Game 2 - vs Ugaritic
The game starts after a lovely lunch in a nice cafe. Although the calamari were slightly disappointing (perhaps a little overcooked?) and slightly rubbery this was more than made up for by a insalata caprese with fabulous beef tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, a very tasty pizza and a bottle of excellent value house red Chianti.
Immediately I felt the long arm of the Evil McNeil Global Software Empire brush its clammy fingers down my neck, as I found myself on - - - Table Thirteen
The game starts well, with virtually all the (rough) terrain falling on my side of the table, The Ugarits deployed in classic fashion, with columns of their capital troops ready to break from the back and re-deploy to positions of danger, with a flurry of clever breakthrough (Kn(O) through Bw (I)) and column expansion moves. Much of what I considered as padding formed a wall of crap to help fill the table and also to lure me in.
Unsurprisingly,
I was lured and lurched forwards across the line (well except in the RGo, where
my 6 Ax(O) believed them selves to be kings of the field ! Poor pips in the
early turns from the Biblical Era boys left much of the Ugarit rubbish
uncomfortably exposed and in the firing line (literally) as my wagons and bows
wreaked havoc on Bw (I) .
Meanwhile my micro command had started with a 6, and had used it to send 2 Lh
round the Ugarit flanks and peer through the dust towards the hordes cleverly
guarding the baggage. This seemingly minor irritant forced the Ugarit general to
respond, peeling off two chariots to go and hunt the precocious Lithuanian marauders
down, and this, effectively a "2 pip-per-turn tax" on the Ugarit flank
command, was to slow their advance on the open flank for the rest of the game.
The Ugarit center attempted to delay the Teutons with 2 Cv and 2 Lh, but soon they ran out of room to backpedal as the ignorant and unsubtle Teutons simply charged forward at full speed, and the Ugarits were pinned against the diagonal line of uncontactable horde defending the baggage! With no-where to run they were unable to resist the Teutons, and soon the soft underbelly of the army was exposed as the Teutons drove an autobahn through the enemy, effectively splitting the army in two.
The Ugarit Kn command got involved in a savage Bw vs Bw combat and was broken by padding losses before the knights could charge in, and despite inconsequential skirmishing the Ugarit left failed to get engaged with the taunting Lithuanian auxilia at all. With the knight command down, the Lithuanian CinC, aided by the Teutons blew away the front-line padding on the Ugarit left as its Cv (S) chariotry looked on impotently, caught between chasing Lh shadows and muttering under their breath about how they couldn't be expected to deal with 3 War Wagons on the far flank .
10-0 to me !
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