An introduction.
With 2023 coming to a close, we wanted to get one last game in before the new year, so we decided our last battle for this year, but the first of what will be regular battle reports for the new year, would be between our Christian Spanish and Almoravids. Between us, we’ve managed to paint just over 2,000 points for both armies, so we were good to go, although we both agreed before the battle began that it would be great when we got around to adding extra commanders and more units for variety to both armies, but that will be an ongoing project for 2024.
Battle information:
Rules: On Bloody Ground, El Cid & The Reconquista.
Players: Dave, using the Almoravids and Dan using The Christian Spanish.
Points: 2000 points a side.
Battlefield: 6ft x 4ft.
Special Objectives: We chose to use Special Objectives as per the rulebook.
Battlefield Bystanders: Both players chose to use Battlefield Bystanders in their army.
The Armies and their Commanders:
THE ALMORAVIDS:
Commanded by DAVE.
The Almoravid army list.
The army that I chose to bring to the table today is our complete painted collection at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t still need to make some hard choices in army building.
Usually, when I build an army, I start with my command options first. The 400pts of command in a 2,000pt Almoravid army offers a decent number of commander choices and the option to include plenty of command points, but this time, I wanted to build a list from the ground up, so it was the units that I chose first.
The easy first choice for me was my trusty Black Guard. These are my best infantry, with great combat stats, excellent leadership at 7+ and padded armour, and they’re resilient to boot, but all that comes at a cost which has to stay within the 15% maximum unit size, so 18 was the most I could afford to take. I added in throwing weapons (at 4+ to hit for the Black Guard, these are almost a must have option for me), and some African drummers for 10pts. If the opportunity to use the African drummers special rule comes up during an initial combat, they can make a make a big difference.
Next up were the first of the core troops in my army. For this I chose three units of Berber Spearmen, each with 24 men armed with thrusting spears, throwing weapons, large shields and African drummers. These troops are pretty steady at leadership 8+ and as long as they don’t get outflanked, they are a hard nut to crack, especially if I can keep some form of command influence near by, just in case.
For my next core troops, I chose two units of Berber Archers, each with 12 men. I usually like to have these troops with shields because it really helps to protect them from enemy skirmishers or bow fire, but I just couldn’t afford to pay the 2pts per man, so I reluctantly sent then to battle with just their trusty bows and some mixed weapons.
For my last unit, I wanted some mobility and a unit that would at least make those pesky Caballeros think twice before coming full pelt at my infantry, so I chose a unit of 10 Hasham Guard Cavalry. These are the best cavalry I can field without using either mercenaries or allies, and I wanted to use an all Berber list, so that was out of the question.
On to my Commanders now, and I only had 386 points left, so I needed to make the most of what I had and with that in mind, my first choice was Yusuf Ibn Tashfin himself (or, Ben Yusuf, as most of us know him!). He comes in at a pretty reasonable 160pts with a command influence of 18”, 5 Command Points, Superior Armour of 4+, and as his special rule he gives all formed Almoravid units within 12” of him a +1 leadership bonus! Plus, if he should need to get stuck into a fight, he has a healthy 3+/3+ profile for his hand weapon.
Because I was fast running out of points, I opted next for two Sayyids and gave both of them an extra command point, which bumps them to two each, as well as improved Superior Armour at 4+, just in case they were needed to get stuck in to combat. The Sayyids don’t have the attached keyword, so I can run them around the battlefield with their 10” move, as and where they’re needed. This would hopefully give me the command flexibility I expected to need.
Last but not least, I managed to squeeze in an Imam for 55pts. He comes with the ‘Stubborn Faith’ keyword, which allows a unit that he has joined to re-roll either one or both D6 from a failed push back result in any initial combat. I was hopeful that I wouldn’t need his extra vigour to keep my boys in the fight, but you never know!
Army Points used:
1,999
The Almoravid Battle Plan.
Most people that have played against me will probably laugh when I say that I had some form of battle plan for this game, but I did, kind of!
The first part of my plan for this battle pretty much consisted of not blocking my own troops in with poor terrain choices and deployment. Sad, isn’t it? I knew I would need to use as much terrain as I could get on the table to help protect my vulnerable flanks against those Christian Knights, but what I’ve done too many times in the past is use too much impassable terrain, which has been as much of a hindrance to myself as my opponent.
The second, and most daring part of my plan was that I wanted to try to stay in more control of when and where I fought in combat and this would require careful timing, some orders getting through to the troops at just the right time, and a fair amount of luck, as most players will know that charging with thrusting spear armed troops can be very, very tricky at the best of times.
THE CHRISTIAN SPANISH:
Commanded by DAN.
This Spanish army was was selected with one main theme in mind, as many elite formed cavalry units as I can have. This comes with some cutbacks mentioned later on.
It’s often a good idea to start with a General first, as each army has to have one. As I knew was going to have a large part of my army as cavalry, I mounted my Rey on a horse, as this meant he had a better movement rate at 14” and, if necessary, he could join a unit when they needed him most. I decided to take a mounted priest as well, as he can give any unit he joins re-rolls to their charge dice which can be very useful when you want to push through an important charge. I finished my command options up with a mounted Officer with a command point. Leaders are a good, cheap option to attach to a unit to boost leadership and have command points in places your General might not be able to reach with his command influence, so my idea was to use the unit he joined on the flank.
With command sorted I moved on to what I wanted in my army. I chose to have four units of the best cavalry I could have; Caballeros Hidalgos. I like to give these guys as much arms and armour as they can have so they survive longer and have more of an offensive output. Having an option to upgrade to medium armour means that they will likely be the best armoured unit on the table. Paired with their cavalry spears and ‘shock impact 1’ when charging, any opponent has to be careful not to leave any unit exposed without support, as they can easily make short work of them.
Although a Spanish force may be entirely mounted, I opted to have some infantry units to get into combat first and hopefully draw some of the expected bow fire away from the cavalry. I began with some Guard spearmen because they are armoured and fight well with 3+ to hit and 4+ to kill thrusting spears. I gave them throwing weapons that hit and kill on 4+ as well, to give them a more offensive option if needed. With these arms and armour options my unit could be 18 strong, which is a good size for a more elite unit like this. I also needed a larger unit of spearmen that could still challenge the hardy Berber Spearmen Dave would most certainly be taking, so I took a unit of 24 Peones with thrusting spears and throwing weapons. I would have liked to have taken javelins as well, but with unit restrictions it would have meant I could have only have afforded 21 men, which is not enough for what I had planned. The Peones have no armour so they can die quickly in combat, but if I can entice Dave to charge me, their thrusting spears and throwing weapons bring a lot of attacks to bear, which can keep them around for longer.
At this point in army building I didn’t have many points left. I knew I wanted to have some crossbowmen and I ended up having enough points for a small formed unit of Ballesteros and some skirmishing Militia Crossbowmen. Crossbows have a shorter range than bows but suffer no penalty to wound at long range, which can be a real bonus if you get into a good position and keep harassing your opponents important units.
Army Points used:
1999
The Christian Spanish Battle Plan.
My battle plan normally starts at list building. With a lot of cavalry and some infantry to attack first, I wanted to force Dave into making a mistake which would allow my Caballeros to take advantage and attack from a flank or if possible, the rear.
With such a large cavalry force it is important to not allow your opponent to place too much terrain that can reduce their movement or charging potential. With my Officer having to attach to at least one of my cavalry units, I knew they could take a position on a flank, whilst my General and the rest of the army will keep in some form of formation to have as much strength in one place so I could fill any gaps in the lines and keep pressure up in combat. I also wanted to hold my Priest back and later on join a unit that would need him for the re-roll to charge dice.
One of the main weaknesses in the army is in command points. My General has four and my Officer one (much less than I normally like to have), but he can only use his command points on the unit he is attached to. Each and every point my General uses must be used wisely, and so that means I will not be able to risk trying any daring, out of sequence orders that aren’t of utmost necessity.
CHOOSE YOUR GROUND
We decided to use ‘Planned Attack’ when choosing ground. For this option, players choose a table side each, then both roll a single D6, with the winner choosing whether to place the first piece of terrain anywhere in their half of the table, at which point both players alternate placing until one passes, at which point their opponent is allowed to place one more piece.
SPECIAL OBJECTIVES
Special Objectives are drawn before the armies are deployed and kept secret from the opponent, but we did each take a picture of our own cards once we’d randomly chosen them. In a standard game, each player draws one special objective per 1000 army points being used.
Almoravid Special Objectives:
DEPLOY THE ARMIES
Dan won the D6 roll to choose how we would deploy our armies to the battlefield and he chose ‘Rapid Deployment’ which allows units to be placed in any order and make a single move of up to two march moves. This allows units to push forward quickly and gain ground and key terrain features, but it’s important to remember that when deploying, troops are considered to be actually moving on to the battlefield and so may block movement of other friendly units. Also, once a unit has been deployed, no enemy are allowed to move closer than 12” of them during their own deployment. This can really help to make players think about the order of deployment, which areas of the table they want to dominate, and if they intend to use several waves of attack.
Because Dan chose the method of deployment, Dave was able to choose who would deploy the first unit to the table, and made Dan deploy first.
This shows both the terrain we chose and the final deployment of both armies (Almoravids left and Christian Spanish, right). Each area of terrain is determined by a template that can then have extra terrain added to it for a more pleasing look, or to make the terrain type more obvious at a glance. We also use our ‘Terrain Tokens’ to show the keywords that have been agreed upon for each piece.
On the Almoravid half of the table there are two pieces of hindering terrain, which formed and skirmish cavalry may not charge or march through, and one piece of impassable terrain, which allows no movement through.
On the Christian Spanish side of the table there are two small copses of trees, both with the cover keywords, which give a -1 modifier to all shooting attacks that pass through them, and on the Spanish far right flank there is an area of solid terrain, which does not allow movement or line of sight through it.
THOUGHTS ON DEPLOYMENT:
DAVE:
I was initially going to try to get my Hasham Guard cavalry out on one of my flanks to threaten Dan, although I knew this might be a tall order as the Christian Spanish have to have a lot of cavalry and would definitely outnumber and outmatch my offering, so I decided to place my cavalry on the table last, just to keep Dan guessing. I eventually opted to put them in a reserve position behind the infantry just in case I needed to plug any gaps that might open up in my line.
I placed my two archer units in defensive positions in the hope that they could rain down volleys onto the enemy from relative safety. I was definitely feeling the loss of the shields that I had to take away from my archers due to a lack of points.
I placed my Black Guard unit on my left flank and placed the Imam with them, to hopefully hold gap in the terrain there. I tried to fan the three Spearmen units out across my centre and place both of my Sayyids within range of as many units as possible, whilst Ben Yusuf was right in the centre, where his command points and leadership bonus should be most effective. I have to admit though that as Dan deployed cavalry unit after cavalry unit, I was already worried that I would not be able to hold my line, let alone push through my general, more aggressive plan to attack and wrong foot him!
DAN:
With lots of hindering terrain in the centre of the battlefield, I was forced to put my cavalry units on the flanks. When deploying my units to the table, I held back my cavalry so I could put them in the most advantageous spot possible.
Although the left side of my table was open, which would normally be perfect for cavalry, three formed units of Berber spearmen were deployed there, and when at full strength, they are scary to charge to the front with cavalry! The left flank of the Almoravid force seemed the most weak as only the Black Guard were holding it with the support of a good sized unit of archers. This is where I would try and push through. I know the Black Guard are not to be underestimated though, especially with an Imam joined to them, so I put three of my Caballeros units on the right, with one closer to the centre of the line to react if I had any problems on the left flank.
I decided to place my best infantry unit on the left as they are more reliable in a fight and have better leadership, and they were supported by my final unit of Caballeros. I didn’t march them too far up as there were some archers conveniently positioned behind terrain that kept them safe from any cavalry charge. My crossbowmen were placed to target the Black Guard and weaken them as much as I possibly could in preparation for the charge of the Caballeros.
My General took a central spot in the army to have as many units under his command in range for any potential orders, but I didn’t plan on doing that too early…
THE INITIATIVE
We both rolled a D6 to determine the initiative for the game. Dave won the roll and decided to give Dan the Initiative, which meant he would be the first player during each turn of the game, unless the initiative changed at any point.
GAME TURN ONE:
DAN:
Being passed the initiative on the first turn was a blessing and a potential curse. As my General didn’t have many command points it meant I didn’t have to think about keeping any in reserve to try and take the initiative later in the game, but it did allow Dave that option later down the line, I would have to keep this in mind.
I’m pretty sure I was given the initiative because my units were out of bow range, and so I had to move first. I didn’t want to move too far yet but my skirmishers were a bit vulnerable opposite the large units of Berber spearmen so I moved both infantry units up to protect them. I quickly realised that it was possible the left side of my line might be in a weak position, so I started to refuse the flank and force Dave to come forward.
DAVE:
I decided right away that there might be an opportunity to overwhelm Dans left flank, so I moved the unit of archers and African spearmen on my right forwards as far as possible. I also decided that I would back the threat up by moving my Hasham Guard cavalry towards my right flank too. I hoped this would either force Dan to pull back, or bring more troops over to support his weak left flank. I knew that moving my single unit of cavalry at such an early stage of the battle would mean that my Black Guard and archers on my left flank would need to hold their ground as Dan had positioned a lot of cavalry opposite them, and if they were broken, the rest of the army would be in very serious trouble.
I got a shot off from my archers on the left flank, but shooting at long range at an armoured cavalry unit in cover was never going to do much damage, and in fact, it did none at all!
GAME TURN TWO:
There was no challenge to the initiative.
DAN:
Now that the Hasham Guard had committed, I could start to put some pressure on the Black Guard just as I had planned. I joined the Priest to the Caballeros closest to the Black Guard and positioned them so that even if Dave moved back I could still potentially make a charge move.
I wanted to remove any support that might be given to the Black Guard, so moved my Peones up to a position that might tempt a charge from the Berber Spearmen onto them. This was a long shot as it would create a big gap in the lines of the Almoravids, but you never know!
Now that the spearmen and archers on my left were moving up, I knew I couldn’t keep any of my units in exposed positions, so I kept refusing the flank by moving my cavalry backwards to prevent any cheeky charges on them.
DAVE:
Clearly my tactics on my right flank had worried Dan, as he repositioned his single cavalry unit there further away from my advancing units.
I got the definite impression that Dan was trying to bait my centre to a premature attack as he advanced his infantry units towards me, but I wasn’t ready to charge in yet, even though it was part of my plan. I continued to advance on my right flank to see if he would reinforce there and draw troops from the centre before I chose to charge in.
I repositioned the Hasham Guard so that they were able to provide support to the centre, whilst still edging round to my right.
In the vain hope that I might hit something this turn, both of my archer units fired at the closest cavalry units to them, but again, no casualties were caused.
GAME TURN THREE:
There was no challenge to the initiative.
DAN:
Unfortunately Dave didn’t take the bait and charge early on, but it may have worked in my favour as it took some pressure off me. I declare a charge on the Black Guard, needing 9+ on two dice. With the re-roll from my Priest I was confident of success, but still somehow managed to fail the charge which held me back from attempting to push through whilst the Almoravid left is at its weakest.
No worries though, as I can rotate my left flank even more and position everything again for another charge next turn. I see a gap start to open on the Almoravid right which I may be able to capitalise on next turn, but I’ll have to see what happens now Dave can react to my failed charge…
DAVE:
Now’s your time my boys, now’s your time! Dan had managed to fail a charge against my Black Guards, even though he put that thrice damned priest in there for a re-roll option (what a shame!). So, I decided that it was time to begin playing out my battle plan. I declared a charge with my left most unit of spearmen against Dans Peones, which they successfully completed (take note, Dan!)
Although the charge was a success which meant I would get re-rolls during the initial combat, the combat went surprisingly badly for me and I lost six men to Dans four, damn and blast! Unfortunately I also failed my push back test, rolling only a four (which would have meant losing another four of my men), so to avoid more losses I used a command point from Yusuf to re-roll both dice, and thankfully passed on the second attempt – phew!
Whilst this initial combat was raging, the rest of my spearmen, my Black Guard and the archer unit on my right flank manoeuvred forwards to both maintain my central line and continue the sweeping move around Dans left flank.
My archer unit on the left flank were ordered to fire a supporting shot at the Caballeros before they failed their charge, but caused no casualties, so during my own turn I tried another shot at the same unit, but yet again, even though they had moved into a nice close range, I couldn’t manage to cause any wounds!
During the combat phase of my turn, my spearmen unit fought again and managed to do even worse, yet again they lost six men, whilst Dan only lost two this time! Another push back test and this time it was Yusufs leadership bonus that kept my troops in the fight, and thankfully the unit held for a second time, but they were already down to half strength, which is not what I’d expected at all when I made the initial charge.
GAME TURN FOUR:
There was no challenge to the initiative.
DAN:
The fact that somehow my Peones did very well in multiple combats surprised me and gave me some options for this turn. With the centre of the Almoravid line being held, and the potential to cause lots of mayhem in one turn, I declared two separate charges; the Caballeros Hidalgos against the Black Guard and another against the slightly reduced unit of Berber Spearmen with my Guard unit, if I could destroy these it would cause a major problem for Dave.
I started with the Guard Spearmen so I could see how things would unfold. I knew that it would be a risk charging the front of thrusting spear armed troops as I would only be able to use one rank to fight versus their three, but I did have a better armour save and to hit rolls. Unfortunately I lost seven men compared to the spearmen's three, and failed my stand fast test by one, this wasn't what I expected at all!
In the consecutive combat I fared slightly better, killing one and suffering no casualties, but I still lost due to Dave’s unit having a higher combat score. Again I failed the stand fast test, was pushed back, and lost another casualty.
This was my last chance to turn things around as if I lost again and failed my break test, I would be completely destroyed. And that was exactly what happened. Unfortunately, the Guard decided that today was not their day and were decimated by the Berber Spearmen. Some of my militia crossbowmen also decided to run away as a result of a failed panic test caused by the destruction of my Guard unit, they should be ashamed of themselves!
Now onto the charge against the Black Guard. The Caballeros did very well, killing four (including the African Drummers!) and only taking one casualty themselves. Because I won the initial combat on the charge, I could apply the Shock Impact (1) keyword and gained a total of 2 momentum, so the Black Guard needed to pass their stand fast test on -2 to their roll! With the Imam in the unit, allowing them to re-roll their rolls in the initial combat they passed the test and survived the charge.
With the Black Guard held up by one unit of Caballeros, the Caballeros with the Officer joined to them attempted to move into a flanking position with a manoeuvre order, but failed the D6 roll of 4+ required so were unable to do so.
Now that my left flank was looking very exposed, I decided I needed to do something potentially radical and try to keep the pressure on whilst it was still my turn. I could still cause some major problems for Dave this turn, so I moved the Caballeros into the centre behind the skirmishing Militia Crossbowmen in an attempt to order a charge move with my General after the shooting phase. I did this as I could shoot into the Berber Spearmen and cause some casualties before hopefully charging in before the combat phase began.
Giving a charge order is tough as you need to spend a command point and roll a 5+ on a single D6. At this point in the game my General only had two command points left as he used the others trying to, unsuccessfully I might add, keep the Guard Spearmen from being destroyed. Unfortunately I failed this roll as well, now I’m in trouble I think…
In combat the Peones and the Caballeros fought to a stand still and now it was the turn of the bad guys…
DAVE:
I felt that this was a turning point in the game so far. My Black Guard somehow managed to beat and destroy the cavalry that they were in combat with, which had allowed them to slowly pull back during each combat and then finally reposition themselves to a much safer spot once the combat was won.
The spearmen that had managed to destroy the Guard unit were now free to charge those pesky Peones in the flank, but even then they just wouldn’t give up the fight and Yusuf had to use another command point to order an extra combat, just to finish them off. This allowed me to pull the two units of spearmen, one of which was in a very sorry state by now, back to a safer position out of obvious charge range and potentially relative safety.
Although I’d successfully dealt with Dans infantry in the centre of my line, it had cost my spearmen units very dearly, so I decided to recall my Hasham Guard back towards the centre, just in case a gap appeared and Dan tried to snatch victory from what looked more and more like impending defeat.
GAME TURN FIVE:
There was no challenge to the initiative.
DAN:
I was in trouble now. My whole centre had been destroyed and the Caballeros that were keeping the Black Guard busy had also been destroyed allowing the Black Guard to move back so far that I would be lucky if I could successfully charge them this turn.
I did however decide to charge everything that I could whilst I still had a chance to destroy the heavily damaged spearmen units of Daves army. At this point in the battle my men were tired, and seeing their brothers in arms being decimated clearly wasn’t very motivational and both of my charges failed again!
All I could do now was prepare for the next, and final turn of the game, so I moved my left most unit of Caballeros to potentially threaten a flank charge on the untouched unit of Berber Spearmen that had positioned themselves in the copse of tress at the centre of the table, just in case they tried any last minute heroics.
DAVE:
With the Black Guard in imminent danger of being charged by a second unit of Caballeros, I decided that all I could do was declare a charge in the hope that by stopping the cavalry bonuses from taking full effect during their own charge, I might actually be able to survive long enough to hold my left flank.
Amazingly, the Black Guard fought the cavalry to a draw on the initial combat, so that daring charge worked out well for me! In the Combat phase of the turn, the Black Guard found some for of inspiration and killed four Caballeros (I suspect the Spanish cavalry had lost the will to fight by now!) and won the initial combat.
What was even more impressive was that they eventually beat the cavalry down to just four wounds remaining, although the Caballeros fought my boys to a draw and the combat came to an end.
I knew I had no chance of achieving my ‘Chain of Command’ Special Objective, but there was a chance I could achieve the ‘Stand Fast’, so I started to move Yusuf towards my African spearmen unit, who were very close to the centre of the table. Those extra 50 victory points can make all the difference if the battle is close.
GAME TURN SIX:
There was no challenge to the initiative.
DAN:
I was surprised that the Black Guard did so well against the Caballeros on my right, so I had to go for glory in the vain hope I could clutch victory from the jaws of defeat.
I had joined my Priest into the unit of Caballeros in the centre during my last turn so my plan was to charge the weakened unit of Berber spearmen in the centre of the Almoravid line and hopefully cause panic and destroy the last few spearmen in the other unit. Yet again my General failed me and failed to give the order to manoeuvre forward to allow me to avoid the terrain and complete the charge move. My only option now was the flank of the full Berber unit in the cover. If I didn’t destroy this unit my flank would be exposed to a counter charge and I would likely be destroyed.
Yet again, I failed the initial roll needed for the charge move, but the Priest allowed me to re-roll the failed charge and at last I managed a successful charge move into the flank! Finally, I could start causing some damage!
I won the initial combat causing a whopping six casualties and only taking one in return. With ‘Shock Impact 1’ and a flank charge I had three momentum, meaning Dave needed to pass his test on a -3 leadership modifier. With the Spearmen being in Ben Yusuf’s range of influence for his leadership bonus they needed a 10+ on two dice to pass the test, I need this to fail...
The Berber Spearmen weren’t phased one bit by the cavalry and passed their test, meaning I had to try and beat them in the combat phase now if I had any chance of winning this battle.
I knew at this point I could complete one of my objectives, so I moved my last Caballeros unit so they were within 12” of my table edge to try and gain a few victory points.
In the shooting phase my Militia Crossbowmen shot very accurately, killing the last four members of a Berber Spearmen unit and destroying them. Maybe things were about to turn in my favour after all?
The combat phase unfortunately went in the favour of the Almoravids. Because the Berber Spearmen I had charged passed a stand fast test, they could align to face me in the combat phase and bring all of their thrusting spears to bear. After two consecutive combats my Caballeros were destroyed and my dreams of a final glorious charge to win had come to an end.
The Black Guard lost on my right flank, but again held their ground, due in part to the stubborn faith of the Imam and their high leadership, they were much tougher to get rid of than I had anticipated.
DAVE:
As soon as I saw the re-roll and successful charge into the flank of my African spearmen in the centre of the table, I felt the doom of a victory slipping away from me. Surely the spearmen couldn’t hold against a charge to their flank? I had expected them to lose the initial combat, fail to stand fast, then lose the two consecutive combats before being broken. This would have caused panic tests on their other units near to them, which wouldn’t have destroyed any units, but I could certainly do without it!
Against all hope, even though my guys were soundly beaten from the charge as expected, they held their nerve and refused to give ground. This allowed them to turn to face the now blown cavalry and push them back by bringing all of their attacks to bear. It was a sorry sight (not really, but I have to say something nice) to see them beaten and broken.
My Black Guard, who would be honoured above all others after this day, managed to hold their combat to a draw, with the help of the Sayyid, who had used up all of his command points, so moved in to join the holy fight for survival!
Because the African spearmen had survived their combat, Ben Yusuf was able to move to join the unit and gain those extra victory points, which by this point, probably wouldn’t be needed, but it’s good to grind the enemy as far into the dirt as possible during these moments in any battle, isn’t it?!
Our after battle thoughts.
DAN
The Almoravids were a tough nut to crack this time. Dave did exactly what he needed to do to reduce the effectiveness of my cavalry by placing terrain in important areas of the battlefield.
I like to think that my deployment went well, as I had done exactly what I had planned when making my list but that seemed to be where all my luck ran out. Unfortunately the Black Guard held against the charges that I eventually made against them. If I had moved closer earlier on I might have been able to successfully charge a turn earlier, which may have forced Dave to react to his flank being beaten rather than being able to move and do exactly what he wanted to.
I knew that I had fewer command points than I likely would have needed and this seemed to be true. Although you can never rely entirely on command points, having a few to use more sparingly could have potentially helped my units when I failed my stand fast tests.
When the Caballeros Hidalgos made successful charges they did very well, unfortunately the Almoravids held their lines and passed their tests.
The game was incredibly enjoyable as always, but mark my words, next time I’ll be looking for vengeance!
DAVE
Well, that was a whole lot of fun! I think my plan worked well, which is a rare thing for me as I have a tendency to throw caution to the wind too often and charge into combat, only to be halted, then pushed back and eventually crushed!
I would have to say that lady luck deserted Dan for much of this game. My command points worked well for me when I needed them on the whole which can make a big difference, especially when you can hold a unit in place that might otherwise be beaten and pushed back, whereas Dan didn’t pass a single order roll all game.
My terrain placement was better although I wouldn’t say it was a game winner, but I did manage to use it to protect my vulnerable archer units at least. I’ll try harder to make this interesting addition to any battle work even better for me in future games.
In the end though, everything came down to those thrusting spear armed infantry units. The Black Guard were amazing as always, and even the basic spearmen managed break Dans infantry and valiantly hold against those scary charges from the Caballeros Hidalgos! On the other hand, my normally great units of archers did almost nothing all game and the Hasham Guard cavalry never got into a fight, although they did exactly what I needed them to do really, which was keep up a threat when and where they might be needed, so I shouldn’t really complain.
Dan managed to butcher all of my attached drummers, which was a bit of a shock, but I muddled through without them, and Ben Yusuf and the rest of my commanders did an admiral job, with the Sayyid that joined the Black Guard in their last definitely being given land and riches for his efforts.
I’m very much looking forward to our next encounter and plan to get a few more units painted up ready to take to the battlefield!
Great read, great looking game, thanks mate!
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