Revenge and Disappointment

I went to Stewart's this Sunday for some wargaming, we take it in turns and it is a drive of about 75 mins so not too strenuous on the nerves. We wargame in the conference room of his workplace in the rather posh surroundings of the Zetland estate, he should, now that he has moved be able to eventually have a table somewhere in his new home.

His Carolingians beat the Saxons the last time we played and I brought them along for revenge, it is usually an even handed battle between these two armies and he would just whinge if I turned up with the Romans (walking tanks according to him). I had taken a fairly typical Saxon army, a couple of elite units, some average and some not so average commands, a small amount of skirmishers and a small cavalry reserve. Stewart had brought two very large cavalry units, some elite foot and a bunch of average cannon fodder, he had more firepower than me as he had a unit of massed archers.

I deployed refusing my right while intending to throw my left forward and outfight and outflank him. Things went well for me and I got one of my Gedriht units up swiftly and in to combat with his right most unit, he saw the danger as some of my Duguth were getting ready to outflank the line and marched some brave peasants forward to help. I suffered a lot less from the massed archers than I anticipated. As the lines clashed my Gedriht did not destroy their opponents as I had hoped, but neither did they run as they suffered horrendous casualties, this only marginally made me feel better. I threw SIPs at them to help their morale and ensure they stood their ground. I was just about to smash into the enemy flank when the peasants turned up and put an end to that plan.

Carolingians at the top, Saxons at the bottom.

Meanwhile the Carolingian battle line had advanced and threw caution to the winds and charged with abandon, there was to be no finesse in this engagement. Shieldwall's clashed and men fell, but as the dust settled all my units had held, one managed to actually win. As the huge melee continued for a second turn and my Duguth slammed into the peasants the Carolingians lost faith, units fled for the rear while their mates thought better of continuing and also fled. Apart from the cavalry and the men struggling with my Gedriht the enemy army had ceased to be a fighting force. A spectacular and unexpected revenge for the Saxons.

We had time for a second game, so we changed the scenery and set up again. this time I refused my left and put all my good troops on my right, again the plan was for a quick attack while hoping the left would hold. The Carolingians had squeezed most of their army on my far left, I was not unduly worried at this stage.

Carolingians on the left, Saxons on the right.

I advanced quickly and my two Gedriht units plowed into the enemy, vanquishing them tout suite, now things began to fall apart, I did not manage to catch the routers. One routed off table and made its morale check which meant they were coming back, this forced me to keep one of my victorious units out of the battle to handle them instead of pushing forward. The Carolingians recovered and I found myself getting outflanked as I had not pushed my line forward enough, ever watchful of the large number of enemy streaming toward my weak left.

Last of the Saxons.

Several times I thought I had recovered only to have my hopes dashed as my troops seemed to have lost their appetite for victory, the original routers now came back and this time destroyed their tormentors. Meanwhile my left collapsed, leaving me with only two average units to stave off the entire Carolingian force, I accepted defeat.

Two good battles both with large amounts of fighting, Stewart's morale in the first was shocking, when he managed to halt the Gedriht I thought I was in trouble, but as he failed to break them my line was not tested, however his was and it failed spectacularly. The second game started very well for me but again because I could not destroy my opponents and they got away it caused problems for me, the battle was a big mess with units all over throwing themselves into combat, I tried several times to catch flanks but didn't manage to hit home. So with a result of 1-1 we could both be happy, or happyish?

The conference room at Stewart's work had some beautiful hand drawn and written prints relating to all the ships in the RN from 1400 ish to 1900, they were lovely, they had been given to the boss by a friend, I think the very man who put them together.

So that is it, I am a bit WAC'ed out for the moment, I have one small battle to put my tired boys through tomorrow night at the club then that is it until after the hols, I would like to do some ACW when I get back and when Stewart has the time for another clash.