Huns versus Chi'n chinese

This was another test made with my Huns organized as a whole ILhS host. This is my army list.

My opponent was mahing some test to find the best Chi'n composition. This time he fielded an army based on supported PkF.

I attacked and the terrain was very open

I had an orchard to my back, a gentle hill on the left in a middle position, and some rough going on the edges. I deployed and moved first.

Chi'n assumed a defensive stance to avoid being encircled. The terrain choosed by the defender was not the better one to face a wider and mobile opponent.

I moved first the right wing corps, spotting an ambush behind the RH on the left. My opponent had declared the black line nearer to me as the ridge. I marched the left wing Lh forward, unaware of the enemy, and blocked the chariots inside the hill that was difficult for them.

The Chinese started to manouver forward, using his psiloi to try to save the chariots. I exerted pressure all over his front, entering the RH and gaining the uphill bonus vs the psiloi covering the open flank

The chinese supported the chariots with his RBwO. These archers would be a thorn in my side for all the game. I was now in position to launch an all out attack, aiming at the corps junctions.

The LhS charged the uphill psiloi covering the chariots. A big gamble, but I had not much choice, and the reward would be good if I would be successful. My left corps risked a lot because also the charge on BwO was a tough one, and I could suffer a lot of attrition.

The critical spot for my opponent was in the center, where he had PsO double ranked to hold a chariot flank. There I concentrated a lot of LhS.

This is my right wing. The detachment in the lower right corner is my reserve. My idea was to use it to pin the enemy PkF should I breakthrough the psiloi. I didn't engage the pk now because I needed all the LhS to block all the foot elements in the corps, and in a couple of rounds the chinese infantry could disorder me and be able to react to my piercing action.

The combat in the left RH went bad, with the chinese chariots killing some LhS in combats 1 to -1 for me. I started to slowly lose LhS against the RBwO.

On the far right I started to kill enemy elements.

The LhS charges from uphill position from the GH were sacrifice actions, to keep the enemy away as long as possible from the inner flank of my left corps. There I lost more elements I should had.

Suddenly the chi'n crumbled. I killed the chinese general of the right corps and swarmed the sector.

In the center finally the psiloi died in his bound and gave me the attack opportunity that can be seen in the picture.

With the flanks open the Chi'n exploded in an unlucky combat round. The chariots in the RH finally died, while the logorated center broke transmitting enough losses to cause a total breaking.

I killed eight chariots out of 12, and this proved decisive. The PkF could be eliminated just by flank attacks. As long the line held, I was pushed back.

The game had some interesting feature: first, how much important terrain can be. This is an example game about how an army can be negatively influenced by badly placed terrain. The chinese should have tried to set up as many difficult as possible to cover the flanks and to deploy in line their troops to just push forward. The passive posture and the trapezoidal position exposed the outer corner of the line and the weakest troops to be picked up by enemy.

Second, ambush can be discovered. Player should plan to avoid it or how to cope with this. The bad ambush in the end proved devastating, granting to the opponent some easy 2ME kills that caused the demise of the corps.

Third is about army composition. This kind of Chi'n is very rigid and has no reserves on flanks or in second line. The only real reserves avalaible are the rear ranks of the deep infantry formation. An army like that is very difficult to play imho and needs a terrain very well set up. The ambush choice is a good one, provided is executed a bit better.