost the entire line - those units of Spniards brave enough to fight on soon found themselves outnumbered, surrounded and being overwhelmed by the continually advancing enemy forces.
What's Going on Here Then?
The Spanish have been thinned out too much, and across the line gaps are appearing in their lines into which the Weimarians are advancing. There are no tactical grand maneuvers to speak of, just attritional combat, and the side with most shooting and men is coming out on top.
The Weimarians even had the temerity to send in their second line troops, with unprotected foote taking on the already-engaged Cuirassiers. This was starting to look very much like a Spanish catastrophe
The only saving grace might well be the horrific losses the Weimarians too had taken… their battered but victorious infantry were unable to survive long enough to celebrate their victories and were blown away as they sought to chase down the Spanish gunnes. Losses were now mounting dangerously on both sides for these two undersized armies
The last remaining Cuirassiers were fighting off enemies from all sides - and now had to do so without yet another general, as the second Spanish commander was dragged from his horse and slain.
The lone remaining Spanish commander now had a lot to do…
So, when he too was killed on yet another 6-6 roll, things were at about as low an ebb as it was possible to achieve …
The three Spanish generals were now "resting" together in the dead pile…
But, even without generals the inherent quality of the Spanish infantry meant they could continue forwards. Giving chase to some rarely-seen Weimarian horse who had unwisely attempted to sally forth from behind their own lines the Iberians closed in on two units - the horse and the Weimarian gunnes. An unlikely recovery was perhaps on the cards…?
Everything that remained intact in the Spanish army was pretty much now chasing down the lone mounted unit needed to push the Weimarians to defeat…
What's Going on Here Then?
Both sides need just one or two units for a famous and unlikely victory... A mutual destruction is on the cards!
But elsewhere the unsupported and general-less Spanish forces were starting to crumble - the hastily pressed into service rear echelon horse are here seen being crushed and routed…
And more infantry finally give up the ghost as sustained losses takes them down to a total wipeout.
With a massive casualty pile on the far flank, the two remnants of armies struggle to get to grips with each other to record the vital last casualties needed for success.
The Weimarians open fire on the least competent Spanish infantry unit, knocking it down to 3 bases and an autobreak. The Spaniards are a lot closer to the edge than the Weimarians…
Spanish carbine-armed horse jostle with each other for position as they seek to loose off a shot at the retreating Weimarians …
Weimarian infantry close rapidly on the Spanish artillery park…
With one more turn the game is over - the Weimarians will capture the Spanish gunnes and the battle, and the weekend, ends in total defeat for Spain.
The Result is a 17-8 loss.
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 Later Imperial Spanish Commander
What a substantially unfortunate weekend I appear to have had – here, my brave catholic men were cut down in their prime by the godless heathens of wherever Weimaria actually is, and even the shield of Christ himself could not save them from the losses they sustained.
The initial attacks appeared to be going well, but the somewhat unlucky loss of all three of my generals in combat ended up putting rather a significant dent in my command and control capabilities and as a result once things started to unravel the knitting was very definitely on the floor with no way of grandma recovering it – almost an incident of the infamous “arthritic hip of defeat” happening I dare say.
The main lesson I draw from this is that taking an army comprised of the stuff left over when someone else has already had first pick of your troops is perhaps not an ideal way with which to build a force capable of supporting the continued expansion of one of the largest empires the world has ever seen, and I would be far better served sending some of the ragged band of survivors off to New Spain to give their cold and sniffles to those Aztec fellows, as causing the enemy to catch sickness is perhaps the only thing these beaten men are now good for.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
You fool, your mind is naught but a threadbare hovel into which frogs and toads crawl before death, and their putrefying remains are clearly the only mental power source for your own battle plans. This was a ridiculous effort in which the failings of your strategy and of your army selection, and finally of your poor execution all came to the fore at the same time – the only difference between this and the other games is that these three things coincided here and in the other games they took place in sequence.
The strength of the Spanish is the high quality foot – you only have one Elite and one Superior unit shoehorned into this ineffective force, and so they simply do not have enough bodies of quality capable to taking on an entire enemy foote formation. This list can have more Superiors and Elites than almost anything… so why did you not just go for that? And your foolish attempt to win with Cuirassiers in a battle in which the enemy infantry will undoubtedly fill the table in this huge 28mm scale? What was that all about ?
In this game you compounded this incompetence with a poor deployment that saw you wasting Generals in moving your mounted forces out of the arc of the enemy guns and changing your plan almost immediately – how surprised were you to see guns go down against your horse? This is the standard tactic for all enemies with guns across the entire Renaissance period so for you to be caught out in this way is not merely astonishing, it ranks of reeking incompetence. And, with a 28mm based wide army, for your 2nd line harquebusiers to ne engaged yet again is simply astonishing! If you do not have enough good troops to take on the enemy at this scale and size, what is the point of even turning up at all?
Any, most crucially, this was the fourth army in a row you took on which had regimental gunnes… and in 3 of these 4 games you have charged home, been outshot and your army has come up just short , losing its 50% losses only marginally before the opposition. Does this look like a pattern to you… ? One in which a handful of base losses – caused perchance by the enemy regimental gunnes – have tipped you to defeat in an otherwise fairly even slogging match? The list was poor, but the Generalship was even worse. I hope this is a lesson to you to take a bigger and more shooty army to the next event...
That's the end - so why not go back to the Match Reports Index and read some more reports?
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Game 1 Later Imperial Spanish vs Early TYW Swedish
Game 2 Later Imperial Spanish vs TYW French
Game 3 Later Imperial Spanish vs TYW French
Game 4 Later Imperial Spanish vs TYW Weimarian
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