This was our first battle using the Field of Glory rules. Prior to the battle I had read the rules several times through. I also caught some of the action at Historicon in July. My opponent, Joe, had briefly read through the rules. We both looked at the battle as an opportunity to dig into the rules and have a good learning experience.
Joe commanded 620 points of Later Medieval Germans:
1xField Commander
2xTroop Commanders
2x4 Knights (Superior, Heavily Armored, Undrilled, Lance and Sword)
1x4 Cavalry (Average, Armored, Drilled, Crossbow and Sword)
1x6 Heavy Foot Halberd (Average, Armored, Drilled, Heavy Weapon)
2x6 Heavy Foot Spear (Average, Protected, Drilled, Defensive Spear)
1x8 Medium Foot Crossbow (Average, Protected, Drilled, Crossbow)
1x6 Light Foot Bowmen (Average, Unprotected, Drilled, Bow)
1x2 Light Gun
I commanded the Teutonic Knights (614 points--No official list--so I made one up using my DBM Army Lists)
1xField Commander
2xTroop Commander
1x6 Brother Knights (Superior, Heavily Armored, Drilled, Lance and Sword)
1x4 German Crusader Knights (Superior, Heavily Armored, Undrilled, Lance and Sword)
1x4 Cavalry (Average, Armored, Drilled, Crossbow and Sword)
1x4 Turkopolen Light Horse (Average, Unprotected, Drilled, Javelin and Light Spear)
1x6 Livonian Light Horse (Average, Unprotected, Undrilled, Bow)
1x6 Heavy Foot Spear (Average, Protected, Drilled, Defensive Spear)
1x6 Medium Foot Crossbow (Average, Protected, Drilled, Crossbow)
1x6 Light Foot Bowmen (Average, Unprotected, Undrilled, Bow)
We fought on the steppes. There was very little terrain. We had two small areas of broken ground and one of brush. Our light foot bowmen contested on broken area on the German left flank. Other than that, terrain played no part. Ignore the men-at-arms with the bowmen (I miscounted when I boxed the army.)
This is the German Left
They are facing the Teutonic Right. There are some light foot bowmen off camera to the right of the battle line. From right to left you have the German crusaders, Brother knights, and mounted crossbow. All of the decisive action was on this flank.
Here is the German Right. Ignore the horse archers behind the mounted crossbow. (See the note about miscounting above.)
Facing the Teutonic Left. The spearmen and crossbows on the Teutonic left barely moved, as they had no desire to take on the halberds facing them. They were also concerned that the light horse wouldn't be able to hold off the German knights and mounted crossbow.
Action on the German Right. The light horse bows and javelins had very little effect on their armored opponents. It was very difficult causing disruption with only three dice. Eventually I got some concentrated fire on the knights and disrupted them. This flank saw a lot of skirmishing. The heavy foot on the far right never saw action.
Action on the German Left. The 6 vs. 6 light foot archery duel went several turns without effect. At first we were throwing two dice vs. two dice which made doing significant damage nearly impossible. Eventually Joe's Germans were disrupted and I could charge in. My bowmen made short work of the disrupted Germans.
The dramatic fight of the battle was the charge of the German knights into the Teutonic and German crusader knights. I thought it would be cake--after all I had ten stands of knights to his four. Joe threw his general into the front rank and it made all the difference. He kept on winning (or drawing) the combats and I couldn't get a cohesion test on him. Because his hits were split between my two units I had easy cohesion tests and passed my death rolls. It was turning into a long fight.
To the left of the Brother knights, my four mounted crossbow were engaged in a duel with Joe's eight foot crossbow. Unfortunately for Joe, half of his crossbow shots had to go into my Brother knights and he could never get concentrated fire on either of my units. Eventually I said, "What the hell," and charged his foot crossbow with my mounted crossbow. It didn't go well. I forgot that the second rank crossbows would get dice on impact. I was also heavily outnumbered on dice in the combat phase due to his overlaps and second rank. The ++ in combat wasn't enough and I fell back down one base, but in good order.
Joe's heroic knights managed to take out a stand of my crusader knights and one stand of my Brother knights. I started to worry that I might lose the fight. Re-rolling 1's and 2's was really paying off for him. I had a general in the fight as well, but I was keeping him in the back rank. On three different occasions I rolled 1,1 to kill his general. The man was made of steel! At least I didn't make those rolls on my cohesion tests. Joe finally lost two stands of knights. The unit didn't autobreak, but he did lost the one stand that was fighting my Brother knights. They were now free to charge the foot crossbows in front of them. The knights crushed the crossbows. The following turn saw the demise of Joe's knights.
With this we called the battle. It was a great learning experience. As it was our first battle, we spent a good bit of time in the rulebook. However, half the things we looked up we will never have to look up again. Things like "Who wins a fight?" and "Who moves first?" Silly stuff like that.
Each turn moved faster than the last. Mostly due to the fact that we were becoming more comfortable with calculating number of dice and points of advantage.
Lessons learned:
1) Generals in the front rank make a difference.
2) Concentrate your missile fire. Two or three dice don't do much damage.
3) Knights crush medium foot bow in the open.
4) Disruption matters.