Gleaming falchions in the Marches

[Erpingham]

A battle I've been planning for a while, waiting for a real urge to play and enjoy. Of course, I chose a hot, airless day in the wargames room but war is supposed to be hell.

So, on a rare dry day in Wales, Lord Tewdr faced Lord Beaumont in 13th century action. Beaumont was so stereotypically English that he brought a force with poor rough terrain ability to a battlefield thick with light woods and hills.  Tewdr was leading a light raiding force, great in the terrain but with little killer punch.

Beaumont's plan was to charge forward in a narrow strip of open terrain slaughtering Welshmen if he found them.  Tewdr planned to get his men safely into the woods and try and weave his cavalry through hidden paths (i.e. narrow gaps between difficult terrain) to attack the English infantry skulking in the rear. As I was deliberately intending a loose skirmish, rather than a massed battlelines fight, there is little to say about individual moves.  Tewdr mainly got his men into cover before the rampaging English knights could hit them and Beaumont's infantry skulked because Beaumont's plan gave them a passive role.  The Welsh archers moved up the flanks and started to hit targets of opportunity (including Beaumont's household, though he avoided injury).  Where knights met Welsh, though, even in difficult terrain, the better armour and morale of the knights told.  Tewdr's infiltration plan struggled. One teulu unit did ride down some crossbows but then, presumably thinking they had done their bit, rode off (persistent pursuit test fails).

End result : English victory. English lost two units, Welsh eight. Game length approx 1h 15m

Post game analysis :

I set this game up with four objectives.
1. Have fun.  I struggle to get the motivation to set up a game and enjoy playing it through, so wanted to be in the right mood .  Objective achieved.
2. Blood my new Welsh infantry units. Objective achieved
3. Test out the the effects of a terrain-dense table.  Would it balance the two sides out?  Answer : Ultimately no, though it gave a close, backwards-and-forwards game (much closer than the bare result suggests)
4. Try an alternative move sequence. Did it improve things? Answer : No - did not flow as well.  Back to the old one next time.
 

[Jon Freitag]

Great to see you getting in a game, Anthony!  Where are the photos?

[Erpingham]

Alas, the wargames room is quite dark, so a good photo is hard to achieve. 

[Imperial Dave]

let there be light!

[Erpingham]

By special request, here is the Welsh army reassembled on representative terrain from the battle.  Almost all old Minifigs and Irregular (there is one modified Hinchliffe figure if you look carefully).

Spearmen painted by me, archers bought as is (it is rare that a second hand purchase fits so well), cavalry painted or repainted by me.You cannot view this attachment.

[Jon Freitag]

I like 'em especially the muted colors used for their clothing.

[Erpingham]

I like 'em especially the muted colors used for their clothing.

Thanks.  Didn't want them 50 shades of brown - wanted some colour but not too bright.  Advantage with 25mm figures is you can get away with being a bit duller.