"Put your trust in God and keep your powder dry!"

5th May 2010

Wargame Club game, Impetus Rules, 360 points,  (for rules see http://www.dadiepiombo.com/impetus2.html)

Later Polish –v- Early Rus.

Excellent game with Mick at the Club last night.

I used my Later Polish Army which I really think I’m getting a feel for now. I split it in to three Commands, the first of Heavy Cavalry with a supporting unit of Mounted Crossbow (this command also contained my Superior C-in-C). The second was a large command of Defensive Wagons, Town Militia with good Crossbows and Pavises and a Warwagon with B class Artillery. The third command on the right wing was a mix of light cavalry with bows, light cavalry with lance/spear and one unit of Heavy Cavalry.

Mick had two commands; the first was a large command of infantry with long spears formed up double depth (this give a bonus in melee) with a screen of skirmishers. One unit of light horse with bow and melee weapons was attached to the right of this command. His second command was a screen of light horse with two units of medium cavalry behind.

The terrain was relatively open but two areas of broken ground allowed me to anchor the flank of my 2nd command to it in the centre and created a corrider wide enough to deploy my 3rd Command (light horse) across it.

My first command I deployed on the left in a wedge like formation, the mounted crossbow unit leading out two units of heavy cavalry who were side by side.

The first turn went to Mick, he wheeled his main command (on his right) slight out and sent the light horse unit far out to the right on to the edge of the broken ground. I sent both command 1 and command 2 forward. The Wagonburg units of command two automatically become disordered when they move but I figured this was a price worth paying for trying to get my missile troops in to range ASAP.

I wheeled my 3rd command to the left to take up a blocking position on the right between the two areas or broken ground. I had a screen of light bow armed cavalry in front with units of melee light cavalry behind. This would allow me to charge through the missile horse troops in to contact with the enemy if the missile horse were threatened. Behind them were a unit of the excellent Polish heavy cavalry which though impetuous would certainly be able to go toe-to-toe with Mick’s medium cavalry.

Both Mick and I are slow players so things trundled on uneventful for a while. The Rus light horse on my left engaged my mounted crossbow from short range and did some damage. This left my mounted crossbow practically non-effective as a combat unit but still on the field. I had a choice whether to charge them in to contact with the light horse and gamble that I could cause some damage to them but almost guarantee their destruction or disengage but keep them on the table. I chose the latter which I think made sense. Lost units contribute to the ultimate “break point” of your army. By still having them on the field the were of value even if they couldn’t fight.

My two units of heavy cavalry under Command 1 had gone “out of control” at this point. This means that I had to move them forward toward the enemy (the drawback of having impetuous cavalry) They passed through the mounted crossbow, the Rus light horse evaded and the momentum took the knights right in to Mick’s command 1. The skirmisher screen got off a shot before being disbursed and I crashed in to the ranks of formed up spearmen!

I am a cautious player which does not lend itself well to commanding cavalry and I really have to go against my instincts sometimes. I felt that being so close to the enemy who were perfectly capable of shooting me up with their skirmisher screen meant that I had to close. The Rus formation meant that I lost a charge bonus normally attributed to the heavy cavalry but I was still 7 dice to Mick’s 5.

On the other side of the battle field Mick had closed with his 2nd Command and moved his bow armed light horse to within point blank range of my light horse. Neither of us realised and it wasn’t until Bob pointed out that because it was point blank I got to return fire immediately. On reflection Mick probably would agree that this was a mistake but only because he did not realise about the return fire rule (which I didn’t either). He got 5 dice against me but in return because my troops hadn’t moved I got 9!. Carnage ensured.

While this was going on my wagonburg in Command 2 finally got within range. The skirmisher screen on the Rus Command 1 was a problem for my Crossbowmen so I started pounding them with artillery. Once I got those clear the crossbow could start doing damage on the formed up infantry behind.

As things stood I was making good progress with the heavy cavalry on the left, destroying two lots of skirmisher, a unit of spear and a unit of light horse. However the poles were no longer fresh and sooner or later my luck with the dice was going to turn.

In the centre I was looking very strong. Fresh militia with good crossbows, with the protection of defensive wagons and supported by artillery. On the right my light horse had done the job softening up the opponents cavalry but I only had one unit of fresh Heavy Cavalry to deal the knock out blow. The right was definitely in the balance.

Unfortunately we had to call it a day there as it was getting very late. I had not lost a single casualty and had done damage to the Rus’ but to call it anything but a draw would be unfair.

However, I felt that I am finally getting the combinations of troop types right with this army and started to use find a way for each command to support the other. I was in a strong position in the centre and though the left would not have defeated Micks right single handed I am relatively confident that they would have been weakened enough that the artillery and missiles from the centre to have done the rest.

The right was a different story and I am not sure what would have happened there. My feeling is that without some really good dice rolls I may have had problems. I simply did not have the numbers to hold of the Rus cavalry. If Mick had broken through there, then who knows….