How NOT to play To the Strongest! Medieval shlock fest...
I have captured a prize winning moment of loss and childlike heart-break in this one photograph. I managed to take this photograph during the penultimate moment in our game today.
To be sure, it would appear to be a dashing moment of heroism, where one would pause and ask themselves, 'Who would better the other in this confrontation?' The picture does not at all reflect the impotent & befuddled true nature of the game today.
And all blame for the spluttering defeat lies entirely upon my shoulders.
To begin with, there was scheduled, a four player 'To the Strongest' (TtS) game today at my local club. TtS is a innovative grid-based system for Ancients & Medieval Wargaming. It uses playing cards, and the dice you might see in the photographs are only used for tracking ammunition (arrows/javelins/bolts). The cards are drawn and are used to activate troops to move & rally. Cards are also used for combat and combat 'saves'.
We were to meet at 1 o'clock, but unfortunately by twenty past one we were a player short. One of my good mates, M_, sent his apologies along the lines of 'I got soooooo plastered last night and now I'm far too hungover to even drive, let alone negotiate a room full of D&D players and a medieval war-game...'
So were were down to three, and unlike last time, we didn't really have any blow-ins or curious onlookers to shanghai into the game.
My mate from work, S_, turned up. He had come to club a week or so ago and seemed to either:
A) really enjoy himself enough to have another crack or
B) needed any excuse to get away from a house full of screaming kids and household chores.
I suspect it was a little of both.
My other mate, M_, trooper that he always is, turned up looking to mash my forces into a paste.
Using the set up rules, S_ and myself managed to rejig the terrain. S_ and M_ took sides against me. I was a little hamstrung by this, as I attempted to juggle several roles....the rules guy, the teacher of the game, and player.
We drew suits to determine who would have which retinue. We also dealt out some Stratagem cards to each player. By the time I plonked down my troops and had drawn cards to activate them, I realised I had two King Stratagem cards which could have enabled me to husband some units off-board for a later round. I was a little bit too busy and distracted to back-track by this stage, so I went into the game without any 'Gotcha' cards.
S_ and M_ were to control the French, and I was to manage the English right and left flanks. Needless to say, between explaining & forgetting rules, taking photos, playing two forces and bursting to go to the toilet I was NOT up to the task.
It was not to be a good day of campaigning for the English at Darwin Tabletop Gamers.
It started out reasonably smoothly.
I had organised a fairly balanced mix of forces for the English and French the night before the game. Each side had mounted troops, ranged & foot soldiers and were all led by mounted or brilliant Generals. The forces were balanced on point values, close to 70 points per side, 35 for each player.
This amounted to roughly 5 to six stands per player. Given that I was to be introducing the game to two newer players, I thought this would be a manageable amount of figures on the table.
We played the 'Meeting' scenario, in which each regular unit has to roll a save before the turn begins. This meant that, the entire French army were disordered and need to be rallied on their first turn. As it turns out, it wasn't a big problem either for the French or the English, but did add a little splutter to the proceedings, as some first activations were costly (high pip values on the cards).
Soon enough, the French were moving towards the several crossings dotted along the river bank. S_ eyed the bridge and the swam/marsh area along the western edge of the map. These areas were crucial crossing for my own left flanking retinue.
There were several other crossings along the river, but as I didn't wish to divide my forces, I concentrated on these points as well. Somewhat predictably, I moved my mounted archers up ahead of my main infantry force. Knowing S_ would block the bridge, I thought I could send them out, and pepper his forces in an attempt to soften them up before assaulting the bridge.
Of course, S_ moved his infantry to the bridge, having less distance to travel, even with a few spotty activation cards it was no drama to make it to the bridge long before my Heavy Knights could arrive.
On my right flank, things were moving along pretty smoothly, although there was a little bit of a log jam, and I mistakenly ill-judged my order of march (...moving my Light Bowmen and Longbowmen across before my Cav and infantry..What was I thinking?)
This left my archers dangerously exposed while I re-arranged the deckchairs on the Titanic...if you know what I mean...
On this flank, M_ had moved his own retinue of Crossbowmen, Light Javelin, Mounted Knights and Halberdiers through some fairly unencumbered terrain. Only his Crossbowmen struggled with a few hedgerows...
M_ as usual, marshalled his retinue well and was frustratingly unlucky to miss every single shot from his Crossbowmen. Still, once they had positioned themselves, that unit provided a blocking force against my advance.
Then the French Heavy Knights arrived and I have to say it was a miracle that my light bowmen survived the flanking charge. I say miracle because I actually forgot to evade, and let M charge right into me. Thankfully, his Knights were exhausted by their cross-country charge and couldn't pursue my archers.
I was playing horribly by this stage. Only now, as I write this I'm a bit stunned at how stupidly I managed to faff about. Those Light Archers somehow managed to about face and run away on my next turn.
Up near the bridge things got befuddled for the English. My main infantry units assaulted the bridge.
Just as the fight over 'Swampy Bridge' was underway, I got distracted by butterflies...
What I mean is that S's light javelin men had slid down along the river and I stupidly raced my Mounted Bowmen across the board trying to shoot at them...forgetting their Leader's unit (a free move I forgot to take) and leaving the Leader & Flag Bearer to be harassed by S's Halberdiers.
Don't ask. I still don't know how I cocked it up so badly.
That's right, as you can see, these guys had snuck through the swamp and were now flanking my Leader.
I think I was too busy taking photos or eating chocolate or pawing through the rule book to suss out whether or not M could really flit about as he did with his nimble Javelin-men. In any case, my leader only just managed to save himself, fleeing with wounds, he couldn't really make anymore saves or effect any change upon the sinking situation.
The battle on the bridge lasted for a few turns. After a little bit of give & take & rallying, my Heavy Knights lost the contest.
Then S managed to make a pincer attack on my mounted bowmen, removing them from the board. My leader could only watch in confused and wounded despair. My Longbowmen...yes on both flanks...never really amounted to much I have to say.
Over on my right flank my Billmen had managed to jostle their way into position to defend their archers...but they were soon flanked and dismembered. Only my Mounted Knights could try to aggressively ride to the hills to mount some kind of counter attack.
After wiping aside my Billmen, M_ turned his own Mounted Knights about and chased my Knights down, meeting them head to head as they attempted to break through the woods.
This is where the French played a Jack of Diamonds Stratagem, which effectively blunted my charge, and realistically, my only chance of breaking through the encirclement.
After this, I conceded the game. I didn't need to spend another half-an-hour on a lost cause.
So, there you go. It was a pretty chaotic disaster.
Still, I really enjoy the game. I won't lie, there were some pretty frustrating moments, but I put that down to my dreadful tactics.
I really love the TtS system and want to play it again. What I can appreciate about the match we had, was the difficulty marshalling and organising the troops through the small choke points. I now realise the benefits of those huge open fields where many of these historic engagements were fought.
Trying to un-jumble units and move them across narrow passages was just a nightmare, especially if you are a hot headed & aggressive player such as me.
Still, I'm thinking more and more about it, that's the hallmark of a great game.
I can't wait to play it again.
*English 1/72 figures are Italeri
*French 1/72 figures are Zvezda and Miniart.
*The little homestead is a cardboard model form the Darwin Tabletop Gamers.
*I made the terrain, battle-mat, and the river
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