Norman v Saxon

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Paul K
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Norman v Saxon

Post by Paul K »

This classic Saxon v Norman confrontation saw Chris’s Saxons pitted against my Normans across a terrain punctuated by small areas of woodland and small hills and escarpments. A single road weaved its way across from one table edge to the other which would in many ways justify the battle location. The Saxons deployed first and my Normans second. In response to the greater number of Saxon units for the same points count, I concentrated all 6 units of Norman cavalry on my left wing, archers in the centre, and armoured infantry on the right.
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The Saxon first move saw Chris quickly occupy the wood and 3 hex escarpment either side of the central road. My Norman battle plan was to use my greater speed to attack and defeat the Saxon right wing before the mass of Saxons from the left could bring their numbers into action. However, the Saxon shield wall was bolstered by 5 units of ‘A’ class housecarls and these were a major challenge for my cavalry to deal with.
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My first attack with Norman spear and cavalry units on the Saxon line was efficiently repulsed. The 3 hex escarpment bounced back my armoured cavalry and a general – the Saxon housecarls on the summit did not have to follow-up their success because they were A class infantry. As a result my beaten cavalry licked its wounds and prepared for a second assault. I then tried to attack the woodland on the extreme right of the Saxon line with my infantry and these units were again repulsed back, disrupted, with many stands lost. Another unit of housecarls including a general defended the gap between the steep slope of the central escarpment and defeated every attempt to dislodge it!
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Norman armoured infantry units on my right wing had been the task of holding back twice their number of Saxons. They had no choice but to pull back and avoid combat, and in doing so, hopefully buy time for my cavalry to achieve some success in the centre and the opposite wing. My Normans charged in for a third attempt at breaking Chris’s Saxon shield wall. This attempt however, was even more disastrous than the previous two. More than half the Norman cavalry was lost and the rest sent fleeing. Only my depleted units of archers held the Norman position in the centre.
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Chris launched his massed Saxon hordes against my armoured infantry on my right – the defeat of these would quickly deliver a Saxon victory. Remarkably, these units held and in doing bought me some time to re-organise my scattered and depleted army. I noticed that there was only 1 Saxon general on the Saxon left controlling the biggest part of the Saxon army. I sent a general and as many units as I could muster across to engage the Saxon hordes. The resulting combats saw the dice rolls switch very favourably towards the Normans. One after another in a domino effect, the Saxon hordes were defeated, and the disruption of their only general stopped any command and control of the remainder.
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The victorious Saxons from the right wing could not move across quickly enough to help their disintegrating left wing. The 3 hex escarpment which had been a key bastion of the Saxon defence line, now hindered the movement of the Saxon relief force. The combat dice kept delivering excellent results for the Normans, embarrassingly so in fact. The early Norman heavy losses had gradually been reversed and the Saxon units were now out-numbered and down to their last general. Chris studied the table and gave the win to the Normans. I just looked at the dice still in my hand in disbelief at the results they have delivered in the later stages of the game!
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Game Analysis
My early Norman attacks on the Saxon position were repeatedly defeated with heavy losses and virtually eliminated all 6 units of the Norman cavalry. Only the out-numbered Norman infantry were left to eventually reverse the path of the game assisted by an almost unbelievable set of very favourable combat results.
Kind regards
Paul

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