Hello!
In the second game of the tournament during CanCon 2019 I was to play against a completely different type of an army - French from 100 Years War, commanded by Stephen.
It was not the first time for me to play against such a force. I expected a lot of armored TuG's, be it mounted or on foot. And I was not disappointed as Stephen brought quite a compact army, comprised only of TuG's. It looked relatively small, although it had only one unit less than my Early Seleucids. It simply told me I should have expected tough elements to fight against.
Here are the details of the army list (I apologize for any inconsistencies, as this list was created from memory):
100 Years War French - Army List
Commanders
Army Commander
Subordinate General 1
Subordinate General 2
TuG's
6 French Knights - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Superior, Fully Armored, Charging Lancer, Devastating Chargers, Melee Expert
6 French Knights - Cavalry, Formed Loose, Superior, Fully Armored, Charging Lancer, Devastating Chargers, Melee Expert
4 Valet de Guerre, Cavalry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Charging Lancer, Melee Expert
6 Dismounted French Knights - Infantry, Formed Close, Average, Fully Armored, 2-H Cut-Crush, Melee Expert
6 Crossbowmen - Infantry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Experienced, Crossbow
6 Crossbowmen - Infantry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Experienced, Crossbow
6 Longbowmen - Infantry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Experienced, Powerbow
6 Genoese Crossbowmen - Infantry, Drilled Loose, Average, Protected, Experienced, Crossbow, Shield Cover
4 Men-at-arms - Infantry, Drilled Close, Average, Fully Armored, 2-H Cut-Crush, Melee Expert
4 Men-at-arms - Infantry, Drilled Close, Average, Fully Armored, 2-H Cut-Crush, Melee Expert
French Knights definitely looked intimidating but they could be outmaneuvered and they did not like the pikes either. On the other hand, dismounted knights and men-at-arms, although in smaller groups, could grind down the pikemen thanks to their better armor and combination of melee expert and weapons.
The opposing army also seemed to had more shooting elements, with some additional bonuses against mounted troops.
In general, I thought I would need to try and pin the enemy with Phalangites anyway, in particular the mounted units if possible. And try to use drilled troops to outmaneuver the slower French, to get to favorable positions.
Here is my army list for reminder:
Early Seleucids - Army List
Commanders
Army Commander - Talented Professional
Subordinate General 1 - Competent Professional
Subordinate General 2 - Competent Professional
Subordinate General 3 - Mediocre Professional
Subordinate General 3 - Mediocre Professional
Camp
Camp - Poor, Flexible
TuGs
8 Guard Argyraspides - Infantry, Drilled Close, Superior, Protected, Pike, Shove
8 Phalangites - Infantry, Drilled Close, Average, Protected, Pike, Shove
8 Phalangites - Infantry, Drilled Close, Average, Protected, Pike, Shove
8 Phalangites - Infantry, Drilled Close, Average, Protected, Pike, Shove
6 Thracians - Infantry, Formed Loose, Average, Protected, Devastating Charger, Melee Expert
4 Companions - Cavalry, Drilled Loose, Superior, Protected, Charging Lancer, Melee Expert
4 Line Cavalry - Cavalry, Drilled Loose, Average, Protected, Charging Lancer, Melee Expert
4 Line Cavalry - Cavalry, Drilled Loose, Average, Protected, Charging Lancer, Melee Expert
4 Line Cavalry - Cavalry, Drilled Loose, Average, Protected, Charging Lancer, Melee Expert
SuG's
6 Tarentine Cavalry - Cavalry, Skirmisher, Average, Protected, Javelin, Experienced, Cantabrian
6 Horse Archers - Cavalry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Bow, Experienced,
6 Horse Archers - Cavalry, Skirmisher, Average, Unprotected, Bow, Experienced,
9 Cretan Archers - Infantry, Skirmisher, Average, Unproteced, Bow, Skilled, Combat Shy
Pre-battle
In this game I was an invader and I was happy with a few pieces of the terrain here and there. We ended up with mountains on the secure flank. Because the opposite flank had some forests, I thought both are good terrain for Thracians to protect that side and use it to advance in relative safety. In such terrain they would not be attacked by the Knights.
I believe I managed to out-scout Stephen but the margin was not large enough to see where would the Knights go.
Deployment
Pre-battle
In this game I was an invader and I was happy with a few pieces of the terrain here and there. We ended up with mountains on the secure flank. Because the opposite flank had some forests, I thought both are good terrain for Thracians to protect that side and use it to advance in relative safety. In such terrain they would not be attacked by the Knights.
I believe I managed to out-scout Stephen but the margin was not large enough to see where would the Knights go.
Deployment
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| Early Seleucids vs Medieval French |
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| Deployment of the Armies. |
I noticed that the left flank seemed to be open so I deployed one TuG of Charging Lancers there. They would be supported by Thracians thanks to the woods nearby and light cavalry to harass and slow down enemy knights.
First group of Phalangites was positioned in the center left so that they could either advance towards the Knights or support the center. The second group was defending the camp and had additional TuG of Line Cavalry for support.
My plan was to win on the left flank and attack the units on the center right that would be fighting to the front with the Phalangites.
Seleucids - Turn 1
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| Turn 1 - Sequence of Actions. |
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| French Knights vs Light Cavalry |
Both armies advanced towards each other, both moving at a double on the respective stronger flanks. Seleucids sent one of the Line Cavalry units in the outflanking maneuver while on the opposite side of the battle field, French Knights begun the similar action.
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| Armies start getting divided into smaller groups. |
French - Turn 2
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| Turn 2 - Sequence of Actions. |
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| French Knights threaten with flank attack. |
The armies divided into two groups and two separate battle fields were created. On the left, the French started withdrawing and attempted to outflank Phalangites. However, Companions left in reserve were in position to quickly address the problem an and threaten Men-at-Arms in return.
On the other flank, Seleucids were in trouble as they were outnumbered and the aggressive move on the flank forced them into a difficult position.
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| Bracing for impact. |
Seleucids - Turn 3
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| Turn 3 - Sequence of Actions. |
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| Seleucids are hard pressed on the right flank. |
Companions were the first to charge and their powerful attack broke Men-at-Arms, creating a hole in the enemy battle line. French Knights kept withdrawing, leaving the Valets surrounded by their enemies.
At the same time, Seleucids were in trouble on the right flank. Phalangites advanced under the crossbow fire while Line Cavalry tried to slow the Knights. The attempt was unsuccessful and the Knights raced towards undefended camp.
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| The battle intensifies. |
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| Turn 4 - sequence of actions. |
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| Shooting Duel. |
Valets had no other option but to charge enemy cavalry, hoping they could defeat them before Thracians would strike at them from behind. The charge did not break the Seleucid cavalry, that was evenly matched.
Companions broke another enemy unit and together with the Phalangites, advanced towards the Knights who were running out of space to withdraw.
On the right flank Phalangites fought bravely, taking casualties but also inflicting some on the dismounted knights.
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| The fight continues. |
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| Turn 5 - Sequence of Actions |
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| The Knights were finally pinned down. |
Seleucids were in position to strike back. Thracians charged Valets when they were preoccupied with the fight against Line Cavalry and broke their enemy. Phalangites finally pinned down the Knights and that allowed Argyraspides and Companions to get into the position for the charge.
Seleucid shooters focused their efforts against French Crossbowmen but for now they were not yet efficient enough to rout the enemy.
Unfortunately for Seleucids, one of the Phanalgite units was finally defeated but the second one managed to hold their ground. Just!
The battle did not see the conclusion, however, as the French were content with plundering Seleucids camp. Both armies, or whatever remained of them, withdrew in good order.
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| A bloody draw! |
After-battle
Many thanks to Stephen for a great game! It resulted in more casualties than my previous one and I got very lucky that my army was not completely broken. I was a single point of damage away from that! If only Dismounted Knights inflicted one more damage, second Phalangite TuG would have been defeated. After plundering of the camp, it was all Stephen needed to break my army but it didn't happen!
I definitely made a mistake in the deployment by leaving the flank open. Then I moved towards the enemy, instead of waiting or even withdrawing to buy more time and prevent it from sacking the camp.
What is interesting to notice, however, that I still had a chance to pull off the win if the game continued. I had an opportunity to charge the Knights with Companions to the flank and Argyraspides to the front. That would require some luck, of course, but it was a possibility that I could actually break them already.
Next, as the Dismounted Knights were just 1 point of damage away from breaking, it was possible to flank charge them with Tarentine Cavalry. With the flank charge bonus, I had a chance to inflict that one wound in the charge phase.
Last but not least, the shooting duel also could have resulted in routing Crossbowmen. Two out of these three units were needed to be routed in order to break the enemy army.
The purpose of this "what-if" analysis is simply to highlight the fact that by advancing on the right flank I put my entire army at risk, instead of creating a good opportunity to defeat the enemy.
It was a very good lesson and I was very happy with the end result, a draw 8-8!
Thank you very much for reading!
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