Feudal English v Ottoman Turk Battle reports

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Paul K
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Feudal English v Ottoman Turk Battle reports

Post by Paul K »

Feudal English
2 x Knights
4 x Mounted Sergeants
11 x Archers
6 x Spearmen
4 x Generals

Ottoman Turk
1 x Qapukulu Cavalry
3 x Sipahis Cavalry
3 x Akinjis Light Horse
6 x Spearmen
6 x Azab Archers
1 x Large field gun
4 x Generals

Game 1
This game pitted the Feudal English army against the Ottomans in an intriguing encounter fought across a terrain layout chosen and placed by Andre, our experienced topographic engineer. Dave and Karl took charge of the Ottomans and Tony and I the English. The Ottomans won the di roll for choice of table side, second deployment and first move, which saw them advance their cavalry on their left and move the infantry to occupy a wood to the left of centre.
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Tony and I had decided to keep our 11 units of archers in a continuous unbroken line across the table and let the Ottomans come to us and hopefully win the shooting battle. However, after repulsing the first Ottoman cavalry attack, Tony went on to advance and the rest of the English archers continued this advance across the board. This exposed our left to close range fire from the Ottoman large field guns which proved to be just an irritation. The Ottoman line now had both flanks protected by two areas of woodland in which their Azab archers enjoyed cover. We abandoned our original plan to engage in a shooting battle and attack their centre because our opponents pulled their light cavalry behind their centre as they switched across to engage our right wing.
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The battle then evolved into two separate engagements on the left and right while the two opposing centres simply snarled at each other keeping just out of bow range. The English had gained a territorial advantage now controlling two thirds of the field. This resulted in a tight hand-to-hand contest on Tony’s wing in which he had squeezed the Ottoman cavalry into fighting on a narrow front. On the other flank, after much manoeuvring, my archers won the shooting battle forcing the Ottoman cavalry to retreat which enabled my infantry to get ready to attack the wood defended by spearmen and azab archers.
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After some brutal hand-to-hand combat the English gained the upper hand on the our left which put the Ottomans in a very difficult position with little room to manoeuvre, their centre facing a solid line of English archers and their left wing about to be assaulted by a much greater number English infantry and mounted sergeants of starting to encircle the wood. At this point the Ottoman commanders made an executive decision and concede the game to the Feudal English. Huzzzah! A re-match was scheduled for the same time next week!
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Game 2

In this second game between these adversaries the terrain features were towards the sides of the battlefield with plenty of open space in the centre which would provide plenty of room for the cavalry to manoeuvre. The Ottomans won the di roll for choice of table edge and first move which they used to gain ground, concentrating their infantry on their right and cavalry left of centre. The English quickly established an unbroken line of archers across the centre of the table and sent infantry and cavalry to occupy the woodland on their right. This was a very strong defensive position which would represent a major problem to the Ottoman cavalry opposite.
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Two hexes of woodland to the left of the English centre were occupied by two units of English archers and would soon become key to the outcome of the battle. The unit of Ottoman large field guns kept punishing the English bow line, but as soon as one unit of archers recoiled another took its place. A road which stretched across the battlefield and passed by the two aforementioned woodland hexes provided the opportunity for a quick movement and attack from both sides. This was to provide the conduit for the Ottoman cavalry to quickly support their infantry attack on the English left.
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When the opposing archers got into shooting range neither side succeeded in gaining an advantage and Andre and I decided to commit the English knights and mounted sergeants to the infantry battle on the left. We needed to knock the Ottoman azabs and spearmen backwards in order to gain some territory in which to manoeuvre our forces and establish some battle lines. However, the Ottoman infantry fought well and the battle became a tight mass of battling units. Into this maelstrom, Tony committed the Ottoman cavalry and an additional general. The game remained balanced for a couple of game turns as both sides lost units and fed in reserves. A unit of Qapukulu heavy cavalry accompanied by a general forced its way into the two hex wood and was virtually surrounded, yet held its ground and in so doing prevented more English units joining the epic struggle on the left. This was the event which clinched the victory for the Ottomans – revenge for the previous battle perhaps, but the Ottomans won the territorial game this time and he who controls the ground usually wins!
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Game Analysis.
The English army established a very strong shooting line of archers supported on either flank by woodland, however, this line was not far enough forward to create enough space to manoeuvre once the Ottoman infantry were committed. Unlike in the previous battle, the Ottoman cavalry did not engage in a shooting match with the English archers, instead they created a stand-off situation in the centre, which ultimately enabled them to come across and support their already engaged infantry on the English left. This tipped the balance in the Ottomans favour, with too many English units unable to move quickly enough in the tight space to support their beleaguered left wing.
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Kind regards
Paul

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Norm
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Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:45 pm

Re: Feudal English v Ottoman Turk Battle reports

Post by Norm »

Interesting and a vindication of the rules that both armies could call a win after two games. Looks like the Ottomans effectively neutralised the English bow threat .... but I wonder how things would have gone had the Ottomans not had a terrain advantage to exploit on the flank (the gap).

All done on a nice and convenient sized table.
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