FoG:R Renaissance Early TYW at Warfare 2012
Early Danish vs Late Jin
Game 1 Early Danish vs Transylvanian
Game 2 Early Danish vs Late Jin
Game 3 Early Danish vs Early Swedish
Game 4 Early Danish vs Austrian Imperial
The punishment for securing such a big win in the first game was a matchup against Ghengiz Harley, this time pretending to play with an army that included foote as well as the traditional lots of mounted bowmen horsearchers - the Early Jin.
The lists for the Early Danish and Late Jin from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Warfare can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki once I actually find them and upload them.
FoG:R hint - These Chinese chaps would also have some heavyweight artillery, which would be a challenge for the Kiels as their deep formations mean that they are very vulnerable to artillery
The terrain plan was to try and close down the width of the table a little to try and force the Chinese cavalry into combat against the front of the Danish army - which was nowhere near wide enough to fill a blank step table - but at the same time to avoid dropping in too much rough terrain for the Chinese infantry to hide in. This led to the Danes choosing an Impassable and several steep (and Difficult) hills.
Like many plans, it proved to be a partial success....with almost no terrain falling on either flank, and a huge steep hill dominating the enemy deployment area. Rough ground and an impassable forest also cluttered up the Jin's starting position, whilst the Danes had to contend with hills and forests as well.
The Danes were planning to rely on their infantry to push the Jin back into the gaps between the terrain, and also dominate both flanks with lots of cuirassiers.
That plan came unstuck instantly as the Jin artillery park opened up on the Danish horse on the left, prompting them to turn tail and flee back into the protection of the terrain. The infantry could sort this one out...
And the Landsnechts advanced, largely unopposed, like a flotilla of pikemen on barges across a green lake
Equally unopposed were three units of Cuirassiers, who pinned the cautious Jin back behind the terrain with relative ease
The two shotte-winged tercios were fanning out to try and hold back the waves of Jin cavalry streaming down the left flank, as Jin infantry came out to play as well
The pike-only Kiel was racing towards the gap between the two pieces of difficult and impassable terrain, and the Gunnes were also moving up to start popping off shots at the stationary Jin infantry
Jin artillery was proving highly accurate, especially against the Danish average unit...
One of the monster winged Kiels was coming under a hail of accurate bowfire, and somehow conspired to suffer more than 4 hits and also then drop a level of cohesion
The wide open spaces of the left flank were proving happy hunting grounds for the Jin, as the Danish Cuirassiers had been scattered to the four winds and were being defeated in detail by the Jin horsemen
The Kiel recovered, and carried on steaming towards the defenceless Jin artillery, ignoring the bowmen on the steep hill
FoG:R hint - Steep hills disorder foote, reducing the number of bases who can shoot
The disorganised Cuirassiers lost a unit to the Jin shooting and combat combination...
The yo-yo kiel was now back down to Fragged - astonishing in a battle where everyone was shooting it on 5's, and where all its cohesion tests were being taken with a +2
The next round of shooting was just as deadly, and they broke, having only lost one base.... !
OK, maybe 2 bases.... but still they were fleeing back in rout. 2 units down in one set of shooting....
The wierd world of IGOUGO movement was creating amusing possibiilties as several units chased each other round a wood at the rear of the Danish army
But the even wierder world of "always failing tests when being shot" befell the Danish Cuirassiers, and then routed past their own baggage..
The yo-yo kiel had routed away, and then recovered cohesion as it dragged itself back from rout. They were now turning around and steaming back into the fray
Already in the fray, a Kiel had snuck through the gap in the terrain and slammed into a unit of Jin MF - who were robustly standing up to the battering they were now getting from the 4-deep armoured pikemen, instead of collaaapsing like the deck of Chinese cards they really should have been.
The sweeping flank attack from the Jin had made its way into the baggage - lost twice in 2 games... but sort of within the plan
The game was sort of reforming along new battle lines as the Kiel had returned to the fray, allowing the Danes to start a pedestrian charge down the left flank. On the right the other Kiel was still - incredibly - engaged against the unsupported MF Jin infantry, who had at least had the decency to drop to Fragged, and Cuirassiers and Jin cavalry were milling around in the gaps looking for a plan to latch onto
The Kiel was struggling to win against opponents who should have been long gone - and another unit of Jin infantry steamed slowly down the steep hill into the rear of the Landsnechts, and suddenly it was a tough struggle...
The Jin fighting the Kiel to the front had finally evaporated, only to be replaced swiftly with a unit of Jin cavalry who had dared to charge into the now fragmented Kiel, which had turned to fight the enemy who had charged them in the rear. The Kiel had been fighting in 2 directions for what seemed like weeks....
But, even so, the Kiel was handing out a pasting to the Jin who had the temerity to try and take them on - Fragmented, they sent the enemy to their rear fragmented as well!
The two infantry units managed both to lose at the same time, leaving both with nowhere to go, leading to both being eliminated on the spot. A rather surprised looking Danish General retreated to safety....
Suddenly, the Danes were looking nervously at their own baggage as the loss of the Kiel had pushed the army dangerously close to breaking point. Jin cavalry circled like sharks in all directions...it was like Christmas had come early for the Chinese
Another Kiel was engaged in a far more tidy little combat on the other flank - piling into another incautious unit of foot at full width and full depth, supported by a Cuirassier charge..
The proper Kiel walked straight over the Jin foote, and suddenly the Jin artillery were in their sights....
The Danish artillery were captured by Jin horsemen... and now the Danes were one point away from defeat.
The battle was reforming yet again, and this time the Danes were being careful not to fritter away their Cuirassiers in a piecemeal fashion. The Danish army may have been within one AP of being broken, but the units who were in the line of fire were all top quality Cuirassiers and there was the inkling of a plan forming in the mind of the Danish general...
The Cuirassiers closed in on the fast moving Jin horsemen, and whilst the setup looked dicey, there was a theory in the madness...
That theory started to come apart as shooting from the Jin mounted bowmen flayed the Cuirassiers ... it was time for the Danes to call the Bacon Hotline
Keen to save both their colleagues and the whole game, a second unit of Cuirassiers initiated a charge that took on two separet units of Jin cavalry - in a rather complex "contact the flank but count as a frontal charge" maneuver on one of them. Quality was in the Danes favour, but numbers were on the side of the Jin
The Danes had passed a test to recover cohesion and then had charged home - sneakily recapturing their artillery in the process. Now three units of Jin cavalry were engaged against Cuirassiers....with the Cuirassiers outnumbered, but significantly up in melee it was a fascinating combat
The combat was close and vicious - but it was also carrying on for ages... and then the whistle blew to end the match with the Danes clawing thior way back into it
The Result is a 10-10 draw - after all that.
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Early Danish Commander
This was undoubtably a close game, and games against Alastair always have that little extra sizzle factor - and for a while I thought I would really be makin' bacon, but at the end I was inn a bit of a jame, so perhaps the best way to describe the game was a sort of Bacon Jam
The terrain did not really help me, which seemed unlucky as it is a rare day when you do not have anything on either flank - if one or more of the difficult and impassable elements had fallen on a flank it would have pinned in enemy horsemen in a little more, allowing my Cuirassiers to gang up on them and also use the extra width of my pike blocks to simply push the enemy back and off the table
I must admit however to be both proud and dissapointed with the performance of the Kiels - for one to break from desultory shooting was a shambles, but for it to come back and return to the fray was comforting - especially against a largely mounted army that in theory should have had some spare horse units to chase the kiel away. Conversely the other Kiels performance in beating off attacks from all sides was a marvellous sight to behold - doubly fantastic when you realise that they were just average. All in all not a bad day at the office. When I write this one up I will leave a Bacon Shaped Bookmark
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Your heart is crammed with arrogancy, spleen and pride if you think this was a good result and an honourable draw. What does one such as you who washes yourself with Bacon Soap
The game here was one of terrain - the enemy had far poorer foote than you, and yet you gifted him many safe havens from your fearsome pikemen - allowing him to rest in the fastness of the mountains, safe in the knowledge that his weakest forces were inviolate from the rampaging attacks of your Kiels ! With no terrain, what would have happened? A Kiel is hardly scared of enemy horsemen, and the cowering Chinese foote have no way of spiriting themselves away from your advance. Such idiocy is a gaping sore, which requires major surgery of the remove head at the neck variety, and which cannot be fixed by the application of a mere Novelty Bacon-shaped Plaster
Losing units to shooting as well - let me count the two Cuirassier units who went this way, as well as the baggage, which you lost as a direct consequence as well. Shameful, just shameful.
Your beards deserve not so honourable a grave as to stuff a botcher's cushion or to be entombed in as ass's pack saddle, if you are to claim this result as one to remember
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
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Game 1 Early Danish vs Transylvanian
Game 2 Early Danish vs Late Jin
Game 3 Early Danish vs Early Swedish
Game 4 Early Danish vs Austrian Imperial
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