Field of Glory Wargaming at The International Wargame Federation Euro Championshships - Rome 2009

Guess what we did at lunchtime?

"Romanorum imbibo ultum vinum"

Realising we had 3 games to go was a struggle. It was also - of course - very very hot. 

The Saturday afternoon game saw me drawn against a fashionably attired Seria 'A' Italian Condotta Army who's list is available here 

Pictures of Condottieri from my Ancients Photo Directory

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The Italians had hoped to set their stall out with a flat back 4 of knights and pikemen and then play square across the middle of the park, which I (In a radical change from normal practice) messed up by winning initiative again, and picking Woodlands - and again all the terrain fell on my opponents half of the table, neatly splitting in two his surprising large army.  

Refusing to dally on the large hill, the Condotta knights advanced in a reverse catenaccio formation  whilst I worked out what on earth to do about it. 

Out to the right, the Romans were facing a similar tactical scenario but with a light horse unit acting as a sweeper in front of the back 4. An ex-pat unit of Swiss (probably Juve fans) were shoring up the end of the line in the center. Anyways, the Romans plan was unchanged - form a line and advance.

That nice neat line quickly devolved into a flurry of individual unit maneuvers as the various component parts of each army tried to lock onto their chosen targets, almost like first world war air combat in Wings of War 

In places however things were far more simple. The small unshaven man in the stylish coat on the sidelines gestured furiously to his team to get forwards (or he would make an early substitution). The armoured legions dug in their heels and took one on the chin for the team as the Condotierieos charged home into the cauldron of noise that was generated by the surrounding 85,000-seater stadium full of rabid cheering fans forming a steep wall of noise and colour around the pitch - a breathtaking experience for the troops as well as the fans who added colour and real passion to the fixture with their flags and flares...

...and soon the Romans were explaining the intricacies of the break-off rule to what was almost immediately a far far smaller unit of knights than just a moment ago!

Here the flashy armoured Italians were badly outnumbered with 7 Roman units playing with just 5 Italians - down in the right hand corner you can just make out a pike block being mugged in a dark alleyway by legions and auxilia who seek to wrest the Scudetto out of their sweaty palms through graft and unfair practices. 

In the center however, things looked far better for the (far better) Switzers, as the Romans for once didn't have a handy spare unit, giving the general-led Swiss the advantage of numbers and quality. The Condotta Swiss did well initially, giving them a 1-0 lead. Would they hold onto it? 

Elsewhere, things were turning out far worse for the non-mercenary pikemen with legionaries - freed up by the reduced need to take down the by-now reeling knightly lancers - ganged up mercilessly on them from all angles and waded in with unnecessary use of the elbow.

The Swiss had dispatched their opponents in short order (or, the legion had taken a dive more like..) , and now were able to help out with yet another unit of legionaries who had bravely taken on the 2nd unit of knights. But whilst the Swiss ground forwards, off to their right (my left) another unit of auxilia hove into view, fresh from dribbling the ball past the Sword & Buckler men who had been tasked with playing a holding role in the middle of the table ..

With a legion otherwise engaged, the Tin-can-wearing Conditteristians decided this was the time to risk everything, and the they charged in along the line - even sending in their longbowmen against some Roman light cavalry! Who says Italian warfare is boring eh? There is more action here than in an Ancient British vs Ancient British game - and at least there are Italians on the pitch representing their armies  as well..   Cue much flicking through of rules to find the factors for that! 

With everyone sticking their oar in, it was carnage of a thoroughly incompetent kind - light horse against protected bowmen and unprotected bowmen as well. Stick that up your Corriera de la Sera !!  

A while back I mentioned the S&B men who were supposed to be protecting the middle of the Contiedenierii army? Well, here they are, getting an abject lesson in how a 2:1 advantage in numbers will count, allowing extra space down the flanks where someone with real pace will get behind and hurt you real bad - and why armour is still better value than skilled swordsman status 

And as this was happening, more Roman legions returned from their excursion killing pikemen to rejoin their previous battle against the Knights. Just one more casualty in the war of attrition as the sides bogged down in the middle of the field ... 

The Auxiliaries and legions facing off the Swiss however now lacked even one solitary casualty to try and halt their advance. But, ignoring the fate of their colleagues, 2 Roman units had just about managed to claw their way to safety in the face of intense gunfire at the top of a steep hill on the far edge of the playing surface... clambering over the safety barriers and into the crowd! Maybe they thought the victorious knights would not notice them sneaking away..? 

Taking full advantage of drilled troops ability to turn and move, the auxilia made it onto the hill in the nick of time... if it had not been terraced standing, they would never have made it 

By now, things had gotten really spread out. The Romans had swept away the middle, and were passing crisply through the center of the park at will, and had run the exhausted Italians almost totally ragged on my left wing - but on the right the Roman army was reduced to banditry actions in the mountains, leaving the Swiss unmolested and unmolestable, and raring for more action. Their general looked around, and proclaimed "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one."

Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, the auxilia simply turned tail and walked away....

Things were now getting dicey for the mounted crossbowmen too, as the longbowmen to their flank had been swept away - and Roman weight of numbers was threatening to cut off their escape as the boys in Red threw every man forward into the penalty area as the corner came in. 

"Look at my haircut. I am ready for the war."

The Romans charged in from all angles, giving the crossbowmen a very challenging evade path... The Condotta's situation was like having a blanket that is too small for the bed. You pull the blanket up to keep your chest warm and your feet stick out. You cannot buy a bigger blanket because the supermarket is closed. But the blanket is made of cashmere!

Well, perhaps too challenging - they, and the accompanying infantry were caught, cut down and broken! The combination of Ordinary knights and foot had turned out like omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem... and that's what had happened to the Condotta. No Knights from Waitrose. 

Italian Benny Hill Music was now blaring out across the parkland as units found themselves in acres of space- but with no-one to pass to and no goal to aim for..

With a multitude of units racing to claim the glory, the battle was finally won by the cheapest unit of them all - 4 Poor Light Foot slingers managed to sneak away from their markers and slot home into the baggage to break the Condotta army! 

Inter's Manager's Post Match Summary 

"I want to give my congratulations to them because they won. But we were the best team"

 

 

Roma's Managers Post Match Summary 

As Caesar, I am proud to announce that today our boys done good. In a game of two halves, we won in one and got a draw in the other, and so ran out deserved winners over the 2 legs.

Things could have been different if the Knights had managed to score earlier on, but our back 4 legions played their hearts out and left their guts on the field today, allowing space for us to get behind them and hurt them with the little chaps with the slings and hats on. 

The crowd also played their part as our home fans managed to plant loads of trees before the match which clearly took the pressure off our lads and caused the Condotta no end of problems. 

The European game is played at a rather different pace to our normal week in week out battles, so its good to come out with a win at this vital stage in the competition to take the pressure off, and now I think we can start looking up the table, not down it. 

Hannibal's Post Match Analysis

As Chairman of the board, I think its time to put a vote of confidence in our manager - however grudging that may be. Partly as the record of 3 wins and one defeat, whilst not quite up to my own standards, is still pretty decent, and partly as a Chairman giving the manager a vote of confidence is usually the prelude to him knifing the poor sod in the back immediately after the next slip-up  - which I am quite looking forward to doing.

I am struggling with how you are managing to leave quite so much open space on table, even with winning initiative and getting the theoretically decent woodland option down. This may be down to you not having the correct sized pieces in your bag perhaps, so poor preparation in any other words. 

You also managed to squander quite a few units against the Swiss and their cohorts, and also it took you the best part of, oh, all day to make your advantage in numbers on the left count. So, a good result but more hard work than I would have made it.

Lets see how the next game goes then ? 

 

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