Manlii v Julii Game 15

Game 15 – Byzantine Era 1: Eastern Later Roman transition to Early Byzantine

Early Byzantine (Alec 165 pts) v Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (Gordon 170 pts)

Minor invasion 536 CE (ADLG Std, 12-Apr-2023).

Battlefield Effects: Byzantines: Terrain advantages 3 – River battle

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

As the Byzantine invader against the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths this is going to be a fight against a host of impetuous heavy cavalry who will try to sweep me off the board in a flurry of furious charges.

I feel that my best hope of victory has got to be to outmanoeuvre Gordon’s Ostrogoths by having three commands of fairly equal troops If I give each some good cavalry, some infantry and some light troops commanded by a goodish commander each one can act as a mini army in its own right. That way, however Gordon deploys I will hopefully be able to take advantage of my better manoeuvrability to get on flanks whilst using the infantry to blunt the charge.

The Battlefield effect turned out to be the River Battle, of no use to me as, whilst some terrain will be useful, I don’t want the battlefield to be closed down so much; so I’ll use the Universal Battlefield Effect.

That’s the plan!

The Battle

 The terrain fell in a largely random fashion but I was not disappointed by how it turned out, a marsh in the centre and some fields and plantations on either side. This meant Gordon's forces would have to be deployed somewhat broken up which could only be advantageous to me.

Gordon deployed with six elite impetuous cavalry on his left, four average impetuous cavalry in the centre with two Hun light horse and an infantry command on his right consisting of mediocre spear and bowmen.

I deployed my three equal commands side by side with a light infantry unit in a plantation on my left. Clearly the main threat was going to come from Gordon's right so I determined to try and break up that force as soon as possible. On my left there was too much bad terrain for me to operate with my cavalry so I assumed a fairly defensive posture.

Having the first move I advanced forward with all my cavalry and light horse plus my right flank and central command Skoutatoi heavy swordsmen. My left wing infantry I held back - no point in advancing into enemy bow range too soon.

The position at the end of my first turn was as follows:

In Gordon's turn I used the Universal Battlefield Effect to cancel Gordon's attempt to hold his right flank cavalry, forcing two to charge my Moorish light horse which evaded. First blood went to Gordon - his bowmen obtained a hit on one of my two elite heavy cavalry Boukellarioi. The position at the end of Gordon's first turn was as follows:

On my second turn I advanced my right and centre. I managed to recover the disorder on the Boukellarioi whilst managing to hit one of Gordon's Huns. The turn ended as follows:

In Gordon's turn he charged his centre cavalry forward whilst withdrawing his Hun light horse, I evaded.  On my right I evaded with the two Kavallarioi heavy cavalry whilst the Gothic heavy cavalry that I had previously managed to pull forward charged full tilt into my infantry, winning both combats, clearly that little trick looked like it wasn't going to work out to my advantage. That was a bit of a problem for me as if Gordon managed to finish them off he would be able to swing his elite cavalry on his left round towards the centre and commence the hoovering up of my army. The move ended as follows:

In my next turn I manoeuvred the Moors to support the Skoutatoi on my right, in the centre I finally was able to make use of my greater manoeuvrability - I managed to turn onto the flank of one of the Gothic heavy cavalry. With two supporting Huns I was expecting great things, however the dice gods thought otherwise! The result was a tie. 

Elsewhere I basically just continued to send arrows in Gordon's army's direction. I only achieved one hit - on one of the Gothic cavalry in the centre. The battle on my right continued - I won one combat and Gordon won one.

In his turn Gordon decided to get stuck in. He charged into contact with his centre cavalry and advanced those on his left forward also. His infantry wing slowly advanced towards my ambush, I was happy here for those units to take as long as they liked! 

Gordon turned the central Gothic cavalry to face my flanking unit (exposing that unit's flank to my infantry as it did so) and also swung his Huns to their left to counter mine. In the centre his heavy cavalry charged into my Boukellarioi, casualties continued to mount on both sides, as the picture below shows:

The next turn saw Gordon advance into the plantation close enough to spring my (underwhelming) ambush - a skirmishing bowmen, it had to happen sometime. I managed to get the upper hand in the centre, my elite Boukellarioi performing well against his average cavalry. In my turn I managed to take out all of his central command heavy cavalry, the flank attack finally bearing fruit. 

On my right the Skoutatoi that looked like they would fall over at any time not only continued to hold but were getting the upper hand, destroying one of his elite cavalry. At the end of my turn the situation was as follows:

The following turn saw Gordon's army go over it's army rout level - ending the game. The final position was as follows:

For once my the game went largely as planned. Helped by a favourable terrain set up to be sure, and a bit of luck here and there, but I managed to break up the Gothic cavalry charge and use the superior Byzantine cavalry manoeuvrability to take on the Gothic army where there was a local advantage while picking at its flanks.

Gordon's comments

Pre-Game

Ostrogoths vs Early Byzantine. As Ostrogoths I will have to cope with an army of impetuous heavy cavalry and a low army command rating of 2. I will be outmanoeuvred so will look for a terrain set up that allows a simple line up and charge solution. Although Alec has to play to win, if I sit there I will lose because responding to his movements will be tricky.

I choose a lot of heavy cavalry, upgrade an entire command to elite, and 4 bowmen and two spearmen to form a solid centre or a solid flank depending on terrain. Downgrade the spearmen to mediocre as I am not setting out to win with them, just avoid losing and they can still provide some support to the archers.

Take a couple of Hun light horse as a bit of variety.

 The game

I choose some fields to try to close the battlefield down a bit without causing my own cavalry too much trouble. Alec chooses a deep water flank (actually I didn't go with a deep water flank, Gordon is mis-remembering - I went with the marsh you can see slap bang in the middle of the table!) and plantations, which helps. The terrain ends up dividing my half of the table into a series of relatively well protected discrete sections with space for a command and terrain to protect flanks against his cavalry and heavy infantry.

He deploys three mixed infantry and cavalry commands. I deploy the elite cavalry command on the left, the non-elite cavalry in the centre and the infantry command against the deep water. I will wait until he gets close enough for a charge to sweep him away. Simple enough and I will have an initial advantage against most of his heavy cavalry if I can catch them and if they don’t shoot me into disorder first.

Alec advances quickly. I advance my infantry to check what his ambush is (my archers should beat any light infantry) and to threaten his left flank. I advance the light horse to counter his and slows things down while I move my infantry.

Alec gets close and forces my left flank cavalry to charge when they are too far apart to have any realistic chance of catching his cavalry. In the centre I don’t have the command points to hold my cavalry and have to get them to charge. He evades and I don’t catch him. Some small losses from shooting but my cavalry are intact.

We come into contact on the left with my heavy cavalry against his infantry – his support reduces the effectiveness of my charge, but I have the best of the combat (basically all down to the luck of the dice). In the centre I am not as lucky: my uncontrolled charge exposes a flank but he loses with a 5-1 result which saves me.

Next turn more engagement along the line. I continue to be lucky against his left flank infantry although his rallying reduces the danger. In the centre he has the benefit and my units start to take losses. My infantry slowly move to support (ordinary commander is very limited in what they can do and there is a lot to do).

Ultimately, my centre disappears for no significant loss to him. Despite some success on my left my losses elsewhere are too great and I reach break point. 

Post-Game

The luck flowed back and forth (my left was very lucky and my centre not so lucky). Given my troop choice, limited command and the terrain (which I think favoured me) I am not sure there was any more realistic plan. Perhaps deeper deployment in the centre for a big punch, but multiple lines don’t really work, although a reserve unit is always useful. 

Result

Byzantine win - Two Prestige Points to the Manlii