BHGS Challenge Ascot 2006

Game 4 vs Medieval Portuguese

Their list was here

Game 4 found me lurking on table 11 - 20-odd players ahead of me, but nicely placed for a half decent finish. This looked set to be a similar game to the last one ...once I worked out what was in a Portuguese army (lots more bows than I expected) and also after I managed to get almost exactly the same terrain as before. Could I press on and finish them off this time ? 

I set up as before - a screen of chariotry to buy me decision making time, and hoping to use the oasis as a pivot round which the portly geezers might struggle to rotate.

The Geezers had a better plan than psiloi though - they had auxilia, backed up with some Bw (S) and regular Brother knights on the shorter side of the palm grove, and a solid line of bowmen backed up with dismounted knights stretching the rest of the open part of the table.

I decided that the main part of the army was a bit too scary to start with, and redeployed my CinC (All Redhatsamongstem) to take on the smaller single command. This meant he was allocated 6's for the first 4 turns - enabling even a 3.1 edition infantry army to do a damn good job of redeployment ! 

The tactic had another benefit - it also gave me an opportunity to use my boat to shoot up bowmen and light horse. 

Soon there was a staggering amount of bowpower (7 elements wide, with supporting blades in place against the retreating longbowmen and Order knights. So, of course then I decided to shift my axis of attack elsewhere !

The micro command had again gotten itself into a dangerous place - preventing auxilia coming out of the wood, and threatening flanks if they appeared. Not bad for a 6.5 EE command !

But with all their bowmen committed on the seaward flank, and seemingly invulnerable to a outnumbered and retreating enemy the Pharaohs chariotry and regular Auxilia (O) (eh...who???) suddenly realized that they were now effectively expendable - and so could mount a chancy attack!

The Portuguese had echeloned forwards to keep flanks secure whilst they advanced - and in a move similar to the one Nik failed to execute in my first game, chariotry (S) tried to charge down bowmen. But this time it worked!    

Clearly luck plays its part - but I was also attacking across a narrow frontage, pouring 3 Cv (S) into 2-wide block of bowmen. I had a reserve cavalryman, 4 regular dice to play with, and auxilia and blades - from 2 commands - to absorb some of the casualties as I charged in. It was a stunning success, and suddenly the Portuguese were in trouble on two commands with 4 dead bowmen down before the men at arms had drawn their swords!

Throwing all common sense to the wind, I then decided to divert my attack to the third command ! It had veen creeping forwards seemingly unopposed, and my bowmen had been scuttling away from them like yellow and blue hatted woodlice from a bright light - but suddenly the Portuguese pips stuttered, and we saw an option! 

 With the Portuguese knights committed to turning to their right, the Egyptian bowmen wheeled and expanded and suddenly started hoovering up all the good pip dice. Able to do the "we are only just in range and are ganging up our shooting and it takes you forever to get in" thingy (the "WAOJIRAAGUOSAITYFTGI" maneuver) the Egyptian archers started to decimate the flower of European Chivalry.

With he knights gone, the game became an attritional war across the width of the table - but with my troops having 4 regular dice against 3 irregular, faster move distances, more quick kills, no follow-ups  and - even allowing for smaller command sizes - more ability to take casualties due to the losses the Portuguese had taken at first contact there was only to be one outcome. 10-0 to the Egyptians !!! 

Post Match Summary

Another game where a well positioned wood had come in handy, and again my micro command had acted as the pivot. I had used the 4 command dice - and a deep initial deployment - to change the axis of my attack dramatically throughout the course of the game in response to changes in the formation of the Portuguese - initially I had thrown pip dice at a plan to push through and overwhelm the enemy near the river with massed bowmen, but they retreated in fairly good order, and so I was able to divert pips elsewhere  - to using the stuff "left behind" - 3 Ax (O) and 3 Cv (S) to support another command to attack the advancing Portuguese centre when the opportunity arose. Finally as the Portuguese attempted to wheel round to support their beleaguered centre, my 4th command, which had until then been a bystander, returned quickly to the fray to deliver a decisive strike against the mounted knights. Throughout the game the command near the water and the micro command holding the woods were both able to survive on low pips, helping me implement the attacks elsewhere.  

onto game 5