ADLG - Game Report 237

Communal Italian (189) vs Norman (179)

For their second battle of the Communal Italians against Kevin's Normans I decided to change the army slightly. I dropped the Knight in the infantry command and replaced two of the impact Knights with French Elite impetuous mercenary Knights. I also moved to non-included commanders. With the points small change, I invested in two levy to protect my unfortified camp. We deployed with the infantry in the centre and the Knights on the wings.

The Norman right led their advance, and we moved forward to engage similarly.

Only once we were committed did the Norman left advance. However, on the Italian left the battle between the respective Knights did not go well for the Communal Knights. The Communal Militia have divided to provide support to both wings.

The Communal Knights have been defeated in detail by the Norman Knights. However, the Militia are putting up a strong fight, although it is questionable how long they will last with their left flank exposed to the Norman Knights. This is where the decision to divide the infantry line becomes questionable. Not in whether it should divide, but whether I committed, in hindsight too much to the right and not enough to the left. That is despite the one flank attack being successful. In the depths of the Italian line one if its Light Cavalry units is moving to try, in vain, to intercept a Norman Light Cavalry unit moving to ransack our camp.

The grim work of moving down the line begins, with the Norman Knights at one end and the Communal Militia at the other, which will decide the battle? On the right the Communal Knights with their supports are faring much better than their peers did on the right. The levy continues to stand guard and in doing so fails to prevent the sack of the camp. The CinC was unable to roll enough to secure enough command points to manoeuvre the Levy to protect the camp!

The Communal Knights on the right show how to win a fight; left wing take note. As for the fight down the line, it is self-evident that the Normans have won the day.

Outcome

A Norman victory, suffering 18 of 23 in their win.

Lessons Learnt

Placing the levy in front of the camp was a waste. Deployed to the flanks they would have been far more able to move to intercept any threat.

There is no point in leaving a camp guard if they cannot manoeuvre to protect it.

Alternatively, as suggested by Kevin, sacrifice the two levy for a fortified camp.

The Communal Knights need better support; a subtle redesign is called for.