Last week we played Later Hungarians vs Ottoman Turks, using my Sword & Spear rules. For more information about these rules see here:
http://polkovnik.moonfruit.com/sword-spear I was commanding the Hungarians. This is a difficult match-up for the Ottomans, as the Hungarian troops are better in melee and are generally well armoured so are hard to damage through shooting. The positions at deployment:
The Hungarians. The main battle line is three units of armoured spearmen flanked by three units of knights. There is a unit each of light foot and horse archers on the right, and on the left there is a unit of Szekler cavalry, a unit of artillery and another horse archer unit.
The Ottoman centre and left. Two units of Janissary archers, a unit of heavy foot, and some cavalry. There are four more units of cavalry deployed to the Ottoman right, threatening to outflank the Hungarians, but having to move through the arc of fire of the cannons to do so.
Turn one doesn't see much movement, as lots of dice were bid on both sides for scouting (which means there are less dice available to activate units). The Hungarian knights push forward in the centre right.
In turn two the knights continue to advance, and the Ottoman cavalry charges, aiming to catch the knights without impetus. However, the Ottomans come off worse and are nearly routed.
The Hungarian spearmen advance. The Hungarian aim is to win in the centre before getting outflanked.
In turn three the knights finish off the Ottoman cavalry and pursue into the Janissaries behind (who look like they are on the hill, but they have actually come forward off it). The second unit of Hungarian knights charges the Ottoman cavalry on the hill and is itself routed. The Hungarian foot continue to advance in the centre.
Turn four sees the heavy foot engage in the centre, and the Hungarian knights fight the Janissaries. On the Hungarian left the Ottomans have advanced on the flank, threatening the artillery (who's shooting has so far been ineffective). Both sides start to advance their cavalry in front of the artillery.
In turn five there is action on the Hungarian left. The Ottoman cavalry charge the Hungarian Szeklers, and the Hungarian mercenary knights manoeuvre into position to flank charge the Ottomans. Ottoman light cavalry outflank the artillery and inflict losses from shooting.
On the Hungarian right the Ottoman cavalry charge the unit of spearmen the Hungarians kept back to avoid being outflanked. The spearmen rout the Ottoman cavalry.
In the centre the melees continue between the heavy foot and the Hungarian knights against Janissaries. I expected the knights to quickly rout the Janissary archers, but they continue to hold on, rallying hits suffered in melee.
In turn six, the Ottoman heavy foot in the centre finally succumbs to the pressure of facing two units of Hungarian spearmen, one of which is close to routing. The Janissaries fight on, but the Hungarian spearmen move up to support the knights, who cannot seem to finish the archers off.
On the Hungarian left, the Hungarian mercenary knights charge the Ottoman cavalry in the flank and rout them, freeing up the Szeklers to charge the other Ottoman cavalry. The Hungarian artillery breaks from Ottoman shooting.
At the end of turn six, the Ottoman light cavalry are heading for the Hungarian camp, but losses are building up for the Ottomans and the situation does not look good. They take an army morale test due to cumulative losses.
In turn seven the Hungarian spearmen in the centre head for the Ottoman camp, and those on the right charge uphill into the Ottoman Jannissary archers.
The Ottoman light cavalry charge the Hungarian camp but the camp followers and guards resist bravely.
In turn eight the Janissaries on the hill are finally defeated by the Hungarian spearmen. The other unit of Janissaries comes out of rough ground to charge the Hungarian spearmen in the flank (thus saving their camp) but are in turn charged by the remaining spearmen.
At the end of turn eight, it is over for the Ottomans as their cumulative losses have gone over their army break point.
February 15, 2010, 06:15:19 AM