FoG:R Renaissance Early TYW at Warfare 2012
Early Danish vs Early Swedish
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
Through an act of staggering incompetence, I managed to forget both my camera and my mobile phone on Sunday, so this report features no photos whatsoever, providing welcome relief for those of you who are heartily sick of poor quality captions ruining baldy-lit photos of averagely painted figures. For the rest of you, I apologise. It also means that these battle reports are drawn up entirely from memory and so they may well be missing some elements, units or terrain pieces.
The lists for the Early Danish and Early Swedish 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.
Battle Chronicler - the free tool that I used to draw up these maps.
The first game on Sunday morning was against The Don
Despite the fact McHugh was using an Early Swedish army, ripe for an aggressive attack, I had an inkling that he might be in the mood for a defensive battle in the crisp morning air down by the banks of the Thames, and so I deployed as little terrain as possible. Hardly anything eneded up on table, leaving the Swedes with only an artificial corner created by one piece of uneven terrain right in the middle of the table in which to sit. This presented a nice clear target for the 3 Kiels to aim for, and meant that almost all of the Cuirassiers could also be deployed on one flank to undertake a sweeping attack
This is the key to reading the maps for the Swedish units - the Danes are Kiels, Cuirassiers and one unit of gunnes, which you can probably work out for yourself.
As the Danish attack sweeps forward totally unpposed, the Swedes reshuffle the deckchairs on the Titanic and try to push their 2 units of limbered artillery forward through the enclosed field to develop a firing position, but soon find that limbered artillery move even more slowly in a field than they do in the open...
One of the Danish Kiels has contracted into a deep but narrow formation as it becomes immediately apparent that the Swedes have not presented enough frontage for the Danes to hit at full width. All of the Cuirassiers are moving up into a position from which they look like they may even be considering a charge against the formed Swedish Pike and Shotte....much to the Swedes amusement and amazement
The Swedish deckchair shuffling continues, as they brace for impact. By now they have also discovered that any guns in any sort of terrain at all count as Severly Disordered, so even shooting against the optimum target of the Kiel they are reduced to half dice... very ineffective indeed
The focus zooms into a smaller area of the field, as the Cuirassiers inch towards the edge of the table ready to charge home across the line. The Swedes have by now realised that the crazy bacon-mad Danes do intend to charge them, and start quickly flicking through the book of combat factors to see if they have made some sort of horrendous mistake. The two sides are now so close that the Swedes can smell the bacon on the Danies breath - although whether this is the residue of a hearty breakfast, or just the after effects of a tin of extra strength Uncle Oinker's Savory Bacon Mints
In the calm before the storm, the Swedes decide that they don't want to lose a unit before the main battle lines clash, and draw back the spare harquebusier unit that had been contemplating causing trouble on the Danish right flank
The Danish Cuirassiers are the first to charge home, hitting the Swedes all along the line - and crucially perhaps, stepping forward their charge into some less competent harquebusiers in the Swedish reserve
The Cuirassiers survive the initial combats realtively unscathed, and then thet start to press home the advantage that their superior armour gives them against the armoured swedish files of pike. Many of the Swedish units are also close to the back edge of their table, and so take additional minuses when they lose combats - the Kiels then charge home as well, and there is combat everywhere
Unable to stand up against the impact of the 4-deep pike Kiels, the average Swedish brigades start top crumble and break - whether by losing morale tests or simply by losing 3 bases out of their initial 7 (which is the point at which average Swedish brigades break) they begin to be blown away
The Cuirassiers, emboldened by the success of the Kiels, also rip a huge hole in the Swedish flank and start to cause mayhem deep in the Swedish rear
The Swedes collapse all along the line - and despite the loss of one Kiel in the process it is a tremendous victory for the Danes in the Scandinavian grudge match!
With no camera, Game 4 where the Early Danish fought the Austrian Imperials sadly doesn't warrant a battle report, as the Austrian 5 Kiels and handful of Cuirassiers took on my 3 Kiels and slightly more Cuirassiers with sadly inevitable results - not helped by 2 turns during which 2 of my 3 Kiels suffered 2-level morale drops after losing badly in what should have been equal odds melees, leading to a crushing defeat. This still left me in a respectable 7th position, and flipped my opponent up to 2nd !
Post Match Summary from the Early Danish Commander
Victory is always sweet, but this one was as sweet as a tin of extra-sweet Bacon Flavour Sweets
A lesser man than I might have tried to split the Cuirassiers more evenly on both flanks, or might have bottled it when faced with the prospect of charging home against formed pike and shotte with Cuirassiers, but the overwhelming advantage I enjoyed in sheer numbers and the proximity of my opponent to the edge of the board gave me great heart.
It is a shame to end such a succesful competition in defeat in the fourth game, but 7/22 is a steady improvement and but for a better matchup in game 4 (both myself and my Austrian opponent would have preferred to play either the Samurai or the Chinese (again) in the last round who were matched on the table above us). Onwards an upwards !
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
You tread upon my patience you whoreson cullionly barbermonger, with your crowing over a victory which was not so much a battle, as a practice exercise in bayonetting against a static sack of Swedish hay.
Imagine if your erstwhile opponent had maneuvered his troops? Co-ordinated his harquebusiers and commanded shotte out wide to the flank together and provided ample food for thought for your Cuirassiers? If he had deployed the gunnes in a position from which they might seek to succesfully shoot ? Then where would your military genius be looking back from ?
And no 4th report? I fear this is naught so much to do with the lack of camera as your lack of competence, both in list selection (aside from this 3rd game pray tell me where your Cuirassiers have achieved much that another 2 Kiels might not have achieved far more succesfully?) and in execution.
You, that are polluted with your lusts, stained with the guiltless blood of innocents, corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices, I pray that your cake of victory is not tainted by over-employment of a tube of Bacon Icing 
That's the end - so why not go back to the Match Reports Index and read some more reports?
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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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