Medieval German vs Italian Condotta 9/19/08

Joe and I fought our third Field of Glory battle tonight. I commanded the army of the Holy Roman Empire as it attempted to conquer Joe's Italian city-state of Milan. Joe used the "starter" Italian Condotta list. I used a modified Medieval German starter list.

Here's the battlefield. The HRE was invading from the right. The field with the walls around it is an enclosed field. The three other fields are open fields. The hill is gentle.

The HRE right flank. A few Hungarian horse archers on the extreme right. To their left are four stand unit of Feudal Knights, a six stand unit of the same, eight crossbow, six halberdiers, and eight defensive spear.

The Condottieri left. Six stands of light horse crossbowmen and two six stand units of mercenary knights in the open.In the open field are handgunners, billmen, and pike.Looking at the picture I think we let the Italian heavy foot deploy a little too far forward. (We're still noobs at this.)

Sorry the picture is fuzzy. I forgot my camera and had to use a cell-phone.A few turns have passed. Joe's Italians are advancing hard. I'm holding to my baseline. I'm in no mood for my spearmen to take on the Italian pike.

Early on, I zipped my Hungarians across the face of my army. They've turned on the Italian handgunners and chased them off.. I was hoping to exploit the gap between Joe's two battle lines. It didn't work out. My only hope to win this battle is for my ten stands of superior knights to take out the dozen stands of average Italian knights. The Italians are two deep along part of the line, so I actually overlap him despite my smaller numbers.

After a brutal impact phase and a few turns of melee combat, it was all over. We have both lost a unit of knights and a general. Unfortunately, the Italian mercenaries have pursued into my crossbowmen. The knights are one stand from destruction, but the crossbowmen cannot pull it off. Another unit down.I'm 4/7 on the way to destruction. Joe is 2/8. We call the battle as the Germans decide to run for Vienna. It will be several more turns, but the outcome is inevitable.Field of Glory is an excellent game. We're still looking stuff up as we play, but we are getting there.