Inca vs Later Swiss

This is my second go with the Inca army, after the bloody defeat suffered by Aztecs. I changed completely the army structure, choosing a later period version to have the IBdF and the IPsX. Unfortunately this meant also to deploy the IAxI and the CiC on a litter. I played against Dennis that used a fourth period army. Expecting some tough western opponent, I planned to use hidden obstacles and a fortified BuaF.

The fortified Buaf is an hazard with aggressivity 2, but in this game I faced a later Swiss army , so I was confident I could test it.

I chosed a 1/2 FE difficult hill, a 1/2 FE BuaF, two 1 FE enclosed fields and the paved road. The picture shows the battlefield from Inca side.

My plan was to outflank both enemy wings, avoiding a straight frontal fight and trying instead to surround the enemy.

The armies arrayed. Inca central corps was a bait. Should the enemy advance towards it, the swiss would have expose the wings. Inca CiC had the job to roll the enemy left, while the two small corps on the right would have used the fortified city to turn the enemy wing.

The main enemy asset, the formidable pikes superior. They proved to be almost invulnerable. The miniatures are from Legio Heroica swiss range, and are gorgeous.

The fortified built up area, garrisoned by a corps with 12 IAxI and 4 RAxO. The fort value was 20AP, I wanted to see if it was worth the cost

My hope of victory depended by the performance of the CiC corps, that had the task to attack through the difficult going using the highest pip die

The swiss plan was simple, roll forward, kill everything, protect the flanks

First turns Inca had poor activation rolls, and this delayed the manouvers on the flanks

The Swiss is getting closer to the hidden obstacle line. My advance on the flanks is very slow

The Swiss charge is disrupted by the hidden obstacles, much to surprise of the Swiss that protested against such a wily and coward tactic

Finally on the far left I started to threaten the Swiss, forcing him to use more and more pips

Inca attacked also on the right, usning the rear door of the fort

In this very moment, the Inca plan worked perfectly. Both swiss flanks were under attack, the enemy charge in the center was stopped with casualties. Swiss pip dried and gaps to attack appeared.

Inca tried to grasp this golden opportunity, attacking in several sectors the dreaded swiss

Unfortunately, Swiss proved a nut too tough to crush.

Inca were able to steal the initiative from Swiss, but not to kill them. All the charges and the attacks were fruitless.

The attack on the left, that was so important, bogged down eliminating just 1 BdX. A wasted opportunity.

It was disappointing also all the fighting on the right, where I could not kill even elements taken in the rear or flanks. The only success was the IAxI sally, that unexpectedly had cleared all enemy PsS and could threaten the enemy flank

We stopped the game after 3h 20m to dine, with a stalled situation that slowly was turning to swiss advantage. Inca had almost killed the 10% of the enemy, but the battle was a lost opportunity. 13-12 for the swiss.

The game was very fun, and proved how tough and good are swiss pikes. Incas confirmed to be a challenging army. I will keep trying to win a game