Battle Of The Golden Soldiers

 Mat and I played another small game today which went for just an hour and a half. It was a battle stemming from our campaign game and another one we could have resolved without setting up a battle but just by rolling dice. However, the game proved to be entertaining and even though Mat was greatly outnumbered he got a chance to do some damage to my forces.

One of Mat's armies had been generally crushed by overwhelming forces in Hex 128. His supply wagons, commander and two reduced units of mounted archers had fled but where to? I thought it was to H129 in Fezian territory and Mat thought it was to H147in Bogavanian territory. As it happened I had another army in H147 so it would have been pointless to set up such a battle as Mat would be caught between two armies with a minute force. So, at risk of letting Mat know too much about my dispositions I told him and recommended he go with H 129.

Rescuing the supply wagons was obviously the task which Mat had and mine was primarily to capture them. Incidentally I could also try to destroy his remnant forces and he could try to damage mine.

For reasons of my own I left the bulk of my force in H128, still under King James command. A pursuit group under Ben the Good pressed after the Fezian fugitives.

FORCES:

BEERSTEIN 

12 Mercenary mounted archers
10 Mounted Crusader plate armoured knights
12 Lobsters (plate armoured cavalry with pistols)
18 White coated musket men
16 Red coated musket men

Wizards - Sylvia the Serpent Level 1 Lore of Metal
                Pobius the pernicious Level 3 Lore of the Heavens

Commander Ben the Good Battlefield Intelligence 60 Leadership 11 

FEZIA

7 Mercenary mounted archers (Previously in Beerstein employ)

8 Mounted archers

Wizard - Costrom Leadership 8 Level 1 Lore of Metal

Commander Bapka Battlefield Intelligence 81 Leadership 9

GAME MECHhANICS

Usually Mat and I play alternative moves with just the first move order decided by initiative roll. This time we decided to roll for initiative every move, which allows the chance of having two moves in a row. This gave Mat more pf a chance of escaping if the rolls favoured him and theoretically possibly more a chance for my Beersteiners to capture him. However that wasn't exactly so because mat's battlefield intelligence for his commander was higher than mine; this meant he cold make me reroll for setting up at the start and also for who went first. Consequently Mat got more first moves than me.

Beersteiner matchlock men and commander, Ben the Loved

                                                   Fezian supply wagons make a run for it.

                                            Mercenary mounted archers in Beerstein employ

                                                       Retreating Fezian mounted archers

       Non mercenary Fezian horse archers get charged by my crusaders and are exterminated!

          A baby abandoned in the rocks. Such sad happenings are not unheard of in this time of war.

     The Beersteiner wizard sent a comet onto the Fezian wagons destroying all but one and also killing General Bapka.

   The Fezian wizard, Pobius, suffers from a misfired spell which reduces him to incoherent mumblings. He is unable to cast any more spells this battle and his level is permanently reduced from three to zero.

                              Fezian wizard, Costrum, seeks refuge in the smashed wagons.

                The Lobsters stalk Costrum and prepare to charge but then the wizard casts a spell which turns five of the lobsters to gold!

  Despite the terrifying attack the lobsters charge and kill Costrum. (Costrum actually began the campaign with three lives and now would have one life left so he could theoretically return in another two campaign moves. We will have to decide whether he would actually be captured, or perhaps cut into quarters, to stop this happening - another dice decision).

                                 The survivors - Three mounted archers and a supply wagon! (In our usual practice 1/4 casualties for retreating intact units are returned so they will have five figures).

                                                  Ben the Good urges his men on.

                                         An unknown woman shelters and prays under a tree.

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

My Beersteiners got first move but simply got to move forward with the wizards doing no damage. Then it was Bapka's move (Mat's). His two mounted archer units shot at the Beersteiner musket men and killed four. 

Meanwhile Mat's wagons and general retreated to try to leave at the far end of the battlefield. Bapka is supposed to be bold but given the circumstances it was reasonable for him to try to get out of there. Increasingly as Mat won the initiative rolls it looked like he might well escape.

Then we remembered our rule that when two similar mercenary units were facing each other that a D12 would be rolled and on a 1 they would refuse to fight! That is just what happened and my unit and Mat's unit of mercenaries withdrew. That didn't stop me shooting at and reducing Mat's retreating horse archers! Mat had one unit of mounted archers left and they would not survive long as my mounted crusaders charged them and wiped them out.

Despite my successes I could see his wagons were about to escape unless... Pobis cast the Lore of the Heavens comet spell which Mat failed to dis-spell.  The marker was placed 10 centimeters in front of the wagons and next move it went off, destroying three wagons and killing the commander.

It was Pobis's last spell this battle as a mis-spell reduced him to temporary memory loss.

Meanwhile the Lobsters closed in on Pobis but were attacked by his magic, turning five of them into gold. (After the game we suggested they were each worth two credits but how to transport them and who would get them?) No burial for them!

INTERESTING FACT: Both Costrum and Pobis were originally from Patra, refugees, no doubt, from palace intrigues.

FIGURES
Lobsters and most of the matchlock men are A Call to Arms. The two male wizards are Atlantic Egyptians. Sylvia is a Dungeons and Dragons plastic figure from Macao. Ben the Bold is a Reamsa conquistador, the horse archers are mainly Italeri Mongols with some Reamsa and conversions from American Indians. Crusaders are a mix including conversions of Hong Kong swoppets, Reamsa and copies of Britains Detail. Babka is a Reamsa figure.