Italian Condotta vs. Teutonic Knights 10/17/08
My friend Joe and I have met for our fourth Field of Glory battle. Joe's son, Jeremy, was home from college for a few days and joined us. This was his first Field of Glory battle. The battlefield: Joe and Jeremy's Milanese army has invaded an agricultural region of Prussia. The right edge is my (Teutonic) base edge. I have a gentle hill on my left flank and a vineyard in the center on my baseline. Two open fields clutter up the far third of the field. Joe/Jeremy have an enclosed field on the extreme right/rear flank. My left flank. (Actually my entire army.) I've deployed in 34 inches. I had planned on a larger frontage, but my opponent's deployment foiled my plans. I'm going to have to redeploy all of my knights to the right in order to face off against their mercenary knights. Fortunately the Teutonic Knights and their German friends are all drilled and can handle the maneuvers.
Joe/Jeremy's army. Light horse crossbowmen guard his flank. There is a unit of handguners hiding in the enclosed field. Next is a large unit of pike, three units of knights. Some halberdiers and handgunners guard the Milanese left.
My Turcopoles advance against Jeremy's mounted crossbow. The handgunners emerge and foil my plans. Outgunned, I retreat back to my lines. My crossbowmen will stop their advance and we'll end up right back here in several turns.
My right flank. The Milanese handgunners are disrupted by my archers and handgunners. I'd like to follow up on the success, but the Milanese retreat behind their supporting halberiers. I've sorted out my knights in time for the coming clash. The Milanese pike are coming up to support the knights. At the time I thought Jeremy was making a big mistake putting his pike in support of the knights. If not for some awful luck, it was a great move.
The Famiglia Ducale have broken their opponents, but have been worn down to fragmented by the long battle with the Teutonic Knights. The final insult. A unit of handgunners sneaks up behind the Famiglia and blasts them to broken. Game over. Victory to the Teutonic Knights.It was a rip-roaring game. The clash of knights was tremendous. The Teutonics definitely had the dice gods with them in this one.
I launch the Teutonic knights into the Italian mercenaries. The Famiglia Ducale hold the Italian left flank. They are led by the Duke himself. We will both end up throwing our generals into the front rank.
A crushing impact. The Teutonic knights roll some monstrous rolls. The Milanese units take 7,6, and 4 hits respectively. They do some solid damage in return, but have lost all three fights.
Two turns later. The Milanese have lost their center unit. That alone was not critical as the pikes are in perfect position to fill the gap. Unfortunately for the Italians, the two flanking units of knights both go disrupted at the sight of their fleeing friends. The following turn will see my unit in the foreground destroyed by losses. The same fate will follow for the Milanese in the background.The well-drilled Teutonics manage to halt their pursuit of the broken Milanese knights. This saves them from getting slammed in the flank by the pike. Joined by their friends (who just broke the Milanese knights in front of them), the two 3-stand units of superior knights charge into a 12 stand unit of average pike. I throw two generals into the front rank. The Milanese general does likewise.The Teutonics lose one stand at impact, but neither unit goes disrupted. The combat phase goes horribly for the Milanese pike. They lose a stand and go disrupted. They are destroyed shortly thereafter.
