ADLG - Game Report 29

Feudal French (182) vs Anglo Danish(180)

In preparation for the ADLG competition at Warfare I needed to decide what the composition of my Feudal French forces were going to be. Pete volunteered to allow me to try my first army iteration against him.

This first variant was heavy with knights, backed up by a lot of mediocre militia.

For the initial deployment I combined my infantry heavy command with their cavalry units on the right and the main knight command. Clearly my intention is to try to destroy the enemies right wing and move down the line.

The challenge as always is how to use the command points, if you can get them with a good command roll, and then of course how you use them with impetuous knights! I have decided to hold my infantry line back and to soften up the opposition with the bow and crossbows. So far the left flank attack seems to be proceeding as planned.

The centre unit of knights has come into contact, and the enemies select fyrd are moving to contact against my main line.

We have managed to engage the enemies left flank. I have decided to pull the knights back and to move them to support the centre knights who seem to be about to be in a world of pain.

My infantry line is starting to look very weak. One of the central group of knights has broken through but is weakened. Meanwhile although the left flank attack is okay, weak command and control and the difficulty of manoeuvring impetuous knights is proving a pain.

Although I was having success on the left, the losses in the infantry line have been my undoing, and the French are defeated.

Outcome

A defeat for the French

Lessons Learnt

• Despite a failure to apply "Furious Charge" benefits in first round melees the losses in the centre were my undoing.
• Lots of knights are fun, and breaking them into commands was sound, but they cost a lots and their impetuosity and unmaneuverability is a major drawback.
• The main infantry line of mainly mediocre troops was weaker than I expected it to be.