FoG:R Renaissance in Britcon 2012
Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs TYW German Catholic
Game 1 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Thirty Years' War French
Game 2 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Early TYW Swedish
Game 3 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs TYW German Catholic
Game 4 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Later Swedish
Game 5 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Early TYW Swedish
Game 6 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Imperial Spanish
The tournament was now deep into what would have been the endzone for a normal 4-game competition, but was barely half way in Manchester. The only upside of the staggering defeat I had just suffered was that it gave me time to nip back to the hotel and have a shower between games, a very necessary development in the Northern heat
The lists for the Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German and TYW German Catholic from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Britcon can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki.
The French were faced with a Catholic army, giving a vaguely historical feel to the game (with the caveat that all the TYW armies are rather similar in practice, and it is rather difficult to see the difference that religion makes to a 15mm high metal figure)
This time the terrain was fairly anodyne, with a village and a field on the French right, and literally nothing on the German side at all. This allowed the Horse-heavy catholic army to deploy a massive right hook of Cuirassiers and supporting carabiniers, leaving a big chunk of the French army (deploying first) grasping for opponents on the French right after the traditional "deploy in a line across the table" approach yet again led to them being outdeployed
The Dutch were on the left hand flank of the French and Allied army, with the French Guards and Petits Vieux in the centre. The horizon was dark with the blackened armour of the German mounted horde
The Germans raced forward, a forest of Cuirassiers swiftly appearing on the very ends of the Dutch Pike formations. The Dutch Cuirassiers had been deployed in reserve, and immediately moved up to intersperse themselves between their pike and shotte units to help create a fairly coherent defensive wall to try and hold back the German attack
Unopposed, the other allied German command had an opportunity to race forward which they took - after some shuffling around to allow some of the Dragoon units to get into a division formation with the German Cuirassiers. The German Pike and Shotte unit had already realised that their role in the battle was going to be to make up the reserves, as they simply lacked the legs, or the attention of a General, necessary to keep up with the triple-moving mounted part of their contingent
Here the successive waves of German horse can clearly be seen driving towards the French and Dutch lines, screened by a handful of Dragoons. The Dutch are content to sit back and wait - and have little option - other than one infantry unit that is pushing forward to try and then wheel into the flank of the German Cuirassier attack. Further in the centre, the main body of French infantry makes a beeline for the rather more reluctant to advance German infantry.
Now the Germans have withdrawn their dragoons and their Cuirassiers are getting into position - the Dutch refuse to given them the opportunity to gang up on any of the Cuirassier units, keeping them all close-ish to their own Pike and Shotte. The two French Guards units are closing in rapidly on the German lines, and may even hit home before the German Cuirassiers find the balls to attamept a charge on formed Dutch Pike and Shotte…
Well, sort of - the Germans find a lone Dutch unit at the end of the line, and charge in. The Dutch have already lost bases as a result of enfilading fire from the German Dragoons, and whilst this now looks like a weak link in the Dutch chain, it is still just Cuirassier on Cuirassier action.
Both sides feed more bases into the combat, as the Dutch stand firm at impact and wait for their supporting foot to close up and generate an overlap. The Dutch line is holding on…
In the middle, the two French Guard units are sweeping unstoppably towards the German Foote, and the other Dutch Pike and Shotte unit, having been bypassed by the fast moving German Horse turns its attention to a Shotte-only unit of German infantry. If they can get in cleanly they will have the advantage, but the weight of firepower the Germans can dish out is quite potent - the Dutch general needs to be in 3 places at once right now, but the infantry attack looks most promising - reinforcing potential success, he decides to leave the quality Cuirassiers to their own devices.
The massive unit of commanded out French Shotte is inching cautiously forward, very conscious of the threat posed by the German Cuirassiers to their front. Both sides are playing a delicate balancing act on this side of the battle - the Catholic Germans would love to crash into the pike-less Shotte, but in so doing they would expose their supporting Reiters, and maybe even their own flank to the French allies own German Protestant Cuirassiers who are moving up ominously. The next few moves will be vital in seeing how this plays out
The Dutch Foote are in! Accompanied by their General - who wisely elects not to fight - they crash into the Catholic gunners, whilst more Cuirassier on Cuirassier action takes place behind them. The Dutch are feeling rather satisfied that they have managed to split the massive Catholic flank attack into 3 separate battles where their own Cuirassiers are now evenly matched against the Germans facing them, and their Pike and Shotte are playing a key role as well. As long as they continue to be on the front foot the lone Dutch General can keep all these plates spinning - but if his men start to lose cohesion he will be overstretched faster than a windmill can turn its sails in a force 9 gale.
The battle is about to be joined across the entire line - the Catholics have aggressively corner-sat and are fighting where they want with the Cuirassier right hook, and the French have managed to bring all of their various forces to bear at the same time despite the challenges they had initially set themselves through their unimaginative linear deployment.
The Dutch Pike and Shotte are storming it ! The German Catholic infantry are losing bases and cohesion as a red marker sprouts behind them, and the effect of being MF in the open and losing to enemy HF (the Dutch Pikemen) is proving decisive as the Dutch shrug off the effect of overlaps and plough forward, beating up 2 units at the same time.
The Catholics pull out a little used but important rule, and execute an infantry break off from the Dutch. This buys the Catholic time, but the French forces are emboldened by the retreat of the Germans, and the Catholic infantry need to make a swift and successful recovery from their badly damaged cohesion is they are to withstand another concerted charge from the Protestant forces
The Germans are now getting increasingly frustrated by the resilience of the Dutch allied contingent, which has successfully neutralized their entire attack on their right. With little else left in their locker, the Catholic Cuirassiers charge into a Dutch Pike and Shotte unit relying on their innate quality and better armour (in melee) to try and pull off the possible but somewhat unlikely breakthrough that their comrades in Catholicism have so far failed to do in Cuirassier on Cuirassier matchups.
The Dutch lose a base, but crucially retain their cohesion - the Catholic Cuirassiers hearts sink, as their big chance has now probably passed them by.
Masses of Protestant infantry close in on the solid line of German Foote. In the foreground the (red coated) Guard infantry are in charge range, and in the middle the (blue coated) Guards have suffered a cohesion drop but are still shooting well aided by their battalion gun. The Germans have fear in their eyes, as they have been battered first by the Dutch, and then by a wave of deadly Protestant shooting - their cohesion lies in tatters and they know that the impact capability of the French is a weapon they have no answer but good dice against.
The Dutch charge home again, and the German Pike and Shotte, their morale already shattered, break and run. The Shotte-only unit, with damaged morale, is the only bulwarks of Catholicism against the tide of Protestant fury now sweeping across the field, and then across the rest of Europe!
The Protestant German infantry are feeling somewhat left out of all of this excitement as they plod, General-less, towards where the action is.
Two units of French Guards converge on the last German Pike and Shotte unit. Terrible odds, not helped by the white cohesion marker signifying Something Very Bad behind them - but the Germans stand proud and ready to fight for the right to make confessions and eat fish on Fridays.
The Dutch Flank is seeing increasingly frustrated German Cuirassier units trade bases and cohesion markers with the Dutch Horse facing them - but the sold Dutch Pike and Shotte unit, despite being close to the edge of the table, is proving a decisive advantage as it drives forward, pushing Cuirassiers and Reiters before it as they have no answer to the resilient anti-horse formation.
The other flank finally springs to life, as the Catholics abandon the fruitless attempt to engineer a charge on the French commanded-out Shotte and instead gang up both units of Horse against the one unit of German Protestant Cuirassiers. With his Pike and Shotte labouring at the rear, the German Protestant General joins the combat.
And immediately proves what a terrible idea that is, as the unit loses the combat, he dies, and the Cuirassier unit loses bases and two levels of cohesion as a result. The Catholics add "Drinking pints of bitter on a Saturday lunchtime" to their weekly canon of religiously obligatory duties and start to sense a real potential of a breakthrough on this, their theoretically weaker flank.
Erosion rather than breakthrough is the order of the day on the alternate flank, as both Cuirassier on Cuirassier battles are slowly swinging the way of the Dutch, with both German Catholic units down to just 2 bases each. The Dutch Pike and Shotte are driving all before them and even the rather rubbish French horse see an opportunity to play a role in the game and move up to threaten a flank… and promptly lose cohesion after being shot by the Catholic artillery park who are lurking just out of shot.
The FRAGGED German infantry are proving remarkably resilient in their FRAGGED state, surviving several rounds of combat losses, and on occasion beating and disheartening (DISR-inflicting) the Dutch infantry. But it must only be a matter of time before they crack…?
The exhausted Dutch Cuirassiers achieve a breakthrough on the left as some of the first units of Catholic Cuirassiers break from base losses or loss of cohesion, leaving their General isolated and alone. The last reserve German Catholic Cuirassiers now find themselves the target of two Dutch units - and having failed to dent one of them previously start to see someone writing on the wall in a Protestant script.
Just like the Catholic infantry, the Fragmented German Protestant Cuirassiers fight better when FRAGGED and manage to break off from the Catholic horse - allowing the French Guards and French Commanded-out Shotte to move up into an intimidating flanking position on the Catholic Cuirassiers. As the Catholic infantry rout in disarray from the sweeping French advance, the French open fire with a massive fusillade of musketry and inflict cohesion losses and markers on the shell-shocked German Catholic Cuirassiers. The small advantage the Catholics enjoyed after unhorsing the Protestant general is fast evaporating
The Catholics have no choice but to try and get out of the way, and charge in against the still FRAGGED Protestant German Cuirassiers, breaking them immediately and scattering French and German Dragoons to the four winds as the Cuirassiers rout and are pursued
The Dutch Foote achieve their long overdue breakthrough against the Catholics Shotte-only unit as well. The German Catholic army is collapsing like a deck of cards…
The Dutch are having an astonishing day, as their Cuirassiers pile forward and FRAG another enemy unit. Meanwhile the French horse have gotten into a position to despatch the final Catholic Cuirassier unit with a flank charge - as long as they can survive some shooting from the Catholic dragoons who have snuck round the edge of the table and are now in the French rear…
The French infantry stream forward, and allied German Protestant dragoons slip unnoticed into the Catholic baggage - the game is over, with a huge win to the French, of which much credit must go to the Dutch ally.
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German Commander
Allez Les Bleus me old China! C'est Incroyable, but at last my rightful claim to martial superiority across this fractured and troubled continent of Europa is firmly stamped on the table, much like my authority was stamped on the Catholic curs and dogs who dared to face off against the men under my brilliant command.
This was a victory generated by the crème brulee of French Infantry, underpinned by the dyke-tastic performance of the Dutch. I commanded my men with aplomb and combined a coherent defensive line on which the German Cuirassiers dashed themselves like London Taxis clamouring for a fare at Heathrow and finding that the plane has just debussed a load of people visiting relatives in Hounslow.
But then the French pedestrians, with elan, vim, verve and a stiff upper lip, waded in and gave the Catholics the kicking the so richly deserved. And what a kicking - frontal attacks have never been so much fun.
What I am also happy about is the way in which I failed to accidentally lose any of the Dragoons under my command - this time they managed to work out how to co-operate sensibly with the rest of the army, chipping in with additional firing instead of attempting to operate like ancient era light cavalry skirmishers. That is a mistake I will surely never make again…
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
You bumbling paltroon who's fetid breath does little yet to illustrate to all but the most nasally challenged how much your ego is falsely inflated by the rancid air that passes through your lungs and manifests itself in the form of the inane drivel that passes for your analysis of this battle
You bawdy dread-bolted scut! You attempt to claim the credit for this victory, buy I think you have much to thank your opponent here for today, and the plaudits for this victory should sit as much on the Catholic half of the field as much as with you and your general staff of dizzy-eyed foot-lickers!
The most important aspect was that you conspired to win the initiative roll, allowing your opponent to seize the tactical initiative by outwitting you in deployment and then moving first. Being the churlish plume-plucked younker that you undoubtably are, this played right into your hands in three crucial ways:
Firstly it prevented you from doing something unspeakably incompetent with your Dragoons, as they had been taken out of the game by the clever Catholic deployment.
Secondly you unmuzzled lily-livered clack-dish, the rapid advance of the German Cuirassiers meant your Dutch allies were forced onto the defensive right from the very first move - so they were reactive, rather than attempting anything on their own initiative, this forcing you into forming a proper coherent line and also meaning the French Guards were - rightly - amongst the first units to get into contact with the enemy and led your attack.
Thirdly, many of the combats you so "brilliantly" won were totally even, and in many the Catholics arguably had the advantage through the bravery of their Generals who led their best men from the front as true soldiers should always do. The fact you held your own or won many of these battles cannot be attributed to your skill and competence, as math and science indicates that the fates were surely with you this time around.
I hope that next time some of the lessons you learned will be put to good use - but on the basis of previous bitter experience I suspect that you will struggle to remember your own name, much less to be able to take on board the leaning opportunities of this day and fashion them into an improved performance next time around.
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
That's the end - so why not go back to the Match Reports Index and read some more reports?
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Game 1 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Thirty Years' War French
Game 2 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Early TYW Swedish
Game 3 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs TYW German Catholic
Game 4 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Later Swedish
Game 5 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Early TYW Swedish
Game 6 Thirty Years' War French, Dutch and German vs Imperial Spanish
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