Fright Knight

On to the next game!  Ironically, this time my opponent chose to play Gepids, so I chose once again to go Middle Imperial Romans East.  I really need to get more troops to broaden my options!  Fortunately I'd played a few games of De Bellis Solitarius both as Romans and as Gepids in anticipation of my new army arriving so at least I had some idea of what I was in for.  Plus my Secret Weapon had arrived - dice with roman numerals!  Sadly, my roman dice were about as poor a substitute for tactical genius as my painted soldiers were last time.

Here's the board and the setup after the first invader bound:

Which idiot set up this board?  Oh, it was me.

I had set up the terrain with a row of woods and a gentle hill on the invader side along with a crossroads.  I thought that having a combination of open flat spaces and bad going spaces on opposite halves of the board might be interesting.  Turns out I wasn't going to get anywhere near those woods.  My Ax were in column to try to push down the road and get closer to the bad going.  My Bd and Ps formed a solid line in the open, with my Cv and LH flanking my Ax.  The Gepids started their Ps in the woods on my right, their Wb in the woods on my left, and a big line of Kn staring right down that road.

Here's what happened next:

Whoah there boy!

I diverted my Ax behind my LH which formed a line with my Cv to block the onrushing Kn.  I didn't want the Kn or Ps to flank my Cv so I guarded my right flank by running the Ps forward.  But my Bd got left behind.  The Gepid Kn on my far right was angled to protect his flank with an overlapping ZOC with the Ps in the woods, thwarting my LH.

Then the Gepid Kn crashed into my line:

Sudden impact

My Cv and CvG were recoiled right off the hill but fortunately not killed.

On my left, the Gepid Ps and Kn charged my LH:

Gepids 2 - Romans 0

My LH units were both slaughtered, while my Cv continued to be pushed back.  My CvG was scant millimetres from recoiling onto the Bd behind them.

Gepids 3 - Romans 0

My Bd moved forward to get me an overlap on the Gepid KnG and clear the rear of my own general at the same time.  It didn't help my other Cv unit which was finally cut down by the Kn, Gepids 3 - Romans 1.  On my left my Ax took the fight the Ps in the hopes that by doing so I could avoid the adjacent Kn.  On my right I ran my Ps forward again hoping to draw the Wb forward when I inevitably recoiled.

Run, Forrest, run!

The Kn on my right finally got into the action, charging my Bd, but the line held firm.  My CvG, on the other hand, continued to fall back before the onslaught of the Gepid KnG.  The Wb on my right put my Ps to flight, chasing them back through my line of Bd but fortunately I'd be able to bring them up again in my turn.

On my right I was more worried by the Kn than the Wb because although both had the QK against my Bd, at least against the Wb I had the combat advantage.  So I scooted the rightmost blades forward to overlap the Wb, then double ranked the blades against the Wb so as to be able to claim Ps support against the Kn.  But sadly...

Curse you pesky Wb!  Gepids 4 - Romans 1

My plan worked in that the Bd on the left killed the Kn, but the Bd beside them facing the Wb were recoiled and destroyed.  And that was the game!

The fact that my Ax again failed to kill the Ps on the left was confirmation that my Secret Weapon roman numeral dice were no help to me.  Looking back on the game, I tended to roll well for pips but poorly for combat.  But you get the die rolls you deserve, I think.  I wasted my LH by leaving them swinging in the breeze like that.  Sure, I wasn't expecting them to be doubled and killed but in low-factor combats like that, anything is possible.  My biggest mistake was to rush my fast troops forward and leave my Bd behind.  The reason I did, of course, is that I was scared of those Kn running at me.  What I should have done is hang back to advance at a more measured pace so that I could have a solid Bd line and use my Cv and LH on the flanks.

Fun game though, and once again I learned a little more about how to use my army.