Pitting a French medieval army against a Teutonic army of 250 points each is always going to be a brutal affair – both armies have a very powerful heavy cavalry contingent and large numbers of crossbow armed infantry equipped with pavisses.
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The Teutonic army had mobile shooters in the form of 3 units of ‘B’ class mounted crossbows whilst the French had 6 units of mounted men-at-arms against 4 units of ‘A’ class Teutonic Knights, An interesting contest. The opposing infantry were reasonably well matched with the French crossbows, men-at-arms plus 3 units of ‘D’ peasants against Teutonic crossbows, spearmen and 3 units of ‘C’ class militia.
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The terrain was open with a road passing from one table edge to another with two 4 hex hills located either side of the road. Small areas of forest located near to either side of the field were also to impact the game significantly.
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Opening moves saw both lines of crossbows close on each other with the knights and mounted men-at-arms following closely behind. My peasants headed for the protection of the area of woodland on my left wing. Tony pushed his infantry line to the base of the 4 hex hills and his 3 units mounted crossbow across to face the extreme left of my line. This was a potent threat, and I advanced more infantry units into the wood to support the peasants.
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The crossbow units engaged in a extended shooting match in which the ‘B’ class Teutonic units were disrupted 2 of my ‘C’ class French crossbow. These disrupted units prevented me from launching a full charge of my French knights (mounted men-at-arms), through my crossbow line. This continued for another round of shooting and so I took a gamble and charged the 4 units of knights capable of reaching the Teutonic line. I also committed 2 generals with the knights to strengthen the attack.
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Meanwhile, Tony was busy shooting peasants on my left and his mounted crossbows were sucking more of my units from the centre to replace the fleeing peasants and strengthen the defence of the woodland. Over the next couple of game turns this contest on the left wing pulled in a third of my French army.
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My French knights broke through the Teutonic crossbows but found themselves confronted by units of Teutonic knights and spearmen. My defence of the 4 hex hill on my right wing soon became the key to my survival as my French knights and generals were soon surrounded and defeated, The Teutonics followed up this success by charging my French crossbow units. In the resulting hand-to-hand combat phases 4 of the 7 units of crossbows were lost and another sent fleeing losing a stand.
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At this point of the game, I had resigned myself to the defeat of my French. However, I still held the woodland on the left and the 4 hex hill on my right. The loss of either of these terrain features would cement the Teutonic victory, but remarkably somehow both held. My French infantry did a sterling job against the Teutonic infantry and bought me just enough time to bring my last 2 units of French knights into the centre to challenge the Teutonic knights.
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The game would be in effect decided by just 2 combats, both involving these last 2 units of French knights. Remarkably, the dice gods delivered for my French! Tony, had unfortunately perfected the art of rolling low numbers at just the wrong time for 2 units of his Teutonic knights which were removed from play. My stubborn infantry were still in control of the woodland and hill and now had 2 units of rampant French knights and a general to come to their aid. Tony studied the situation and gave the game to my battered French army.
Game Analysis
I think that I have enjoyed a lot of luck with the dice in recent games and this game was no exception. Tony played a better tactical game than I, but in all honesty, I don’t think that the dice rolls went against me in any of the ‘must win’ combats. The remarkable defence of the 4 hex hill by my infantry paved the way for too many game saving combats in which the French won every one.
