I had come up with a cunning plan- more skirmishers to screen more heavy foot and and big blocks of infantry to soak up the losses!
Norse Irish (quantity/unit/pts per base)
| 2 | FL Nobles | 19 |
| 8 | FL Bonnachts | 19 |
| 2 | FP Mercenary Islemen | 14 |
| 2 | S Kerns | 12 |
| 1 | S Archers | 12 |
| Viking Allies | ||
| 2 | FP Huscarls | 15 |
| Vikings | ||
| 2 | FP Guard Huscarls | 26 |
| 2 | FP Vet Huscarls- large | 32 |
| 4 | FP Huscarls- large units | 26 |
| 2 | FP Huscarls | 15 |
| 2 | S Archers | 7 |
| 2 | S Javelins | 7 |
The Vikings got to defend. I split my command into two equal(ish) forces. I had a cunning plan- big blocks of infantry screened by skirmishers, with their flanks supported by smaller blocks of Vikings- what could go wrong?
Kent also created two commands- he used his best troops (Huscarls and Islemen allies) to secure his flanks and his bonnacts held the centre.
Kent's other flank.
The two lines advance.
My troops take some minor losses from javelins- thanks to the skirmishers. But I completely forgot about using a Shieldwall!
To show I'm not completely biased- a view from the Norse-Irish lines.
Vikings prepare to charge.
The first melee- Vikings vs Higlanders. Alas it was a draw with neither side taking any losses.
In the centre one of my guards huscarls pulls up milimetres short of the enemy- whose idea was it to send my best troops through the broken ground?
At last progress is made on my left flank- but discipline category C with no commander handy do struggle to get rid of disorder! (Hence all the red counters)
Kent's skirmishers backed up by noble bonnachts clear the bad going of my vikings!
Norse Vikings clash with their Norse-Irish cousins.
Having cleaned up some Norsemen the Norse-Irish Vikings advance on a very badly mauled unit of my vikings (only 1 VBU left)
Kent's other flank stands firm- and has hardly been touched. At this stage I was staring down the barrel of another routing!
My left flank may be on the verge of collapsing but nobody told the vikings at the top of the picture!
The first flank charge ever! My vikings had turned to face the Noble Bonnachts and were overwhelmed by the other bonnachts surging forward- as it turned it to win Kent the game!
The final postions.
The last couple of turns were bloody as my vikings finally started to do damage in hand-to-hand.
Final losses: Norse Irish 14
Vikings: 18
Kent was one stand away from also breaking and so this one was much closer than our last encounter and would have possibly been more so if I'd remembered Shieldwall! A fast and furious game with lots of losses on both sides- using skirmishers to screen my main units , while also using the big units of vikings almost paid off. I will deal to those nasty javelins armed Irish yet!
Craig
Close, FL with Javelins are mean, mean troops in this game.
ReplyDeleteIt is also a hard road with the Viking lack of S troops in the list, though I guess large units somewhat make up for that.
Great Batrep, it sounds and looks like you had a great time!!
ReplyDeleteNice report Craig :)
ReplyDeleteDamn, those Irish are cool...Javelins do seem to be the weapon of choice for Ancients in Impetus. Witness my horde of S Javelin Men and Jamies Lanciarii!
Its a pity Shortbows suck so much!
Nice looking forces too.
Cheers
Jason
Shortbows seem okay with skirmishers!
ReplyDeleteFL with javelin are pretty kick arse but if the Vikings can close they can get the drop on them- I love the balance of the Norse-Irish list. Lots of annoying FL with javelins, some good solid huscarls and Scots allies and if you want to max out on Kerns skirmishers by the gazillion!
The one thing that the photos don't capture well is the tooing and froing of combat. A unit charges, engages in combat, may break though (or rout) and follow up (or be followed up) and engage in more combat. And then it happens all over again in the next unit's action- front lines seem solid one minute and falling to pieces the next. Impetus certainly is fast and furious!
Craig