Bassano second round - Here is the navy

Second game I played versus another NKE army. My opponent had Ramses II version: Inert CiC with a very large four corps army (army list). I knew that an attritional combat would be a suicide. Furthermore I could not hope to outmanouver my opponent, for the fourth corps compensated the PiP disadvantage.

I thought that the only way to beat him would be to surprise him.

I was the attacker and this was the set up.

I put down some orchard and enclosed fields because I wanted to create problems to enemy manouvers. I had the infantry in omogenous formations, while the restriction to four corps NKE should have created  some problems to my opponent to concentrate foot troops. So I used the central field as a pivot and bastion to protect my right, marching a corps by impressed shipping. My army is on the left.

The armies advanced, and once I reached a line with the enclosed field, I stopped waiting for the flank march. My opponent expected a delayed corps, not a flank march from the sea so prepared to attack hard

This is the way we engaged. From this point on the battle was a hard frontal fight, with few manouvers. In the top right corner can be seen the smaller enemy corps with the lower pip that initially was sent wide to outflank me

The enemy army was made to fight with as many chariot possible, using no infantry. The doctrine was different from mine.

 RBwI fire on the left disordered the enemy troops. In this sector my opponent had a lowish pip dice

I didn't charge first because I wanted to gain as much time as possible before to start the attrition. My opponent had more reserves than me, and a 1-6 roll in my bound would have been a disaster.

 I needed the flank march to show up

On third turn the flank march rolled six, and on fourth the elements landed. There was a lot of tension when I rolled for each element to check if it would sunk, expecially when I did it for my general.

Luckily it survived. If the general would be lost, the game probably would be over for me

In the meantime my opponent was carving the RBwI line. I had some good combats in the center, with holes appearing where enemy chariots where eliminated.

My opponent reversed the march direction of the small corps and came back from outflanking to act as reserve.

The combat became wild, because the enemy general of the seaside corps was exposed and attacked in the flank. With losses mounting for both, the RBwI were chopped.

Finally I broke the Baggage corps, after losing 2 RBwI in close combat. I took for a second time the exposed enemy general in the flank failing again to kill it. My central corps was disheartened.

The melee was confused on the left. I was half element away to lose the mauled corps, and survived a charge again.

Another turn of trouble for me. I picked off some elements but my flank march was generally ineffective, apart the threat to the rear of the enemy general.

I saw that rolling 6 on third bound, let my flank march on the beach on 4th turn entering the fray just on 5th. I enjoyed the tactical surprise but the attack was a bit slow to develop.

For the second enemy turn in a row I saved my central corps half element from rout. This time my opponent rolled so low PiPs that he could not move being inert.

Two disheartened RBwI still in combat with enemy chariots survived!

After two tries, I finally killed the enemy isolated general. This broke his wing corps. I asked Riccardo if the army was gone, with one corps and the army baggage down.

He said "Not yet", and he duly rolled three 1s in a row for the combats not yet fought, losing three chariots to RbdF. The holes in the line can be seen. His army broke for a 22-3 result.

He is a good friend, and immediately started complaining while I was laughing.

I said "Please keep complaining, while I take some pics of you" and he tossed at me a water bottle :)

The bottle was of course empty, so we went to have some drink to the bar.

Thinking to the game, I took a huge risk with the impressed shipping march, for I didn't assess correctly how long it would take to engage in combat the disembarking elements. Would the march appear one turn later or should I lose the general by sinking, I would have lost. By the way, it was the first time I tried it, and to achieve a surprise you cannot use it in a training game.

I enjoyed the advantage of facing a low pip dice along the waterway. While my Bw shooting was no effective, they survived more than they sould in melee. The idea to use RBwI, in this game proved correct, for the 1/2 ME loss equivalent kept my corps alive much longer.

The BdF performed very well and the enemy chariots repulse was annoying for my opponent because every time he had to control in advance if the side of his chariots fighting mine would be exposed.

I should have lost at least one corps with average combat dice.

Another good game.

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