Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The payoff is the battle.....

I modified the scenario a little to take into account the hexes (making the woods a little more close-in) and modifying the initial setup (the Slavs are a little closer to the road).

Essentially, a column of Teutonic Knights on a road is ambushed coming into a clearing in the woods that lines the road. The knights themselves have hurried onward, leaving their infantry supports behind (never a good thing for cavalry to do in close-in country)


The first inclination that there would be a battle was a shower of arrows which managed a few casualties amongst the unprepared Knights.





But though lacking in road discipline, they managed to come on line and charge the main line of Slavs in the clearing next to the road. A fierce melee ensued, with the Knights. The infantry supports came hurrying up to lend their hand, but were hampered by the arrows of the ambushers on the wooded side of the road.

The Heavier Knights managed to break the Slav lines after a brisk but fierce melee. The Slav noble cavalry, unlike in previous times, stayed on the field and made a desperate charge against their old foe.



Unfortunately, the infantry had managed to come up, so although the Knights were fatigued and the cavalry melee was a push, the fresh infantry ensured that the Slav cavalry were surrounded and killed. They fought well and died well. Though battered, the Teutonic Knights are victorious again !

The Teutons took the most casualties it had ever taken, mostly from among the irreplaceable heavy cavalry. Now it seems apparent why the Slav noble cavalry fled from the field each time before- they were slaughtered almost to a man.

All in all, the battle went well and rather quickly- the hexes really sped up the whole process a lot. The transparencies made set up and board generation easy, and would be very easy to pack up and take along with the game mat.

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