After the very closely drawn game the previous week, this game simply had to be re-fought. I suppose it could be thought as ‘unfinished business’ with both sides out for a decisive win!
The terrain was far more open than in the previous game with a few small areas of woodland positioned away from the centre of the table. Chris and Tony this time separated their Ottoman infantry from their cavalry left and right. So with all the Ottoman infantry positioned facing my right and cavalry left, I had little choice but to advance my shooting line as far forward into the open ground in the centre. This would hopefully prevent the very fast Ottoman cavalry from shifting from one wing to the other to which my much slower army would be unable to respond.
While I was trying to organise my Hungarian line in a way that would squeeze the Ottomans territoriality, Tony sent his 3 units of Ottoman Akinci light cavalry to the extreme right of the table. After the experience previous game I was absolutely determined this time to corner these little devils before they inflicted too much damage! It was like the death by a thousand cuts last time!
Chris, who had been given command of the Ottoman infantry didn’t move forward to meet my Hungarian line. I presumed this was to leave sufficient space for the Ottoman cavalry to switch wings. But this would hopefully give me sufficient time and opportunity to trap the 3 Akinci along with their general. This I endeavoured to do, all the while trying to hide my intentions, although the shift of 3 out of 4 heavy cavalry across in column formation might just have given the game away!
The stand-off with the Ottoman infantry continued so I shifted a couple of bow units across as part of my ‘kill the Akincis’ plan! I wanted to trap their general but Tony shifted him to safety just before the trap was sprung. Still I did manage to corner and eliminate 2 of the 3 units and to echo the Meatloaf song ‘2 out of 3’ ain’t bad!
Having congratulated myself on a plan well executed, the reality was that my Hungarian heavy cavalry was now way off to the left as the Ottoman infantry advanced in column against my badly outnumbered right wing. The Quapakulu heavy cavalry and Sipahis attacked the centre and a furious hand-to-hand battle was soon joined. This instigated a race to shift my cavalry and archers back to the centre and left. The war wagons just had to hold in the same way as they had done in the previous game. They were saved on one occasion by Tony rolling snake eyes. But this lucky break didn’t continue!
There was at last a genuine opportunity for my Hungarians to steal a victory with a good round of shooting followed by the right hand-to-hand combat outcomes. Unfortunately I failed on both and squandered the advantage. Both the war wagons were lost and my heavy cavalry subsequently failed to engage the Quapakulu. What followed was a tit for tat massacrer of Hungarian peasants and Ottoman spearmen in equal numbers. With the Hungarians now in a salient without the war wagons protecting the point there was insufficient room for my heavy cavalry to charge together effectively and one unit was trapped and lost along with a general.
With the Ottoman infantry now in possession of the right hand wood the 3 remaining Hungarian heavy cavalry couldn’t get through the mass of disrupted Hungarian peasants and archers in the middle. Also, my archers missed a tactical move because they were out of command and control range of a general. As a result the two armies effectively bounced off each other and reformed in two diagonal lines across the table. I’m sure that in real life they would be snarling at each other in utter frustration! All players realised that despite herculean efforts from both sides that the Hungarians and Ottomans had pummeled each other into a draw once again.
Game Analysis
Despite the same outcome this was a very different game to the first. The war wagons failed to hold and the Akincis sacrificed themselves but succeeded in pulling large sections of the Hungarian army out of position. Arguably, my Hungarians had the best opportunity to win the game but failed to deliver the combat results when needed. I think its fair to say that the dice rolling from both sides was frustratingly erratic!
