Field of Glory Renaissance at Wallenstein 2011

So, comfortably equal top of the table with three decisive wins under their belts, and a warm smug feeling of confidence was washing over the large plastic German figures like a coat of ArmyPainter Quickshade wash. But would they have the shine taken off their day by the Testors Dullcote Spray of opponents, a TYW Swedish Army?

Having beaten Swedes before, the Germans had a modicum of confidence, although the Swedes rather confused the matter by deploying a huge amount of broken ground and enclosed fields. Surely Swedes wanted an open plain across which they could rush in a manly fashion and give a right good "+2 at impact" shoe-ing to anyone in front of them? Clearly they had a Cunning Plan, and it must involve lots of Commanded Shotte 2-man units with balls of cotton wool masquerading as Batallion guns, as there were hundreds of the blighters everywhere one looked

With the Swedes seemingly holed up in a defensive array, the first thing the Germans had to do was execute an ungainly redeployment, as their plan of simply waiting for the Swedes and taking it on the chin with the Superipr units was not likley to work, needsing as it did the co-operation of the enemy (in the form of an advance on their part) to succeed.

With the Swedish foote well dug in, the right flank looked like the opportunity to make a breakthrough - 2 units of very average Karabinyattere were lurking just past a large village, supported by 2 units of commanded shotte. The Germans matched that with 2 units of Kurassiers, one of which was Determined Horse and their own commanded shotte unit. Time to force the pace..

The Swedes had brought along some impressive looking terrain in the form of some sort of bastard hybrid of a fence and a hedge, and they made full use of it, cowering in the safety of cover, secure in the knowledge that the combination of the "swedish foote count armoured" and "we're hiding behind an obstacle" rules meant they were only hit on 6's by musketry. Ouch - or not - as the case may be.

The Karabinyattere were also aided by some very scruffy looking Dragoons, who with the enclosed fields all fully occupied, had been forced into the next best location for Dragoons, a village

The Karabiyattere and Commanded Shotte quivered in trepidation as the German strikeforce moved up into assault position. So far no cohesion of base losses - all looking good so far

The rest of Wallenstein's army had by now managed to get itself into something approaching a coherent order, much to the bemusement of the reluctant Swedes watching the incompetence unfold from a safe distance

The Germans charged home, losing a base of Kurassiers.... oh, and with the Commanded Shotte refusing to charge, as they had been shot to DISR by the Commanded Shotte facing them a turn before.

Impact was bad, and 2 bases more of Germans were removed....

Wallenstein's horse rolled heroically - but the dratted Swedes despite being just average matched the die for die (with the Swedes putting the number of hits they had recorded on the dice behind each unit, whereas the more dice-rich Germans left the actual scores visible)

Barely moments into the combat and the Germans are as good as gone, with one Kurassier unit reduced to a single base and broken, and the other down to half strength. The dice have not been kind to the Germans, but the Swedes are unscathed.

The Commanded Shotte, looking still suspiciously like a base of Dragoons, also break and rout

The entire German right flank is no longer in existance, and the German exquisitly detailed baggage camp lies at the mercy of the unscrupulous Swedish Dragoons. With the baggage, 2 Kurassiers and Commanded Shotte the German army is already staring defeat in the face.

The 2 Kurassiers fight on gamely....

But not for long, as they are surrounded and eliminated

The German foote are forced to redeploy yet again, and forming an ungainly column a unit chases away the scurvy dragoons, who in turn know they have Karabinyattere shaped help on the way...

The Germans know they are beaten, and in a vain attempt to secure some points and some pride, they advance forward hoping to tempt the Swedish foote into at least one proper fight..

The Swedish Dragons see bases falling from the now-enfiladed German foote, and confidence restored return to the fray. The German unit is soon a base away from autobreaking at 50% losses

Elsewhere the German flags flutter gamely as their heroic yet futile advance gathers momentum

Almost! The battered German foote unit only just fails to catch the tardy and over confident Swedish Dragoons with another charge in their atttempts to shoo them away

But another hail of cannonballs does for them, as hey drop to 50% losses. their attempt to defend their own Gunnes and baggage from the Dragoons has only bought a temporary respite from defeat

The Germans advance and start to trade shots with the Swedish Foote, who show no interest or inclination to emerge from the "you hit me on 6" confines of the enclosed fields.

By now desparate, another German unit turns into column and tries to find a way of saving their own gunnes from the ravaging Karabinyattere. The baggage diorama is by now surely lost for good.

The baggage goes, and with the Germsn foote still bemused by the cowardice of their Swedish counterparts, the battle is done - the result is a crusing defeat for Wallenstein's army

Post Match Summary

The damned Swees practically parked the bus in front of the goalmouth here, and relied on nicking a few goals on the break. The truth is however there was only one team who came here t=with the intention of playing football, sorry, fighting a battle, and that was us.

Call this the beautiful game? Not with an approach like that - the short little fellas they had on the wings were just intent on blocking us out of the game at all times, and were kicking out at our ankles all game, whereas wing play is supposed to be all about galloping down the byline, socks round your ankles and whipping in a big cross-cut with the sabre against a like minded opponent.

Frankly speaking I'm sick as a parrot and the boys in the dressing room are really down as it's not every day there is a result like this. What we need to do is get some more experience of the defensive tactics of these European teams, and next time we may be better prepared. At least we can now focus on the Catholic League for the rest of the season.

Getting to the final is a great ac hievement for a team with our lack of experience, and I think the boys overall gave a good account of themselves, both in he tactical and in the being nicely painted stakes, and we would have been happy to get this far at the start of the campaign, so all in all I am satisfied, despite the dissappointment of missing out at the final hurdle.

Hannibal's Post Match Analysis

Throw it Away, as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers might one day say, Throw it Away now.... what a pathetic end to what was shaping up to be a glorious campaigning season for the big toy soldiers.

Sometimes, no, often, I wonder if you have a brain in your head? Clearly the Swedes had a plan - one which you had not forseen, but what was your reaction to this? Did you stop and hink? Nope, you picked the only possible avenue of atttack and attacked down it, with no thought for the actual POA's involved in assaulting Superior Commanded Shotte with attached Batallion Gunnes, and no thought for creating a second line should your rash and impetuous assault fail. So, when of course it went wrong you had no Plan B other than accept defeat immediately - which I can assure you is not high on the lists of "Great Military Plan B's of All Time"

The incompetence of this result counteracts nicely all the good things you may have done in your previous 3 games, and surely points to at least a high proportion of them being due to luck and luck alone rather than any expertise in play you might have dared to demonstrate.

I can however confidently say that I greatly enjoyed the sight of dirty great figures lumbering acround the table, even though yours were as poorly commanded as their 15mm comrades in incompetent arms are. The big boys toys seem to work even better for this ruleset, as wheeling and other flouncy stuff is even harder to do - and surprisingly the use of the same measuring distances seemed also not to be too wierd, even though troops only shoot each other an spiting distance. All in all a pleasant weekend, graciously hosted by the boy McGlynn and of course levened by sprinkings of your uniquely consistent lack of strategy, planning and execution. I look forward to more....

(More random photos from other games at Wallenstein 2011)

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