FoG:Renaissance Early Turkish Expansion 1494-1566 in The Southern League Oxford round 2013
Hungarian vs Hungarian
Game 1 Hungarian vs Ottoman Turkish 1494
Game 3 saw a Hungarian Civil War taking place as the forces of Noble Hungary (erm, me) fought the ignoble usurpers, and finally the table was starting to be free of terrain as well. Given that the flank march in Game 2 had failed to arrive, the Hungarians decided that they were definately owed one, and sent the usual two units on a march off to the left flank. The Usurper Hungarian army they were facing had something highly unusual - foote! - in the form of 2 big Kiels of Landsnechts, which the Noble Hungarians on this side of the table could do little about.
The lists for the Hungarian and Hungarian from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at The Southern League Oxford round can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki.
Dominating the battlefield was a large gentle hill right in the middle, and the Noble Hungarians resolved to take it, pinning the enemy back (or tempting them top charge uphill) whilst two flanking forces comprised of Cavaliers and the flank march on the left, and the Szecklers on the right worked the Usurpers flanks.
The Szecklers made a dash for the edge of the table, skirting around yet another enclosed field scattered randomly on the approaches to Budapest.
Cavaliers, mounted bowmen and a unit of Szeckler light horse were on the right, and made equally rapid progress as the Usurpers army looked on in amazement at the two outflanking attacks
Instantly - literally, as in, dicing succesfully to arrive on turn 1 - the flank march also turned up - now the Noble Hungarian army had 5 units on the enemy left, surely enough to overwhelm the rebels?
In the middle the rebels were advancing slowly with their low technology "Foote", flanked on either side by their own ignoble Gendarme units. The Loyalist Hungarian Gendarmes stood motionless on the forward slopes of the gentle rise, fascinated to see what this huge force might try against their wall of uphill steel-clad nobility
In a slightly confusing shot in which the table edge visible on the left is actually the Ignoble Hungarian base, the full weight and force of the Loyalist Hungarian flank march starts to array itself for battle (with the cavaliers deploying out into a 3-wide formation) as the enemy Hungarians send a couple of units of bow/sword Superior Szecklers over to try and deal with the onrushing horsed horde
The rebels quickly bring up their own Cavalier pseudo-nobility, and also some more pedestrian rebels armed with crossbows move up sneakily in the enclosed field.
In the middle a Hungarian Standoff is developing - sort of like Mexican Standoff, but with Paprika instead of Chilli. The Landsnechts are not keen to charge uphill into the gendarmes, and the Loyalist gendarmes are equally unkeen to leave their position of advantage, confident that their two flanking forces will do enough damage to the enemy flanks that the Landsnechts will soon be forced into a do-or-die charge anyway
On the left, battle is joined as cavaliers take on cavaliers, and the German Lancers find themselves in a starring role charging down onto the bow/sword armed enemy Szecklers, whist both units of Loyalist bow armed cavalry are playing supporting roles, either as rear support or as an overlap on the far side.
Nothing happens in the middle, other than the cameraman falls asleep and knocks his camera just as it is taking a picture
Both sides have committed generals, but the Loyalists are the first to lose bases as the cavalier unit suffers a casulaty. This is rather traumatic - only being Average they cannot take any further losses without breaking, and the supporting bow/sword unit is behind them and will be in the path of any rout, Surely they cannot lose two bases in two rounds of an equal combat?
Yes They Can! The Cavaliers break, bursting through their support who are then contacted by the pursuing enemy cavaliers. The battle plan is in tatters almost immediately as this flank switches from being the point of maximum opportunity to a place where the whole battle can be lost ....
The unarmoured DISR cavalry fail to even survive the impact phase and rout, pursued by the jubilant rebel nobility
Things are looking not much better for the Germans, who are a base down - as are their opponents, but they happen to be Superior rather than average like the Germans...
The Szecklers also have gotten themselves into a pickle of their own making, as unable to face down the spare ignoble Gendarme unit they have been thinking about skirmishing, whilst also trying to work an opportunity to pick on a unit of enemy foote by sneaking round their flank - this has been answered by another unit of Ignoble Cavaliers and now a rather messy horse/foote/horse in rough terrain situation has developed, and neither side can work out whether this is a good idea or not...
Finally the German lancers have some good luck - they manage to unhorse and kill the enemy General... and the enemy Szecklers response is, well, nothing as both Szeckler units pass the resulting cohesion test with aplomb. The Germans and their supporting bow armed cavalry in overlap have been rolling 4 dice at the two-base unit they are facing for what seems like weeks now, but always to no avail as the Szecklers seem immune to the third base loss, and on many occasions manage to beat the Germans with their 2 dice back!
The Loyalist Szecklers are starting to realise that they have made a hideous mistake over on the right, as their three units are being outmaneuvered by the enemy in a most comprehensive fashion. One Szeckler General jostles nervously as he tries to position himself to keep all three of the units under his command in a healthy frame of mind...
With the right flank, and presumably the game, slipping away the Szecklers thoughts turn toward seeing if they can pick up at least a handful of points for their paymasters, and launch a charge at the rear of the enemy infantry - admmittedly this also means launching a charge at the front of the enemy Gendarmes but this is not a time for faint hearts... The enemy foote DISR in response to the rear charge, and then shrug off the resulting combat to actually beat the incoming Szeckler charge ... this is shaping up to be a black day indeed for the incumbent Royalty of Hungary.
The Germans are by now fragged, but the bow-armed cavalry have done that "I'm in side edge combat so I can turn on your flank to get 4 dice" trick - which the Szecklers ignore manfully, just as they have done with every other dice-based-outnumbering-trick that the Loyalist have thrown at them so far today
Suddenly the Hungarian infantry fighting the Szeckler Cavalry realise just who they are, and just what they are fighting and turn and break - this is a minor plus point, and it also allows the Szeckler horsemen locked in the enclosed field the opportunity to at least turn and face the enemy units opposing them
Even so, they prove instantly that they are useless at fighting to the front and drop to fragged in response to the cavalier charge... The game is now almost up
The Germans break and flee in response to a flank charge...
The Szecklers quickly join them...and the game is up. The Result is a very dissapointing 23-2 loss
Post Match Summary from the Hungarian Commander
Well, this is somewhat fortunate that I have conspired to engineer a
situation in which I am able to get away early and avoid the worst of the
traffic! What a blessing in what is othewise a rather unsuccesful
afternoon of warring.
The Nobility yet again stood firm and performed as the best two units in my army, being unbeaten at the end of the entire competition is an achievement of which they should be most proud.
But the lesson here is surely that to fight a battle one needs blood kin by you side, not this assortment of hired help and paid assassins who have little heart and spirit for a true fight for the Kingdom we hold so dear. Next time I feel the muster must include only good local men and true, my own flesh and blood and those who are bound to my family through oath and promise, not money and profession.
Overall a mid table result which does not flatter the outcome achieved by the whole army, but serves to highlight how much the supporting cast let down the flower of Hungarian Nobility in this performance.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Foul spoken coward, that thund'rest with thy tongue, and with thy weapon
nothing dares perform! What did your nobles do this battle - stand on a
hill and admire the view whilst honest troopers fought against impossible
odds in skirmishes they had been unwisely committed to at your command?
The only time the flank march was succesful was when it was combined with the Szecklers - yet this time your potent mercenaries were frittered away, first dithering hither and thither, then entering into a field to hack at infanrty? Why did they not commit themselves to a sweeping flanking maneuver, and force the enemy to draw men and horses away from the centre to counter them on the open plains at the rear of the table? Surely then they would have been fighting at an advantage?
And the Nobility - your best troops doing naught but occupying terrain, and facing down some paid help armed with nothing other than sticks and fear? Your only plan here I could divine was to hope that you opponent was fool enough to charge you up a hill - and as a gambling man, I would always bet more on your incompetence than that of your adversary....and today I would have collected some handsome winnings to be sure.
The other flank looked like a potent army, but you had all Average units, making your demonstrations nothing but a paper tiger which crumbled in the onslaught of Superior enemy forces - losing the cavaliers was a touch unlucky, but Average Horse have a penchant for being unlucky with such regularity that it is nowt but foolishness to expect anything more.
I think this should be a salutory lesson for you - keep thinking throughout every game, and execute plans rigorously rather than chopping and changing horses in mnid stream - as otherwise your fever for victory will be subject to the minstrations of your personal physician - and many will hope for God to put it the physician's mind to help you to your grave immediately.
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Game 1 Hungarian vs Ottoman Turkish 1494
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