Alan vs Feudal Spanish
As everybody knows, Alans are a peacefully people, happy to stay in their country and not prone to wandering. Having taken possession of a corner of the Iberian peninsula, now the evil spanish wanted to expel them. The mighty Goar, their king, had to lead the Alan army to defend his country and his people.
Despite trying to have the barest battlefield, the sneaky Spanish was able to set up two wooded hills on both his flanks, securing his position. Alan army was very mobile, and deplyed two large corps on the wings, while the smaller reserves were in the center ready to redeploy as needed.
The spanish host had a very large infanty center, and two IKnF supported by many skirmishers. A large army.
My plan was simple: try to smash both enemy wings avoiding the infantry center, that was a hard nut. I decided to redeploy all knights on my left, to charge with three corps against one, while the horse archers on the right would have tried to engage and destroy the enemy using the feigned flights.
The Spanish position on the right is a wise one, with the IKnF having both flanks secured and protected. The mistake imho is not using some IPsI to screen also the front of the corps
Alans manouvering in position on the left. The coordination of three irregular impetous and clumsy corps is tricky. The Spanish pressed forward the infantry to create a salient. At the worst moment my CiC rolled 1 pip, so I could not launch the attack as I would have preferred, engaging enemy infantry too.
The first clash. I charged with some tactical disadvantage, but enjoyed advantage of numbers
Spanish ambush was sprung, threatening my open flank. Th Spanish commander was engaged in combat and could no more coordinate its troops, having to fight for his life
On the right wing after having gained a foothold in the wood covering one enemy flank, I charged and feigned flight
The manouver worked well. Spanish took some losses and were in disarray
On the right losses were mounting for both armies and Goar charged the enemy general to decide the issue
Also on the right wing the combat was at its decisive stage, with a second Alan charge that caught off balance the spanish knights
Goar charge was deadly. The spanish general died, triggering the rout of its corps, and thanks to the morale ME loss transmission, the breaking of the whole spanish army. 23-2 for the Alans
A nice game, with some interesting features. Once again we noted that having a large host require to have the generals out of the fighting to coordinate the use of reserves. Once the Spanish general was engaged, he could not exploit several opportunities. Feudal armies really need to screen and protect the knights, to let them deliver the decisive charge. Concentration of forces pays well. Apart number advantage and the fuelling of more and more troops in the combat, the subdivision of losses on more corps is an advantage.
Last but not least, never mess with Sarmatians!!