Lancaster & York
For his themed competition to take place the first week in
January John Graham-Leigh had chosen a theme of “Lancaster & York” and
selected a bunch of western European armies dating between 1455AD and 1487AD.
From the list of fine *cough* armies available to me to choose from I decided
on the Anglo-Irish, mainly because I could continue my personal theme of taking
armies with 3 allied generals to John’s competitions.
After a bit of playing around with the limited options
available to this list I came up with the following army:
C-in-C: 3 Reg Kn(O) including general, 6 Reg mtd Bw(S), 6
Reg Bd(I), 5 Irr LH(O), 3 Irr Ps(I);
Anglo-Irish Ally 1: 3 Irr Cv(O) including general, 10 Irr
Bd(O), 4 Irr Ax(O), 3 Irr Ps(I);
Anglo-Irish Ally 2: 4 Irr Cv(O) including general, 8 Irr
Bd(O), 2 Irr Ax(O), 4 Irr Ps(I);
Irish Ally: 1 Irr LH(O) general, 16 Irr Ax(O), 6 Irr Ps(I).
This is actually quite a mobile army (assuming the generals
are not unreliable) which I thought could be useful in a competition likely to
be dominated by relatively slow moving armies.
The generals were to be John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester as
the C-in-C with the army dated 1467AD from when he was Justicar for Edward IV,
Thomas FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond and Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare as
the Anglo-Irish allies and Richard Bourke of County Mayo
as the Irish ally. As an interesting historical note Desmond was executed in
1470 by Tiptoft and so would appear to be a good candidate for unreliability –
would the games follow history?
The first round games at John’s competitions are
pre-arranged and match historical enemies. This pitched me up against Mark
Clarke using Medieval Irish. An added interest factor was that John had decided
that this battle would count as a Civil War and so any of the allied generals
could potentially change sides even though they were internal. Excellent stuff J
I invaded and there was no weather to affect my archers – the only troops on
either side who would suffer. We both scattered a few pieces of terrain,
however, the only pieces that would have any effect on the game were a marsh on
my left flank touching the table edge and a piece of scrub on my right close to
the table edge. We both wanted a fairly head on clash in the open rather than
playing around in terrain.
Mark deployed a very large army from the marsh stretching
all the way across his deployment area. It consisted of 3 commands (I’d
expected 4 to be honest) all irregular as follows. C-in-C: 4 LH(O) including
general, 8 Bd(O), 12 Ax(O), 6 Ps(S), 7 Ps(I); Sub: 4 LH(O) including general, 8
Bd(O), 12 Ax(O), 6 Ps(S), 7 Ps(I); Ally: 4 LH(O) including general, 8 Bd(O), 12
Ax(O), 13 Ps(I). His ally faced my Irish ally. Mark’s battle line was basically
Bd, however, with no terrain to speak of he also had to put some Ax into the
line in order to stretch across the field. I deployed from my left C-in-C, Ally
1, Ally 2 and then the Irish ally with his Ax behind the scrub. Like Mark I had
a front line of Bd, including the (I), and the Kn dismounted as Bd(S) who were
at the left had end of the line. The mounted archers covered the left flank.
All my allies were reliable as was Mark’s. The game that
followed was a classic “as Barker intended” game. We basically marched forward
at each other with the intention of engaging along the line. Mark pushed a few
Ax through the Marsh to put some pressure on my left, however, the Bw(S)
covered the flank nicely and in the end shot the Ax away without getting into
close combat. On the right I extended the Ax line towards the table edge and also
brought the Cv from Ally 2 into the front line hoping to be able to do a bit of
jiggling to get them fighting Ax(O). Mark massed his LH from his centre and
left to face off the Ax as the latter emerged from the scrub whilst also having
a block of Ax of his own there as well. I held back from initiating the combat
hoping to get PIPs to get the Cv into a good position, however, it never
happened and in the end Mark moved to contact – the combat frontage was 35
elements. We now settled down to a shoving match between the Bd lines which
soon broke up as both were mainly Irr and so followed up. My Bd(I) stood up
very well as they don’t follow up and so are pretty much a match for Irr Bd(O).
We both lost casualties due to a few 6-1 type scores, however, Mark suffered on
more of the 4-4 combats with a large dice split he seemed to always lose an
element whilst I just survived. His Ax in the line also fell apart quicker than
you might expect. On the other hand I didn’t have it all my own way, as my
Irish ally’s Ax were being ridden down by the LH with alarming ease. However,
with the flanks opening up for me I broke Mark’s central command after it’s
general was forced to fight one of my Cv whilst overlapped and with other
casualties Mark’s army was only 2.5EE away from breaking. Last bound was then
called and Mark had the last series of combats. In this he broke my Irish ally
and lost another 2EE in the other combats leaving us with a 5-5 and only 0.5EE
from Mark’s army breaking. So near … Great game though.
My afternoon opponent would be Andy Claxton using Later
Swiss who had a 5-5 mutual destruction with a Burgundian Ordonnance in the
morning game. From wandering around during the morning game I knew Andy had
taken the Kn(I) which I felt gave me something to aim at – allies allowing, of
course. Unsurprisingly I defended and Andy invaded along a Rd plus the steep
hills. To this I added a few small woods to keep the battlefield broken up so
as to hopefully channel the rather dangerous Pk(S). This left the table rather
messy apart from Andy’s centre and left hand sector and he placed his baggage
there indicating where his army would be. I now had to decide where his Kn
would be and I decided they would be towards the centre of the table with the
Pk mainly on Andy’s left massed for a big push and on this basis decided to
flank march the Irish ally. I decided on this instead of Anglo-Irish Ally1 on
the basis that although they are weaker in close combat their faster move meant
they could exert pressure more quickly or be more useful if arriving late.
I deployed C-in-C on the right but with the expectation that
many of his troops would actually march to the left, Ally 2 then Ally 1 with
the Irish flank marching as mentioned above. All the Bd sat on the base line as
filler as I didn’t see them as being much use in a game I intended to win
through manoeuvre. Andy deployed much as expected. His left wing command
deployed in a long column just over 300p from the table edge as was 16 Pk(S)
including the C-in-C, 4 Ps(O) and 2 LH(I), his centre was Ps(S) general, 12
Pk(S), 3 Bd(X), 5 Ps(S) and 1 Ps(O) and his right was 4 DBEs Kn(I) including
the general, 8 Pk(S), 3 Bd(X) and 3 Ps(O).
Andy clearly intended to push the Pk heavily on my right,
although a steep hill on my side of the table would disrupt the line somewhat.
However, this plan went west when my flank march rolled a 6 on bound 1. My
other 2 allies were also reliable and I pushed all their cavalry forward on my
left aiming to get at the Kn and use their faster movement along with 2
commands worth of PIPs to take them apart. Andy now had a decision to make as
to how he should counter my flank march – he could take the Kn or the infantry
from his right to support his C-in-C and he chose the infantry possibly because
they were nearer. To make matters worse Andy had fairly poor PIPs for a couple
of bounds and so committed than to bringing up the infantry to support his left
flank. This allowed me to bring on the Irish and pin his C-in-C’s Pk column and
also march the mtd Bw round to support the Cv in their attack on the now rather
isolated Kn. I also managed to sneak a single Ps(I) into Andy’s baggage but in
5 attempts this only managed to destroy 1 element! I now attacked the Kn from
the front with Bw(S) and the flank with Cv led by a general. A gap opened and a
Cv got behind the Kn to block recoils and the Kn sub-general was shot down,
although his command survived for now. However, it was a matter of time and the
rest of the Kn were whittled away in a couple of bounds, although the command
was actually broken by a Bd(X) being killed by Ax(O) on the left flank after
its supports were recoiled. With the Kn gone my Cv went for the baggage and
quickly racked up the necessary EE for the army. Andy did not come away empty
handed though as I’d pushed my Irish too close to his C-in-C’s Pk and he was
able to use the simultaneous move rule to get to grips and so broke the Irish
ally (How I forgot to stand about 39mm off I will never know, doh!). So a 9-1
result by avoiding fighting the Pk.
Saturday evening saw the regulation meal plus booze at the
hotel a number of us were staying in. As ever a great evening.
Sunday morning and game 3 finds the Anglo-Irish invading Germany for
reasons that escape them, especially as there is a strong wind. The Germans,
played by Dave Morrison, have a Feudal C-in-C and I know that they are Pk heavy
with a large Swiss ally. I plan something similar to the last game. Dave
chooses some H(S) plus a Wd all of which land on my base line. OK, I didn’t
want too much terrain but you can have a table that is too bare so I add some
RGo which lands on my right and a piece in Dave’s centre sector towards the
left edge (from his point of view) but 300p away from the edge. His baggage
goes in his left sector and I assume his army will be there and so decide to
flank march again. As I have a nice patch of RGo in front of where his army is
expected I flank march Anglo-Irish Ally 1 (Desmond) as I think that a Bd heavy
attack here will be needed. I deploy Irish on the right, Ally 2 in the centre
and the C-in-C on the open left – again the on-table Bd hide at the rear. Dave
has a City ally on his left of Kn(I) DBE general, 4 Ps(S), 4 Ps(O), 4 Bw(I), 2
Sp(I), 13 Hd(O) and a WWg(I) – the Hd are facing the expected flank march. His centre
is Swiss – 20 Pk(S) including general, 1 Ps(S) and 2 Ps(O), Finally his right
is 12 Pk(O) including general, 4 WWg(O), 3 Cv(S), 6 Cv(O) and 1 Hd(O). The
whole army is squeezed into his left sector as expected with the Cv(O) guarding
the gap between the RGo and his rear table edge – target!
Again all the allies were reliable and I feel I’m pushing my
luck a bit there. On the other hand the flank march does not roll a 6 until
bound 15 – Tiptoft starts to get annoyed with Desmond! However, this does not
stop the attack. The Irish advance and occupy all the RGo which effectively stops
Dave’s City and Swiss from doing much all game, although Dave has a spirited
attack with the City Ps on the Irish Ax and kills 4 for the loss of 2 Ps - a tad annoying. Dave also suffers a bit of
rules confusion thinking that Pk get most of their supporting ranks in RGo and
advances the Swiss to attack the Irish. When I point out the actual situation
the Swiss decide not to attack into the RGo but are effectively out of the game
(not that they were going to do much anyway IMO).
The main action is on my left where the C-in-C sweeps round to attack Dave’s
Cv(O) with the Bw(S) despite the wind. With his Bg to his rear Dave feels his
Cv have to attack, however, they are all destroyed for the loss of 1 Bw(S). My
Cv and LH now pour in to get at the baggage. Dave pulls some Pk from his
C-in-C’s command to try and stop this and in the main does, however, a LH gets
there and starts munching and my Kn dismounted as Bd(S) take on the Pk whilst
the Bw(S) dispose of the City ally general who has also marched over to try and
shore things up – command survives his loss. My flank march finally turns up
but rolls a 1 and so I just bring on the Cv which Dave’s Hd charge in a
desperate attempt to get a command on some freak dice rolls, but this does not
happen. The army then collapses on total losses when the requisite number of Bg
have been eaten and I’ve broken Dave’s C-in-C. 10-0 and I appear to be top of
the heap.
Last game and I’m facing French Ordonnance (later version)
commanded by Adam Worsdale – a rerun of the last game in the first of John’s
competitions and both of us needed a good win to secure 1st place.
Means I will be facing some Swiss along the way again. I defend which is a bad
thing IMO as I really wanted to
invade as I think I needed it to push for a big win. I scatter some RGo and Wd
some of which land to my left, however, the table is rather open - a bit too much for my liking. I toy with a 3rd
flank march thinking that it could get the Irish behind Adam’s lines and into
the Bw(I) he’s bound to have there but in the end I decide not to. I deploy
from my right the C-in-C, Ally 2, Ally 1 and finally the Irish set up in the
open between 2 woods as possible bait to draw off some of the French. My line
is Bd(O) in the centre. Adam deploys from my right A sub of 5 Kn(S), 10 Bw(I)
and 1 Ps(O), Swiss sub of 16 Pk(S), 1 Bd(X) and 3 Ps(O) and on his right his
C-in-C of Kn(S) general, 5 Cv(O), 7 Bd(O), 3 Ps(O), 1 Ps(S), 10 Bw(I) and 1 Art(S).
Once again all my allies were reliable – definitely bucking
the odds here – but after that the luck ran somewhat against me; not terrible
but just enough to cause me problems. Adam pushed forward with most of his army
leaving the Bw and Art at the back – should I have flank marched after all I
thought? My C-in-C’s command pushed round his left and caught a couple of the
Kn(S) he’d left as a flank guard whilst the rest marched to the other wing to
attack Bd. This is where poor PIPs hurt me badly as the C-in-C was now in a
good position to attack the flank and rear of the Swiss, hopefully with
dismounted Kn, but it just never happened until very late on and even then the
Kn were still mounted. I played around with the Swiss with flank threats to
curtail their movement and had Cv to their front and so effectively neutralised
them but didn’t actually kill any, of course. On my left the Irish Ax and Ps
pushed aggressively (well sort of) to threaten the flank of Adam’s Cv(O) but
every time I had a 2-2 to kill 2 with flank attacks I lost every time –
sometimes it goes that way. Adam had a big push with his Bd and a couple of Kn
into my Bd line and Desmond’s command fought like girls and collapsed in very
short order leaving a rather nasty hole in my line. Unfortunately for Adam he
now had a few bounds of poor PIPs and couldn’t exploit his advantage whilst I
got desperate and threw my Kn into the flank of the Swiss general. With a
double overlap I got lucky and killed him on the 2nd attempt but
once again the command survived (in my last 2 comps I’ve killed 6 generals and
only 1 command has broken and that because it had lost more than 6 elements
anyway!) After this the game timed out a bit tamely for a 4-6 loss.
So that gives me 28 points which went up to 33 with the
bonus for finished games that John was using. This gave me 2nd place
after a countback as Martin van Tol also had 33. Mark Clarke won with 36.
All in all a great weekend and also a great start to the
2006 wargaming year J
On a historical note after his long delayed flank march in
game 3 and poor fighting from his troops in game 4 it is likely that the Earl
of Desmond was executed by Tiptoft as was the real case.