For a change of pace, I got a game of Impetus this week against my old foe Markus. We’ve not played much Impetus for a while, so this game was marked by having to flick through the rules quite a bit more than we usually have to, but it was still a pretty quick game. Unfortunately, it was very, very ahistorical, featuring my 14th Century English Hundred Years War army versus Markus’ (I think) 2nd or 3rd Century BCE Antigonid army. Some successor army, anyway. That’s a very large gap between the two periods, and the progress of military technology alone should have ensured that my brave lads would win, but Markus is used to losing against me doesn’t mind losing as long as the game is enjoyable, and so he was happy to play against me. At some point in the future, Markus and a few others at the club will hopefully paint up and employ some medieval armies of their won for a more historical match-up, and I intend to get some of the rather fancy Xyston miniatures for my own successor period army – possibly a Graeco-Bactrian army.
We decided on 300 points; we both have this amount of points painted up, and I always prefer to use fully painted armies when I play. I have another 100 or so points painted up, and another 200 to 300 points ready to be painted up in the future, so I’ll be able to field a decent army in the fairly near future, and could even provide two small 300 point armies if I split them in two. I also have a few units of crossbow and peasants and the like to morph this army into a Free Companies one, which I’ll have to try some time. I’m not sure of Markus’ list, but mine consisted of the following: Average command structure, one poor general (in the form of the King and his Heavy Cavalry), two other Heavy Cavalry units, two units of Welshmen with Long Spear, 6 units of English Longbowmen, and a unit of Heavy Artillery. My initial positions were thus:
Opening positions: The Brave English
At the back there is my camp; just in front are my Welsh, my artillery is on my far left, followed by a long thin line of Longbow, and culminating in my King and the other knights.
Starting positions: The Enemy Antigonids
Markus set up in two groups, one consisting of most of his cavalry and elephants with a skirmish screen and the other with some flanking cavalry and his phalanges, again with skirmish screen. Skirmishing light infantry and light cavalry are pretty cheap but don;t have much in the way of strength – in melee they’re likely to disappear very quickly – but they’re dispersed units, and so missile attacks against them aren’t very effective, which means that they work as excellent cover for the more powerful units marching to war behind them – just as they were historically used.
The Enemy on my right: Skirmishers, Elephants and Cavalry
On my right, Markus deployed some skirmishing light infantry to cover the advance of his elephants, and with some fairly tough cavalry (mediums, I think) behind that. Next to hem were a unit of skirmishing light cavalry covering the advance of his other decent cavalry unit.
The Enemy on my Left: Cavalry, Tough Infantry, Small Phalamx with skirmish screen and Large Phalanx with skirmish screen
On my left, Markus deployed his other cavalry unit (more mediums, I think), with some pretty tough infantry ready to march through the woods to attack my flank. Next to them were a small 2 stand unit of Pike with a skirmish screen, and then his large unit of 3 stands of pike with their skirmish screen. If these managed to reach my longbowmen, there’s no way I’d survive contact.
And we’re off!
On the first turn or two, I simply sat where I was and attempted to go on opportunity along the line, mostly failing miserably, while Markus advanced. Which took a while – phalanges aren’t the swiftest of creatures, and he wisely didn’t want one flank to hit while the other was still three or four turns away.
Here come the Elephants!
On my right, the cavalry and elephants plodded toward my knights.
And the Phalanges!
On my left, the sneaky cavalry and infantry passed around the woods to try to catch my flank, while the phalanges marched relentlessly toward my longbowmen.
Here come the skirmishers…
Markus’ light infantry and light cavalry moved up close with the heavier mob right behind them. I knew that if I could contact them they were toast, but there was a danger they’d disrupt me and cause a casualty – which would mean I’d permanently lose my impetus bonus, and those elephants would be tricky against my knights.
Skirmishing Light Cavalry vs Heavy Knights. Hmm.
The skirmishers get a little too close, and my knights on opportunity charge into them. Only one unit actually contacted, the other fell just short.
Not surprisingly, we win.
The skirmishing light cavalry didn’t last long. It did take two melees though, which meant that I pushed forward after each fight, putting my rightmost knights in prime position to be charged by Markus’ decent cavalry. On the upside, I’d managed to get through without taking a casualty, just being disrupted, and could countercharge when he threw his cavalry into the mix.
And there go the rest of the enemy cavalry
A few lucky rolls from me coupled with the monstrous strength of the knights to start with meant that even with a disruption, I eventually managed to destroy the decent enemy cavalry. I did take a couple of hits myself, so that impetus bonus was gone, but even with that I managed to take out the other cavalry unit too. With the skirmishing infantry taken out by longbow fire, that meant all that was left on my right was the elephants.
And au revoir elephants!
And with concerted longbow fire over a couple of rounds, the elephants were looking rather shaky. Even though my knights aren’t great against elephants, they still managed to get in a couple of hits, and that’s all that was needed. The right flank was mine!
And on my left, the sneaky Antigonids sneak through the woods to attack my flank
My left flank, on the other hand, wasn’t faring so well. The well-armed enemy Peltasts broke through and attacked my Welsh spearmen, who soon collapsed. Luckily I had a second unit ready to act as a speedbump for a turn or two before Markus managed to roll up my flank. I also managed to destroy the skirmish screen in front of the smaller phalanx with my artillery too – at long range, the guns are useless, but at short range…ouch.
In the middle, the phalanges march s-l-o-w-l-y forward toward my longbowmen, while the knights prepare to chareg their flanks
And so the race was on. I needed to hold out for a few turns on the flank and get my knights over to attack the phalanges in the flank before he broke my line and went for my camp. I could have peeled a unit of knights off and made for his camp, but to hell with that. Death or glory!
The Phalanx crashes into the English line
Unfortunately, the initiative dice favoured Markus, and before I could charge them the larger phalanx drove into two units of longbow. One unit fell back in complete disarray; the other simply evaporated. My line was breached, and the way forward to my camp clear.
I say, those pikes aren’t that bad when you hit them from the flank!
But then, in the dying seconds, one of my units of knights charged forward and just made contact. Even disrupted, they were attacking the Lykian Spearmen in the flank, so those nasty pikes couldn’t do much to me. I managed to cause enough casualties to win the battle, forcing the pike to retreat…
And that’s the game.
…but since their retreat was blocked, they simply routed instead, and with that, I had caused enough casualties to win the game.
The battle may have seemed one sided (and to some extent it was); I’d destroyed 3 skirmish units, 2 cavalry stands, elephants and two units of Lykian Spear at a loss of a unit of Welsh spear and a unit of longbow, but if I hadn’t caught the smaller pike block, my other Welsh spear, my artillery and several longbow units would have disappeared very quickly and the enemy would have sacked my camp. As it was, the power of the knights was what won this game accompanied by some good rolls for my longbowmen when it counted to disrupt the oncoming enemy forces. This was an ahistorical match-up for sure, and the result was probably to be expected, but the most important factor was the fun we both had. I’d still like to get some properly historical match-ups organised though…
