ADLG - Game Report 107

Low Countries (243) vs Ottoman Turks (261)

Paul wanted to get some practice in with his Turks before a forthcoming competition. I volunteered to be his tethered goat with my Flemish army, a broadly historical opponent. I decided to use the same army as I had used previously against Iain. However, in this case given that I was confronting a largely mounted Army I decided to dismount less of my knights.

On balance I am not sure that going out to meet the enemy was such a good idea. Importantly moving my knights to the flank while prudent to help protect it, went further than perhaps it should have.

Consequently, I left the typical gap for Paul’s marauding light cavalry to get around and behind my flank. As for the ability of my bows to bring down the mounted bows they were opposed by, well let’s just say that I should have provided them with some bolts for their crossbows!

As you can see the Knights have got themselves into a nice little pickle. Their lack of mobility compared to the mobility of heavy and medium cavalry leaves them at a distinct disadvantage!

Once again the mobility of the heavy cavalry allows them to disengage at will. My line in the centre seems to be relatively coherent, but as always the flanks are less so. It will only be a little while before the remaining knights are destroyed.

And so it was to be. I needed to try to gain something from the battle and therefore the infantry went into pursuit mode to see of we could either pin some cavalry down to combat or at least drive them from the table.

However, once the battlefield becomes fragmented the greater mobility of the cavalry comes into its own. And of course lack of command dice does not help when you are trying to close of the approach of the enemy light cavalry from your camp!

Outcome

A win for Paul by 9 to 22, and a much better game than the last one we had.

Lessons Learnt

Do not expect Knights to out-manoeuvre Cavalry; retain them for counterattacks.

A better defensive battle plan is needed, if of course one can rally off cohesion hits from bow fire