Field of Glory Renaissance in Warfare 2011
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Well, if you can't beat them join them... or so goes the logic behind taking early TYW Swedish to Warfare - a competition markig a full year of not playing FoG Ancients. In a vague effort to be innovative I also decided to attempt to film/photograph and report the first battle pretty much entirely from the viewpoint of just one of the units in my army - unsurprisingly perhaps the Yellow Brigade of Swedish Salvo Foote
The lists from this and all the other games at Warfare can be seen here on the Wiki.
And here are the boys in all their glory - a unit somewhat surprisingly comprised of Lancashire Games generic ECW/TYW figures, with a batallion gun and crew from Essex
The army I had selected attempted to learn from the mistakes of prior competitions (a rare first) and had enough mounted for 2 decent wings, or one heavy-hitting win and one capable - hopefully - of playing a delaying role. In this deployment the weaker wing was on the left, with 2 units of carbine armed horse supported/stiffened by Commanded Shot.
We, The Yellow Brigade, are the cutting edge and we have been deployed in the key position - at the right hand end of the line, supporting the mounted attack, and with a unit of commanded shotte nearby to keep us company. This flank has also been allocated the battery of 2 guns as well, shooting over an enclosed field - all the weight is here, and we are ready to go!
To our right we can see the manic Finnish and Swedish horse, and some German Cuirassiers backing them up.
To our left sit the other Superior Blue Brigade, more Swedes (in Green - not as well trained as us, but the taste of victory will soon no doubt raise their spirits - whilst a couple of units of German mercenary foote are playing a supporting role. In the distance the Carbine-armed horse mill expecrantly
Gustavus gives the order and we're off - in the distance enemy flags flutter nervously in what is a Swedish Civil War - we wait for orders but our aim must be to get to the edge of that enclosed field and then swing round to support our horse - the commanded shotte have already been given a mission to occupt the field
Ini the distance we see what looks to be enemy foote units emerging from the morning haze. And a cheap and crappy hedgerow in the foreground.
The enemy have little of note on their right it seems - a village and Manor House sit next to a wood, protecting their flank - or from our viewpoint, forcing them into a densley packed target for us to charge up to and hopefully over!
The enemy are clearly cowardly dogs who have heard of our fearsome reputation- they hang back as we think about moving forwards - but on these extra length tables the enemy Gunnes are yet to reach us - so Gustavus orders us to hold back - he must have a cunning plan....
Gustavus has, as is his wont, spotted an opportunity - with the enemy weak on their right he has despatched the Swedish Horse over to the other flank to overwhelm the handful of enemy horse and roll up the enemy from our left. This means our role will be to deliver the coupe de grace, not the initial blow - oh well...
Our gunnes bark out as we jockey for position
Our left is teeming with troops ! the enemy look to be frozen with terror as a mightly mounted wing assembles before their eyes.
They are faced by naught but a handful of skulking dragoons and a lone unit of foote. Gustavus has outmatched them with his genius alone!
The enemy dragoons skedaddle across our bows, as our men start to grow restless at their enforced inactivity. Our role is to be heroes, but at the moment we are like immobile playing pieces in some strange game.. let us hope that our Glorious King has read the rules and understood the tactics!
Looking to our right we see that here too our Horse have no meaningful opposition - so they are maneuvering to lend support elsewhere. They are used to wild charges and uttering strange Finnish curses, but they find themselves deployed to bottle up a massive wall of foote in the almost horseless enemy army
The enemy, overmatched by Gustavus' brilliance, retreat in the face of superior forces ! Surely it is time for our attack now?
Unbelievably two Dragoon units are both in the open - and are attempting to take on a Swedish Brigade. If only we were in their place we would advance and teach them a lesson...
But here comes our chance - the enemy, tempted by the passage of the German Cuirassiers across their lines, lurch into forward motion- and into the range of our Gunnes as well. They are now officially a target... we will be on the move soon for sure
We lurch forward - homing in one the enemy foote whilst simultaneously making the enemy Dragoons fear for their flanks. Our intentions are clear to us, but not to the opposition... surely the Dragoons will now withdraw, and may obscure their own gunnes in the process?
They flee like lowlife curs, back to whatever cover they can find amonst the ornamental gardens of the imposing Manor House. Once the game is done we will loot its rooms and claim our just rewards for our victory!!
We are now faced with an embarassment of targets - and these two fellows look to have won that particular lottery - two 6-strong units face us ...
The army swings into efficient motion as what was once disjointed units now forms into a mutuially supporting and interlocking line abreast, sweeping Dragoons before it like they are tiny people fleeing from the feet f some gargantuan lizard rampaging through the streets of far off Tokyo !
The enemy are surrounded - the Germans and Finns threaten their left, whilst we will soon be doing more than threatening their front!
Our gunners find their range, and a base falls from the unit nearest to us. The odds are swinging even more in our favour, and we need no encouragement now..
Harassed by three units, the enemy facing us find they can only fight in 2 directions at once. Hah!
As the enemy seek to find safe haven for their fleeing over-extended Dragoons their line re-orientates itself p but in so doing they merely advance towards our brothers in the Green Brigade
Our fingers itch on their triggers, and our pikemen steel themselves for the decisive charge as the enemy come into range
The entire army will close with the enemy at the same time it seems - this will be a sight to be comemorated in great paintings to be hung in the halls of the Royal Palaces for sure!!
Our Gunnes are doing our job for us as another base falls away - at this rate there may be naught for us to do save collect the discarded weaponry of fleeing enemies! Our own salvo threatens to finish the job before we can close - the temptation to order our men to cease fire and wait for the charge is strong....
Further away, the other enemy unit is in all sorts of trouble as our men surround it from all sides
We are now at point blank range, as the German Cuirassiers occupy the other enemy frontally and the Commanded shotte hit them from the rear. In the distance the Finns are contemplating a charge against an isolated Foote unit, who's shooting would have been hampered by having the Finns threaten their flanks were the Finns infantry. But as they are mounted, it makes no difference
The enemy have no space - and we become envious of the opportunity in front of the Blue Brigade to barrell through the heart of the enemy army in one fell swoop
With a barrage of shots our opponents break and flee !!
Simultaneously the Commanded shotte go in - but their powder is weak and they fail to break the enemy in the resulting combat !!
Both units struggle and panic - but now the Cuirassiers can deliver the decisive blow as soon as it's our turn again. All our targets are evaporating before our eyes !
The view to our left looks far more fun - why did the army choose to embed a TV crew with us instead of the Blues !!
From left to right, the enemy has been bottled up in the Manor House, whilst units of their Foote attempt to hold off an assult by 2 Swedish Brigades backed up by one of the German infantry units. The enemy have even been forced to form square to avoid being outflanked by a unit of carabiniers next to the Manor House. Enemy horse are furiously redeploying to fill in the gaps in the middle, whilst on the right enemy foote hang on against attack from 2 sides by the Cuirassiers and Commanded Shotte, and the Finns are having a go at another isolated foote unit. And the Yellow Brigade are under employed and looking for a fight
Another target is lost as the enemy to our right break under another mounted assulat
This still looks like where we should have been though. The enemy are picking up markers - never a good sign
The Finns are thrown back - but all this does is allow our flank time to realign and form another really coherent line to attack the two enemy units before us. Who will claim bragging rights here first - us or the Horse?
Excellent! Someone wants to fight us at last - bring them on!!
Everyone is having fun here - at last!! The enemy are proving surprisingly resilient against our Salvo tactics through, as surely we should have made a breakthrough by now ?
Perhaps as a result of our lack of actual fighting, a round of enemy shooting causes some of the men's morale to falter as some of their comrades fall from shooting. Oh well - we can still get stuck in now
With enormous cojones, an enemy Horse unit has charged us - a totally unexpected development ! At least we have our Cuirassiers and Commanded shotte in combat against the enemy holding up our opponents flank - someone must win, and then the enemy will be attacked from all sides!
How embarassing! Gustavus himself has come to lead us, but the presence of the King unnerves some of the younger lads rather than envigorating them and as the Commanded shotte suffer a bad dice roll and are removed immediately from play our morale crumbles under the onslaught of the enemy steeds and riders! This is desparate - and will surely play badly on TV as well !
Every blow of an enemy sword carves down one of our men - we are now just one base loss away from breaking ignominiously !!
And whilst we fail to stand up to enemy horse, the enemy have no such problems - they break our German Cuirassier colleagues in arms who flee the field! It is now us who are at risk of envelopment
Another base loss and we are off....
We're off....!!!! Thats over and out from us I'm afraid..
As the first-person viewpoint experiment draws to a close, the enemy centre is on it's knees. Only one unit remains to the right of the Manor House, with the enemy having to thrown Hose into plug the yawning created by the two Salvo units. One more enemy foote unit (in red) skulks behind the Manor House as our Swedish Horse approach from the far right around the woodlands. A unit of German meercenary foot are labouring their way slowly through the grounds of the Manor House to make the enemy foote life more difficult still - eventually
The right is a totally different picture, with just our Swedish gunne battery left intact - the Finns have been badly mauled and are trying to avoid being shot i the top corner of the shot, whilst Gustavis implores the Geerman Cuirassiers not to flee the field in rout to the right of the field. Everything else is a jubilant and rather surprised enemy unit
With loads about to happen, most of it bad for us, Time is called..
The Result is a microscopically narrow victory, 11-9
Post Match Summary
Like, hey there guys but the King is unavailable today, so he has, like, totally asked me, his great-great-great-great (etc etc...) grand-daughter, to mosey on over and, like, totally comment on the battle. Yeah!
Well, of course, my interest is mostly in the fashions, and I soooo like Yellow and Blue (like, of course, yeah!) but even so I like totally believe my forebear played a pretty decent game here, with stuff rarely seen before, such as Having a Plan, Redeploying Once The Enemy Deployment is Known, and Exercising Patience Occassionally. Awesome! It is like such a downer that the attack on the right failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough though, real bummer. As for the Yellow Brigade I like have no idea what happened with you guys ! I know my friend Heidi once got so frightened and excited that she like totally let a little bit of wee seep out when she met George Clooney in a party in Monaco once, so I can only imagine that the guys had something like totally similar happen to them here and had stage fright of some kind at the thought of being the centre of attention
Anyways, the whole thing was awesome, and if it were not for the lack of willpower by the Yellow Guys, or plain bad dice luck, this would have been like a really really MEGA glorious victory. As it stands it is still a victory, for which we should all be grateful.
Seeyas .. !
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
My dear, you may well be as fit as a Swedish reindeer hirders dog, however your military analysis lacks something - any degree of criticism for this half-witted ancestor of yours.
Launching a mounted attack on a flank dominated by villages and woodlands? Then re-inforcing it? Lets go back to Military Stuff 101 here - horses and trees don't mix, even if Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe would have you believe otherwise. This game was crying out for a flank march on your right, but your stupid choice to have just 3 generals destroyed all hope of that from the outset, but even so, attacking with horses on the left is a poor substitute against which a 2-generals-on-table alternative starts gto sound good.
As for the Swedish Brigade, having your best unit entirely unsupported throughout the game, then being upset when it fails morale tests by one point .... need I say more? The entire plan with the Swedes is to get the salvo Foote Brigades into combat unscathed by enemy shoting, so everything in your power should be done to make that happen. Which means rear support from the German foote. Maybe even that unit that did nothing and then got sent through the village perhaps...? Do you think keeping the Yellow Brigade alive might have been a better use of their time maybe...?
Basic mistakes of staggering incompetence. Looking at you my dear tells me that whilst Gustavus may have fantastic genes, clearly brains were not in the package that got passed down to his ancestors...
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