The French army with 6 mounted and 6 dismounted men-at-arms, 6 crossbows, 3 peasant hordes and 4 generals was pitted against an Ancient British army. The Brits had the usual host of warrior hordes, fanatics and slingers, but more importantly, 3 units of light chariots, 2 units of light cavalry and 2 units of skirmishing infantry. Lots of very mobile missile troops against a far more static French army.
The terrain was always going to be a key element in this game; the more open ground would perhaps favour the Ancient Brits with their greater mobility, but hills and forests would provide good cover for the French to defend. The key elements of the chosen layout had saw an 8 hex hill flanked by 2 sizeable areas of woodland. Chris and Tony took command of the Brits and Tim and I the French by dice decree! First deployment went to the Brits and first move to the French.
With the woods key to the French holding a strong defensive position they were the obvious target for the French quick advance. Tim used the road to move his crossbow units towards and into the wood on the right while I advanced the two 6 stand peasant horde units into the left hand wood. The central 8 hex hill, between the woods was the target of the dismounted followed by the mounted men-at-arms.
The Ancient British army had deployed the massed hordes of warriors and fanatics facing our right wing on the other side of the hill and the flanking woods. The chariots, light cavalry and skirmishers were deployed left of centre facing the woodland into which Tim’s crossbow units were heading. The French first move advantage had enabled Tim and I to grab a hold of key areas of terrain which we had no intention of surrendering to the much faster British infantry hordes.
There was an open flank of clear ground to our right and Tim was covering this with his crossbows. However, the British light cavalry and 3 units of chariots did have the opportunity of outflanking our right and attacking our rear. Thankfully, they opted to form a line and fight us head-on! All the crossbow units were equipped with pavisses and these combined with the cover afforded by the woodland gave Tim’s crossbow a strong bastion on our right flank.
The stage was set for a hand-to-hand slogging match on the 8 hex hill between the woods.. The left hand wood saw the French peasant hordes just about holding against the British warriors until finally broken and fleeing from an assault by Gaisatai fanatics. The battle raged over the crest of the hill with the British chariots loosing their javelins over the heads of the British warriors. More generals were committed from both sides and the losses quickly mounted. The French lost 3 units of dismounted men-at-arms and 2 units of mounted in exchange for about the same number of British warrior hordes.
Meanwhile Chris charged into attacked Tim’s crossbows with his light cavalry and followed up with his slingers. This all or nothing commitment of the British light troops into hand-to-hand combat effectively pinned both sides together so that the relative combat strengths plus the dice roll would decide the outcome. This favoured the French but when the British committed their fanatics and chariots simultaneously, it was some very lucky dice rolls that enabled the French infantry to withstand the onslaught.
With the opposing infantry lines now ‘thinned’ through casualties in the battle for control of the 8 hex hill and left hand woodland, the remaining French heavy cavalry units were given the space to charge onto and across the hill. They were accompanied by the last uncommitted French generals and the resulting hand-to-hand combat phase dealt a decisive blow to the Ancient Brits. Large numbers of warriors and fanatics were recoiled disrupted. More significantly, the command and control of the Brits was almost non-existent. As a result the Brits couldn’t make any tactical movements in the next phase and could only remove disruption markers from their units not engaged in combat. The British light cavalry units had now been defeated by Tim’s crossbow units and the Brits by now run out of options and accepted defeat.
Game Analysis
The French used the terrain to secure a tactical advantage over the Ancient Brits by taking and holding both areas of woodland and in doing so forcing the battle ‘on the hill.’ This hand-to-hand collision was always going to favour the French with the Brits unable to use their greater speed and mobile missile units effectively.
