Sometimes when you select two opposing armies to a specific points value, and then the terrain over which these armies fight is selected and placed by a third party, this can result in a one sided affair. However, this game was certainly one of the closest fought club games for a long while – the pendulum just kept swinging back and forth!
The Teutonic army was consisted of; 5 units of ‘A’ class Teutonic knights, 6 units of ‘B’ class spears, 6 units of ‘B’ class crossbow with pavisses, 3 units of ‘B’ class mounted crossbow and 4 generals.
The Yorkist army consisted of; 6 units of ‘B’ class mounted men-at-arms, 2 units of ‘C’ class mounted sergeants, 4 units of ‘B’ class billmen, 9 units of ‘B’ class longbow and 4 generals.
Tony laid out the terrain with a road dog-legged across the table and a scattering of small hills and woods – a pretty even distribution of features which gave no obvious advantage to a deployment on either table edge. Chris and I (Yorkists) won the dice roll for choice of table edge, and Tony and Dave (Teutonic Order), won the dice roll to deploy second and move first.
Chris and I had aimed to deploy between three small woods, left right and centre of our line to act as bastions against the anticipated mass charge of the Teutonic knights. Unfortunately, the Teutonic first move gave Tony the opportunity to attack our left wing with his 3 mounted crossbow units and a general. This turned into an early defeat for our left wing! I had no option but to abandon the wood on the left and retreat my bill and longbow units pivoting back towards our table edge. Within 3 game turns the mounted crossbows had dispatched one unit of bill, one unit of longbow and sent another unit of longbow retreating to the table edge losing a stand. Only by pulling more longbow units from the defence of the central wood did Chris’s shooting finally force one unit of the mounted crossbows to flee disrupted losing 2 stands.
On our right wing Chris had positioned bill and longbow units in the 4 hex wood with 3 units of cavalry and a general beyond this to act as a right hook deterrent against the flank of Tony’s Teutonic knights. Our longbow units in the centre had planted stakes leaving 2 gaps through which we could potentially charge our Yorkist knights (mounted men-at-arms). Dave’s Teutonic infantry, all 12 stands, then advanced towards this flimsy defensive line and the central wood, which our longbow units had pulled back from to deal with Tony’s mounted crossbow.
At this point of the game, despite cross table banter to the contrary, I did think that Chris and I were facing a quick defeat! Tony then sprung a surprise by sending his 2 remaining mounted crossbow including a general into hand-to-hand combat with the two units of our longbows dog-legged back towards our table edge. In response, we had no choice but to pull 2 units of Yorkist knights and a unit of mounted sergeants back from behind our centre to attack the mounted crossbows and shore up our battered left wing.
The mounted crossbows fought stubbornly, and I fully expected the 5 units of Teutonic knights and their 2 generals to charge and smash our now weakened centre. However, the knights didn’t move! We were let of the hook! This gave us opportunity to attack Dave’s advancing infantry in the centre with longbow shooting and a sacrificial attack with a unit of bill and a unit of mounted men-at-arms. Chris’s longbow shot well, and the attack destroyed and disrupted 3 Teutonic infantry units. The 2 mounted crossbow units and a general were also eliminated by the Yorkist cavalry. Chris and I had been on the back foot throughout the game, but suddenly the pendulum had swung in our favour for the first time.
Now the 5 units of Teutonic knights charged into the battle. They demolished the remaining longbow units, a bill unit and a unit of Yorkist knights (men-at-arms). But now that these ‘game changers’ were fully committed Chris was able to launch his cavalry right hook into the side of these medieval tanks.
In the next couple of rounds of hand-to-hand combat units of both sides disappeared of the table faster than ‘shit through a goose. ‘Again, the pendulum swung one way then the other and through chance rather than design a peculiar situation had arose! A unit of Teutonic knights with a general had followed up 2 disrupted longbow units into a wood. Another unit of Teutonic knights with the other general was locked in hand-to-hand combat with Yorkist knights plus a unit of mounted sergeants. This gave the Yorkists a plus 3 in combat factors before the double dice were rolled by both sides. If this plus 3 remained after the dice were rolled, the Teutonic knights would recoil, lose their 4 point impact bonus and face elimination in the next round of combat. The recoil and follow-up move would leave the other Teutonic knight unit plus the other general trapped in the wood where it would fight disrupted and again face elimination. Therefore, any defeat even greater than 3 and it was effectively an immediate game over for the Teutonic order and a Yorkist victory.
With Dave’s solid white line of Teutonic infantry sweeping slowly towards this epic cavalry engagement and so a quick decisive hand-to-hand combat win was required by the Yorkists. The outcome of the game would be decided by this one double dice off. With 2 dice Chris and I achieved a 3 and a 1- a grand total dice score of just 4! Tony, in response rolled double 6 winning therefore by 5! The result was that the Yorkist cavalry and general were, against all odds, forced to flee disrupted, each losing a stand. Chris and I fought on for another game turn in disbelief at what had just happened. With Dave’s wall of white infantry now squeezing what remained of our force into tight restricted corridor it was really game over for the Yorkists. To use the old cliché, Chris and I had ‘snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.’
Game analysis
I, and I think in all fairness all players had a case of brain exhaustion by the end of the evening. Trying to work out all the ramifications; if they do that well do this unless this happens etc. was mentally exhausting! After being on the back foot for the majority of the evening, Chris and I found ourselves in a gold-plated winning position only to be defeated by one roll of the dice! I think Dave and Tony must have been secretly praying to the shrine of the dice gods again!
