After Action Report; Feudal
English versus Feudal Scots (Impetus rules) 19 Oct 2014
Both armies in this game were supplied by myself and
comprised 300 points using 15mm figures from a range of manufacturers, mainly
Essex Miniatures. The rules to be used were Impetus (Lorenzo Sartori;
Dadi&Piombo, 2008). My opponent, Ian, commanded the English whilst I took
on the Scots. I hoped to examine how the rules coped with the rather unique
Scots schiltron formation. The rules appear to give some benefits to the
schiltron formation: the units are ‘Large’ (2 bases deep) which imparts considerable
resilience; they gain a depth bonus in combat; they are armed with ‘Long Spears’
which negates the impetus bonus of mounted troops; and they do not suffer from
flank attacks because they are ‘hedgehog’ formations. Against these advantages
they do suffer from a major disadvantage, they become ‘Disordered’ whenever
they move. This carries a small negative modifier in combat and, more importantly,
means they can never make multiple moves in a turn. This greatly reduces the
speed of the army when advancing and makes response to enemy flanking or
breakthrough moves difficult. Also, the disorder prevents the Scots schiltrons
from operating as ‘Groups’ and making well co-ordinated attacks with multiple units
impossible.
The game was fought
on a 6’x4’ table with the Scots left flank protected by a castle (impassable
terrain), and the right flank protected by woods. Otherwise there was a couple
of gentle hills, a marsh and a patch of rough ground, but generally these
terrain features played a minor role in the game. My deployment involved
setting my 8 schiltron units in a chequer board fashion across my front. I
hoped this would force the enemy bowmen to fire at the front schiltrons and
enable my rear schiltrons to move through and engage the enemy whilst still
fresh and untouched. On my left flank I deployed my 2 highland units, who I
hoped would be particularly effective because of their high strength (VBU=5)
combined with being armed with bows. The Scots knights where held back in
reserve to act as a ‘fire brigade’ against English breakthroughs. The English
deployed all their knights, backed by 2 units of bows, facing my left flank.
The remaining English foot faced most of my schiltrons, with bows backed by
English spearmen.
The Scots advanced steadily. The English bow fire at long
range was largely ineffective, except on the Scots left flank where the
highland units were devastated. As the Scots began to close, the loses from the
English bows started to tell, this was expected and planned for. At this point
Ian unleashed the might of the English knights. The second rank of Scots
schiltrons moved through the weakened front rank schiltrons, and the English
spearmen moved through the English archers to engage them. Close combat was occurring
across the whole battlefront. The schiltrons did achieve some success against
the English foot but took loses themselves. The schiltrons also held against
the English knights, again taking more loses, but they failed to destroy any of
the English knights. The best Scots success was a unit of bow armed skirmishers
who whittled down a unit of English knights over a few turns. I finally released
my Scots knights to meet the English advance, but in hindsight I should have
done this one or two turns earlier, because before they could arrive the Scots army
broke due to loses accumulated.
Another English win! Over the years the Scots have never won,
their best results have only ever been draws, irrespective of whether they were
commanded by me or by my opponents. I am undecided about whether my chequer
board deployment was helpful. It did protect my second rank of schiltrons from archery
degradation, but the high loses inflicted on my front schiltrons may have
contributed to my defeat. I have previously used a more solid, compact, broad front
tactic but this has not proved more successful, so the jury is still out on
this question. I think in future games I may try using more disruptive terrain
to break up the battlefield, and include more auxiliary Scots troops (Islemen
etc.) as well to exploit such terrain. After the game Ian admitted concern
about the loses the English foot were suffering. This is illusory because each
English foot unit lost only concedes a single victory point, and the Scots must
destroy English knights to have any chance of victory. If the English player rashly
throws his knights in very early in the battle then the Scots may achieve a
victory. If the English player holds his knights whilst weakening the slow
moving Scots schiltrons with bow fire, then English victory is almost certain,
even if the English foot are eliminated later. From my, Scots, perspective the
key points of the game were: the early loss of the highlanders (who I had big
hopes for), and the initiative order on the turn before the Scots schiltrons
finally closed with the English. In his turn Ian won the initiative dice roll,
effectively giving him 2 successive actions firing at my schiltrons at close
range causing significant loses. If this had not occurred then possibly the
game would have continued for a further couple of turns. I would then have had
a chance to eliminate some of the weakened English knights, and my own knights
would have arrived on the scene.
Irrespective of possible what-if’s, this was
another solid win for Ian (my third defeat in a row). The game was very
enjoyable and tense, and was completed in just over 2 hours. Our next game will
again be Impetus, this time featuring a pair of armies supplied by Ian;
Thracians versus Greek hoplites.
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