Tim and Tony played to the Korean strengths rather well and fooled me into believing that their cavalry were destined to switch flanks. As a result I failed to commit enough to either flank and dithered too long with my best troops in the centre. Eventually, my Chinese units were whittled down by superior Korean shooting from both infantry and mounted units.
Korean v Chinese (round 2)
Korean v Chinese (round 2)
The same armies as in the previous game were pitted against each other at the club the following week. We swapped the commanders around and I was in charge of the Chinese this week with Tony and Tim commanding the Koreans.
The terrain consisted primarily of wide open spaces with no hills or roads , but a widely spread cluster of small areas of woodland concentrated mostly on the left hand of the Korean side of the table stretching to the table centre, would prove to be the key elements in the conduct of the game.
The Koreans deployed first and my Chinese won the dice roll for first move which I used to close the distance towards the woods. This was a deliberate attempt to close down the movement options of the excellent Korean cavalry. The light and heavy Korean cavalry units were all deployed on the forested side of the table. This I convinced myself was a ploy to pull my cavalry to the left so that the Koreans could switch their cavalry across behind the centre to the other wing into the more cavalry friendly open ground.
I tried to keep the main strength of my Chinese army in the centre so as to respond to the expected Korean cavalry ‘wing swap.’ However, doing so meant my ‘C’ class engaging in a shooting match with the superior ‘B’ class Korean light cavalry between the left hand areas of woodland. This was never going to end well and I soon lost one cavalry unit with another sent fleeing with 2 stands lost.
Having finally accepted the possibility that the Korean cavalry were not going to swap wings I mustered more missile troops to engage them and assaulted the central woodland with my armoured Chinese infantry. At the same time I pulled back my now weakened right wing as Korean hand gunner and militia units advanced. An artillery duel between heavy cannon units of both sides proved indecisive but the steady advance of the Korean infantry supported by a single unit of light cavalry eventually swamped my cannon. I decided that capturing the small areas of woodland on the left and centre was the best way of gaining the upper-hand against Tim’s cavalry. Despite favourable positioning and combat factors my infantry fought so badly in the woods that I made hardly any progress and lost a couple of units of Chinese halberdiers.
With the Korean heavy cavalry units still lurking behind I was reluctant to commit all 3 of my heavy cavalry to the fight between the woods. This was on reflection a mistake. The long shooting match was slowly whittling down my foot and mounted missile troops and only one unit of Korean bow armed heavy cavalry had so far been committed to the fight. Tony was now making steady progress against my infantry on the right which meant I had little choice but to pull back this wing in a dog-leg towards my own table edge. I was beginning to lose the shooting match on this wing as well!
At last my Chinese managed to gain some success in the hand-to-hand battle in and between the woods which resulted in the loss of a Korean heavy cavalry unit with a general. Light cavalry units were also forced to flee as my Chinese heavies made their presence felt. Unfortunately, more Korean heavy were waiting with bows ready behind along with units of Korean spears. which had checked the advance of my armoured infantry through the woods.
The game time available was by now running low as we had spend a good part of an hour shooting at each other without gaining ground, just casualties, mostly Chinese! As my Chinese had taken the first move of the game it seemed only fair that the last tactical move went to the Koreans. This brought the game to a conclusion inflicting more casualties on my well ‘shot-up’ Chinese. The Chinese still had all 4 generals and the Koreans 3, but the Chinese had lost twice as many units mostly through missile fire. Also, the right wing of the Chinese army had been pushed back and was close to being out-flanked. So a Korean win, yes, not decisive at this point but certainly guaranteed within 3 or 4 more game turns.
Game Analysis
Tim and Tony played to the Korean strengths rather well and fooled me into believing that their cavalry were destined to switch flanks. As a result I failed to commit enough to either flank and dithered too long with my best troops in the centre. Eventually, my Chinese units were whittled down by superior Korean shooting from both infantry and mounted units.
The terrain consisted primarily of wide open spaces with no hills or roads , but a widely spread cluster of small areas of woodland concentrated mostly on the left hand of the Korean side of the table stretching to the table centre, would prove to be the key elements in the conduct of the game.
The Koreans deployed first and my Chinese won the dice roll for first move which I used to close the distance towards the woods. This was a deliberate attempt to close down the movement options of the excellent Korean cavalry. The light and heavy Korean cavalry units were all deployed on the forested side of the table. This I convinced myself was a ploy to pull my cavalry to the left so that the Koreans could switch their cavalry across behind the centre to the other wing into the more cavalry friendly open ground.
I tried to keep the main strength of my Chinese army in the centre so as to respond to the expected Korean cavalry ‘wing swap.’ However, doing so meant my ‘C’ class engaging in a shooting match with the superior ‘B’ class Korean light cavalry between the left hand areas of woodland. This was never going to end well and I soon lost one cavalry unit with another sent fleeing with 2 stands lost.
Having finally accepted the possibility that the Korean cavalry were not going to swap wings I mustered more missile troops to engage them and assaulted the central woodland with my armoured Chinese infantry. At the same time I pulled back my now weakened right wing as Korean hand gunner and militia units advanced. An artillery duel between heavy cannon units of both sides proved indecisive but the steady advance of the Korean infantry supported by a single unit of light cavalry eventually swamped my cannon. I decided that capturing the small areas of woodland on the left and centre was the best way of gaining the upper-hand against Tim’s cavalry. Despite favourable positioning and combat factors my infantry fought so badly in the woods that I made hardly any progress and lost a couple of units of Chinese halberdiers.
With the Korean heavy cavalry units still lurking behind I was reluctant to commit all 3 of my heavy cavalry to the fight between the woods. This was on reflection a mistake. The long shooting match was slowly whittling down my foot and mounted missile troops and only one unit of Korean bow armed heavy cavalry had so far been committed to the fight. Tony was now making steady progress against my infantry on the right which meant I had little choice but to pull back this wing in a dog-leg towards my own table edge. I was beginning to lose the shooting match on this wing as well!
At last my Chinese managed to gain some success in the hand-to-hand battle in and between the woods which resulted in the loss of a Korean heavy cavalry unit with a general. Light cavalry units were also forced to flee as my Chinese heavies made their presence felt. Unfortunately, more Korean heavy were waiting with bows ready behind along with units of Korean spears. which had checked the advance of my armoured infantry through the woods.
The game time available was by now running low as we had spend a good part of an hour shooting at each other without gaining ground, just casualties, mostly Chinese! As my Chinese had taken the first move of the game it seemed only fair that the last tactical move went to the Koreans. This brought the game to a conclusion inflicting more casualties on my well ‘shot-up’ Chinese. The Chinese still had all 4 generals and the Koreans 3, but the Chinese had lost twice as many units mostly through missile fire. Also, the right wing of the Chinese army had been pushed back and was close to being out-flanked. So a Korean win, yes, not decisive at this point but certainly guaranteed within 3 or 4 more game turns.
Game Analysis
Tim and Tony played to the Korean strengths rather well and fooled me into believing that their cavalry were destined to switch flanks. As a result I failed to commit enough to either flank and dithered too long with my best troops in the centre. Eventually, my Chinese units were whittled down by superior Korean shooting from both infantry and mounted units.
