Bacid Andalus

As I said in the last post, Mrs T and I are recently back from a trip to Andalusia. Consequently in my first opportunity to run a game in Shedquarters for a few weeks I thought I'd get my early Reconquista figures out, and do some Basic Impetus.

Chris K was starting to develop the autumn cold that is doing the rounds, so in deference to the group he stood down. That left us with me, Phil, Tim & Steve. Due to an accident around Wellingborough we were a bit late starting than usual. I had spent the afternoon refreshing myself on the rules and putting together a couple of armies. I tweaked the standard army lists a little bit to increase the troop type mix. I also decided that we would go through the standard game set up process, rather than me deploy the figures. I further thought I'd drop on a bit more scenery that I'd used previously.

Phil & Steve took the Christians, and Tim & I commanded the Moorish forces. We were defending, so we had to do our deployment phases first. We went for a strong infantry force in the centre, flanked by our "heavy" cavalry. This in turn was screened by skirmishers. We had some light infantry to make good use of the woods on our right, with light cavalry and crossbows on the hill to our left.

Phil went with spear armed infantry in the centre flanked by massed crossbows, light horse on their right, and some Hidalgos and skirmishers on the left. He held two heavy cavalry units behind the line as a mobile reserve.

In a cagey start we inched our way forwards. I really wanted them to be tempted to charge through our skirmishers to get at our heavy cavalry. Our guys are okay, but no real match for the Christina knights, so I'd like them to be Disordered at the very least when we fight them.

At Phil's urging Steve put his skirmishers into the wood. I think Phil was really worried that I'd be able to use my light infantry to turn the flank of his line and cause other problems, and he wanted them slowing down a bit.

Steve's crossbowmen hit my spears, which was a real nuisance. I pushed my skirmishers out, dangling them temptingly in front of Steve's knights.

Oh unbounded joy! The Cid leads his men into my rag-tag slingers.

And then it got even better! My little fellows forced a Cohesion test, which they knights failed. They have now lost impetus, and my Andalusian cavalry will have the advantage in melee.

An aerial view. We have succeeded in killing a couple of their skirmisher units, one on the left, and one on the right. Phil has gone out wide with his light cavalry, and Tim is trying to keep them in the sights of his fellows on the hilltop.

The heavy cavalry clash. We played this slightly wrong, as I added in my impetus dice and I shouldn't have as Phil initiated the contact. In any event, he inflicted no damage, and I got enough hits that I'd have won the melee regardless.

On the left, Phil has misjudged the distance, and Tim is on him in a flash.

On the left hand end of the line something similar has happened as did up my end. Phil has ploughed through our skirmishers, but got Disordered. His pursuit move was nothing, so when the turn flipped to us our skirmishing crossbows knocked a point off them by causing a Cohesion test before they had a chance to rally the disorder off.

Then the flower of Andalus, led by our Emir, crashed into them. A tense, see-saw battle would ensue.

At my end of the table I'd cleared the wood, and driven the Christian knights back, but alas was unable to keep contact.

Meanwhile Tim & Phil were having some light horse hand bags in the corner.

Time for another aerial shot. Despite outnumbering us in the centre, and having stronger troops, Phil & Steve have chosen not to press home but engage in long range shooting. They have more bows than us, but honestly this suits us fine. In the background you see Steve has swung the reserve round to deal with the threat of my light infantry, emerging from the wood. I have the opportunity to pelt El Cid and his men with some javelins before I charge him again.

I manage to destroy the Cid and his men, but I did end up with my VBU being reduced, so I've lost my impetus. I can't face those reserve cavalry until they've been degraded too. Steve tries to run down my light infantry, but he his charge move bonus roll isn't enough to make contact.

The cavalry melee on the left of our line resolutely refuses to resolve itself. Phil finally moved his line up, and we exchanged the loss of a heavy infantry unit each. However, We are winning the archery dual on the left end of the line.

Victory round. We kill off the archers, and with the loss of Phil's light cavalry we sneak across the break point number, and post a win. Phew! It was nip and tuck, but we made the most of our luck and the plan worked.

The Christian army has more killer units, having three knights, two being Hidalgos, and one Caballeros Villanos. Even the weaker Caballeros are better than our heavy cavalry, and we only have two of them anyway. We had light infantry, armed with javelins, which curiously seemed to spook Phil. It made them try to press their knightly advantage, gambling on blowing away the skirmish screen unharmed. This failed twice, and we were able to keep our cavalry in the game, inflicting damage and crucially not dying.

It was a tense game right up to the end, and I was pleased with the outcome as I expected us to take a hiding.

And it was good to get the figures out again.