Burgundians (242) vs French Ordonnance (245)
Returning from holiday and a busy March I decided it was only right to get back into the ADLG groove; in part to make sure my memory of the rules didn’t atrophy (which it had!). I invited Mark to chez moi for a game. He wanted to practice for the next round of the Southern league. I decided that it would be best for me to field something other than the army I planned to field at the same competition and put together a Burgundian army as his opponent.
My Burgundians are Knight heavy with a mix of elite ordinary and impact and impetuous units. On the right I deployed my pikes supported by their organ guns. On the right I have deployed my coastline – courtesy of a blue floor mat from Ikea over painted to the coastline effect!
A stately advance by all concerned, did not feel obligated to advance too far on the right as I didn’t want to take my pikes into the field.
The right flank was to become a firefight with both of us exchanging hits and rallying them off. In the centre we are about to make contact, while on my left Mark’s elite Swiss pikemen have emerged from ambush.
Contact is made, but I wasn’t sure that I should be charging Knights into elite pikes!
No, it was not the correct thing to do and my Knights on the left are not very healthy and the benefits of Halberdiers with Polearms can be seem with the cohesion losses! In the centre my Knights aren’t looking too healthy either, all bar one who has broken through and is only faced by light troops.
On the left the Knights have almost finished, but some cunning rallying and good combat rolls have prevented them dying! Not so in the centre where we are not well at all! On the right I am winning the firefight and a cunning use of my crossbows has contacted the rear of some Knights. Despite having factors in their favour, the Knights beat back the crossbows – Mark and I reckon that the Knights were so surprised that the rear rank fell off their saddles and crushed the crossbows under the weight of their armour 😊
The Swiss have rolled up my left flank with my Knights failing to repeat their epic combat rolls. In the centre the light cavalry are trying to encircle my Knights who broke through. While Mark’s Knights who were fighting my Crossbows have now made them pay the price for their adventurism!
A win for Mark with 12 losses out of 19 to my 24 losses to 21.
Lessons Learnt
- We both forgot initially the combat factors for melee support on a flank – how quickly the rules fade in your memory.
- The important lesson for me was to avoid charging Knights into elite pikes.
- Equally if you are wanting to try something different tactically (such as charging Knights into elite pikes) or run an experiment, it is better to use an army that you don’t have an emotional attachment to.
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