Manlii v Julii Game 40

Game 40 - Byzantine Era 3: Thematic Byzantine

Thematic Byzantine (Gordon 209 pts) v Croatian (Alec 200pts)

Major defence 653 CE (ADLG Std, 21-Feb-2024)

Battlefield Effects: Byzantine: Generals variations

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

This is a Byzantine Major defence against invading Croatians in 653 CE (or trying to stop the Croatians from forming their own independent state); so under the campaign rules there is one Prestige Point available to the Julii for a Byzantine victory or draw but three at risk for a Byzantine loss. We are currently tying the era at two Prestige Points apiece so I figured it was better to be the Croatians; it does, however, put the onus on attacking on me.

In this era the Byzantine army is based around the extremely capable lance and bow-armed heavy cavalry, plus it can draw on plentiful bow-armed light cavalry as well as steady heavy spear-armed Skutatoi. Byzantine bowfire may prove to be a problem if I hang around so I will need to advance to contact as fast as possible.

Despite having the ability to field a good number of mounted noble units the Croat army is really centred around its bad terrain medium infantry, faster than heavy foot at close quarters but not as fast as cavalry. Consequently it may be difficult to pin the Byzantines down if Gordon focusses on the cavalry but I will have to try to take the fight to the Byzantines nevertheless.

As I’m the attacker, under the campaign rules I can select the region the battle will be fought in, so I’ll go with Mountain and try to maximise the on-table difficult terrain as the Byzantine’s aren’t tailored to fight in it. I won’t be able to determine where the terrain pieces fall however, as the ADLG terrain placement rules are so random, but I’ll have to press on regardless with the hope that at least some will be in useful positions; having the first move in the game will help.

I have decided to maximise the number of axe-armed medium swordsmen infantry (which count as equipped with 2-handed cutting weapons under the ADLG rules) which I will mix in with some medium spearmen, and I have also chosen a good number of both heavy and medium cavalry which I’ll split into two groups with some medium infantry. This way I can have at least two commands that should be able to act offensively whilst the third command, which I’ve given a mixture of spearmen and swordsmen, I will try to push into the face of the Byzantine army, or if not can act as a flank shield.

In this game the Byzantines have the ‘Generals Variations’ Battlefield Effect which may turn out to be a double edged sword for Gordon if he rolls one of the options that increases the number of command points available to him rather than a result that reduces mine. If that happens he quite possibly won’t be able to resist attacking with his very capable cavalry; which is fine by me!

So in summary, I’ll try to get as much bad terrain on the table as possible, point my army at Gordon’s camp and advance as fast as my troops are able whilst trying to maintain a coherent front line. If I can initiate melee combat before taking too many missile hits I might just be able to win this thing.

That’s the plan!

The Battle

 As planned I opted for the Mountain region.

Terrain fell as follows, two woods and a steep hill on my right on my side; on Gordon's side a brush area, a marsh and a road running along Gordon's side of the table. As usual I am on the left of the photo:

We then deployed our forces. I deployed as planned with mixed cavalry/infantry commands on the flanks and my infantry command in the centre where I alternated the swordsmen and spearmen units.

Gordon placed two six-strong elite impact and bow heavy cavalry commands on his right and centre, the centre command also including two mediocre Skutatoi heavy infantry which he placed in front of his camp. On his right he placed two mediocre medium cavalry and six bow-armed light cavalry. An interesting choice of units - the minimum infantry permitted - so very offensive oriented, which as long as I could stop Gordon conducting a shooting withdrawal suited me fine as the sooner we got into combat the better as far as I was concerned. 

Ending up as below - my right wing cavalry (three medium and one heavy) are unfortunately out of the picture bottom left:

My turn one:

End of turn position as below. In the open centre I hold back for a bit as I feel it may be advantageous for me to put some pressure on the flanks by advancing there first, so I advance strongly on the flanks and keep the centre back.

End of Gordon's turn one as below, he wastes no time in a frightening full on advance across the battlefield. Obviously this has given Gordon some room to evade from my charges if he wishes but it also presents me with opportunities on the flanks to advance and out-flank the centre. If I keep up the flank advances it is going to put psychological pressure on Gordon to get stuck in I think.

End of my turn two - I charge forward with my cavalry on my right extreme flank, forcing Gordon's light horse to evade, whilst I swing my right hand infantry towards the centre to threaten Gordon's advancing Kavallarioi. On my left I discover that Gordon's ambush is a bluff and begin to turn the infantry in the wood to threaten the Byzantine right flank too. My two skirmishing archer units on that flank cause the first disorder of the game on Gordon's right-hand most Kavallarioi unit.

In Gordon's turn I feel he has a decision to make - to either charge in or stand a shoot to cause some disorders first; I had deployed in a mixed line of sword and spear units in order to stiffen the line against cavalry so was hoping they would be strong enough to stand up to his cavalry whilst I wreaked devastation on the flanks. Gordon decided on the former and bravely charged his central command of Kavallarioi into my infantry line with devastating results - two infantry destroyed and one disordered with only one disorder on his side. Well, that put the cat amongst the pigeons! 

His right-hand command also goes in against my heavy cavalry - his cavalry's impact ability giving him the upper hand against my heavy cavalry causing two disorders to my one. My position was not helped by me forgetting for the entire game that my left hand command heavy cavalry were all elite - Duh. 

On his left Gordon split his light cavalry, moving three around to the other side of his medium cavalry, leaving two to face my medium cavalry.

End of Gordon's turn two:

Feeling that the centre was collapsing much faster than I was expecting or hoping for I threw my right-hand command forward into the fight as quickly as their legs would carry them. Two of my medium cavalry nobles charged Gordon's light horse - he evaded again. The other two, including my single heavy cavalry unit charged into one of Gordon's mediocre medium cavalry - of course I lost. 

On my left I continued to suffer in the heavy cavalry fight - losing two to Gordon's one. The position at the end of my turn three was as below, with very little going my way I was beginning to feel that the battle was slipping away from me at this point, I just had to pray that things would turn around as my flank superiority began to take effect.

In Gordon's turn three he revealed the Battlefield Effect - Inspiration! - choosing to give his central Brilliant commander an extra two CP's for a turn and an extra one thereafter. 

He began to chew up my infantry line in the centre badly destroying more, but failed to rally his disordered units, effectively wasting the extra CPs. On his right he began to redeploy his Kavallarioi to face my infantry in the woods. On my right things went better for me, I held my own for once disordering one of Gordon's units. 

The position at the end of Gordon's turn three was as below:

In turn four the fighting got deadly, losses all over the place, my infantry line in the centre had almost disappeared but I began to cause some Byzantine deaths on both flanks. Gordon started throwing his sub-commanders into the fight and also sent a cavalry unit off towards my camp - it would be in reach next turn.

I forgot to take a picture at the end of my turn four, below is the position at the end of Gordon's turn four. The battlefield began to breakdown, as it quite often does in ADLG, into fights between individual opposing units, particularly on the left of my line. I had the superiority in numbers but Gordon had the more capable and individually dangerous units, so it was beginning to become something of a chess match. 

At this point however, despite the positions of my forces on the flanks being promising, I felt I was staring imminent doom in the face.

The end of my turn five proved to be, somewhat surprisingly, the end of the game - the position was as below. For the first time in the game I felt I was moderately lucky, in particular in the combats where Gordon had thrown his commanders into the melee - killing both his units and subsequently both the commanders. I had at least +2 in each of them but even so for once 'Madame Fate' didn't throw a spanner in the works. In addition I took out the two Byzantine light cavalry on Gordon's extreme left flank with my medium cavalry

The position at the bottom of the picture isn't quite showing the end position as whilst I've removed Gordon's dead commander on his left wing I haven't removed the Byzantine cavalry unit that also died or moved my pursuing cavalry unit into the flank of the Byzantine cavalry unit next to it.

The picture below is a close up of the right of my line (Gordon's two light cavalry that were fighting my medium cavalry have evaporated) and the casualties (missing the one Byzantine cavalry unit that I hadn't removed from the table) - including the two of Gordon's commanders who paid the price for trying to prevent the final collapse.

Close up of my camp - one more turn would have seen Gordon take it;

Post-mortem

The game played out pretty much as I could have hoped though, given the offensive power of the Byzantine Kavallarioi and Gordon's luck early on, it was touch and go as to whether I could cause enough casualties on the flanks with my offensive commands before my centre evaporated. For a large part of the game Gordon held a substantial lead (16 - 6 at one point), it was only in the last turn that the situation reversed as Gordon's left flank collapsed - losing nine army points on that flank of the thirteen he lost in the last turn of the game. Gordon ended on 25 losses needing 21 to break, whilst I ended on 18 out of 26.

In order to reduce the Prestige Point loss by one Gordon decided to throw his family representative into the fight in the dying moments of the battle, successfully dying a glorious death to be reported in the Byzantine newspapers!

Gordon's comments

Pre-Game

I win the bidding to be the Byzantines.

The Thematic Byzantines are a largely mounted force, with a relatively small number of infantry, unless they take an ally. Alec chooses to invade in 653 AD. The Croats can be a largely mounted force, a largely medium swordsmen or spearmen army, or a mix. The choice of 653 AD suggests an emphasis on medium infantry. I can expect an invasion in the mountains.

A Slav ally might be useful but, I fancy a mounted army with a few spearmen to defend the camp. Then see if I can find some gaps for open terrain for the cavalry and maybe a flank march. If there are large numbers of Croat swordsmen or spearmen then I will have to wait for them to come out of the terrain and try to use better command to outmanoeuvre them. Experience suggests an unwarranted optimism, but worth a try. 

The Deployment

Alec chooses a lot of terrain, but it mainly ends on his half of the table. Although, my right flank looks at risk of being overwhelmed by medium infantry moving through the wood and fields. They also close down the battlefield more than I would like, but overall terrain placing is better than I feared. I assume Alec has chosen a lot of medium infantry.

Alec has to advance to win, so the steep hill and wood on his edge are largely irrelevant.

My army isn’t suited to sitting and waiting for the enemy. I decide that a flank attack isn’t ideal with the terrain so I place them on my left: it is largely open so I have some room to manoeuvre without evading off the table. But it places a lot of reliance on the troops holding whatever gets deployed opposite them while the two heavy cavalry commands win the game. The two heavy cavalry commands are going to have to be aggressive and take the game to Alec. I will have to take a chance that I can get into combat on my right before whatever troops he sends through the wood can get onto my flank.

Alec deploys a mixed cavalry and infantry command on each flank and a strong infantry command in the centre. A lot of medium and light infantry to move through the wood on my right, but some space for my light horse to play on the left, especially as they are facing largely medium cavalry. The infantry are deployed as alternate spear and swordsmen. My cavalry have a decent chance against the swordsmen, but are likely to bounce off the spearmen, unless I can get some lucky shooting and then rely on armour to reduce combat losses. So, the initial plan still holds, but getting the centre and right into combat quickly is imperative.

My battlefield effect turns out to be inspired commander – I get to add three CP on one turn and one thereafter for any one commander. I intend top keep that for my centre, to recover losses and exploit any breakthroughs. 

The Game

Alec advances relatively slowly, so I advance relatively quickly. My light horse fail to score any hits in shooting and evade from his cavalry on the left.

Then on Turn two I get to charge with most of my heavy cavalry. There is little point delaying combat to try to score a hit with mediocre shooting. Initial combat goes my way for the most part, especially against the swordsmen and his cavalry on my right. On my left I start to move some light horse to a more useful and less dangerous position towards the centre of the field.

Next turn combat continues to go my way, although a lose a unit of heavy cavalry to a flank attack from the wood. Alec kindly asks me a couple of times if I want to do something about the attack. I could use the battlefield effect to cancel the charge, but I have a longer term plan for that. Things in the centre go well, but I start taking losses, so I play the battlefield effect. This gives me the chance to rally some losses but I fail all rolls. A sad waste of the battlefield effect.

On my left Alec’s scary cavalry get into combat with my mediocre units. I survive and do some damage. 

On my right I get to turn my cavalry to protect my centre and threaten his right.

On turn five it all started to fall apart. I lost many combats across the table and never managed to recover them. A couple of generals also got killed. What seemed a good chance to win suddenly turned into a catastrophic defeat. 

Post-Game

A bit of a gamble on my left which went fairly well for as long as could be expected. Let down by the collapse of my right despite some advantages, and the remarkable stand of Alec’s centre despite breakthroughs and flank attacks.

A stronger ‘weak’ command on my left would have been more threatening, but would have weakened the main force on the centre and left.

Probably, mainly bad luck lost this one, but some good rolls on the turn I charged his infantry helped initially as the furious charge came in handy. 

Result

Croatian win and Gordon's family representative successfully died a glorious death - minus two Prestige Points to the Julii.