L'Art De La Guerre - Can you say rout?

I played my second game of ADLG last night. This one against my friend Al. With limited armies in our collections, we had to play well out of period. Al fielded his Later Crusader while I put my Visigoths in Spain on the battlefield.

From the get go mistake after mistake was made by the Visigoth General (that would be me). After opening deployment I knew I was fighting a losing battle. I did fairly well in terrain placement to protect my flanks from his Knights but I never took advantage of it. I spread out too thinly and lined my Heavy Cavalry against his Heavy Spearmen and mixed units of Heavy Spear and Crossbow. With Visigoths being an almost all impetuous army, this spelled doom from the opening bell.

Deployment and opening Visigoth moves. As you can see, I made mistake #2 by advancing my Heavy Cavalry. His front line of bow-armed Medium Cavalry was attractive but what could I hope to accomplish against his heavy spear line backed by Medium Knights. 

The Crusader Left Wing

My best match up, impetuous heavy sword against heavy spear, is quite a ways away. The Visigoth cavalry charge headlong into the wall of spears. Yet another mistake.

Crossbows, steady, armored spears and Crusader cavalry are too much for the Visigoth Bucellari. The first wave is swallowed up.

The Visigoth left wing attempts to close on the Crusaders. The patient Crusader General continues to hold back his right wing Knights. He is in noooooooooooo hurry.

The battle is going nowhere for the Visigoths. Crusader Knights are poised to devastate my swordsmen who are no match for charging knights in the open. Even though my sword is closing on the Crusader spear, Al decides now is the time to shoot holes in the advancing Visigoths disordering them and reducing their combat effectiveness. The Visigoth swordsmen forgot they were carrying shields while the Crusader crossbows hit their mark again and again.

The beginning of the end. Crusader impact Light Cavalry drove off my Light Cavalry flank protection. The Crusaders had an opening to charge my bowmen who were in the process of being out-shot by the Crusader crossbows. These guys were hot all battle. Even where I did close with his spear, Visigoth sword did not make a dent in the Crusader infantry line. What you won't see is the Crusader knight charge on my left. It was ugly. Typically fighting at +3 to 0 with furious charge, they melted my left flank away.

We called the game @ 9:30 (store closes at 10PM) but the battle was a foregone conclusion. I was at 23 morale loss out of 26 so was a turn away from breaking. The Crusader losses.............

.....ZERO!!!

No excuses. I made mistakes, however; they were compounded by poor match-ups (that will happen) and a superior out-of-period opposing army. My initial reaction is to stay within period in ADLG. Not too narrow, but avoid the huge technology swing against Medieval and Late Medieval armies with an abundance of Knights, Armored Infantry, Halberds and Crossbows. They will throw you back into...

...the Dark Ages.

Still, ADLG is a solid, fun game and I certainly learned more from this game than I would have expected. Impetuous armies are tricky to handle and coordinate and "pip" intensive if you try any fancy maneuvers. They are a stright ahead, in you face army, and can hit like a brick against many in period opponents. 

Many thanks to Al for a great game who showed respect by assisting in the burial of all my dead while caring for the wounded. They'll still be slave prisoners but they are alive.

That's it for now.

Happy Gaming!!!

Franko