ADLG - Game Report 223

Black Sheep Turkoman (274) vs Catalan Company (262)

For my second game of the day I decided to bring out my 28mm mongolish army fielded as the Black Sheep Turcomans. This would be a battle of three firsts; it would be my first outing en-masse for this army, and my first battle with a horse archer army. I was looking forward to seeing the Army deployed on the table, although a little nervous about facing the Catalans as I had little joy in fighting these in the past.

The Black Sheep Army was all bow armed less the two Kurdish Cavalry men that were in it for the booty. It had a large command of 10 units, all cavalry less 3 bow men refused on the right, with a smaller command 7 cavalry on the left. As for the remaining 4 units of light Cavalry horde archers they were off on a flank march with only one flank on which they could arrive; which was my third first for the battle!

The serried ranks of Turcoman horsemen. Who would want to wheel around with the wheelbarrow and sweep up the left overs after this lot had been on the field of battle!

I surmised that the Almogavars would be trying their best to use the village as cover. It would be up to the bowmen to buy the rest of the army time. In the Catalan rear they have started to reorientate to prepare for the imminent arrival of the flank march.

The army moves forward to deliver as much fire as the dice gods of fire combat will allow me, which as usual isn’t a lot.

The battle has become fragmented with lots of smaller battles. The Bowmen have done as well, and in fact better than can be expected. For their part the Turcomans have developed the enemy flanks and there are now some intriguing opportunities opening up for them to exploit.

Despite my concerns at the mid-way point, where my archery was somewhat lacking, the battle is going down to the wire.

Outcome

A Catalan win by 20 to the Turcoman 21

Lessons Learnt

The flank march command was a good option, but of limited value with the coastline dictating which flank it appeared.

As always, the army numbers are not brilliant in any Horse Archer army, but in this case the Army design needs a little tinkering.