Contrary to what many people believe, I play the majority of my games of ADLG sober during daylight hours. However, in this particular instances sobriety and daylight had left the building. As I glance across at the rapidly emptying bottle of rum I had to make a decision on what to run in game three of the evening's match ups. I could run some Mongols, some jack of all trades list with many moving parts, or I could pick up a sledgehammer and hit things.
Look at the sexy sledgehammer!
Perfect.
Teutonic Knights! Packing a respectful initiative of 4 in its purest form there is nothing clever about this list. Hammer of elite knights, slightly smaller (in punch, not size) hammer of non-elite knights. A light horse command for the initiative bonus and to pin any nasty out flankers to allow the knights to do what they do best. This choice could back fire if my opponent choses something with elephants, warwagons or stakes. I would then have to engage my brain and work out what to dismount and make the game complicated. The eagle eyed among you will notice that the list only comes to 196 points. The even more eagle eyed will notice that I forget to delpy the two light infantry in Corps II...
Phew, no elephants, no warwagons. Rerunning the Medieval Spanish. I suspect that this might be a contender for the big ADLG coming up in January (for my opponent, I have no clue what I am running) so it gets a second run in the third game. Six foot knights are tough, but not cheap and not the most maneuverable. Heavy spear to tar pit, crossbow to reach out and touch. Levy as camp guards, tar pit (kinda) and add some padding to the morale of the army
Teutonic attack into the mountains. Two steep hills and a road hit the battlefield.
The Spanish have anchored a flank on the steep hill.
Teutonics advance.... wish I had something more insightful to say.
Spanish foot knights double moving getting ready to fill in any holes that might be occurring soon.
Western flank is... uneventful.
Teutonics advance.... yup, still got nothing clever.
You might be fooled into thinking that this is the same photo as above, its not! A Spanish heavy spear has moved two UD round the steep hill! how exciting is this game!
Teutonic's advance! Something happens! Spanish crossbow lay the smackdown on both units of Teutonic light cavalry. This was actually a mistake on my part. I had advanced the knights and lights as a group, didn't have to and now was at risk of losing the light horse AND taking hit if they rout. Could have been avoided easily.
Yup, again, not the same photo. Look at the heavy spear go! He can't be more than two to three turns from flanking the knights! Otherwise the Spanish are waiting for the hammer to fall.
Its...wait for it.... wait for it... HAMMER TIME!
Knights crash into the Spanish. I rate knights vs mediocre spear. The knights lose their impact and are one down, but are armoured and not mediocre. Its a longer fight, but my money is on the knights.
Spanish crossbow dies on impact, doesn't all go the knights way though with two knights dropping two cohesion. The fight has gone the Tuetonics way, but the Spanish have reserves, the Teutonic's likely to turn the Eastern flank... hmmmm. Two light cavalry move up to stop the outflank of the Spanish heavy spear.
Second round of combat. This time it all goes the way of the Teutonic's who win or draw every combat.
The Spanish still have reserves to commit, but they are taking a pounding along the front line.
Teutonic turn and its a bloodbath. Four units rout the Eastern flank is turned. A Spanish general is killed (not marked cause am lazy). The Teutonics even start rallying their knights (well one of them) and the damaged light horse (outside of 4 UD). Current score is 17-2, and while the Spanish are not broken they concede the situation is hopeless and call an uber.
Victory to the Teutonics!
Apart from the light horse stuff up I don't think I made any errors of note (shhh, lets not talk about not deploying the lights, I didn't need them, I was that confident!). Not that I was doing anything clever. Move forward in line, roll good dice. I think the Spanish missed an opportunity. The crossbow should have move forward, but on the steep hill. Yes they would have suffered a -1 to shoot., but they would have been invulnerable and could have been a flanking threat. As it was they were more of a speed bump. The far West command of Spanish heavy spear was also a waste. They were never going to get around quick enough. Still was late and people were not firing at their best... on both sides of the table.
Cheers all.
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