Introduction
Greetings all!
We recently played another game using the rules of Warmaster and with the help of the free program, Battle Chronicler, we are pleased to be able to share it with you - and to get any comments and criticism that you might think of while reading the report.
The game was fought between a 1500p Carthago Army led by Per and two 750p armies - one led by Uffe chosen from the Teotonic Order army list (masquerading as Welsh nobility) and one led by Kasper and chosen from the Welsh Army list. The only special rule was that the Welsh Coalition army would be treated as one and would combine losses etc and fight as one.
The table was 150x200 cm, deployment was marked on a map in secret before the battle and we fought six eventful turns.
And please remember to click the maps and pictures to see them in a size where the details are more noticeable :-).
The Welsh Foot - Ready for action
Armies
Cathago ------- General: Per
(1) General, Hannibal [150 points](2) Leader, Hago [80 points]
(3) Leader, Mago [80 points]
(4) Elephants [150 points]
(5-6) Heavy Cavalry [110 points]
(7) Light Horse [60 points]
(8-11) Numidians [40 points]
(12-15) Infantry [45 points]
(16-19) Skirmishers [30 points]
(20-31) Gallic Allies [25 points]
Total: 1500 points Break Point: 10
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Welsh Liberation Army --------------------- Generals: Uffe and Kasper
(1) General, Grand Master Tristan de Caernarfon [125 points]
(2) Brother Knights, Brothers of Brecon Hills [145 points]
(3-4) Crusader Knights, Knights of Goodrich [135 points]
(5-7) Light Horses, Riders of Garreg Cennen [70 points]
(8) Leader, Owain ap Gruffydd, [80 points]
(9) Irish Chieftain, Mathgamain mac Cennétig, [50 points]
(10) Irish Mercenaries [45 points]
(11-12) Welsh Archers [40 points]
(13-26) Welsh Foot [35 points]
Total: 1495 points Break Point 12
Deployment
The Carthago army was pretty thinly spread trying to cover the entire field. A brigade of cheap Gaellic Allies defended each flank while the center was held by a unit of elephants, two heavy cavalry units and the regular infantry. The numidian skirmishing cavalry was deployed together on the african right flank while another Warband brigade was deployed behind the small city.
The Welsh army had all the cavalry behind the large hill and a big imposing horde of warbands deployed as centrally as possible.
The welsh battleplan was to send in the warbands and cause as much havoc as possible, destroy any skirmishers with the superb light horses and sweep the field in the final turns with the Brother and Crusader Knights. As we saw the thin red line we decided to concentrate on the three infantry briagdes on the welsh right flank - hoping that their destruction would bring us a certain victory.
The Welsh army had all the cavalry behind the large hill and a big imposing horde of warbands deployed as centrally as possible.
The welsh battleplan was to send in the warbands and cause as much havoc as possible, destroy any skirmishers with the superb light horses and sweep the field in the final turns with the Brother and Crusader Knights. As we saw the thin red line we decided to concentrate on the three infantry briagdes on the welsh right flank - hoping that their destruction would bring us a certain victory.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Welsh Deployment
The Army of Africa - the thin dark line - with their confident general Per
and a secret helper in hiding.
Carthago Turn 1
Wales Turn 1
The first turn went to Carthago but little movement happened as only a single brigade dared to move forward (28-31) the rest of the army was plagued by poorly written orders.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Wales Turn 1
More focused were the movements of the welsh - all the cavalry moved forward towards the center of the battle field, flanked by two brigades of warbands - racing to try and occupy the small hill in front of them. (10 , 13-15, 20-23) On the right a further two brigades ran forward (16-19, 24-26) while only the archers seemed a bit confused as to their role in the battle (11-12).
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
The Welsh army plows forward, trying to take advantage of the thinly spread opposition
Carthago Turn 2
More movement this time from the africans, as a brigade of Gaellic Allies moved forward on each side, one reaching the safety of a small town (24-27) while the other prepared for a long march (20-23). In the center a brigade of two infantry units (14-15) and two skirmishers (18-19) moved rapidly forward and just barely seized the center hill, backed by a single cavalry unit of Light horses (7).
Wales Turn 2
More movement this time from the africans, as a brigade of Gaellic Allies moved forward on each side, one reaching the safety of a small town (24-27) while the other prepared for a long march (20-23). In the center a brigade of two infantry units (14-15) and two skirmishers (18-19) moved rapidly forward and just barely seized the center hill, backed by a single cavalry unit of Light horses (7).
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Wales Turn 2
Few orders were passed as most of the turns energy was used by the central brigade (10, 13-15) who rushed forward onto the central hill, chasing of the two African skirmishing units (18-19) and establishing a foothold on the isolated terrain piece. The Welsh generals had decided to sacrifice as many units as it took to occupy and deny the Africans this important hill and hoped that an attack would be more costly to the regular and more expensive infantry than the cheap Welsh foot while the second brigade (20-23) were eager to join the fray as soon as possible.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
The Welsh surge forward
The bloody battle for the central hill begins
Carthago Turn 3
Again the African army was hampered by illeterate unit leaders, this time even Hannibal forgot why he was supposed to be such a brilliant general (and lost his special bonus). The only real movement was the concentration of archery units (7, 18-19) in the center who shot at the Irish mercenaries (10) with little result.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Wales Turn 3
More action this turn as the Welsh moved in for the kill. The Crussader Knights (3-4) swept towards the isolated brigade (28-31) while in front of them footsoldiers died on the bloody hill. Two Welsh Foot units (14-15) tried to push the regular infantry (14-15) off the hill with catastrophic results - one was entirely destroyed while the other was it self pushed far back (14) causing only a few injuries to the African soldiers. The Irish Mercenries had charged the two units of skirmishers (18-19) who bravely chose to stand and fight, though unsuccesful with an entire unit destroyed (19). The Mercenries eyed the Elephants behind the skirmishers and nervously calculated the distance and hoped they would be safe from a countercharge. Another unit of Foot (13) had charged the Light cavalry unit (7) in a battle which cost each unit a single stand - and the Welsh foot fell back onto the hill and just behind the African Infantry (14).
The hill was still dominated by the Africans but at least the Welsh generals had managed to remove most of the infantrys support and were hoping that the Infantry would soon be killed by numbers alone.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
The Hanged Man Hill-Mill - famous for its funky smelling flour
More blood is spilt on the hill
Carthago Turn 4
Turn 4 saw little movement again on the African side, despite all three leaders trying as hard as they could to get the unit leaders to read the orders, especially the Numidians failure to do so was infuriating. What did move was the Gaellic Allies (28-31) who tried to defend their flanks from the approaching Welsh Foot and to incite the Crusader Knights (3-4) away from the center of the field. Two skirmisher units (16-17) managed to move forward (16-17) while two more regular Infantry units (12-13) moved forward to try and get into a fight with the Irish Mercenries (10). These killed the remaining skirmishers (18) in combat and fell back towards their own lines, having taken serious damage.
In the more important central battle the African Infantry (14-15) killed the last Welsh Foot in front of them (14) on the hill and although both units were by now damaged, they were almost alone now.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Wales Turn 4
After the Irish Mercenaries (10) fled from the Africans charges were announced both in the center and on the right flank. Two Welsh Foot units (20-21) and one unit of Crusader Knights (3) charged the stubborn Infantry there (14-15). Another unit (13) once again charged the Light Horses (7) and were blessed with lucky hits and destroyed all the horses before falling back to safety.
On the flank the small brigade of Welsh Foot (24-25) just managed to contact their opponents (30-31) but were in the resulting battle decisively beaten back. In the center the Welsh fared better and finally the last Africans were thrown of the hill, leaving the Welsh in charge of the bloody piece of terrain. Whatever heathens of old were buried beneath would be merrily drinking the blood that seeped through the ground.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
By sacrificing hundreds of welsh footmen the arfricans are slowly driven from the hill
The Clash of Titans or more correctly; the clash of sacrificial warbands on the flank.
Carthago Turn 5
Again only few units moved on the African side - two units of Skirmishers (16-17) moved forward to avenge their comrades and finish of the Irish Mercenaries (10), but their slingshots failed to do so. Meanwhile the larger brigade of Gaellic Allies (24-27) tried a flank charge on the inviting enemy units but blundered and fell back onto the village.
The only positive actions were the decimation of Welsh Foot (24-25) by the Gaellic Allies on the flank (30-31). Unfortunately a single stand managed to survive and just held back the enemy for the Welsh countercharge.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Countless Gaellic Allies and Welsh Footsoldiers die unnoticed on the battles flank
Wales Turn 5
Little Action across the field as most orders were too hastily written for them to be read by fearful unit leaders and although many charges were tried all failed (The Light Horses (5-7) wanted tor id the field of Skirmishers (16-17) while the Crusader Knights (3) and Foot (21) wanted to teach the Gaellic Allies (24-27) a lesson before the returned to the village. Only the flank was succesful where four units of Welsh Foot (16-19) ripped through the opposing Gaellic Allies (28-31), ignoring their own many casulties and pushed the rest up against the far ends of the Battle field.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
General Uffe
General Per - trying to will his unmoving elephants forward by pure willpower
Carhago Turn 6
In their final turn the Numidians (8-11) and their neighbouring Allies (20-23) briefly woke from their slumber but too little too late. The rest of the army continued their sedated lack of fighting with a brigade of Gaellic Allies once again failing their charge (24-27). While all this was happening the last remnants on the left flank (28-29) was wiped out by the Welsh Foot (17-19), the remains of which consolidated towards the center of the field.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Wales Turn 6
Last and decisive turn for the Welsh - now was the time to kill and drive the invadign Africans from the field. On the left the Archers (11-12) decided that they were safe and moved forwards and by their only barrage of the game managed to confuse the Infantry in front of them (13). The Light Horses (5-6) charged into the Skirmishers (16-17) quickly killing them all and advanced into the now confused infantry (13). Unfortunately these African Infantry proved to be too strong for the fancy horses and even though they were confused managed to throw the Light Horses back.
On the other side all available units screamed for blood and charged the poor and now very isolated Gaellic Allies (24-27). Two units of Crusader Knights (3-4) and two units of Welsh Foot (16, 26) managed to contact the foe and proceeded to slaughter two units (26-27) and severely damage the rest for little damage in return.
All the succes must have momentarily confused the Welsh generals as they also ordered a single unit of Welsh Foot (21) to charge into the terrirying line of cavalry and elephants in front of them (4-6). (Note; this charge was only meant to ruin the brigades integrity and to see more blood be spilt, but as the resulting combat and advances proved this silly charge could have cost us the battle). The infantry managed to kill some of the Heavy Cavalry but were decidedly cut down allowing the Elephants (4) to charge into the side of the nearby Crusader Knights (3) (as this combat was still ongoing and two rounds had been fought the elephants could not fight that round (thank god!) but did look very scary on the flank of the expensive cavalry). One unit of Heavy cavaly attacked into the flank of the Light horses and although causing a few casualties was not able to kill the entire unit before the armies were forced by darkness to end the battle.
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
End
Casualties:
Welsh Army:
5 x Welsh Foot (175)
5 x ½ Welsh Foot (100)
1 x ½ Light Horse (35)
1 x Irish Mercenaries (45)
Total: 355 and 7,5 units out of a Break Point of 12
Carthago Casualties:
4 x Skirmishers (120)
1 x Light Horse (60)
6 x Gaellic Allies (125)
2 x Infantry (90)
Total 395 and 9 units out of a Break Point of 10
Map key:
Carthago Red: 1 General Hannibal 2-3 Leaders 4 Elephants, 5-6 Heavy Cavalry, 7 Light Cavalry
8-11 Numidians, 12-15 Infantry, 16-19 Skirmishers, 20-31 Gaellic Warbands
Wales Dark Blue: 1 General, 2 Brother Knights, 3-4 Crusader Knights, 5-7 Light Horses
Wales Light Blue: 8 Leader, 9 Irish Chieftain, 10 Irish Mercenaries, 11-12 Archers, 13-26 Welsh Foot
Final positions at the end of a bloody battle
Comments
From our point of view (the Welsh side) the battle was half won by the end of the deployment phase as the African army seemed too spread out. Unfortunately the battle for the hill (infantry are always a pleasure to defend with in terrain) was maybe too costly and the initial lack of success on the right flank against the isolated Gaellic Allies almost cost us the battle. The last charge in the last turn by the Welsh Foot against the main battle line of Heavy Cavalry and Elephants will never be mentioned again - what a mistake :-).
Also this was another game where one side had all the luck in manouvering (Wales) while the other was viciously lucky in combat (Carthago), but as such I think the luck was reasonably balanced on both sides. What was decisive was also that one third of the African forces were never in battle - especially the costly cavalry and elephants never had a chance to make their presence felt (until the stupid charge which from now on, really, will never be mentioned again). The same was the case for the Brother Knights, but at least these expensive units kept each other in check, neither side daring to send them in too soon and both sides felt the need to keep something in reserve to countercharge.
Also it should probably be said that the African army would probably have delivered a decisive countercharge if the game had gone on for a turn or more, but wether this would have been enough is now a moot point.
MVP on the Welsh side should definitely go to the Irish Mercenaries who managed to kill enough points to make their sacrifice worthwhile and it felt like they themselves tied up an enitre flank for a couple of turns. MVP on the African side should probably go to the two units of Infantry who held the hill against almost eight Welsh Foot units and a unit of Crusader Knights.
A particular mention should be made as to the Warband rule - this is really working perfectly, really giving the feeling of invincible units when succesful and crappy quickly disappearing ones when luck doesnt favour them. Great fun!
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the Report,
best regards,
Kasper.
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