To get my mind off irrelevancies I thought I would write up last weekends 2.0
game against Chris Robinson. 
 
Book 3 was the nominated book so I picked out my early Bulgars on account of my
figure mix is all wrong to get my Abbasids into action. The Bulgar is quite fun
though and has picked up since I took to using Avar allies.
 
Early Bulgar 812AD
C1 - Agen RCv(S), 7 RCv(S) - 18ME
C2 - Sgen IKn(F), 16 IAx(O), 10 IPs(O), 1 IBge(I) - 18ME
C3 - Sgen IKn(F), 6 IKn(F), 2 IBge(I) - 18ME
C4 - CiC IKn(F), 21 ILh(S), 2 IBge(I) - 27Me
Army baggage - 5ME
Total 86ME
 
I found I was facing the late version of the Early Hungarian with proper Knights

and everything but nil desperandum.

Broadly it was as follows -
C1 - 16 ILh(F) and about 8 ILh(S)
C2 - 6 IKn(O) and 3 or 4 ICv(S)
C3 - Cin-C with 2 RKn(S), 12 ISp(I), 8 IAx(O), 12 IPs(O)
 
Terrain was minimal - there was some BF in the centre of my deployment zone
close to my table edge and a SH covering the Hungarians left flank, with a GH
pretty much next to it in the left centre of their deployment zone. 
 
No weather, full daylight and Hungarians were invading.
 
I deployed L-R with my light horse command, then my Alans, then the Slavs (with
the Ax in the BF and the Ps extending the line) and then the bulgar nobles
behind the Slav Ps.

I had put the Bulgar nobles facing the SH because that was where I felt they
would be least likely to meet proper Kn and at the least I reasoned they might
keep a lot of enemy infantry from descending from the hills. Also by standing
off a fair way it would take a lot of 1's on the pip dice for them to mount an
attack against my wishes. The slavs were intended to stay safe until I needed a
threat of some sort, whereupon they would emerge from the boggy ground and shout

a lot (in slavic).

Next were the Avars deployed in pretty much a single line (just the general in
the second rank). In this position it would be very difficult for the Hungarians

to attack my army without getting close to the Avars and thereby triggering them

if they were unreliable. On my extreme left was Krum and his Lh horde, hoping to

exploit the open flank, with a long column, waiting to expand out to the table
edge.
 
Aside - does anyone else find that these columns at the end of the
deployment zone are commonplace? I am finding myself configuring commands to
ensure that I can fill this space in short order on one side of the table at
least. Its not an issue but it is a bit formulaic. The advantage is that it
helps ensure that opposing elements tend to be lined up as there will always be
one 20cm from the table edge. 

The Hungarians deployed R-L with the light horse command ((S) in front, (F)
behind and in a big column ready to expand to the tabledge), the knights and
their pals were next, pretty much facing off with the Avars, then the general
with his knights, the spear, the Ax and finally the Ps standing on the SH.
 
The Avars not only stayed loyal but got as many pips as all the Bulgars put
together. Krum held his men together while expanding to the left. All the other
Bulgars stayed put although I advanced the Slav archers to make sure
the Bulgar nobles had some space to advance without riding over them. Also I
wanted to lure the opposing Ax and Ps down from their SH so the nobles could
have their way with them but as traps go it was labelled in big letters with
yellow and black hazard tapes all around it. It still served to pin the
Hungarian spear though as, whilst they were probably not that worried about a
frontal fight with Slav Ax, they would be less happy about doing it while their
flanking light troops were ridden down by Kn(F).

The key move was to wheel the Avars to the left and gallop across the front of
Krums LH horde before facing right again. As this was in many ways the defining
move for what followed its worth considering the logic.

First the Avars were faced by Irr Cv(S) and Kn(O) - this is not a matchup I
wanted as, although I knew the (S) factor might get me one or two kills, the
threat of the QK with no (S) defensive bonus to mitigate meant that my Avars
could go down as readily as a Bangkok ladyboy.

Second, although Krum's LH horde had the advantage that it was all (S) whereas
the facing Hungarians had only a thin crust of (S) in front of the (F) potential
victims, the (S) modifier would be cancelled out as both sides were Lh so it
would take time to hack through them and could easily be attritional rather than
dynamic. By using the Cv I brought the (S) factor into play. I knew that Chris
would probably hold his Lh back until I came within charge reach of him as he
would be keen to engage with his Kn/Cv(S) first so whoever was at the front had
to be reasonably sturdy. By putting the Avars there I gave myself an extra
factor, however I also brought the (S) factor into play for the Hungarians as
well as myself.

Third, Krums LH horde was wide enough to cover both flanks of the Avars and to
provide opposition to the Hungarian heavy horse, where it would be better to
take a few 1ME losses than to risk the 2ME Avars. If I lost some Avars to the
Hungarian Lh then Krum's boys could fill the gaps with ease and keep the
pressure on. 
 
With that move the die was cast and, as in the ensuing bloodbath I rarely saw
evidence that my combat dice had any score less than 4 on it, it proved to be a
good gamble.
 
The Avar shock line came up to 240p of the Hungarian Lh, Krums Lh advanced to
extend their front on both flanks. The Hungarians charged and failed to do that
much damage. The ensuing Avar and Bulgar countercharge tore great holes through
the opposing Lh(S) and brought the yummy scrummy Lh(F) into the battle. 
 
Meantime the Hungarian heavy horse were being inconvenienced by a couple of Slav
Ax exploiting good pips for the command to be annoying on their flank. They kept
the Kn(S) occupied because whilst they could have squished them, the pursuit
would have taken them into a position where some of my Lh would be able to
perform a thorough rectal examination.

Good fortune helped though. While the Avars were inhuming the Hungarian light
horse, the Bulgar Lh stood up to the Hungarian heavies really well. Elements
fled rather than died and were able to exploit Kn pursuits to get some 2-1's
with an (S) factor so I actually inflicted some losses. The messier it got, the
more it suited me as my Lh could move for 1 pip to get somewhere interesting
whereas all the Hungarians required 2 pips. 
 
It took about 3 combined bounds for the Avars to break through. Meantime Krum
used his C-i-C's pip to keep the bulk of his LH horde under command whilst
spending any pips rolled to break off whichever Lh elements could do most
damage. The speed with which these were able to turn on the Hungarian heavy
horse, who were struggling anyway, ensured that this command swiftly buckled the
moment the light horse went. 
 
While all this was happening the Hungarian infantry had advanced, just to give
the Slavs something to spend their pips on, to stop them doing irritating stuff
against the Kn. This allowed the Bulgar nobles to charge and although they were
less impressive than the rest of the army they didn't have much trouble riding
down light troops and thereby halting the infantry advance before the bulk of
the Slavs could be engaged. 
 
The game ended as a 25-0, more extreme than it should have been but as me and
Chris play at much the same standard and are both very aggressive then the dice
often make the difference with even a small tilt having a big effect. It was
apparent that the new (S) mounted factors will require a bit of practice to
assimilate and exploit. Also it was clear that there will always be a bit of
gambling required and that there will often be unexpected gaps to fill, making
reserves and adequate pips vital. We both enjoyed the game though and I am
looking forward to getting the Bulgars in action again, if for no other reason,
because as the list says, its fun to be Krum.