Hi everyone, here is a quick write up of our FOG game last weekend.
A heavy mist lay across the low ground, hiding the meandering river beneath. Edward Bruce groaned as he hoisted himself back into the saddle and climbed the rising slope above the waterway. The campaign had not gone as he had hoped and he was physically tired as was his somewhat fractious army…his army though, he felt a sense of pride as he looked down upon his men. Two hard years of campaigning and his rugged Scots had fought hard and complained little. The Irish on the other hand were a hard people for him to like. He felt no loyalty to them and he knew that they would abandon him at the first sign of real trouble. Today, trouble certainly seemed to be in the air. Looking to the south, below the rising ground was arrayed the Anglo-Irish army of John DeBermingham. Scouting reports varied, but the army looked to be at least as large as his own and would certainly contain a fair number of knights and bowmen, deadly foes both. Along with these would be a large number of Irish, no more dependable than his own, but dangerous just the same. This day would go a long way towards sealing the fate of his irish kingship and Edward knew it full well.
Edward Bruce's army was deployed with his steady schiltrons of Scottish spear in the mainward, under his own command. On his left flank he had placed the mercenary galloglaich and beyond them the kerns and light horse of the northern clans of Ireland. On his right flank he placed his last remaining schiltron along with one unit of Scottish bowmen a couple of units of kerns, his sole unit of knights as a reserve, and a smattering of wild looking Irishmen with javelins. These were flanked by a light woods, while the river gave some protection to his left flank with it's steep muddy banks. DeBermingham had arrayed his forces with a strong right flank containing all of his English troops, the feudal levy spearmen, the bowmen, and two strong units of knights. It appeared clear to Edward that the Anglo-Irish were going to try and crush his left flank. Meanwhile enemy's center contained some Irish noble cavalry, a couple of units of kerns as well as a unit of galloglaich of their own. Their left flank contained more galloglaich, kerns and some Irish light horse.
Edward saw that the battle could be lost on the left flank and won on his center and right. He had no reserves on his left and should the knights rupture his lines, his Irish would panic and his army would collapse as knights fell on his spearmen from the flank and rear.
The Bruce's army advanced first. Their right and center pressed forward as quickly as possible to attempt to seize the high ground in front of his enemy. His spearmen plodded forward in tight formation while the kerns poured up and over the slope like a herd of wild beasts. On his left he saw the Irish horse cross the small river and push forward to attempt to harass the enemy's right flank. The Anglo-Irish countered this move by pushing forward some light foot with javelins in front of the approaching spear blocks of Scots center in an attempt to disorder and slow them down. DeBermingham's left flank pushed forward with some skirmish bow and Irish light horse. As they approached, the light horse began to feel the effect of a hail of arrows from the Scots archers. The light horse halted, somewhat disorganized and seemed reluctant to stay in range. The skirmish foot in the center inexplicably stood it's ground when all of a sudden the Scottish spearmen surged forward towards them. Brave fools, Edward thought, maybe these Irish have more to offer than I believed. Bravery or no, they were swept away and it was as if a wave from the ocean covered them completely and they just disappeared. Meanwhile things began to heat up on the Scottish right as the Anglo Irish galloglaich and kerns surged forward into their Irish counterparts and the rightmost schiltron of Scottish spear. The cries of the wounded and dying filled the air as the crush of bodies ground against each other. It all ended nearly as quickly as they had come together. The Anglo-Irish were hard pressed by the kerns in Scottish service and when the Scots bowmen joined in the melee it was too much for the Anglo kerns and they broke. The stout galloglaich by their side held for a while longer then fled as well after a valiant stand at the bottom of the hill. This left the English left flank broken and the entire army in peril, but fate had not dealt her last card yet on this day. As the drama unfolded on the Scottish right, an equally heated engagement began on their left. The English flower of chivalry attempted to cross the muddy creek in what could only be considered as a risky flanking maneuver for when the heavy horse hit the creek they fell into disarray and slowed their movement to a crawl. Seeing this as a rare opportunity the Scots allied Irish commander hit the knights with his light horse. The knights turned to face the assault and recovered just in time to deal a stinging blow to the inferior horse, driving them backwards and following in hot pursuit. A second light horse unit moved into their path to attempt to slow them down. Seeing their knightly bretheren struggle through the muddy river, the second group of English knights turned inward and attempted to attack the kerns that were massed from the river's edge back to the Scots center. As this was taking place the English archers in support by the feudal levy foot of DeBermingham's forces began to pepper these massed kerns with lethal accuracy. The lightly armored kerns started to lose cohesion and then a few began to run for the rear. This started a chain reaction and before it was over, the Scots left flank was open with English knights moving to exploit the gap. In the center Edward, seeing developments around him, pushed his lowland spear into the Anglo-Irish center with everything he had. The Anglos countered with Irish noble cavalry, a unit of kerns, and a unit of galloglaich. The Anglo counter attack was piecemeal and the Scottish line cut through the horse and kerns. For a moment the advance was halted by the grit of the Anglo galloglaich, but they eventually fell to the superior numbers of the Scots spearmen. Edward saw a brave knight lead his retinue to the front of the galloglaich great helm and sword flashing in the sun. He died among his mercenary warriors, Edward did not recognize his colors, but felt a flash of remorse seeing a brave knight fall. DeBermingham surveyed the field and new the day was lost. Had his knights only been able get into the fight sooner he lamented quietly to himself, the day would have been his.
This was a semi-historical scenario based on the battle of Faughart 1318. In the real battle, Edward Bruce's army was slaughtered and he was killed, thus ending the Scottish attempt to use a second front against the English and Edward Bruce's dream of his own kingdom.
We used Field of Glory with approximately 800 pt. armies on each side. 4 of the 6 players were new to the rules and two others had limited experience with FOG. Myself and a another friend ran the game for the 6 players who did a great job and picked things up quickly. Despite the newness to most, the game played in less than 4 hours and went smoothly. I had a great time running the game and I hope everyone enjoyed it. The battle was fairly balanced and really could have gone either way with a few minor tactical adjustments.
Allen
tackles a 
