Feudal Ages at Warfare 2021
Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal English
Game 1 Feudal Hungarian vs Komnenan Byzantine
Game 2 Feudal Hungarian vs Tuareg
Game 3 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal English
Game 4 Feudal Hungarian vs Jurchen Jin
Game 5 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal German
The latter third of Day 1 of the racecourse-busting Warfare 2021 arrived as darkness started to creep across the hedges and jumps outside the cold glass windows of the Ascot Pavilion.
With a defeat by a sliver in which the Paprikaist Army had certainly not enjoyed the rub of the green, and a encouragingly comfortable (in the end) success against the camel-riding hordes the Empire of Greater Hungary looked forward with some cautious optimism to the afternoon session.
The opposition this time was an opponent who had crushed the Spanish in practically embarrassing style at my previous outing in Brixham, but this time the wily opposing general was using a Feudal English army rather than the Legions of Rome (who'd of course be disallowed in this Feudal themed event anyway. Thank god).
The lists for the Feudal Hungarian and Feudal English from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Warfare can be seen here in the L'Art de la Guerre Wiki.
Feudal English is an army that is, in its later incarnation, drifting slowly towards the 100YW with the arrival on the scene of the near-legendary Longbowmen. This must-have troop type is backed up with a bucketload of largely uncontrollable, and sporadically Noble knights, mercenary crossbowmen and some somewhat sub-part spearmen. So, really the Longbows are what make this stand out from the generic in a Feudal period.
The table had been narrowed as the Hungarians either elected to attack down the edge of the coast that seamlessly joins the many thermal baths of Old Budapest and, erm, parts of Kent which may nor may not include the apparently broad sandy beaches of the Isle of Sheppey.
With very little other terrain surviving the terrain-removal stage of the pre-game, the scene was set for a skill-free line up and charge into the teeth of a storm of arrows, down the Robot Bowling alley the English had prepared next to the seaside, where they hoped no doubt that the diversions of candy floss and sticks of rock with "Welcome to Longbowland" running through them would distract their opponents and serve the Yeomen themselves well.
Having been gifted the opportunity to approach the game in a fashion which would squeeze all skill out of it for either player, the Hungarians (mindful of their Spanish forebears recent disaster) delightedly accepted this competence-balancing offer and steamed towards the waiting English line at some pace.
The Biro-wielding (yes, the Biro was invented by a Hungarian - it's not all just Paprika, Goulash and Rubik's Cubes after all!) Croatian Axemen were particularly delighted to see sub-par spearmen and even more squishy uneasy archers mercenaries arrayed before their surge forward, as perhaps they would have a chance to redeem themselves following the utter debacle of their town-assault in Game 1?
The Men of Miskolc and Debrecen sailed forward imperiously on their mighty 15mm scale fairly standard Essex Miniatures chargers, printed flags a-waving as they sought to close with the line of English Yeomen bowmen as soon as possible.
Notch, Twang, Repeat went the English infantry's refrain as the distance between the implacable force and somewhat more potentially immovable should they have been later versions able to deploy stakes obstacles closed rapidly.
The English started to find their aim, pouring fire into the seemingly highly flammable Magyarország horsemen. Men closed their visors, all the more to deflect the outrageously lengthy arrows of dice-based fortune being hurled in their direction by their enemies.
The decisive moment was however approaching, and the Englishmen's strategy of being Loose Order Medium Foot standing in the open in the path of a horde of Impetuous Knights would be tested, most probably to destruction, quite soon.
How a real life Hobbit shoots a Longbow
On the opposite flank much more sophisticated things were happening, no doubt putting the Hungarians at a considerable disadvantage in the process.
But even here the tiny and bow-based English hoste was committing it's hopes to the accuracy of missile weapons against a frontal assault, an approach which the Paprikaist army was even now already attempting to subvert by the hitherto-unexpected dirty tricks-style expedients of "getting around their flank" and "concentration of a local superiority of numbers".
This was it - already!
The defensive position set up by the English had indeed forced the Biro-toting Hungarians into a reckless headlong attack almost all along the line - although to be fair, had the English set their troops up in a series of Vauban-style fortresses scattered across the table seemingly at random, the Hungarians would probably have just attacked frontally anyway, that was what their army was designed to do and that was what they would do regardless.
The only concession to tactical subtlety was a vague effort to delay combat in the centre against the English Knights, but honestly this was small beer in the great brewery taproom of military strategy from which the Hungarian generals had seemingly just lurched in somewhat of a drunken haze.
What's Going on Here Then?
In a repeat of the first game strategy, the Hungarian army is leading with both wings, outreaching the shorter but better quality English force which has placed it's Knights in the centre.
This time the Croat Axemen, the Hungarian USP, are using terrain on the left to make a bee-line for the block of infantry protecting the English right - the axemen's presence with archery support renders the English army's anti-cavalry setup on this flank somewhat of a liability
Goulash Ahoy! With a narrow frontage, the Hungarians have been able to matchup their spearmen against most of the English Knights, allowing their own Knights to rely on speed and good fortune to charge down the stake-les English archery next to the river
Huge peals of combat noises rolled back and forth across the Ascot Grandstand, in a cacophony not heard since 4-time Gold Cup winner Yeats last stormed to victory on the hallowed turf outside the nearby plate glass windows way back in 2009.
But this time it seemed like the next statue in the parade ring would be one of the Croatian woodsmen rather than the mighty racehorse, as the English line bent and bowed under their tree-tested swingeing blows.
With battle joined almost everywhere the English Knights decided it was time for them to also join in the fun, racing ahead to join their Hungarian counterparts in a stupendous melee for the ages.
From now on only the dice (and of course the initial combat factors) would decide the fate of these two nations on this small yellow field of battle.
The tide of combat was swirling like a veritable sinkhole of the Fates had just opened up under the feet of the two lines of battling men and horses.
In this microcosm of war, being a spearman appeared to be the shortest of straws to have pulled from the fist of close combat for either army, with the Croat peasants bending under an assault by mercenary Pikemen and English knights while the Englanders own pointy-stick merchants were finding it equally challenging to remain intact in the face of the relentless choppery of the advancing Croat axemen.
Hungarian Facts
France, Spain, and Italy might be more famous for their wines in general, but in Tokaj, there is something special.
Tokaji Aszu is also known as the King of wines. And it is here you can visit the world's first official wine region.
Louis XIV of France said the following about Tokaji Aszu "Wine of Kings, the King of Wine". But then again, things didn't end well for him, did they?
What's Going on Here Then?
Seeing the threat to both flanks, the English Nobles have launched a desparate attack to try and break through the enemy centre, against a Hungarian line compose mostly of resilient spearmen.
The Croat Axemen have been making great strides already however in chewing up the spear-armed infantry supposedly protecting the English right - and with excess Hungarian horsemen flooding round the engaged English flank as well, things look prime for exploiting here for the Magyars
The Hungarian and Croat spearmen have taken a pounding from the English Knights initial charge in the middle, but the faster moving, and cavalry-supported Croat Axemen look better positioned to exploit their imminent success than the somewhat-blown English knights
By The Gods of Goulash! It's a Complete Implosion!
The right hand end of the English line evaporated under the hammer blows of the Croatian axemen (eh? is that right?) setting up the rest of the Hungarian outrider mounted contingent for a supermarket sweep which would surely leave nary a tin-can of English Royal Soupery left on the middle shelf of battle. The small English force was thinking quite hard about checking out early.
Collapsing quicker than an English Test Team middle order battling lineup in an overseas Ashes test, the line of Longbowmen on the opposite flank were next to be skittled out by the fast bowling-up approach of the Hungarian gentry.
This left a gaping hole in the English line and plan, which the jubilant Hungaro-knights gleefully accepted and exploited by barrelling into the other end of the English centre. The game was up, and the English had come off the field first, and ended very much second.
The Result is an 87-23 Victory!
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition where the European Steppe-dwelling Hungarians take on the Greater Chinese Steppe dwelling Jurchen Jin Dynasty, 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 Feudal Hungarian Commander
My Rubiks Cube skills have had another chance to be honed yet again following a decisive victory in this third game of the day, and now I only have to survive the brutal cold wind whistling across the highways of Berkshire in order to retire to my carriage and head back to the centre of the city to see if it is still the centre of our scene, and grab a beer and a curry for the evening repast
Boldness, aggression, and a spot of luck allowed my Nobility to charge down the un-staked longbowmen at pace, and the fantastic genius of picking an army with 2 Croat axemen gave us a decisive advantage on the other end of the line of battle as well, bringing things t a very satisfactory conclusion.
I will have to get on the old Time Telephone and have a word with my old mate Sertorius to explain to him how to beat an army commanded by this chap, as my Hungarians seem to have done much better than his Spanish only a couple of weeks beforehand
The future is bright, the future is Hungarian - now, off to see if the Indian restaurant has a Goulash and Paprika-flavoured Naan bread for me tonight!
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
I am staggered to hear such a spewing forth of what can only be described as base, open-arsed babbling gossip! How can you see a victory against this sel-professed undercooked prototype 100YW army as anything other than an outcome which you would need to be embarassed not to have achieved?
Hubris is a sin, but thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade which you practice to the point of perfection, time and time again. The terrain favoured you from the off, leaving the English nowhere to anchor their bowmen and from that point on the result could have been achieved by a flowchart, not needing a military mind to steer it any further
You hurled your army against an opponent ill-suited to defend against it, and even the relative genius of not attacking all along the line at full speed which you seemed to have achieved in the last game was abandoned as quickly s one might abandon a tottering pottle-deep flax-wench at the end of a big night out on the tiles in Ascot's pubs and genteel fleshpots!
Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon, I would drown you in my own phlegm to show the depth of my disgust at your claims that this was a great victory of any sort. Let's see how the day after the evening tpo come treats you, when your steppe-raised Hungarians have to fight a true army of the horse in the form of the Jurchen-Jin in the next game
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition against the Chinese Dynasty of the Jurchen Jin
You may also like....
Game 1 Feudal Hungarian vs Komnenan Byzantine
Game 2 Feudal Hungarian vs Tuareg
Game 3 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal English
Game 4 Feudal Hungarian vs Jurchen Jin
Game 5 Feudal Hungarian vs Feudal German
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