Fantastic Battles AAR: The Battle at the Ruined Temple

The Battle at the Ruined Temple

"After the victory of the High King at the Cronespire the High King rested his army for the next year. That spring he brought the war into the lands of the Empire. The Sultan met him in the Imperial borderlands, at the site of a grand ruine from an earlier age. Listen now to the tale of the grand battle that followed."

Last saturday we played a sequel to our first warmaster game. This time with the Fantastic Battles ruleset. Both armies used the same miniatures from the last battle, but in slightly different proportions. Fantastic Battles is a flexible system in which you can use any miniatures on any base size if all bases are the same size. We chose 40x40mm bases, because this was easily achievable with my 40x20 Warmaster miniatures. Fantastic Battles allows up to four companies of the same type of unit to be brigaded into a single unit. This gives the units a lot more staying power on the battlefield, making it harder to rout. But also makes the unit a lot less maneuvrable than a single company is. The army lists are as follows:

High Kings host [red] played by Merijn: 
1x General, The High King [G] 
2x Royal Captains [CP]
4x Companies of Knights deployed in a single brigade [K]

3x companies of foot knights [FK]

3x companies of halberdiers deployed in a single brigade [H]

3x companies of pikemen deployed in a single brigade [P]

3x companies of crossbowmen [C]

1x company of handgunners [H2]

1x battery of artillery [C4]

Imperial Sultans host [purple] played by Barend:
1x General, The Sultan [G]
2x Imperial Captains [CP]

4x companies of knights, two deployed as one brigade, the other two seperate [K]

4x companies of guardsmen, deployed as two brigades [G]

3x companies of city militia deployed in a single brigade [CM]

3x companies of vassal infantry deployed in a single brigade [VI]

3x companies of horse archers [HA]

3x companies of archers [A]

Objective of the game is routing the enemy army, or killing it's general.

As in last game, I show the army movements and combats with Battle Chronicler. A single Battle Chronicler image does not represent a single turn this time. Sometimes it's multiple turns and later in the game it will be just a single turn.

Deployment of both armies before the battle

The Royal Army had been advancing from the north, and came upon the Imperial Camp early in the morning. A grand alarm sounded swiftly and the Imperial army rushed out of camp and deployed in battle formation. The Sultan chose to deploy all his infantry along the north-south road. Supported on his right flank by horse archers and knights. The rest of the horse archers and Imperial knights were dispatched to the left flank. to harass and probe the enemy positions. The High King anchored his left flank with heavily armoured foot knights, and halberdiers. Cannons were pushed up the heights along the road, and a grand tercio was deployed in the centre. All royalist knights were deployed on the left, again arrayed in one single formation. Confusion reigned in the Imperial army. A company of knights [A3] and one of horse archers [HA2] and some others arrived late to the battlefield, and out of range of their commanders. Some bad rolls resulted in both the [HA2] and the [A3] company retreating, and deserting the battle in the first turn, leaving the imperial player disadvantaged.

Morning sun shines down on both armies

Situation after the first couple of turns

Both armies advanced in a straight forward fashion. The pike block moved straight ahead. Gunners and crossbowmen in front, Foot knights covering the pikes from behind. Royal knights advanced impetuously and swiftly, spoiling for a fight. The Imperial battle line was split by a small copse of trees next to the road, but they skillfully skirted around these woods and both brigades of guards linked up on the other side.

 Royal knights advancing, banners flying in the wind.

The Royal pike square with supporting companies

The next couple of turns saw the initiation of combat. On the far left, Imperial horse archers fired arrows at the foot knights, who promptly retreated out of range. On the other side of the field the Royal knights were maneuvering into position while Imperial archers threatened their flank.

Imperial infantry moving to secure the old ruin 

Royal halberds and foot knights advancing against Imperial horsemen

The armies draw closer

Archers on all sides were moving forward at speed, targets were coming into range and casualties started falling faster. Horse archers on the left, cannon and crossbowmen in the center, and archers on foot on the right let their projectiles fly. The Sultan had learned from his previous mistakes, and sent in his expendable vassal infantry to cushion the first charge of the feared Royal knights. Behind these poor wretches the Imperial guard and knights would position themselves in such a way that they would most assuredly destroy the Royal horsemen.

Seconds before disaster. Poor infantry awaits their doom...

The knights charge home! Screams, shouts and the sound of crushed bodies echo through out the battlefield when the knights charge home. Contrary to everybody's expectation the infantry holds! The poor sods manage to stop the knights dead in their advance, and even kill some of them. A great success for the Sultan, who is in a good position now to lay down his trap and envelop the knights with his most elite units.

The first charge!

After two rounds of combat the vassal infantry broke. The waiting knights and guardsmen surged forward led by their Sultan. Unimpressed by the death of their expendable comrades, they charged the knights, expecting a winded foe. The Royal knights countercharged and a great melee started. In the center the Imperial archers charged forward trying to clear a route for the city militias. Driving the royal skirmishers out of the way, one of these crossbowmen companies fled into the temple, and fortified their position.

Skirmishes break about between the infantry in the center

Knights crash together on the right flank

Combat continues unabated on the right flank. The Royal Knights don't seem to tire at all, the Imperial trick hasn't worked. In the centers Imperial archers try to dislodge the crossbowmen from the temple. Both big imperial infantry brigades in the center advanced to deny the Royals the cover of the ruin but Royal cannons cost them many lives.  Royal knights on foot move to the left flank of the pikes. The guards brigade is charged by some very angry, very out of control royal crossbowmen. They are swept aside and destroyed in an instant. On the left flank, horse archers cover a flanking move by imperial cavalry.

Skirmishers in the Ruins

The Imperial flanking force draws closer to the vulnerable side of the pike block. A rain of arrows falls on the Halberdiers who are steadily advancing but the projectiles don't seem to do much harm. In the center a quick charge by a foot knight company ends the struggle for the ruins. While both blocks of infantry line up in front of each other, ready to commence combat. The left changes little as the melee continues, although the Royals are inflicting a lot more damage than they are taking. 

The ruins are contested, but both units of skirmishers are in the end destroyed.

On the right flank Imperial knights are at a breaking point. Too many have died, the brigade is buckling. The guards regiment next to them is held together by the Sultan's support, his cries for glory make the guards attack with ferocity. The guards brigade in the center advances, threatening the pikes and driving back the royal skirmishers in front of them. Imperial knights from the left flank try to strike the pikes on their other flank. The Foot knights in that position hold their ground, and strike back with ferocity. The other foot knight company turns around quickly and strikes the Imperials in their flank. causing massive casualties. The knights are routed. Imperial horse-archers charge the cannons on the hill which have been firing on Imperial infantry for most of the game.

The flanking force, right before its fatal charge.

The charge on the cannon is turned back, the horse archers have suffered too many casualties in earlier turns to press their attack and they flee the cannon into the fields. The other company of horse archers is intercepted, attacked from behind and destroyed by foot knights . The Imperial pike block charges forth, and with support of a foot knight company they attack the militia in the center. The guard brigade on their flank forms column and countercharges the pikes. On the left the Imperial guards break, their enemies, the Royal knights readjust their line and focus completely on the guard regiments and the Sultan who still hold out. 

The guards hold their ground against the onslaught of knights

Combat in the center breaks out. Pikes against militia. (The tarot cards in the back function as an activation method. Merijn activating with cards from the Stones suit and I activate my heroes with arrow suit cards).

A last desperate effort by the Imperials but it is not enough.

In a desperate bid to turn the tides, the horse archers fire a rain of arrows at the company of Foot knights which are routed. Afterwards they charge together with the Imperial captain straight into the rear of the pike block. This, combined with the citizen militia on the front, and the guard regiment in the flank does not manage to kill either the High King, or break the pikes, and with nightfall close the Imperials have to accept another defeat. Both monarchs survived the combat.

Imperial forces retreat. Again a heavy toll has been paid by imperial nobility. Three full companies of knights have been defeated in the field.  All imperial skirmishers have been routed and most infantry brigades have suffered heavy casualties except for both guard regiments. The infantry from the Imperial vassal states have been completely destroyed but these are considered expendable and are not mourned by any Imperials, this might result in a diplomatic crisis.