Last week we played a 28mm dark ages game of Sword & Spear TMP link – Normans vs Scots. The figures were mainly single based figures on 120mm frontage sabot bases.
My Normans were a mainly infantry army (as I only have enough cavalry figures for two units of knights) and the Scots had some Norman allied cavalry, so we both had similar armies – mainly heavy foot spearmen, two units of knights and missile troops. I only had two generals, instead of the usual three, and the points that saved meant that my foot were slightly better, and one of my missile troops were medium foot crossbow rather than light foot.
The terrain went down slightly in my favour, with a brush covered hill in the centre left, which would be a good place for my crossbowmen. Also there was an area of brush in the middle on the Scots side, which would break up the Scots shieldwall.
The positions at deployment.
The Norman battle line. My plan was to get a unit of armoured spearmen out to the right, to face the Scots knights, and for my knights to come through the gaps and exploit any weaknesses in the Scots line.
The Scots battle line.
In turn 1 the Norman crossbowmen race forward to seize the hill, but the Scots javelinmen then advance and get some lucky shooting against them, nearly breaking them. However, putting light foot in front of medium foot missile troops is very risky.
Most of the Norman left advances. End of turn 1:
In turn 2 the Norman crossbowmen get their revenge by shooting and routing the Scots javelinmen. The Normans continue to push forward in the centre. On the Norman right the spearmen manoeuvre sideways to face the avancing Scots knights, giving the Norman knights a gap to move through.
In turn 3 I get good action dice. My spearmen in the centre chase off the archers in the brush, and I get another of my units of spearmen stuck in against the best Scots spearmen.
Then I make what could be a costly mistake. The Scots knights are just outside normal movement range of my spearmen on the far right. However, they use a action dice of a 6 to give them bonus movement to charge my spearmen. I hadn't allocated my spearmen an action dice so they were vulnerable to the enemy knights, with their impact ability. I had just moved my own knights forward into a position to flank charge the Scots knights next turn, but that wouldn't be any good if my spearmen were ridden down and routed in the charge. I was only rolling four dice against the six for the Scots knights, and I rolled first :
Yes, four sixes ! The best four of the Scots dice were lined up against the four sixes, and the result was a hit and two discipline tests for the Scots knights. Still, they pass on 3+ so they should survive……the dice are rolled and come up…….double 1 ! So thats two more hits and the knights rout.
As if that wasn't bad enough for the Scots, one of their units of spearmen charges the Norman spearmen in the brush in the centre, and is wiped out in the combat. To lose a fresh unit of heavy foot in one even combat is extremely unlucky. End of turn 3:
In turn four my victorious spearmen on the right engage the end Scots spear unit and then the Norman knights charge the same unit, who survive despite the pressure of being outnumbered. On the left the Scots knights decide that standing in front of crossbowmen and archers in the brush is not a good idea, so they start to move behind the spearmen to reach a position where they can be more useful.
Turn 5 and the far right Scots spearmen succumb to enemy numbers and rout. On the left the Scots spearmen start to advance to threaten the Norman crossbowmen on the hill.
The Scots have now lost units with an army value of 14, so they take an army morale test at the end of the turn. The army break point is 16, so the loss of one more unit (of any type) will mean the army routs.
In turn 6 I push my knights on the left forward to threaten the Scots spearmen, and engage the other unit of spearmen on the left with my spearmen. In the centre the Scots knights chage the Norman spearmen in the brush. It is a flank charge, but neither unit gets impetus in the rough terrain, so the knights don't benefit from their deadly impact ability, and it is a pretty even fight. On the right my knights die fighting the outnumbered Scots spearmen, and my end unit of spears gets into position to charge their flank.
On the left in turn six, I manoeure the knights into position to charge the Scots spears, who are now looking doomed. They have already suffered from crossbow shooting and they now have enemy units on three sides. Surely it can't take long for me to finish them off and win the game ?
On the right I charge the best Scots spearmen in the flank and come off worse in the combat.
In the centre the Scots knights defeat my spearmen, and I bring up the other unit of spearmen to threaten the flank of the knights.
Turn 7. On the left the Scots spearmen charge uphill against the Norman crossbowmen before I can activate my knights to charge their flank. They get no impetus in the rough terrain and are fighting uphill but they win and rout the unarmoured crossbowmen. The Norman knights turn to face the flank of the other Scots spears.
In the centre the Scots knights also escape the potential flank threat, and on the right the Norman spearmen are struggling against the heroic Scots despite outnumbering and outflanking them.
A couple of turns ago it looked like it was going to be a quick victory for the Normans, but now the Scots are making a comeback.
Turn 8. The Norman knights on the left charge the flank of the Scots spearmen, who just survive the onslaught.
In the centre right the Scots knights turn to come to the rescue of their spearmen. I then manoeuvre my spearmen in the brush sideways to block the knights charge, but I make a mistake here, moving my spearmen too far out of the rough terrain.
The other outflanked Scots spear unit fights bravely on, rallying from some of its losses.
End of turn 8. The Scots could now win the game if their knights can charge my spearmen and rout them in the charge, then pursue into the flank of my spearmen on the right who are one hit away from routing.
Turn 9. On the left my knights defeat the spearmen. The Scots army will break at the end of the turn, but will the Normans also break ?
The Scots knights charge. My spearmen cannot get impetus as they are partly in the rough terrain so they are vulnerable to the knights impact ability. The knights do well on the dice, but not well enough – they inflict three hits so the Norman spearmen survive.
It's game over and a very narrow win to the Normans in a hard fought game.
