The Ill-Omened 100th Post

It's my 100th posting! My First post was 29th June 2010. According to my Google stats, there have been 7,780 page views since then. The views have been continually increasing since August, and the largest month so far was January, with 1,973 views. That is not actual visitors, but is what Google uses as the basis to sell advertising, so is probably fairly accurate. My most popular single post has been a WOTR battlereport with 333 views, and in general these posts seem to be the most appreciated, which is why I've started doing so many.Enough anniversary stuff though. On to the report:

Jason and I played Basic Impetus for the TTG.

He ran his Warlord Games Romans: 

EARLY IMPERIAL ROMAN (VDT=18/9)

Nr	Type	M	VBU	I	VD	Notes
1	CM(*)	10	5	2	3
3	FP(*)	5	6	1	3	legionaries - pilum
2	FL	8	5	1	2	auxilia
1	T	6	3	0	1	short bow A
1	ART	3(6)	1	0	1	Movement is 6U is on cart art B

Special rules. Impetuous foot charging auxilia don't get Impetus Bonus.
If on cart, Roman artillery is considered as a "mounted target", but still benifit -2 malus for shooting vs artillery 

I ran my Warlord games Scots and Cuirassiers using this list: 

MAXIMILIAN IMPERIAL 1494-1518 (VDT=17/9)

Nr	Tipo	M	VBU	I	VD	Note e armi da tiro
1	CP(*)	8	7	4	3
1	CP	8	5	2	2
4	FP(*)	5	4	2	2	Landsknechts - pikes
2	S	8	2	0	1	arquebus B
1	T	6	3	0	1	arquebus A
1	ART	3	1	0	1	artillery B

He got to deploy second and I picked sides. The big hills are difficult going, as is the ruin. The low hills are simply 'rolling' and the bits of water modeled into the table (pic above) at the bottom there are broken ground. I set my army up in a line, with Pike deployed as 'large units' two deep. Jason set his Romans up in the corner and in an oblique line, which is almost what I would have done if going second (I would have set the army on two different vectors, but his Auxiliary are pretty mobile).

I got initiative and wheeled most of the line to advance (which disorders them), while sending two units of musketeers to run up the flank (bottom of pic above).

Jason's Legions push straight forward toward me, with one unit of FL Auxiliary moving to run around the  flank (top right of pic above).

I had initiative again (because we just took turns rather than rolling!) and kept throwing my S and T Musketeers forward around my left flank (bottom of pic), while the rest of my line paused to recover from disorder. I was keeping my artillery on the reverse slope of the rise in the middle, while I pushed forward with my rightmost Pike and S Musketeers to work on wearing the end of his legionary line. We were still out of effective shooting range, so he kept advancing in his turn.

For turn three, we forgot to roll for initiative again. I went first, and began to do something a little risky with my center. The leftmost FP Pike unit was to go forward, while the General's CP elite Cuirassiers was to angle across and cut behind them. The theory was to send shooters around my leftmost side and see off his archers, then go to work shooting up his flank, while my left Pike held it and I concentrated CP Cav and the rightmost FP Pike on the left of his line. Seemed like a good idea at the time! My shooting on the right disordered some already disordered legionaries and inflict a casualty on them - things seemed like they were working to plan! Then Jason pointed out that we were forgetting to roll for initiative.... so we would be the next turn. He left the left of his legionary line back to reform while throwing the right forward into my Pike. All the while, one unit of T Auxiliary bow exchanged ineffectual fire with my shooters to the left and a unit of FL Auxiliary ran over the big hill to threaten my right. Then he won the initiative roll.

So back to back turns for him (a good feature of both versions of the game). He smashed the right side of the FP legionary line into my leftmost FP Pike, both sides took damage, but the Pike lost and were pushed back. This happened a couple of times, until we managed to draw a combat, leaving that Pike with a severely weakened second unit. Worse, the progress of this withdrawal meant that the Pike came within 5U of the General's Elite CP Cuirassiers, which took automatic damage - suddenly the 'clever' redirection of force in the line didn't look so smart. Worse was to come when my turn came around. I had to do that melee again and the Pike continued to lose, and continued to damage the Cuirassiers.

I lost initiative again and was now in a perilous position. The melee involving the left Pike unit came to its logical conclusion - CP Cuirassiers. Not good, not good at all. I forged ahead with my planned advance on the right, where Jason's boys were hanging back. I actually managed to drive the units there back with casualties. However, Jason's FL Auxiliary had been marching non-stop around my right and were now in a position to hit that end of my line. With FP Legionaries and CM Equites to the front, all I had to cover the right was the S Musketeers! In my defense the *plan* had involved more direct involvement of the General's cavalry over there.

 

I won initiative for the last turn. However, it was merely a formality. The Melee took out my General's CP Cuirassiers (three more points of demoralisation). So when, in his turn, Jason took down the S Musketeers and the Art Cannon, he broke my force. 

Another fun game with some good rules and figures. Jason really liked the fact that overall army strategy is the decisive factor in this game. My shooting largely failed to perform, but the real reason I lost is because Jason simply handled the battle-lines much better. It takes a lot of forethought to get everything going correctly and you can't just expect to improvise your way out of a hole. 

In fact, Jason seems to have taken on all the zealousness of the newly converted and has grabbed my borrowed copy of the full-version army lists and has been (as he calls it) 'list frothing' since.  Next round of Impetus for us will be full version of the rules, 400pts, using the tournament guidelines: at least two commands and a decent proportion of your troops in both commands - so that the armies can be broken more quickly. I think he is continuing with the EIR list (his figs would work for Severan/Middle Imperial Rome) and I will be using the latest possible full list I could find: Charles V Imperial.