Post by ken on Mar 12, 2017 23:07:30 GMT
Friday night saw the Hittites take on Captain Dean’s Assyrians. The armies were quite different with the Hittites being mainly Medium Spear, whilst the meat of the Assyrian force was their Heavy Chariots and Heavy Cavalry.
Dean won the initiative and chose to attack. I chose to defend in mountains and apart from the compulsory steep hill, chose another hill, a wood, impassable, and gully. Dean chose two brush. My hope was that the terrain would fall in a way that broke up Dean’s line; however it all ended up around the edges and apart from the wood, played no part in the game.
I deployed my strike command (chariots, impact sword and spear) on the left flank, my spears in the centre and my weak mediocre Javelinmen on the right flank opposite the woods. Dean lined up his chariots and LH on his left, his mediocre mixed swordsmen/bow in the centre and the cavalry on his right.
Moving first the Assyrians marched everything forwards as far as they could go with the exception of his light horse which Dean decided not to take into the woods to oppose my skirmishing javelin and sling occupying it. In my turn I also decided to advance even though it would bring me into range of his bows (everything except his h/chariots was bow armed). I also wheeled the two right hand spears of the centre command into the path of right end of his chariot line. My thinking was that if all 4 of his chariots hit my bow and javelinmen head on, that command would be blown away in short order. I also advanced my skirmishers through the woods into range of his LH and sent my left flank LH across the difficult going steep hill to get on the flank/rear of his heavy cavalry whilst the rest of the command tackled them head on.
The Assyrian shooting was red hot, scoring hits on all but 4 of my units. In return my chariots scored hits on the two right most HC, whilst my slingers scored a hit on the far left H/Chariot next to the woods. In Dean’s move he attacked with his cavalry on my left flank, sliding before charging so that I only overlapped him on one flank. My chariots evaded which gave him an overlap on that flank against my spears. On my right flank his two right hand chariots wheeled and charged my spears, whilst his remaining two continued to Advance against my line of javelinmen.
In the shooting phase, the skirmish around the woods continued to score no hits on each other, and the advance of the chariots past the woods prevented me taking another shot at the disadvantaged one. In the centre I scored a hit, but took two back which left me with only one spear undisrupted. On my left flank we were in combat, so no shooting there.
The cavalry melee was mixed; out of 4 combats we each took a disruption and tied two. On the other flank again results were mixed; with no overlaps we fought as evens, and both took a hit on one unit. At this point I should point out that Dean really shot himself in the foot; he remembered after the game that his H/Chariots were elite with furious charge. Looking back at the game, elite would not really have helped him as when he threw low, it was so low that a plus one wouldn’t have helped, but there were two instances that the furious charge may have helped; this being one, his hit against my spear would have become two.
In my turn, movement pips were limited. On the left flank I moved my chariots back into bow range, but as I only had one pip, I had to leave them in column (having contracted in my evade to avoid difficult going) thus limiting my shooting. My LH on the extreme left flank, sat at the edge of the hill all game and did nothing as there was never a spare pip to move it into the action.
In the centre, despite being disrupted virtually all along the line, my spear charged the Assyrian mixed unit; and on the right my javelinmen charged the two unengaged chariots. Next turn they would have hit me anyway, and I was able to also hit them in the rear with two of the lights from the wood. Being lights they didn’t cause a drop (we had to double check that one, neither of us being sure) but they gave a plus 1 to each combat which added to the overlap on each flank allowed an even combat on one and a plus 1 against his disrupted unit. It was all or nothing.
The only shooting was around the woods again with no result to either side. The fighting was mixed. On the cavalry flank we both inflicted losses, but no breaks. In the centre because I was disrupted, the fights were even except on each flank where we had an overlap. Again no breakthroughs, although I did get the better results overall. The spear vs chariot fight was a stalemate, but I did at least manage to bring my supporting spear into a supporting position on the right. On the extreme right my right most unit managed to inflict another loss on the disrupted unit (if only my rear attack hadn’t been lights!), whilst Dean inflicted 2 on the left hand unit. This was the other situation where the furious charge would have made a difference; the unit would have been blow away. However, as I had charged him he could not exploit this with an immediate follow up.
Next turn, things really started to hot up. The cavalry fight ground on with losses on both sides mounting and one of Dean’s M/Cavalry biting the dust. The centre remained deadlocked, again with losses reaching critical for both sides in places. In the spear v chariot we both scored more hits with one each being a point from breaking. On my far right, Dean had moved his LH into my skirmishers, now in the open and removing them immediately, and taking away the rear attack on his chariots. That fight had a mixed result with both of us finishing off their damaged opponents. Dean now had the option to Advance, as it was his turn, but decided against it as in my turn I would flank him.
In my turn, on the left, my chariots charged the cavalry to remove the overlap on one of my spears that was on its last legs (it didn’t help, they still died), although I did take out one of his damaged cavalry in return. In the centre I broke two of his mixed units with my spears and advanced both giving me the potential to flank in my next turn. On the right my victorious spear side slipped into contact with his victorious chariot, supported by the spears that were already in place from the previous combat. On the far right flank I tried to reform my line and threaten his now
isolated remaining chariot, although he did have his two LH to rear. To counter these I moved my remaining skirmishers to a firing position (again without result).
In Dean’s next, and what proved to be the last turn, things went from bad to worse. His pip rolls were bad to poor, severely limiting his options, and his combat dice were pants, resulting in further losses to his mixed units and cavalry. These with disruptions on the table tipped his army over its break point. There was still one combat to resolve, he had advanced his victorious cavalry unit from last turn into my column of swordsmen who had been advancing to plug the gaps. Dean was all for not bothering, but I and other onlookers persuaded him to do it anyway. Result; he beat me by 5 taking out the unit and disrupting the one behind gaining him an additional 3 points which took me over the 17+ losses gaining an additional 2 points in the league. Morale: never give up till the end of the last turn.
A very enjoyable game which resulted in 10 pts for the Hittites and 7pts for the Assyrians. Ultimately, I don’t think that Dean’s forgetting about his elite/furious charge chariots would have changed the result; but it would have certainly made me think twice about tackling them head on with javelinmen – although he would still have charged me next go, so maybe I would still have done it.
A feature of this game was the total failure of both sides to remove disruptions. Me because I either didn’t have the pips, or time to sit taking bow fire without an option to shoot back; Dean because every time he tried to reduce disruptions on badly damaged units, he failed.
I had planned to write this up Saturday morning, but kept getting interrupted; therefore Dean may remember things slightly differently; in which case he can put me right.
Ken
Dean won the initiative and chose to attack. I chose to defend in mountains and apart from the compulsory steep hill, chose another hill, a wood, impassable, and gully. Dean chose two brush. My hope was that the terrain would fall in a way that broke up Dean’s line; however it all ended up around the edges and apart from the wood, played no part in the game.
I deployed my strike command (chariots, impact sword and spear) on the left flank, my spears in the centre and my weak mediocre Javelinmen on the right flank opposite the woods. Dean lined up his chariots and LH on his left, his mediocre mixed swordsmen/bow in the centre and the cavalry on his right.
Moving first the Assyrians marched everything forwards as far as they could go with the exception of his light horse which Dean decided not to take into the woods to oppose my skirmishing javelin and sling occupying it. In my turn I also decided to advance even though it would bring me into range of his bows (everything except his h/chariots was bow armed). I also wheeled the two right hand spears of the centre command into the path of right end of his chariot line. My thinking was that if all 4 of his chariots hit my bow and javelinmen head on, that command would be blown away in short order. I also advanced my skirmishers through the woods into range of his LH and sent my left flank LH across the difficult going steep hill to get on the flank/rear of his heavy cavalry whilst the rest of the command tackled them head on.
The Assyrian shooting was red hot, scoring hits on all but 4 of my units. In return my chariots scored hits on the two right most HC, whilst my slingers scored a hit on the far left H/Chariot next to the woods. In Dean’s move he attacked with his cavalry on my left flank, sliding before charging so that I only overlapped him on one flank. My chariots evaded which gave him an overlap on that flank against my spears. On my right flank his two right hand chariots wheeled and charged my spears, whilst his remaining two continued to Advance against my line of javelinmen.
In the shooting phase, the skirmish around the woods continued to score no hits on each other, and the advance of the chariots past the woods prevented me taking another shot at the disadvantaged one. In the centre I scored a hit, but took two back which left me with only one spear undisrupted. On my left flank we were in combat, so no shooting there.
The cavalry melee was mixed; out of 4 combats we each took a disruption and tied two. On the other flank again results were mixed; with no overlaps we fought as evens, and both took a hit on one unit. At this point I should point out that Dean really shot himself in the foot; he remembered after the game that his H/Chariots were elite with furious charge. Looking back at the game, elite would not really have helped him as when he threw low, it was so low that a plus one wouldn’t have helped, but there were two instances that the furious charge may have helped; this being one, his hit against my spear would have become two.
In my turn, movement pips were limited. On the left flank I moved my chariots back into bow range, but as I only had one pip, I had to leave them in column (having contracted in my evade to avoid difficult going) thus limiting my shooting. My LH on the extreme left flank, sat at the edge of the hill all game and did nothing as there was never a spare pip to move it into the action.
In the centre, despite being disrupted virtually all along the line, my spear charged the Assyrian mixed unit; and on the right my javelinmen charged the two unengaged chariots. Next turn they would have hit me anyway, and I was able to also hit them in the rear with two of the lights from the wood. Being lights they didn’t cause a drop (we had to double check that one, neither of us being sure) but they gave a plus 1 to each combat which added to the overlap on each flank allowed an even combat on one and a plus 1 against his disrupted unit. It was all or nothing.
The only shooting was around the woods again with no result to either side. The fighting was mixed. On the cavalry flank we both inflicted losses, but no breaks. In the centre because I was disrupted, the fights were even except on each flank where we had an overlap. Again no breakthroughs, although I did get the better results overall. The spear vs chariot fight was a stalemate, but I did at least manage to bring my supporting spear into a supporting position on the right. On the extreme right my right most unit managed to inflict another loss on the disrupted unit (if only my rear attack hadn’t been lights!), whilst Dean inflicted 2 on the left hand unit. This was the other situation where the furious charge would have made a difference; the unit would have been blow away. However, as I had charged him he could not exploit this with an immediate follow up.
Next turn, things really started to hot up. The cavalry fight ground on with losses on both sides mounting and one of Dean’s M/Cavalry biting the dust. The centre remained deadlocked, again with losses reaching critical for both sides in places. In the spear v chariot we both scored more hits with one each being a point from breaking. On my far right, Dean had moved his LH into my skirmishers, now in the open and removing them immediately, and taking away the rear attack on his chariots. That fight had a mixed result with both of us finishing off their damaged opponents. Dean now had the option to Advance, as it was his turn, but decided against it as in my turn I would flank him.
In my turn, on the left, my chariots charged the cavalry to remove the overlap on one of my spears that was on its last legs (it didn’t help, they still died), although I did take out one of his damaged cavalry in return. In the centre I broke two of his mixed units with my spears and advanced both giving me the potential to flank in my next turn. On the right my victorious spear side slipped into contact with his victorious chariot, supported by the spears that were already in place from the previous combat. On the far right flank I tried to reform my line and threaten his now
isolated remaining chariot, although he did have his two LH to rear. To counter these I moved my remaining skirmishers to a firing position (again without result).
In Dean’s next, and what proved to be the last turn, things went from bad to worse. His pip rolls were bad to poor, severely limiting his options, and his combat dice were pants, resulting in further losses to his mixed units and cavalry. These with disruptions on the table tipped his army over its break point. There was still one combat to resolve, he had advanced his victorious cavalry unit from last turn into my column of swordsmen who had been advancing to plug the gaps. Dean was all for not bothering, but I and other onlookers persuaded him to do it anyway. Result; he beat me by 5 taking out the unit and disrupting the one behind gaining him an additional 3 points which took me over the 17+ losses gaining an additional 2 points in the league. Morale: never give up till the end of the last turn.
A very enjoyable game which resulted in 10 pts for the Hittites and 7pts for the Assyrians. Ultimately, I don’t think that Dean’s forgetting about his elite/furious charge chariots would have changed the result; but it would have certainly made me think twice about tackling them head on with javelinmen – although he would still have charged me next go, so maybe I would still have done it.
A feature of this game was the total failure of both sides to remove disruptions. Me because I either didn’t have the pips, or time to sit taking bow fire without an option to shoot back; Dean because every time he tried to reduce disruptions on badly damaged units, he failed.
I had planned to write this up Saturday morning, but kept getting interrupted; therefore Dean may remember things slightly differently; in which case he can put me right.
Ken
