Alexander the Great vs Hundred Years War English
Alexandrian army facing the Hundred Year War English
Pregame
I needed to chose an army for an upcoming open tournament, and this game was to be a practice game. The armies in my collection were Carthaginian, Republican Roman, Alexandrian and Classical Indian. With the prospect of facing medieval armies with knights, I thought that Alexander the Great with pikes and elephants would be the best prospect.
I decided on one corps with pikes, one with elephants and a small cavalry corps. The cavalry and elephant corps didn't require any hard decisions. In the pike corps I chose a unit of Hypaspists medium spear to give rough terrain capability, Greek hoplites to give a flank unit that isn't unmanoeuvrable, and a unit of medium cavalry as a mobile reserve. I also had 3 light infantry to get the extra army initiative (4 x LH and 6 x LI total).
A strategist gave me the biggest boost for army initiative, and should be able to handle the medium cavalry as a reserve. The other two generals were ordinary to save points and so I could put them into combat if required.
Army lists
My Alexander the Great list
Jason's Hundred Years War English list was
The Game
I won on the third roll for initiative and decided to attack in the plains.
Jason chose a coastal zone, a village (which comes with a road), and a hill with a field. I chose two fields to maximise the benefits for my elephants. During the terrain adjustment phase I moved the two fields more towards the centre of the board.
Jason started with one corps off the board (flank march or ambush).
Initial Deployment
I deployed with my elephant corps opposite his foot knights, with the elephants on the flanks to match up against his knights. This would prove to be a mistake as it would lead to one elephant exposed to shooting from the flank later in the game. My pike was facing his knight, with the Hypaspists medium spear lined up to move through the field. The small cavalry command was protecting the flank of the pikes.
End of Alexandrian Turn One
In my first turn I moved up my pike two moves to 4UD from the enemy, and the reserve MC unit moved more towards the centre of the board. The companions moved to match the infantry line, and the light horse bow moved up to reveal the ambush - it was two units of foot knights and two units of longbow. The elephants being unmanoeuvrable could not make a second move as I did not have enough command pips to make the second move a short move.
End of English Turn One
On his right flank, Jason moved his foot knights forward and slid left. He was than able to do a double move with his longbows to move down the road to the right, and then turn and advance to align with the knights. My elephants were no longer aligned with the knights, and I had longbow stretching past my flank. In the centre the light troops advanced forward and the knights moved down the road. On his right flank, the foot knights and long bows moved out of the village.
End of Alexandrian Turn Two
My Companion cavalry charged the foot knights on my right flank, with the light cavalry javelin in support (one providing an overlap and one against the longbow). I put my general into the combat. I moved my elephant corps up through the fields and shifted right to get closer to my pikes. The pike corps also moved up.
End of Alexandrian Turn Three
No photo for English turn two. In the English turn two Jason has put a unit of longbows in a position to shoot at the flank of my elephant, and caused a disruption to the unit. The knights have turned to face my lines. In the combat one unit of Companions broke the foot knights, whilst the other unit of Companions lost its combat. Jason moved up his light horse to support his foot knights, but my light horse won its combat. The other light horse against the longbows lost its combat.
In my turn three I moved the light infantry to screen the flank of my elephants, and my cavalry disengaged from their opponents. The rear guard medium cavalry unit also moved towards the flanking longbow.
End of English Turn Three
In the English turn three the longbows deployed stakes. The foot knights conformed to my light cavalry, which evaded. The mounted knights moved up to ZOC the pikemen.
End of Alexandrian Turn Four
On my turn four I decided that I didn't want to just sit back and take shooting casualties. On the left flank the elephant corps charged in. This didn't turn out so well as I lost the disrupted (from shooting) elephant, drew combat with the second elephant (which had the general committed to the combat), had my two fresh units of Thracians lose their combats and only the disrupted unit of Thracians win their combat.
The Hypaspists charged the artillery, and drew their combat. The pikes stayed put, but I rallied a wound off one unit. The uninjured Companion cavalry charged into the foot knights at the end of the pike line (once again I threw my general into combat) and the hoplites moved up in support. The foot knights took three hits from the Companion cavalry. I also moved a unit of light cavalry up to guard the flank of the Hoplites.
End of English Turn Four
In the English turn four the mounted knights charged in against the pikes, and drew one combat and inflicted two hits (due to furious charge) on the other two. The longbows left their position supporting the artillery and moved up to charge my light infantry supporting the pikes. This meant I my support was lost and the end knight unit received support. Jason also moved up his light horse to exert a ZOC to prevent my hoplites from charging the flank of the foot knights.
On my left flank my elephant and one unit of Thracians lost their combats, but the other two Thracians won theirs which caused one opposing unit to rout. The Hypaspists took out the artillery.
End of Alexandrian Turn Five
In my turn five the English shooting started to take effect. I lost a unit of light infantry in the field and took a hit on my light horse ZOCing the longbow on the right flank. The Hypaspists charged the flank of a longbow unit but only inflicted 1 wound.
On the left flank the remaining elephant and one of the Thracians were routed. The general had joined the combat attached to the elephant and was lost. On the positive side, one of the other Thracians routed their opponent.
The pikes drew or lost their combats against the mounted knights. My Companion cavalry routed the foot knights, which disrupted the light horse behind them.
End of English Turn Five
In the English turn five, Jason conformed against the Thracians and moved his foot knights into support on their flank. In the shooting I lost three units of light horse, two from shooting and one of those two routing through their injured friends behind. I also lost a light infantry from shooting.
The game finished at the end of the English turn five. Final score was a loss with 25 (24) - 17 (21)
Lessons learnt
With respect to the rules, I found that villages come with a road so are really a two for one in terrain picks. Also the way that Jason used his light horse behind a corner of a village but still projected a ZOC to protect the flank of the foot knights.
It was my first game against mounted knights. Mounted knights weren't as scary as I thought. They were successful, but really shouldn't have been. The pikes were at +2 relative to the knights (+3 vs +1) in the first round. Unfortunately my pikes still managed to lose or draw in the initial round even though the odds were in my favour.
I had committed my ordinary generals into the combats to try and win the first round of combat with furious charge. This worked well with the Companion cavalry (which routed its opponents twice), but didn't work out with the elephants general. I will have to ponder whether it was the match ups, whether it is elephants aren't suited to having generals join in the combat because they can't be rallied and can't disengage, or if it was a result of the dice.
I lost the game when I did partially due to losing 4 light units from shooting. I need to better manage my injured light units and take them out of harms way. One of the problems about having the general in combat was reducing the ability to move other units.
With respect to my army composition, the elephants disappointed but I should have done a better job of screening the elephant on the flank. I have learnt the lesson that never leave an elephant with a flank exposed to shooting. The small corps of cavalry performed quite well, with a single unit of Companions (with the general committed to the combat) routing two units of foot knights across the game. My unit of medium cavalry didn't get involved.
The only thing that really didn't work out was the medium cavalry, but it could be useful in some situations. The only obvious alternative would be to replace them with an fortified camp. With respect to the upcoming tournament, I decided not to change my army.