Romanian Franks vs Novgorod Russians

I have tried some versions of Romanian Franks: the one I prefer has massed IKnS, and all skirmishers and ICvO I can field to support, protect the flanks, and act as reserve for the shock cavalry.

My opponent has bought a brand new Post Mongol Russians, and is testing  it. In this game he used Novgorod russians with IKnF and a Lithuanian ally

I attacked and tried to cover my flanks with some marshes and woods. The opponent choosed less terrains as possible, relying on Lh and CvO to outflank me.He deployed the Lithuanians to take the brunt of my charge, with CvO in reserve and on the open flank.

The Russian started with a general advance and revealing an ambush in the wood by IKnF, that aimed straight at my ICvO. I had very high pips, and was able to redeploy the Byzantine ICvO toward the center, out of IKnF way and sheltering behind IKnS.

Frank and greek cavalry close up

The Franks advanced echeloned, while the Russians had some control problem and were slow to react with IKnF.

Again the Russians had poor pip, and could not activate a feigned flight. Neverless they seized the initiative charging.

The combat fragmented the frankish lines, while the russian nobles were unable to engage combat on the far left. The Lithuanian losses were mostly spent lihght horses

While on the left the greek cavalry engaged the enemy ICvO gaining time to let IKnS join the fray...

On the right wing the frankish light infantry did not protect the flank that was infiltrated by Lithuanians and Russians

The Frankish general was isolated and overwhelmed. His loss broke the Frank right wing. The IKnS charge in the center was more successful, breaking the Russian corps.

The battle ended when the few IKnS engaged on the left were able to sistematically kill any enemy charged, breaking the second russian command. The game was bloody, ending 17-8 for the Franks.

What probably decided the game was the inability of the Russian to use the IKnF. The ambush concept was good, but to be effective an ambush must be able to send in combat the troops hiding. If these are not on the line of enemy advance, and are clumsy to manouver and control, this can prove to be difficult, expecially versus an opponent that advances fast and can manouver to put them out of position.

The Lithuanian behaved brillantly, while the Russians were plagued by low pips and could not use well their better manouver. Nontheless a balanced fight, with Franks on the verge of collapse with 44% losses.