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Battle Reports April 2005 |
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Yesterday
my friend Jos and I fought an 860 points battle between an Empire
expeditionary force and the might of the Spartan empire. The battlefield
was a valley, and both armies came down the slopes to meet in the
middle. Terrain also included a rather large hill in the centre of the
valley floor and some dispersed copses. The
Spartan player entered with four flyers on his right flank, two of those
were behemoths: a winged serpent and a manticore. He screened his
behemoths with two units of young manticores and pegasi. His centre
consisted of three elite units of Spartan hoplites, two veteran units of
mercenary hoplites, four4 light horse and some light troops with bow and
spear to screen the heavies from bowfire. His left flank consisted of a
light strikeforce of hellhounds (Sons of Cerberos) and Hydra Hatchlings.
Mother Hydra and Cerberos himself were unfortunately too late for the
battle: it is rumoured they were on a date. Because the Spartans
outscouted the Empire, a flanking manoeuvre of a mobile strikeforce
built around Centaur Knights and Centaur Scouts was foreseen, and it
arrived in turn five.
Greek Light Troops with Moustaches
The
Empire expeditionary force was build around Veteran Knights on the left
flank, augmented with two veteran Eagle strike units, a left centre
built around three average pike units, a right centre built around three
veteran crossbow units and archer support, and a right flank built
around a light infantry force consisting of two average infantry and
four levy militia. Behind the battle line four medium guns were present.
Of course the Sacred Red Tape Seal was present to bolster morale. Both
Armies had access to seven magic levels. Since
the Spartans had more and better flyers and extremely good elite
infantry, the Empire knights and flyers attacked the Spartan flyers
aggressively. The centre made for the hill and positioned the pikemen
there. The right infantry force attacked the hellhounds and hydras,
currently with orders to hold. The pikemen immediately made for the hill
as the uphill advantage would be dearly needed against the Spartan
Infantry. The
Spartan Commander shielded his flying behemoths with his light flyers.
That turned out to be a mistake. The young manticores and pegasi were
easily dispatched although one managed to survive with only two strength
points left due to a snake eyes rally role. The behemoths engaged the
eagles, with the Empire Knights helpless to influence the battle
"up there". Turn
three saw the Spartan centre advancing. The light troops (consisting of
naked women with bows (the Meanades) and cretan archers walked into a
fire storm of crossbow and archer fire and were promptly dispatched. The Elite Heavy Infantry Spartans tried a piecemeal uphill attack towards the Average medium pikemen. Because of the terrible charge of the pike, and the uphill advantage, two pike bases managed to rout a single Spartan Elite base. The mercenary hoplites entered the fire storm to screen the Spartans and put pressure on the crossbows and the artillery. On the right Empire flank, the braced levy managed to see off a hellhound unit, but their leader had a 3D6 +D6 heart attack and died, thus making removal of disorders impossible. After that all four levy units were crushed by the Hydra's.
Mercenary Hoplites
At
that point the situation hung in balance. The behemoths were grinding
away at the eagles, the wounded pikes waited for the onslaught of
further Spartans in the centre, and the right empire wing lost four
units, making morale checks quite difficult. And the flanking force
still had to arrive on the left empire flank! In
turn four the Empire general went for broke. He ordered his Eagles to
fight to the death, advanced his Knights from the light flank towards
the centre, and concentrated all his firepower on the advancing
mercenary hoplites. The
Eagles found the courage to fight both behemoths to a standstill: all
flying units had heavy losses. The pikemen in the centre were waiting to
die from an elite charge, but the fleeing Spartan base had
interpenetrated his friends and caused disorder. The Spartan General
decided to use a turn to reform. The mercenary hoplites were decimated
by three crossbow-armed bases, two archer bases and four guns. The Levy
troops on the right ran, and the remaining two average heavy infantry
units attacked the wounded hydra's. Because
of the reform no morale checks were taken and no Empire units became
Shaken this turn. Turn
five, the flanking force arrived below the air battle, but since the
Knights had moved to the centre, the Centaurs could not attack anyone
this turn. In the centre the reform of the Spartans allowed the Knights
to simultaneously declare flanking charges with the downhill frontal
charges from the pikemen. The two remaining Spartan bases were charged
by five bases and succumbed: delivering heavy losses to the pikemen. The
mercenary hoplites were shot down to four strength points each. Turn
six saw some Spartan units failing and a general advance by the Empire.
The Centaurs still were not within charge reach. We stopped the battle
after turn six, because the Spartan commander gave up. Losses
on the Spartan side were, in bases: 1 light flyer base, 2 Spartan
infantry, 2 mercenary infantry, 6+ light troops and 2 hellhounds. The
remaining behemoths and light flyers had heavy losses. The Empire losses
mounted to 4 levy infantry, 3 pikes nearly dead, 2 eagle bases heavy
losses. A clear win to the Empire.
Empire
Sacred Standard In
retrospect the Spartan player made three mistakes. First was that the
flanking force would have been better deployed below his flyers. This
would have kept the knights out of the centre battle. Now they came to
late to do anything. Second was that he put his light flyers up front.
The Empire has two eagle flying units, which are very good, but take
heavy beating from flying behemoths. If he advanced with his behemoths
up front, engaged the eagles and had made flank charges with his light
flyers, he would have defeated the eagles by turn four and would have
had four flyers to harrass the artillery and the crossbow men. Third, he
should have attacked the pikemen with all Spartans at the same time
instead of piecemeal, this gave the pike the option to attack two on
one. All
in all a close run affair between one army excelling in firepower and
cavalry and another army excelling in flyers, infantry and monsters. The
game took five turns and about four hours to play. While we were playing
we mused about the possibility of special anti air units. How about
archers, or warmachines, that fire normally against flyers but only on
short range against ground units (counting long range). Sort of reversal
of the fire against flyers rule? This would allow commanders that do not
have flyers to invest in air defence against flyer heavy armies. All in all an enjoyable game, and a first VM game for the Spartan commander who played up till now only VB and other rule sets.
Peter
Schulein
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