Field of Glory Renaissance in Wales 2011
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Age crept up on us all that night, as we only managed a pretty decent curry and a drinking session that stopped just short of 1am - well, either that or every pub in the town where we were staying closed at 1am. It was a freezingly cold morning therefore as we approached our next game it was with only a slight chill rather than a raging hangover.
By this time we'd sort of lost two games, so things needed to start looking up. And in front of us was an army from a book which was not yet released - Restoration British. Even so, the
in the absence of a FoG Renaissance Wiki (just yet anyway) the lists can be seen here
The British were almost all dressed in red - clearly a lack of imagination in the sartorial department had infected their preparations.
Once on table, deployment saw the cowardly British army fitted into a smaller area than the box they had arrived in
A foursome of dragoons dared to escape the tiny deployment area and pushed up towards the Hugenot lines - a nicely positioned hill had allowed the French to place their guns in a position to shoot overhead at the approaching mounted infantry, once their own dragoons moved out of the way.
The cold air had afflicted the Brits, and they huddled together for warmth as the chill wind drifted in from the nearby open door....
Unsurprisingly the British Dragoons took a pounding from artillery, French Dragoons and Enfants Perdus and soon lost a base. From 4-strong to on the brink of breaking in one shot, their confidence wobbled alarmingly
The brits were now looking down the barrel of a Hugenot artillery park - and rather than sit and watch, some of them broke ranks and started to advance.
Encouraged by the British piecemeal advance, the Hugenots lurched forward too...
Suddenly the huge gap between the two armies was shrinking faster than a Puritans Paypal balance whilst browsing Amazon's Izal Medicated toilet paper section.
As they advanced, the Hugenots spotted that their strategy of being "wider than the Brits" was rather unhinged by the presence of a forest anchoring the British right, which was now confidently facing a good chunk of the Hugenot army, secure in the knowledge that even had the French pike gone 4 deep they would still not get enough POAs to beat a solid wall of trees.
The advancing Swiss and French moved into range of the British regimental guns... now they would have to close, and fast..
Back on the right, it was decent quality Brits with muskets and regimental guns against a 4-deep file of French pike with 2 sleeves of arquebusiers. Battle was about to be joined, with the Frenchies not having suffered unduly from shooting so far!!
But just before the two units clashed, the British gunnery knocked off a base of Arquebusiers - that might hurt!
Suddenly the Push of Pike was taking precedence over the exchange of shot. The Hugenots had even realised that their cavalry were just as good as those of the British, and so their Commanded Shot would be better employed to join in the infantry battle - which was already looking like a key part of the game even at this early stage
If the Brits lost the resulting routs would cause a horrible mess in their still congested deployment area
Meanwhile, nothing was stopping the Swiss, as they ploughed on into a hail of British fire - moving past the salient where battle had already been joined and on towards the main Redcoat lines
AAARRGH! Proving just how vulnerable units of 2 actually are, the Hugenot commanded shot lose a base and are broken! Luckily a Hugenot General is on hand to help his Pike and Shotte unit continue the fight - but the odds were now less favourable...
The Brits, sensing weakness in the Hugenot Cavalry, move up and out towards the flank, driving the routers before them.
Whilst the French infantry stood firm, the Hugenot Millers behind them had been spooked by the loss of the Commanded Shotte, and picked up a disrupted marker. Oh well, they had plenty of time to recover before they would be needed...
The Swiss moved into Charge range - and even before they arrived, the Brits were doing badly as arquebus shooting both disrupted and knocked bases off the worried redcoat formation (in yellow)
4-deep pike were proving their worth, as the unit forming the British equivalent of the Kursk salient lost bases and cohesion as the French pike ground it down relentlessly.
An almighty crunch rocked the whole battlefield as the firsk Kiel lurched forward into contact, with a French Lorrainer unit also slamming into an already wobbling British formation closer to the camera
The Brits survived the initial onslaught - but only just!
But unfortunately for the newly restored members of the British Monarchy, one of their kinsmen suddenly reproduced the fate of the former King, and was plucked from the table by a vengeful and somewhat dissapointed Supreme Commander following a 11-roll by the winning Swiss. Now the Brits were in real trouble - outmatched, and down a general.
As the member of the nobility left this mortal coil, a pall of darkness fell over the battlefield as if the Lord in Heaven himself mourned the passing of one of the annointed protectors of his faith. Or maybe the republican ghost of Oliver Cromwell was just laughing so hard that his nose had gotten in the way of the sun
Elswehere, the other unit of Swiss had also found a target, as another British unit advanced piecemeal out from their line desparate to protect the flanks of the ongoing combats (or maybe to advance out of 3 inch range of the disaster that would surely unfold next to the dead general and his faltering unit? But whats happening in the distance? The first British unit to join combat has broken - and the Lorrainer and French unit is pursuing deep into the heart of the British army! Wowee - and sack the official photographer for missing it as well....
A very surprised unit of Life Guards finds itself facing Pike and Shotte opposition when it was expecting to be still tucking into tea and biscuits prior to a lengthy march up to the front line in an hour or so..
The overconfident French continue to charge home, totally oblivious to what the odds might be for the combat they had entered into.
But as they had advanced, they had also created a huge hole in which more Hugenot units could operate with impunity, outflanking the British who had been executing a careful and co-ordinated advance against the Hugenot mounted wing. This could be a charge which would leave it game set and match to the forces of Roland Garros, even before the boys from Wimbledon had time to write out the tickets to impose a 200% markup on a bowl of strawberries
A British Commander tried to reassure his men - "Eyes FRONT!"
The Swiss were still grinding on, and things were not getting better for the Brits... their only upside was that things weren't getting worse as fast as they maybe might have expected
aaaah - sorry - back to the studio as I believe there is an update on that situation coming in right now....;
The battle suddenly sprung into spectacular life and adopted a degree of fluidity which had been lacking for some while, as the French also saw their own over extended unit handed its French and Lorrainer arse on a plate by the Life Guards - as the French routed back through their own lines, causing dissarray and chaos in their wake, the Brits pondered what to do with their newfound good fortune....
It was not a difficult decision to make - and the Life Guards drove a huge hole in the French plan by charging the Millers in the flank saving their own flank-facing force as well by clattering the already reeling Hugenot Millers long before they had a chance to roll up the British flank.
The Life Guards were now so far through the French lines they were almost short of targets...
The Swiss ground onwards, but the Brits were surprisingly resilient still ..
As above, The Swiss ground onwards, but the Brits were surprisingly resilient still ..
Huge chunks of the British line had been blown away by the rush of 4-deep pikemen, but the Life GUards were running wild at the French rear, and the better quality British Cavalry was winning on the far flank
The British had put together a far more compelling mix of shooters and cavalry, leaving the French Millers too scared to charge home, but too committed to fall back. A bad place to be in..
Suddenl;y the British infantry evaporated - there was onl only one unit left holding back the tide of French and Swiss foote
The Hugenot Horse hung on grimly - could they survive until their infantry did the business and broke the lively Redcoat host?
The Could - and in Spades! A fragile 4-strong British unit lost a casualty and broke - what a disaster for Britain!
The Millers advanced so fast they almost managed to leave behind their Disrupted marker as they raced towards a tempting Life Guard flank.
Bossted by their colleagues success, the French and Swiss foote made one last effort and overwhelmed the last vestiges of British resistance, sweeping into the British artillery park to claim an outright victory in the game!
Post Match Summary
Christ on a bike, that was verily most frightening. The host or Redcoats, arriving before an Army Liste had been printed on the presse to tell us what they might look like
However What a great game, swinging both ways - like a servant at the court of a Belgian King or so I am told - and topped off by a great victory for the forces of Hugenoity
What else can one ask for? And inspired from the offe by my decision to mounte my artillery on a hille, so it could rain fire and brimstone missiles on the enemy, doubling up the shotte and awe of the Perdus, to greate effecte
It was a shame to waste the Millers, but they can get ground down occasionally.
Yet again, lead with the Swisse and spare the home growne chaps seems to be a good idea
Lets look forward to another good clean fighte against a fellow Protestante King in our nexte game;
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
You lucky dog
A solid red line, and still you manage to outflanbk a unit of trees with a tactic that is incompetent even amongst your own roll call of incompetence.
I do struggle to see how you managed to throw so much away in seeking victory.
Thine entire right flank almost collapsed - and need never even have been committed such was the advantage you enjoyed in the center with the mighty Swiss.
Following up with the lone infantry unit into the teech of the enemy lines of fire was folly of the sheerest sheereness
It almost cost you the game, and a game you shoudl have had wrapped up in moments not hours
AImagine how much tougher things might have been of yoru enemy had within themsevles the power to do more than just sit there and resemble a target?
What shambles will we be faced with next I fear to ask?
FoG Renaissance is here
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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