Nationals 2001 - The Lithuanian Odyssey - The Final Countdown
6-4 vs Steve Royle & Khurasanians.
Top table game - me and Steve. What happened to all the good players - how could this happen?
Steve was 13 points ahead of me, and I was 1 point ahead of the chasing pack. Neither of us could afford to muck about, as chances were someone could overhaul Steve and anyone could overhaul me !
My game plan again benefited from a pretty good deployment - I had thought Steve might deploy the spears next to the river, and had gone for a Bd (O) lineup to take them on frontally - instead the spears were facing , well, nothing (OK, LH(O)...) and my CinC could instead lead with the wagons, and use the Hussite flailmen to chew up Bw (I) and Ax (O). If the Teutons could get round as well there was every prospect of a concerted attack with all the right matchups. The only threat was Steve's redeployment of his central commands Cv (S) to menace my LH on the right - but with the rest of the command with nothing to do, the wagons could get enough pips to re-deploy.... oooh!!
Steves Wb/Ax were useless and sitting in the open not moving, whilst his spears were chasing LH, and my Bd/WWg command was skittling Cv & Bw (I) like ninepins down by the riverside.
The Teutons had a dilemma - they were being faced off by a few lone LH, but they were scheduled to play a decisive part in the battle - so could not really afford ANY losses at this stage of the game - what to do?
Luckily the dice helped out, and with a couple of 5's and 6's they were able to redeploy as single elements, shuffling crab-wise to the side to get in front of the Wb command. All looked good for a 10-0 ... and with it the whole damn championship! All that stood in my way was a group of Bw (I) - facing my Hussite flailmen, plus some auxilia rushing to help deliver the coup-de-grace (or whatever that is in Lithuanian).
They went down in droves - until the very last man - unsupported, double overlapped, and facing 2 ranks of auxilia (O), he learnt how to fight at last - and lasted at least 3-4 moves! This drew in the Teutons, who were drawn sideways to help finish off this very obstinate Bw (I)....... and avoid some encroaching LH. They charged in and finally nailed the remaining auxilia, and Steve's left was in tatters - the Warband and CinC were by now reduced to running forwards so their flanks were almost safe!
However the Teutons were almost a spent force - 1 down , 2 fully committed - so the brave/sensible General lurked backwards, not wishing to risk himself just yet - surely the 2 boys in play could do the job?
But the by-now broken commands general had other ideas - he unwound a long length of rope and attached himself to the front of the now alonst totally psychopathic Kn (S) - and proceeded to dray him out of the main arena practically by his pubes !
So - as the clock ticked onwards, my two commands in serious play (the CinC and Micro command) suffered a pip drought - and the Teutons eventually became "too close for comfort to being a " spent force - 3 down, none to go. By the final bound, the command on Steve;s right was TOTALLY ELIMINATED, but even with a last bound charge frenzy, with bowmen, LH and even a late rush from the Teuton commander, and with a second general killed for the Khurasanians (this time by Wagon shooting) we were just 4 ee off doing the whole army, and the Wb command escaped with only 6 casualties instead of the 9 it needed - but with it's flanks hanging well out to dry......
So - final result a maximum 6-4 to me, 20/12, giving me 3rd place, and Steve 2nd - Lorenzo Mele had leapfrogged us both by 10-0-in Graham Evans, but then had spent 2 sweaty hours watching my demolition job come closer and closer to denying him the top prize.....but in the end it was not to be.
A performance difficult to top - What next.....who knows !
