Field of Glory Renaissance in Usk 2012
Game 2
So, after the traditional poor quality overpriced compulsary lunch at the Glen-yr-Afon Hotel the second game hove into view. This time we were tucked deep into a corner of the gaming hall, giving us an extensive view across the acres of physical beauty and sporting perfection on show amongst the competitors. Our opponents were Later Moslem Indians - a wild and whacky army, the thought of playing against it being somewhat improved when we discovered that our opponents had cobbled it together from an ancients army having never played much FoGR before at all
Our opponents were using Moslem Indian from the Colonies and Conquests book. The lists from this and all the other games at Usk can be seen here on the FoG:R wiki, and the army itself is reviewed by our resident experts in this short video.
The table was absolutely dominated by a huge and vaguely unattractive piece of grey carpet, sorry, uneven and rocky ground. This was surely to be home to teeming hordes of Warrior foote, all of whom would be keen to be overlaps in combat (at ++ for being Warriors) rather than the target for our shooting or even worse for them, our Swiss.
Rules hint - Warrior foote is a class,not a weapon type. They can't move in divisions, but this rarely seems to be a major problem. The upside is that every time they get an overlap they count ++ POA for that base. Which is nice, especially when you are getting a ++ POA from ann unarmoured bowman base
With few places they could fit anyway we had piled both Swiss Kiels on one side of the table, stuffed the rough area with our separate shotte and LF units, and we were planning a sneaky withdrawal of 2 of the 3 units of (this time on table) Cuirassiers who had started on the right, but soon would scoot back behind the Landsqunechetysesy Kiel over to the left, leaving the huge German mercenary formation to "close the door" between 2 bits of terrain, leaving half the Indian mounted arm impotently fuming as they stared at a forest and a wall of Landesquechnetechys
The Indian army unsurprisingly deployed its elephants pretty much last and had a smattering of decent shooting cavalry, and a load of bow and swordsmen infantry - so no real change from FoG AM then
The Huguenot gunnes furiously wished they were heavy as the Indian elephants lurk in the distance just out of range..
Rules hint - Heavy guns fire so far they can hit enemy troops across the full width of the table. If you are fighting enemy who only have medium Gunnes, deploy 9" in from the edge not the full 10" to start the game out of range.
The second Swiss kiel, supported by the in-this-game invulnerable mixed reiter and supporting shotte formation, and a lone unit of allied Cuirassiers as Indian cavalry (not Horse) boil menacingly towards the horizon
Rules hint - Cavalry can skirmish, Horse can't. Horse and Cavalry are two different troop types in FoG:R, with different capabilities - it's not just lazy semantics!
Doing what skirmishers are supposed to do, the Huguenot Lost Children and Dragoons pile forward, hoping to pin back the advancing Warriors so the French Gunnes have maximum time to take effect.
The tricksy Cuirassiers make their retreat early - although one unit gets left behind as General Simon Sebag-Monteleroy-Meyer is unable to manage to move them all as a Division.
The Indians are attempting a similar maneuver to get out of the way of the Kiels and Reiters, however lacking their own light troops a lone blob of Indian Cavalry is despatched to try and delay the massive Huguenot wing
Everyone else was off and running - even the elephants had ample time to make a sharp turn and an even quicker exit
Half the board was now devoid of Huguenot troops as the Cuirassiers scooted through - the slowly advancing Indians watched in awe as the well drilled Huguenots redeployed enough troops to potentially make a difference somewhere else on table.
Over in the distance three units of rather irritated Indian Cavalry mutter insults under their breath
The Indian skirmish screen suddenly discovers what the ability to "move and turn" means as the Huguenot Cuirassiers appear on their flank as they in turn attempt to stare down the Reiters. Inflicting a DISR result on the Commanded Shotte is unlikley to prove a suitable recompense to a unit which now - due to the carefree advance of the Swiss, finds itself trapped in a funny hatted Frenchman's version of a vice-like grip
By now the wall of Indian bowmen have well and truly occupied the uneven ground, and the Enfants Perdus start to wonder if the -2 on the death roll will really matter at all given just how damned many bowmen are starting to unleash arrows onto them
See - bowmen are not that bad really compared to musketeers. Well,if it's in Medieval TWII, it must be true.. (ps - Click here to see that Medieval II: Total War - Gold Edition with all the scenario packs is less than ₤6 2nd hand and ₤7 new right now on Amazon UK!!
The Germans Kiel shuts the door firmly as the Indian cavalry hove into view...
The Indian bowmen and Warrior foote are suddely right down the throats of the Huguenot skirmishers, who skedaddle back in dissarray under a hail of arrows. But as the Indians advance they suddenly realise that if they leave the safety of the unever ground they will be exposed to the Swiss Kiel
The Indian skirmish screen has been waiting patiently to be charged in the flank. Maybe their wait will not be so long now...
One Cuirassier charge, one almost instant rout and the Indian cavalry are removed from play, unable to rout past the Swiss Kiel and thus taken from the table straight away. Ouch!
This suddenly frees up an entire army's worth of troops, who surge forwards towards the rapidly retreating Indian cavalry and elephants. The Swiss Kiels are almost invulnerable and with nothing enemy shaped beyond them the Huguenot mounted wing is free to swing in behind them, and they do so intent on threatening the flanks of the Indian foote in the uneven area
The game is swinging towards a classic 4-foot-wide table scenario, as the Indians retreat eastwards and the Huguenots have already completed their redeployment from the western side of the field. The Enfants Perdus have been well and truly outgunned by the massed Indian bowfire and are in some disprder in the enclosed field lurking behind some sheltering shotte, as the Swiss advance and the Landesnechkkkkkkkkkts hold the pass against powerful Indian mounted forces
The Indians explain the importance of their armoured Cavalry divisions
Luckily the gap seems to be an exact fit - that's German precision engineering for you ...
The Swiss advance - they clearly don't give a toss about anything the Indian warriors can throw at them,and are making a bee line for the elephants as they - like us - are keen to find out what happens when the two collide !
Both sides are taking fearsome casualties in the exchange of fire - the Huguenot infantry lose bases and cohesion, but one of the Indian bow units is down to its last base before autobreak too.
Despite plugging the gap, the German foote cannot resist the temptation to creep forwards, which does have the advantage that it opens up a gap for some Cuirassiers to come through and menace the Indian cavalry.
The Indian cavalry meanwhile have gotten so frustrated that one unit is even thinking of sneaking through the jungle
In the middle the Huguenot arquebusiers are the first to break and flee in the firestorm of shooting! That creates somewhat of a problem.... as there appear to be no more combat troops between the Indians and the Huguenot artilery park..!
But never fear, the Swiss are here! Spotting a toe-hold of elephant outside the uneven ground, the Kiel charges home - only to find that they are surprisingly not utterly devastatingly better in combat than an elephant unit. Maybe the Indians will be tougher than they look?
The Eager Landsneccccccccchtttttt Kiel is also into combat quickly - expanding its confusingly based halberdiers out to match the Warrior overlaps of the Indians as best it can as enemy cavalry mill around ominously in the near distance
The Halberdiers, despite having almost identical basing to their opponents, make a difference and the 6-strong Indian unit starts to shed bases...
The Indian Cavalry are making surprisingly good headway through the plantation and the Huguenot Dragoons find themselves employed again as they try to harass and delay the onrushing Muslim cavalry.
The Indians, realising they too are armed with distance shooting capability, stop and turn to face the somewhat surprised dragoons, who had assumed that all types of terrain belonged exclusively to them and for whom mounted opponents were pretty much the last thing they were expecting to find when they went down in the woods today....
So, this is the overview. The Ladsnecht Kiel is holding up the Indian attack from the right title="Moslem Indians vs Huguenots" although as it has pushed onwards it has opened up gaps - which Huguenot Cuirassiers are now plugging as the Indian lancers advance cautiously. In the middle the loss of the Hugeonot shotte unit has left a big gap only defended now by Enfants Perdus LF - but the Indians themselves have lost so many units that they really are struggling to find men to exploit the opportunity. On the left, the Huguenot horse is hoving into view, threatening enemy foot units who are not entirely safe in uneven ground.
The Swiss expand out into the elephant with halberdiers - still losing bases to disorder but the superior quality of the Swiss - and theis somewhat greater ability to absorb casulaties of course - is bound to tell eventually....
In the gap behind the Landsnechts the Cuirassiers finally get to meet and greet the eastern horsemen - better POAs and a General to boot mean the odds are with the Europeans
The superiority of European horse is showing everywhere, as a column of Indian infantry recieves a volley of pistol fire at close quarters in the rear quarters
This is how they feel - one base down and DISR from shooting
The Huguenots are now streaming back to envelop the Indian salient - with 2 bases down, even a 6-strong bow unit is a tempting target for the Enfants Perdus..
The bad day for the Dragoons goes from bad to worse as the Indian cavalry outshoot them comprehensively. Has the delaying tactic merely gifted the Indians another unit ?
The Swiss Kiel does it's thing - a 1-base elephant unit is not really allowed in the rules, so that must mean there is a messy rout and explosion about to happen!
The Swiss pursue long, and clatter into a unit of Indian cavalry - that surely won't end well for the Indians!
Back on the right, the German Kiel is making surprisingly long work of beating up the Indian warrior bowmen, but the Cuirassiers now have the upper hand against the Cavalry they are fighting (as they sprout a marker). The situation the dragoons find themselves in has gotten no worse...which is a victory of sorts given the day they have had so far
14 bases of Swiss vs 3 bases of Indian cavalry - not great odds....
The Indians rout too, spooking another elephant unit so badly it too routs as the Swiss sweep onwards. The other Indian cavalry unit from the previous photo has wisely snuck off to the left of the shot in a prior move.
The Huguenot reiters are advancing bravely into Indian Territory ...
The cloud of shooting skirmishers now outguns the Indian bowmen, who are also having to deal with the threat presented by the Cuirassier unit on their right - they turn towards the Huguenot horsemen, but in so doing become a 3-base unit for shooting tests... and the Enfants Perdus take full advantage !
It's massive shooting all round - the Cuirassiers get pasted, but with Enfants Perdus to the rear and medium gunnes in enfilade surely the Indian bowmen cannot last much longer?
Finally the Lansquechnechets force a victory - and in so doing trigger an unsuccesful but brave charge from the Indian cavalry, wh would rather place themselves in hand to hand combat rather than just stand there and be shot by arquebusiers.
Aaah -a 3-base unit that started as 6-strong. Not a great development for the Indians, but hardly unexpected in the circumstances either... The Indians have been battered all across the park, and their army falls to a crusing defeat
The Result is a 24-1 victory for the forces of Huguenotism..
Post Match Summary
Woo-hoo. In fact, Woo-Hoo-gen-ot! A massive victory and one which means that the scourge of enforced catholicism across France will not be aided by the risk of a side campaign in the Indian subcontinent
Ultimately my core tactic worked here. And that was to get my army into combat with pretty much anything they wanted, as it seemed that we were better in every department than the enemy
There were a couple of times when I suspected it was starting to go against me, however much like the outcome of the Fulham Newcastle match which was going on at the same time as this game, a 0-1 half time score was quickly turned into a 5-2 rout in our favour by the final whistle.
Our plan of submarining to victory from down the table is working well so far.
My army is not really geared up to fight these datardly Europeans - well, certainly not the way I played and composed it.
Lots went wrong here - at the very least my foot needed to be in units of 8 to allow them to gain overlaps against typical 6-strong European units, and have more resilience to enemy shooting
I also should have deployed different terrain maybe, and massed my horse for one attack.
Things may also have gone better had I placed my guns to hit enemy infantry in the middle, not wasted them trying to pick off enemy Horse on a wing.
Oh well. At least I had the best beard.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Go rate thy minions, proud insulting boy - for it is they who won this game, not any greatness of strategy employed by you
An opponent so poorly constructed it is hard to imagine - and when they add to this falsehood with an aggressive approach by the foote, I say, by the Beard of The King of India what fortune spat on you this fine morrow!
When I look at your army I feel that She is peevish, sullun, forward, proud, disobedient, stubborn and lacking in duty - so fear much that they do not beomest overcome with hubris at the possibilities of victory that such an immense and undeserved score entails
You may think you are on your uppers, but remember that small curs are not well regarded when they grin
Click here to see what happened next as the Huguenots take on some Early Danes in the next game!
- Game 1 vs Later Imperial Austrians
- Game 2 vs Muslim Indian
- Game 3 vs Early Danish
- Game 4 vs Early Imperial Spanish
- Match Reports Index
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