The Forum

This club game pitted a Ming Chinese army against a Teutonic Order army over terrain punctuated by some strategically positioned small hills and areas of woodland. Dice rolls gave the Chinese to Tony and Tim and the Teutonic Order to James, Chris and myself with Joe watching from the side. The first move went to the Chinese and the race for the control of the central terrain features was on!
The Chinese army army had 3 more units but the Teutonic Order had more B class units and 4 units of the mighty ‘A’ class Teutonic Knights. These knights were deliberately held back behind the centre commanded by Chris. James on the left wing had spear and pavise equipped units facing Tim’s Chinese crossbow and halberdier units, backed up by a unit of hand-pulled catapults. On my right wing I had 3 units of Teutonic mounted crossbow and 3 units of militia facing Tony’s Chinese light and medium cavalry. The Chinese heavy cavalry and armoured infantry were deployed in and behind the centre and these units we ‘Teutonic Commanders’ needed to watch carefully!
It soon became apparent that the Chinese were determined to gain control of the central 3 hex wood and many units of Chinese infantry were allocated to the task. Occupation and control of this woodland would effectively prevent the Teutonic Knights from charging through the centre and therefore this was a very calculated move. Meanwhile the missile armed cavalry of both sides played cat and mouse with each other on the Teutonic right.
Tim advanced his Chinese crossbow and hand-gunner units and engaged the line of Teutonic crossbow units in a missile exchange in which the Chinese gained the upper-hand, and at the same time Tony launched Heavy and medium Chinese cavalry against the right centre of the Teutonic battle line. This demolished the Teutonic crossbow units and resulted in an all-out no holds barred hand-to-hand battle in the centre. The casualties quickly mounted as both centres fed in more and more reinforcements.
The Chinese gained the central 3 hex wood and pushed the victorious units beyond and into combat with the Teutonic Knights waiting behind. This committed the Teutonic Knights into combat and prevented the mass charge. The knights made their presence felt but were now fighting towards and getting caught by Chinese infantry in the 3 hex woodland.
Both armies committed generals into this central maelstrom and both lost a general. This reduction to 3 generals for both sides started to produce some command and control issues, and required some careful repositioning of these precious elements to maintain some command and control over a very ‘messy’ battlefield.
The Teutonic mounted crossbow units advanced into another round of missile exchange with the Chinese cavalry. The Chinese cavalry held their ground despite losing stands and recoiling disrupted. The Chinese rocketeer unit advanced and for once hit its target and forced a recoil. My right wing had been effectively prevented from pushing back the Chinese and was therefore unable to support the hard-pressed Teutonic centre.
On the left wing James pulled back the Teutonic battle line into the wood and the hill away from Tim’s advancing infantry. The right wing had reached a static position but in the centre the battle of attrition had finally after an epic struggle resulted in a marginal Chinese territorial victory, but this had been bought at heavy cost. Both centres had effectively exhausted themselves and only the Chinese had a few reserve units left with which to exploit the very thin Teutonic battle line.
Time was now running down and after a survey of the current situation I think all parties agreed that the Chinese had achieved a marginal victory. They had certainly suffered slightly less casualties than our Teutonic force and if the game had continued the Chinese had a far higher chance of achieving a complete victory.
Game analysis
Tim and Tony kept the initiative with their Chinese throughout most of the game and their fight to control the central 3 hex woodland proved decisive. Our Teutonic army was never given the opportunity to use the mass charge of the knights and was strategically whittled down by sound Chinese tactics.