This was my first game with my Bretonnians and so I was pretty pumped. Even though I hadn't painted them all yet (only a few for that matter) I still wanted to get some gaming in to re motivate me to start painting (or making time to paint, for that matter). Ben was my opponent and we both agreed to fielding no mages (I don't own any and Ben doesn't like magic too much). However as you'll see, magic items were still around to some degree.
The Bretonnians:
1 Paladin w/ steed & barding, shield, morning star, and virtue of knightly temper.
1 Paladin w/ steed & barding, shield, BSB and virtue of duty.
8 Knights of the Realm w/ Full Command and Warbanner
8 Knights Errant w/ Full Command and Errantry Banner
12 Peasant Bowmen
14 Peasant Bowmen, skirmishing
5 Mounted Yeomen w/ shields
1 Trebuchet
My models were fielded mainly off of what I had so far, but as a base section of what some of my larger games were going to be. I took lots of archers because there ability to hit and wound in few numbers is so small (and they are so cheap!) that I felt the need to field a good portion of them to make it count.
The Empire looked like this:
1 Captain w/ plate, shield, and rod of command (yikes!)
1 Captain w/ plate, BSB
23 Swordsmen w/ full command
2 detachments of 5 crossbowmen
15 Greatswords
2 detachments of 5 handgunners
5 Knights w/ Champion and Musician
5 Knights w/ Champion and Musician
1 Great Cannon
The terrain looked as such:
Not exactly a dense board, but at least this time I had both flanks to work with (as Ben is prone to completely blocking one flank). Ben chose to deploy on the close side, which left me on the far side. Ben chose to deploy first (he won that roll off too) and began setting up his castle formation around the hill. I responded by loading my hill with my archers and treb, placing the skirmishers on the right of the hill to consider moving them up. His greatswords went on the left and his swordsmasters on the right (both in front of the hill) and each had a unit of knights with them. My knights errant w/ general went on the far left flank (out of range as I assumed I would not go first) and my knights of the realm w/ BSB went on the right flank.
And the battle begins! I prayed so Ben surged his troops forward (minus the knights) and took some pot shots at me. His cannon misfired (aiming for the treb) but was a-ok and his crossbows were out of range for turn 1. My turn commenced by full speed ahead with the KOTR (left flank) using the hill as cover. The mounted yeomen moved into position to fire at a unit of handgunners and march block the greatswords. I thought I was in a position where if I fled from a charge I would be out of the impassable terrain, but apparently not (as you will see). The errants moved up to face the handgunners and force Ben to reposition his greatswords, buying my shooters more time.
My shooting phase was not as productive as I would have liked. I overshot my treb by an inch but landed an on target and knocked out 3 greatswords. My archers (whom I should have shot at the greatswords) did a light casualties to the swordsmen. My yeomen shot up his handgunners and forced them to flee, saving the knights for a round.The next turns were manuerving and things weren't looking good for me. He charged my mounted yeomen, and as they fled into the impassable terrain (doh!). His cannon missed my knights but my treb, even though I was directly in the middle of his unit, promptly rolled a misfire and then a 1! So with my artillery and fast cav out, things didn't look positive for the remainder of the battle, which was sure to be bloody.
However, two things suddenly happened which helped turn the battle in my favor! By concentrating my fire on the small greatsword unit, I just managed to squeak through 3 kills, which was enough to cause a panic check! He failed and ran away from the bowmen and straight into my knights! This was a good turn of events, but more importantly was me out manuevering his charge block with his crossbowmen. I managed to get by them and charge one his knights units. The result was an overrun into his cannon crew!However, while this was all good and things felt positive, I knew I was going to be trouble. My knights errant charged the last handgunner unit and wiped it out. However, he had his other knight unit in position to flank charge them afterwards, and I didn't roll high enough to get off the table, leaving me in position for a rear charge! To compound matters, the only place for my KOTR to move after returning to the table to not be in the way of the KE's overrun was right in front of his swordsmen.
The charges ensued, but the power of the lady prevailed! Thanks to the blessing I only lost by one from the rear charge (outnumbering and standard discounted the rear charge bonus and he only killed 1 knight!) and passed my ld. On the other front the combo of ranks, banners, and virtue of the ideal combined with a 2+ armor save kept my knights from dropping like flies.
We ended up stalemating in the middle for several turns. I forgot to move my hero to the back to fight his knights but with them only being str 3 after the first turn it stalemated between a 2+ and 1+ armor saves, with outnumber and banner canceling the rear bonus. For the swordmen unit my massive CR bonus helped me keep me first in the combat and winning. He used his rod of command in 2nd round, when he would have needed for ld 5 rerollable.
We called the game after turn 6 as a minor victory for me. It might have been more, but I didn't care and I had a good time!
