Manlii v Julii Game 19

Game 19 – Byzantine Era 3: Thematic Byzantine

Thematic Byzantine (Gordon 6,500 pts) v ‘Abbasid Arab (Alec 6,500 pts)

Minor Defence 890 CE (MeG Magna, 11-May-2023).

Battlefield Effects: None

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

This is a Byzantine Minor Defence against the Abbasid Arab Caliphate. Gordon bid first and went with 6,500 points – the same as the Arabs, so as I wanted the chance to score the two points I let him be the Romans.

With me as the Arabs, as in the last game, it’s going to up to me to force the pace which may prove to be a bit difficult as the Byzantine charging lancers are lethal in the charge.

My advantages are:

·        I am the invader so I will get to move first; and

·        I should have more shooting capability.

What I will try to do is advance as far as possible across the table in the first turn in order to try a shooting retreat with my Turkish Ghilmen across the table hoping to cause casualties before I have to go into hand-to-hand combat. I will attempt to manoeuvre my infantry forward to act as backstops for the bow-armed the cavalry whilst using my long spear-armed Arab cavalry on each flank ready to look for any advantageous position to look for an attack opportunity.

That’s the plan!

The Battle

Terrain placement: Gordon stuck a village and enclosed field right in the centre of the battlefield. I put a wood down on my left and a field on my right.

Deployment: Gordon placed his infantry on his right and a large number of charging lancers on his left with an ambush in the village. I matched him with the infantry on the left and put my Turkish Ghilmen behind some infantry ready to react to Gordon's moves with his left wing cavalry.

In our first turns we marched our infantry forward, Gordon attempted to take the enclosed field and hold it with some skirmishing bowmen. On his left Gordon advanced with his cavalry sending two TUGs on a left hook. 

In the next couple of turns I chased Gordon's skirmishers out of the field and entered the village, triggering Gordon's ambush - another group of skirmishers.

On my right I moved my Turkish Ghilmen round to guard my right flank.

A couple of turns later Gordon charged in on my right flank. This was going to be the crucial battle - if the Byzantine lancers performed will they could take down my flank guard and would be through into my rear. I had to choose whether to stay put with my Ghilmen or evade and also whether to shoot at the approaching lancers (giving the Byzantines a melee advantage) or not. I chose to stay put and maximise my melee chances.

As it happened the initial Byzantine shooting and charging was devastating! My cavalry units were barely hanging on in there - my infantry unit disappeared under his horses hooves though it managed to destroy one base of Byzantine cavalry before they went under!

On my left I manoeuvred my cavalry around through the wood and slowly pushed my infantry through the difficult terrain. In the fighting phase I was expecting to see my cavalry on my right flank go under, Gordon however failed to score a single hit giving me a one round reprieve.

The situation at the end of the turn was as follows:

In the next turn's charge phase I had to throw my unprotected Arab mercenary cavalry into the fight - they disappeared in one turn along with one more of my right-hand cavalry TUGs, as below:

At this point, having lost three of the five TUGS needed for my army to break I threw in the towel. I only had a couple of turns left before Gordon finished off my right wing and took my camp, giving him the extra two he needed for the win and I was not going to be able to achieve much elsewhere so there was no point continuing.

Another game showcasing the power of the charging lancer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Gordon's comments

 Pre-Game

Being in the lead and simply not having to lose to gain points I bid the 6500 points for the Byzantines. Alec accepts that and takes the Abbasids.

Abbasids have a fair bit of choice and I decide to expect a relatively cavalry heavy force (wrong!). To an extent it doesn’t make a lot of difference because the Byzantine list doesn’t have much in the way of good infantry. It appears very much an offensive army with lots of charging lancer cavalry. So, I choose 6 of them, including two elite Tagmatic units (who are also melee experts). A couple of Skutatoi to provide some solid defence against cavalry and infantry; I might regret taking only two if Alec does have lots of cavalry and we have open terrain but that is why I have lots of lancers.

A couple of light infantry to make up the numbers. For these I will try to get some terrain in which they can hide. Terrain will also help the skutatoi and the light infantry might delay his attack by forcing him to spend cards rallying wounds.

I decide against light cavalry for two reasons: 1. I can’t use them well; 2. if he has lots of cavalry they will be chased off the table, and if he has lots of infantry they won’t do much. And my lancers are there to get stuck in, so no point trying to skirmish with an army of ghilmen.

Three professional generals: two competent and one mediocre. Probably enough to manage the army. Especially as my lancers aren’t going to need any prompting to get into contact and the Skutatoi are going to stand around looking frightening.

I think I can handle open flanks, with a bit of luck, and also a straight forward charge to victory.

 

The game

I went for some terrain to hide the light infantry, annoy his cavalry and any heavy infantry he has. I got a village and a field to protect my right, and Alec placed a wood which also helped.

I was outscouted, so deployed my infantry behind the terrain, with an ambush of light infantry in the village. Alec deployed a mix of cavalry and infantry opposite the infantry. I next deployed some cavalry in the open gap between the left table edge and the village. Alec put down some more infantry opposite my infantry. I put the rest of my cavalry in the gap. Alec put down some more infantry and some more cavalry facing them, but closer to his centre.

Looks like Alec is going to advance through the terrain to overwhelm my few infantry and then take my camp. However, he has given me an opportunity to get round his right flank. He has good troops but my charging lancers have an advantage in the charge (even against the infantry, especially my superior Tagmatic cavalry.)

My first round of cards doesn’t help that much – my centre get a red and two blacks and my left a white and green. No one is going anywhere fast. However, I the mediocre general in charge of the two left flank units ahs the cards to move out to the flank. I discover that my deployment puts my central cavalry partly behind the village which slows what little advance is possible. I have to leave one unit of lancers behind, but that might be a good thing as they can threaten the flank of his infantry as they pile through the centre. Overall – Alec advances aggressively in the centre and on his left and I advance aggressively on my left.

My light troops sort of hold up his infantry advance for most of the game and his left flank take a while to get into a position to threaten my right. I hold on the right with the infantry and one unit of lancers. On the left the mediocre general gets into position to threaten Alec’s flank and his cavalry responds by moving to line up with them. A unit of infantry move to support them and square up to one of the Tagma. The other Tagma unit lines up with the left flank cavalry. And then I charge. His cavalry stand to receive. My shooting as I charge is largely ineffective, but in the combat the lancers do themselves proud (3 skulls I think) and I didn’t take a loss. It looked like I could destroy two or three of his units on one go. And then in the fighting phase his units turned the tables. This continued into the next turn, although I broke his infantry (possibly by inadvertently cheating as I think we ignored one of his infantry’s abilities to cancel my cavalry’s melee skill). Alec had positioned a unit of cavalry to cover this eventuality and it could have hit my victorious unit in the flank and then followed up into other units. Luckily, his infantry rolled short in their flee move and my cavalry were not exposed. Next turn I charged into that cavalry unit and won and broke them. Although his cavalry were still holding their own on his right flank the loss of the unit led to KaB tests which broke his cavalry. I was now two turns from his camp and he had no units capable of stopping me.

By this time Alec had worked a unit of cavalry onto the flank of my right flank cavalry and his infantry were within charge reach of my infantry. The unit of lancers I had to leave behind in the centre was now in position to threaten his troops coming through the village, who retreated back into it. Alec hadn’t attacked my infantry (both sides were well matched here and the expectation is of a long and grinding attrition).

Given my successful flank attack and the exposed camp Alec decided that whatever else he did he could not stop a draw and was in danger of losing, so he conceded the game.

A point to me.

 Post-Game

I got my point.

The left flank attack worked well, possibly as Alec let it develop. Unusual for Alec. He might have struggled with command in this area. On my right I was too blasé about his cavalry flank move and if the game hadn’t ended when it did I expect I would have lost the unit of lancers and that eventually my infantry would have been rolled up or my fortified camp taken. Always a risk with a passive defence, and more so here as Alec concentrated a lot of troops. But, that was why I played an aggressive game with the rest of the army.

My C-in-C with the main strike force seemed to attract black cards. But, with charging lancers that is less of a problem: once they got in charge range command wasn’t a problem. And what else are you going to do with them?

The terrain worked well. I had a big enough gap to concentrate my cavalry attack and the terrain concentration in the centre and right provided a delaying and sort-of-defensible position for my static command.

What might I do differently? Swap a unit of lancers for one more Skutatoi unit for a stronger defence. That might even give me an option on three competent generals.

Result

Byzantine win - one Prestige Point to the Julii