After the recent very close game between the French and Teutonic order, Tony and I swapped sides the following week for a re-match! This time Tony took command of the French and I the Teutonic order.
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The terrain was open in the middle with hills to either side of the table and some very useful small areas of woodland located towards the table edges with a road running from one table edge to the other. Tony won the dice roll for choice of table edge and deployed the bulk of his French between 2 areas of woodland and the flanking aforementioned hills. He deployed 3 of his 6 French mounted men-at-arms (knights) units on the extreme left of the table along with a general. On the extreme right flank he condensed 3 peasant hordes into two six stand hordes which were given the task of defending a hill.
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In response, I sent my 3 units of Teutonic mounted crossbow across to harass the sidelined French knights, 3 units of militia to take the hill from the peasants on the other wing and advanced the rest of my Teutonic army forward with the crossbow units in front.
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As my army continued its advance Tony halted his line of French crossbows with pavisses between the 2 areas of woodland with his French dismount and mounted men-at-arms directly behind. This now stationary French centre was in contrast to the French wings as the 3 units of French knights played a cat and mouse game with my mounted crossbow by hiding behind the flanking 8 hex hill. At the same time on the other wing his peasant hordes disrupted my militia pushing them back from their assault on the hill.
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My Teutonic knights and spear units moved to within charge distance of the French crossbow line ready to enact my game plan, which was to advance and trap the bulk of the French army between the 2 bastions of woodland on either flank. At the same time simply hold the 3 units of French knights at bay on the right with my mounted crossbow and a couple of spear units. Despite the poor performance of my militia on the left the key elements for my attack were in place.
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It was Tony’s tactical movement phase next. I had assessed his options as either; pull his crossbow line and the rest of his army back a hex; move his line forward into the shooting range of my crossbows; stay put and have his crossbow line smashed by my charging Teutonic knights and spears in my next movement phase. I hoped he would pull back, instead he advanced his crossbow units ditching their pavisses so that they could move and shoot. The French crossbows, of which there were 7 units, shot well and forced back my would be assault troops causing disruption along a large section the Teutonic line.
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Two of my units of Teutonic knights were effectively trapped from behind by other Teutonic units which were disrupted through being pushed back. Rather than stay put and be shot at again they along with 2 generals had little option to charge out of danger and assault the peasant hordes to their left. The whole of the Teutonic front was in disarray and Tony used the opportunity to bring his 3 French knights and their general against the right of my line.
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Despite this major set-back for my Teutonics, they are a very tough army and the spear and crossbow units put up a very hard fight resulting in high levels of attrition for both sides. The Teutonic knight units went on to demolish the troublesome French crossbows, but while they were occupied doing so the French were gradually out-flanking and slowly but surely demolishing my right wing.
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Only when both armies had ‘thinned’ did the French knights succeed in trapping and destroying 2 units of Teutonic knights and their accompanying generals. The other 2 units of knights were locked in combat and couldn’t come across in support. With 2 generals lost and the French still with 4 of their original 6 units of knights plus all 4 of their generals on the table, I decided that my Teutonic order after a long struggle faced inevitable defeat. So I conceded the game to Tony.
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Game Analysis
The direction of the game was changed with the French crossbows ditching their pavisses in favour of moving forward and shooting. My Teutonic line never recovered from this surprise and the good performance of the French units on either wing made it difficult for me to re-organise an effective response. The resulting slogging match was costly for both sides but my Teutonic order never managed to gain back the initiative after the early set-back and as a result was always on the back foot for the remainder of the game.
