ADLG - Game Report 208

Umayyad Arab (131) vs Norman (179)

On return from holiday it was time to think about the next competition, Roll Call. I only had a few days, and in fact less than I thought, to get the army list in! I decided that it was a little premature to take the Mongolish hordes out for an outing so I decided that it would be best to stick with an army that I was likely to be more comfortable with. I decided to opt for Umayyad Arab. Kevin offered the first test of the proposed army design. This would be a tough context because of his Norman Knights, but fortunately I wouldn’t be facing them in the competition as Knights had been banned!

I deployed with both cavalry wings on the left and centre respectively and the infantry on the right. The latter on the right were six mediocre supported heavy spearmen; I was curious to how they useful they would be.

I advanced on the left with more hope than expectation, as I knew the Knights outgunned my Heavy Impact Cavalry. However, and equally I didn’t want to tangle with the Norman heavy armoured spears! At this stage I had decided not to commit the infantry, which in hindsight (which is always valuable) was a less than optimum decision.

I pushed some light horse archers forward to delay the Norman centre, while I manoeuvred the remaining heavy cavalry to the right.. The Arab infantry have started to make a move forward.

Contact! The Cavalry that moved to the right have been damaged and now outflanked without the benefit of infantry support. Meanwhile on the left the clash of Knights vs Cavalry is being fought out, and badly for me.

I decided to try and disengage the Cavalry on the left but they were eventually ridden down by the Knights. As predicted the cavalry on the right were also ridden over and now the Arab spears are trying to stop the Norman’s in their tracks.

The Norman Knights on the Arab left are busy mopping up the remaining Arab resistance. While In the centre, despite the threats to their left flank, the Arab mediocre supported heavy spearmen are in fact holding their own against the Knights.

Outcome

A Norman victory by 24 to 9, but as usual an excellent game (in spite of a number of breakages caused by the lack of suitable transit case! (all of which were healed with the aid of super-glue.

Lessons Learnt

Mediocre supported heavy spearmen are a viable option.

This Army design had no striking power with which one could try and use to force a result, I think it should be based on either Cavalry-heavy or Infantry-heavy.

I decided to go Cavalry-heavy for the competition.