FoGR at The Worlds Koblenz 2014

The range of armies in the competition was surprisingly wide - we had supposed that everyone would pretty much pick League of Augsburg Anglo-Dutch (for its large number of superior all-shot units) or the Louis XIV Frenchies (for their pretty uniforms and general all round joie de vivre) however some surprising entrants distrubed the array of French and Dutch. Austrians clearly had something going for them, and the Ottoman army looked like an interesting choice too - both would no doubt feature lots of good quality armoured cavalry, a good choice against the generally weak mounted options available to most armies in the later book of lists

What's Going on Here Then?

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Post Match Summary from the Early Swedish Commander

This opponent was an old fashioned army but one which had the hesft and weight in it's huge infantry blocks to stand up to the worst my boys could dish out - and this time, let down by the pesky dices again, they not only had little success in the dishing front, but often had naught to do either.

I have many friends in the European nobility called Caroline, but none are as nasty and vindictive as this one - how she managed to persuade her men to exercise their wizardry on my dice to make my cohesion tests into such a shambles I will never know - the empty table and my deployment order made catching anyone a hard task, but those that did do the catching were rather hopeless and fumbled the ball most surely indeed at every opportunity

When a game comes down to needing the Average Horse to save the day, and that moment arrives barely 2 hours into the match things are already out of control, so actually scoring the points I did seemed to be in reflection a rather better result than I was at one stage expecting so that at least gives me encouragment for the final round.

Because of the bunching up aspect I also seem to still be in with a vague sniff of a podium placing, and given that all of the men here at this event have already voted me the "general we'd most like to see on a podium" maybe there is still hope for me yet?

Hannibal's Post Match Analysis

What a sorry shambles of offal wrapped in tubes of intestinal linings and stuffed with sawdust instead of pork your planning and execution were in this game. Undone by an opponent from before the modern era of warfare? What foolishness is this that sees men with sticks beat the cream of Swedish military evolution so comfortably? A game where your fast moving forces are outmanoeuvred by a Grand Tercio is indeed a sight to go down in the annals of history, but it is not a good one to record in the books of the Stockholm military academy I am afraid. Frankly you achieved far more than you deserved, and were I the adjudicator I would be asking for points to be deducted on account of the inherent unfairness of anything positive coming out of your wretched display.

The enemy army plan is hardly poorly telegraphed when they consisted of one troop type who’s only skill was forming a line and shooting at you – but here your own execution was one of almost Brownian motion for your handful of isolated units, with the end result that a piecemeal attack was taken to pieces and feasted upon by the simplicity and clarity of your opponents execution. A simple charge up the middle, maximising generals and adding in ample rear support would have served you better, and it is a rare and dark day indeed when one can say that your strategy was insufficiently simple to succeed. And, I ask again, how on earth can you allow a Tercio and Kiel to outmaneuver your army? That's shameful in the extreme! Your lack of Generals cost you dear here and your lack of a plan was merely the icing on the top of the turd that was your execution.

The aim of battle is not to engage all of the enemy's best troops with a rag-tag assortment of untested and sub-optimal passengers who made up your left flank. THose troops are not to be committed unless in extremis, and you surely were not in that state. Yet again you would have been better served by just sitting where you deployed and letting the enemy attack you at will instead of moving your troops into less advantageour positions. And I think now is the time to have stern words with the controller of your artillery park - to shoot all game with 4 guns at a Kiel and a Tercio and only shave off 3 bases in the process is making a mockery of the artilleryists art. Someone needs to show them what being fired properly actually looks like!

I have no idea how you are still in contention for a placing after than mess, and I am sure you will find that your last game sees you pushed down to closer to your rightful bottom dwelling place. Roll on the next game

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