Something I haven’t really written about so far is my love of tournament gaming. Currently I am an Art de la Guerre player, having previously played DBM v3 and Field of Glory v1 & v2. This year I have played around 15 one or two day tournaments.
This weekend I made the annual trip to Robin Hoods Bay for a tournament run by Paul Johnson. The theme this year was the 2000 year bash, so Scottish armies or armies that fought them on British soil…ish. As ever, Paul wanted the playing for fun (PFF) mantra to prevail, so anyone who brought a wall of knights or a Roman army had to wear a silly hat for the weekend…!!!
I took a Feudal English army (so yes, I had a silly hat)…the army of Edward Longshanks…well, it would’ve been rude not to. I constructed it with wings of 3 Elite Impetuous Knights, a medium impact cavalry and 2 Longbow. The centre had 4 heavy spearmen, 2 levy, a light foot and 2 impact knights which I would use where I had an advantage. The wings had Brilliant commanders, so I could mitigate against impetuosity, and rally and manoeuvre more effectively.
Photos aren’t great I’m afraid, as I did everything in a hurry – and a couple of games, I didn’t get round to taking any photos at all!
Game 1 vs. Feudal English
The first game was an English on English bash. Neil Howard, my opponent, deployed with longbow and heavy spear in the centre, one flank of 6 impetuous knights and another of welsh bow and medium spear. He had a hill in the centre, so moved his longbow and the spear onto that.
I deployed with my Knight wings as usual, moving the impact knights out to support my left hand command against his knights. In the centre I went straight in with my knights against his longbow, even though he was uphill. There was only one round of shooting, and I pretty much went through him in two turns…there was a big hole, and he had flanks I could exploit now…
Meanwhile, on the left flank, my superior manoeuvrability (the Brilliant Commander) meant I was able to get the position I wanted and I slowly took him down, helped by getting onto his flanks with the spear and longbow.
The game was over in about an hour and a quarter…ouch…!
Game 2 vs. Feudal English
This was a tough game, as Hugh is an excellent player…we’ve played many games over the years, and things have always been pretty even.
Hugh had a massive 10 medium knights in his army, and it was going to be difficult. He did, however, put a coast down which restricted his ability outflank me on my left. I managed to manoeuvre my spear to support the Knights – this mean he was unable to avoid charging at least some of my spear – either that, or weaken his line by leaving some Knights behind…in the end, it was a combination of the two…
On the other flank my manoeuvrability meant I could work a decent advantage and took out a number of units with flank attacks, and that side quickly collapsed.
Hugh managed to turn things round a bit as I was unable to finish him off as quickly as I’d hoped, and I lost a few units quickly…it was a tight game, and the brilliant commanders made the difference for me though and I broke Hugh’s army when I was only one point from going myself…exciting stuff!
Game 3 vs. Medieval Welsh
Well, it serves me right for winning my first two games…I ended Saturday with a game against Julian Lopez, who beat me in my final game at Britcon this year (and went on to win the competition)…
This was going to be tricky, and things got worse very quickly when the terrain fell very badly for me…I pretty much had nowhere to go fast, as my knights were trapped between Julian’s longbowmen, positioned on two brush covered hills, and a large forest on my baseline.
I was shot to bits by massed longbow, taking casualties at an alarming rate – I couldn’t get near him to do any damage, it wasn’t looking good…and so it proved, as by the time the game finished (with an inevitable victory to Julian) I had managed to take a paltry 2 points from his army…!
I didn’t take any photos as I was too busy dying horribly, but these welsh ambush markers, courtesy of Chris Proudfoot, sums up pretty much how I felt at the end of the game…
Someone was going to pay for this in my next game……
Game 4 v Middle Imperial Roman
…and that person was Rob Taylor….!
I managed to control the terrain reasonably well, though there were still a couple of large piece of rough going in Rob’s half of the table. We both played a game of manouvre and position, as Rob marched forwards with his legions on my right flank, before turning and walking away…whilst i redeployed my left hand Knight Corps to deal with said threat. I think Rob may have underestimated my movement, as I had a unit of cavalry with each group of Knights meaning I could pin him. He was gonna have to turn around and fight…
Meanwhile, on my left, I used my Spear as bait for the legionaries and he took it…advancing too far out, and allowing me to get flank on both sides of his legionary units. He tried to defend one flank with his medium foot, but that meant my Knights got into those, and hr only delayed me a turn.
He went down quickly after that, and it was pretty much the reverse of the game against Julian, where I only lost 3 attrition points before taking his army…
Game 5 v Anglo Irish
I was in 2nd place going into the final round, and here I was going to face my old Nemesis, and tournament organiser, Paul Johnson who had taken over John Hogans army when he had to leave early.
A win in this game would secure second place (Julian already had the tournament sewn up with 4 wins out of 4)…of course, things weren’t as easy as that, as I over-committed on my left flank and lost a number of units cheaply. It wasn’t looking good, as over half my army had gone, and I had caused very little damage to Paul.
I managed to secure my exposed flank though with my Spear, and press on my right flank where I had an advantage and finally started to make some progress.
It actually tipped my way, and at one point i thought I was going to be able to break through his line, but it wasn’t to be, and a particularly bad round of combat (where I should have had the advantage) tipped the balance, my army breaking soon afterwards.
Another tense exciting game, Paul deserving the win just as I thought i was turning it around…
I did, however, take enough points to hang on to a podium spot, finishing 3rd.
An excellent weekend all told, and I learned a few things – particularly the need to actually bring some troops that can fight in terrain!!!
I’ll do a post on my Feudal English army soon covering army construction – the strengths and weaknesses. I’ll also cover how i painted it, as a few people have asked.
Next up for me ADLG-wise is Round 5 of the Northern League in 2 weeks time, followed by Warfare in Reading in around a month.
Graeme Carroll
Nice concise report. I too will be at the 5th round of the Northern League and I would like to say hello to a fellow blogger but you’ll need to say who you are somewhere on this blog first!
You are correct sir, I have an ‘about’ page in draft, I really need to finish it….especially given I bought most of the figures in my Medieval army from your good self…!!!
Best wishes Martin, see you in Eccles,
Graeme,
Durham Wargames.
So it’s you! Small world. See you a week on Sunday.
Indeed, and as a bonus for commenting on the blog, I can tell you I shall be using French Ordnance which will also consist of figures almost all of which were bought from you!