Game 2 pitted me against Tom Devers, another great guy and part of the Gulf Coast crew. He fielded a bazillion Medium and Heavy foot. Many that were dual armed [Medium Swordsmen with Bow]. Normally opposing an all foot army, I would try to outmaneuver them, and hope to concentrate fire on a weak area and try to exploit that.
I won the initiative, but opted to defend in the plains, since Tom's only terrain choice was mountains, and didn't fancy the idea of a mostly mounted/elephant army dealing with mountainous terrain pieces. So, Tom had the first move and covered most of the board, which rendered moot my strategy vs an all foot army.
Tom's army was large and I think his breakpoint was 24 or 25 compared to my 19. He could afford to wage a war of attrition. I hoped my quality would even up the odds. Of course, he was an experienced general and I am a raw rookie, so there is that.
The elite Timurid left command was commanded by a brilliant sub-general, 2 units of Persian HC bow, impact, 2 HC bow, all elite, and 2 elite light cavalry Turkomen.
Right flank and some of the center of the Scot's
Left flank of the Scot's
Timurid Right flank
Timurid center
Opening move on the Timurid left
Center command moves into the plantation, and a Turkoman unit races to the enemy camp.
Right flank action. I learned in this game about the danger of angles with light troops, close to the edge of the world.
Persian nobility charge. I can't remember what the factors were here, but I think it was about even.
The center charges. When in doubt, which was quite often in this tournament, I charged. Some were obviously ill advised.
Right flank comes off badly in exchange of bowfire.
Tom teaches me a valuable lesson in making sure you don't let an enemy unit sneak in behind you, if you want to break off or evade.
My center crashes in and actually does quite well.
The left flank command breaks off.
....and again charge in. Mixed results here.
At this point, time was winding down, and we both were approaching army breaks, so I focused on trying to salvage the game instead of taking pictures.
I end up winning in the center, but both flanks were bloodied, and finally pushed me to my army breakpoint of 19.
Final score-Timurids- 19/19
Scotts Isles and Highlanders 22/25 [I think, but it might have been 22/24]
Close fun game, and I am sure if Tom had not been instructing me throughout, he would have trashed me a lot more.
Sooo........2 bloody noses, in 2 games. About what I expected. But I met and played a couple of great guys. My thanks to them.
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