Ended up being quite a small comp (real life intervened for a few of the usual suspects) so we only played 4 rounds/2 days.
Carl Taylor-Spartacus Slave Revolt 72BCE
Martin Williams-Albanian Principalities+Early Italian Condotta ally 1395CE
Paul Rattray-Early Feudal French+Viking ally 920CE
Pat Sibbald-Muromachi Samurai 1335CE
Paul Meilak-Imperial Roman+Early Frank ally 296CE
Stuart Stoker Later Nikephorian Byzantine 1059 CE
Andrew Waerson- Later Pictish
I ended up in first with my shiny new Albanians and Paul Rattray got second. I'm not sure of the places after that.
I have attached my list below
My standard battle plan was pretty simple. Try to keep the table as open as possible. Use the non-veteran cavalry, Italians and artillery to engage the opponents front and try to use the veteran cavalry to roll-up/turn opponents flanks
Round 1 Carl Taylor with Spartacus. A huge army consisting pretty much entirely of Tribal foot of pretty mixed quality but with an inspiring general and quite a few fanatics. Unfortunately for the escaped slaves there was only a single terrain piece. A large rough in the centre. Carl wisely deployed his entire army in this and to one side only. I used my lights and artillery to delay the units in the rough and rapidly swung some units around the abandoned side. The opposite flank was also turned by my cavalry and they managed to hit Carl's main line in the flank at the same time as the Italian knights hit it frontally. Sheer weight of numbers meant the slaves held up for a while but this was never even close to an even match up on such an open table and eventually Spartacus died fighting in the front rank and the rest of the army collapsed.
Round 2 Pat Sibbald with Samurai. A potentially tougher match up with lots of long spear and some power bow but still needs something in terms of terrain to secure the flanks. Other than a coast, however, we ended up on a pretty barren plain. Pat deployed his only 4 base unit of cavalry next to the coast and then a long line of spear (front rank superior) and mixed power bow units as far across the table as possible. I stuck to my standard plan and quickly used one of the veteran cavalry units to destroy the samurai cavalry (unit size tilted this fight in my favor). The Italian knights all dismounted to fight the Japanese longspear/power bow opposing then and held out until the returning veterans hit their opponents in the rear. My non veteran cavalry also proved pretty effective against the Japanese foot, using their skilled shooting to strip the elite Japanese front ranks and also delaying until that flank was also turned by my other unit of veterans
Round Three Paul Meilak Roman with Franks. One flank covered by some rough terrain but otherwise an open table. Paul is, however, let down by his Frankish allies who go unreliable and remain so for the first three or so turns of the game. I ignore the flank they occupy next to the terrain and delay the fight with the Roman legions as long as possible (even backing up my knights in a cowardly fashion rather than charging) until I have defeated the other Roman wing (made up largely of short spear javelin cavalry). The Roman cavalry put up a good fight but are eventually overwhelmed by the numbers and firepower of the Albanian cav. I then engaged the Legions from the front and rear/side leading to the collapse of the army.
Round Four Andrew Waterson Later Pictish. The opening sequence again favours my army with a virtually barren table although I am outscouted by 60%. Quite a surprise for an army with six scouting cards! Andrew's army has only a single TuG of cavalry and a significant number of cavalry SuG's. He is forced to use them to try to hold his flanks but if there is one thing Albanians do well it's kill cavalry who want to run away from them. The Pictish foot put up a good fight frontally (giving the Italian knights a very bloody nose at one point and forcing them to break off badly damaged) but with both flanks turned it's eventually another win for Albania.
Was very fortunate in terms of match ups. Largely non-shooting infantry armies were always going to struggle with my list and this was compounded by my good fortune with terrain. I would perhaps have found the Nikephorian Byzantine a tougher match up. it has much better tools for dealing with my army with its charge only bow, lancer cavalry and foot archers with shield cover and spear protection.
Thanks to my four opponents for four very enjoyable games and especially to Andrew Waterson who also ran the whole show. Thanks also to Dean from Olympian Games in Canberra who provided generous prize support.
Martin Williams
