Campaign 2009


First up, a great big thank-you to Neil Sutherland and all the MKWS boys who did such a great job of organising this year's Campaign.  I had a great time, even if my results could have been rather better!

Since the event takes place in the middle of the main shopping centre, we're right in there with the public.  Cue much chatting with husbands and small boys and generally doing one's best to advertise the hobby.  Cue also nipping off and buying birthday presents and other such items at lunchtime, thus earning back at least a very small percentage of the brownie points expended!  :o)

I was in the Open section, using Henry VI 100YW English (OK, fantasy-list as, so far as I know, Henry VI never took the field in the 100YW period, but the rules allow a Reg Kn(S) general if it's the King, so there he was - albeit decked out in Arthur's heraldry...)  I decided that his more glorious Dad made the army too small due to his Brilliance.  When faced with 3 Inert-led Burgundians I felt that that was the right call, but then again, maybe doubling the PIPs might have brought matters to an earlier head in two of those games?

The list, briefly, was:-

Henry VI CinC Reg Kn(S), 2 Irr Kn(S), 5 Irr Kn(S), 6 mntd Reg Bw(S) + 3 PO: 24/6.5/8.5

Bedford Reg Kn(O), 4 Reg Kn(I)/Bd(S), 10 mntd Reg Bw(S) + 5 PO:  22/6/7.5

Somerset Reg Kn(O), 3 Irr Ps(S), 3 Irr Ps(I), 1 Reg Art (I), 4 Reg Bd(O), 3 Reg Bw(S): 15/4/5.5

No baggage

Stratagems: Feigned Flight

Game 1 - Richard Jeffrey-Cook - Inert Burgundian Ordonnance

Getting used to the army (first time I actually put it on the table!)  Terrain was a couple of GH on Richard's right-hand side and a large SH on his left.  A Rd ran across my rear and up Richard's left flank.  On my left/Richard's right, Richard hid his Pk(I) behind the GH hill crest, fearful of the effect of Bedford's massed longbowmen, and refused to come out.  I advanced and FFed away from them, but they still wouldn't oblige.  (Neil's ruling was that inert-led troops can pursue a FF.)

Richard's own Bw(S) advanced around my left flank, where they shot to little effect at the Bedford's dismounted Bd(S).  Some of his Kn charged the flank of the re-organising longbowmen, but we got some stakes in in time and shot a couple of them from their horses.

Somerset advanced his Bd and Bw(S) in the middle, trying to focus Richard's CinC's attention, while Henry's longbowmen and Kn swiftly marched up the Road and turned Richard's flank, but Henry's boys were only just advancing to contact when time was called.  Sadly, that was also the moment that Somerset had got himself tangled up in his efforts to support his own command in the centre, and fell off his horse, taking out his command in the process.  10-15 losing draw.

Round 2 - Dave Mather, Early Byzantine.

The right hand side of the table was covered in Wds, while the left was mainly taken up by a pair of huge GHs.  We both had various brainf**ts.  Dave's was to send his small Hunnic ally on a flank-march on the right, coming in behind the Wds.  Since my army was all on the left, this was a shame for him - I'd have been in some trouble with impetuous LH(S) in my rear.  On the other hand, it kept that small command out of range of my longbow!

Dave's second "surprise move" was to sit his Byzantine Reg LH(S) on a GH like a bunch of pansies while demonstrating in front of the Bw(S) with his Cv(S).  I advanced Henry's Kn to the bottom of the hill and dared the hun-impersonators to come down and fight like men, while pushing Bedford's massed Bw(S) into the Cv(S), where they proceeded to shoot the bucellarii up a treat.

I then rolled 3 1s for PIPs, and "high-PIPping Henry" couldn't hold his Kn back (they had broken into 2 groups for this move (and only this move), to expand to cover the front). So, up the hill we go.  Never fear - Henry and the Kn(S) are leading the charge and they're allegedly invulnerable.  Sadly, they weren't and the loss of the biggest command meant the army fell shortly afterwards, despite amazingly prolonged holdouts (and enemy casualties) from isolated groups of Bw(S) being mugged by exultant pursuing LH(S). We had disheartened the bucellarii and if Henry had held out slightly longer we only had to shoot down one more Cv(S) and 1-2 more LH(S) to have broke the Byzantine army.  However - 3-22 loss.  Oops.

Game 3 - Jim Gibson with Inert Burgundian Ordonnance.

Wds and GHs and BF alternated across my deployment area.  Jim had one big Wd in his centre right, behind which he hid his main body of Kn and some Pk.  His artillery park screened off the left of the table, and I didn't fancy playing there.  I didn't fancy taking on Jim's Kn/Bw(X) combo with Bd(S)/Bw(S) so it was stalemate on that side.  I did pop the Child family Reg Kn(I) back on their horses and send them off to skirmish, and Jim and I had a happy 3 hours chasing/being chased back again over on that flank.

On the right, horrid Henry led his Bw and Kn in a big on-table hook again, coming in on the flank of Jim's Bw/Bd and Kn/Pk.  Somerset pushed his men through the Wd toward the front of that lot, but I hadn't realised just how big a big Wd is at 80p a go (low PIPs), and they basically got lost...  Henry's men began to engage and we started to chew the Burgundian infantry up from the flank (great shooting dice on my part).  It was all too little, too late, however.  In the final bound, the Art(I) took its only shot of the competition and blew up an enemy Ps(S) that exactly accounted for 20% of Jim's army.  :o)  I think that it was a 14-11 to me?  (Things were a bit hazy after 9-10 straight hours of game-time.)

Game 4 - Gordon Harrow, Seljuq Turks

Sunday morning, suitably refreshed - but "Lo!" Costa doesn't open for another 2 hours.  Disaster.

The terrain on my side was a big Wd either side, between which I wedged all my infantry with Henry's Kn in reserve.  Gordon deployed his all-mounted army with Cv(S)/Kn in the centre and huge commands of 3-deep LH(S) either side.  He then charged straight at me.

In went the stakes.  Gordon had apparently forgotten about them.  I didn't realise that they don't work against LH!  Oooo-eerrr.  Time for some good dice!

And I did get good dice!  In the centre, the Kn(F) evaporated (as expected) and the Cv(S) followed shortly.  The LH(S) were hard-as nails, on the other hand, but so were the Bw(S) when in close-combat.  Eventually, just as Gordon was beginning to thin Bedford's ranks on the left, one of Gordon's wings went disheartened and then fell apart and we took the win, 23-2 IIRC.  Henry's knights hadn't done a thing other than cheer!  :o)

Round 5 - Phil Hosker and another Inert Burgundian Ordonnance.

Sunday evening, and my third Inert B.O.  The first two had been drawn-out skirmishes, and I was determined to fight this one to a result.

Terrain framed the deployments, a big Wd on Phil's left marking his far flank, and similar on my left. He deployed the artillery park against the Wd (thus limiting my right-flank deployment), then a couple of columns of Bd, a long line of Bw(X), some Bw(S) back by Kn and then some more Bw(S) and LH(I).  Bedford faced off the enemy on the left and we had a lot of Bw(X) vs Bw(S) shooting to not a lot of effect, although I did 6-1 a Bd(S) with my first shot, which I think annoyed Phil!

Somerset advanced in the middle, supporting the end of Bedford's Bw(S).  I had high hopes of getting the billmen into the Bw(X).  Sadly, while the Bw(S)/Bw(X) was inconclusive, the Bw(X) vs Bd(O) wasn't and Somerset's boys went down like flies.  A bit awkward, what with that being the small command...

On the right, Henry's mounted archers had zipped around the Wd and shot up the LH(I) and then the enemy Bw(S) (advancing on them from the corner, I was able to get 3 Bw(S) onto 1 Bw(S) who couldn't shoot back, with terminal effects).  Henry himself lined up his Kn on the enemy Kn(O), with himself and the other Kn(S) leading the charge, and in we thundered.  Henry's household knights bullied their way forward. Sadly, the neighbouring Kn(S) died on impact (see Dave R, Kn(S) can be killed by Kn(O)!!).  Although Henry held out for a couple of bounds thereafter, fighting against the enemy general and being double-overlapped/hard-

flanked, the second rank of Gascons just couldn't quite get back up to their King in time to remove the pin.  When he died, so did the hopes of England, and the battle was lost - 7-18.

A great competition, and five really enjoyable games.  I can understand the attractions of 25mm games and 25mm figures having spent the whole weekend in the company of my new little big men.  Rather like my giant dice, once you get used to the bigger toys the smaller ones seem rather inadequate!

I wouldn't really want to have followed the herd and fielded an Inert Burgundian Ordonnance.  I felt that all of my three B.O. opponents found themselves handicapped by terrain and lacking PIPs to really get around it and/or manoeuvre particularly positively themselves.  With more time I might have unpicked Jim, and Richard and I would definitely have had a result, albeit maybe not the one I would have liked.  I'd have played differently against Phil too, less front on and more scrunched over to the right - trying to get Henry's Kn around the outside and force the Burgundians to redeploy their whole army.

I do wonder whether I should have risked taking Henry V and the smaller army?  That had been the original plan, but it meant losing an ME or 2 on all three commands.  However, the brilliant PIP-doubling/PIP re-allocation and the ability to take Short Hook rather than Feigned Flight would have changed the way 4 out of the 5 games were fought (it might have cost me the game against Gordon, ironically!)

Ah well, maybe next year!

Cheers,

Tim Child