TTS AAR: Fanatic Berber versus Timurid
/Time for another session of To The Strongest against friend Rob. He wanted to use the Timurids, and I chose to get some of my new Arab figures onto the table with a Fanatic Berber army.
I lost the deployment and, as you’ll see in the left-hand picture below, set up with my Arab cavalry (supported by some mercenary Christian knights) on the right, my infantry in the centre, and a weak left flank comprising only of a horde of Berber light horse.
The Timurids deployed weak on their right (which suited me just fine), their infantry to the right of centre, and their main striking force on the left.
First off, I used the This Way Effendi strategem to push Rob’s left back a square, meaning that the heavy cavalry you can see on the right of the right-hand picture below started the game off-table, and Rob was very lucky not to lose them altogether as the first card he drew to activate the lights in that same command was an Ace: had he chosen to try and get his heavies on table before activating the lights, the Ace would have been theirs and they would never have returned!
The refusal of his left hand command to advance meant that Rob couldn’t really take advantage of the initiative winning the scouting had given him, meaning that my Arabs could advance off their start positions before the Timurids could dominate the centre of the table, meaning that I could dictate a strong advance with my right whilst refusing my weak left.
The Timurids, however, quickly got their act together, and soon the right hand axis of the battlefield was crowded with units all desperately trying to break through the enemy line and outflank.
I felt this initial clash went quite well for the Berbers, as I managed to clear away some of the Timurid horse-archers, and although one unit of Arab cavalry was pushed back, disordered, the Black Guard managed to move across to protect them whilst the mercenary Christian Knights broke through and thundered down the right hand side of the table.
Meanwhile, on the left, a combination of infantry bowfire and the javelins of the Berber light horse had driven off more Timurid horse-archers and, as the Timurid heavies hadn’t really moved forward at all, meant that that flank was still nicely secure.
Things seemed to be going rather well for the Berbers. I was something like five coins ahead from killing horse-archers, the left was safe, I was very strong in the centre as the Timurids hadn’t attacked there yet, and the right looked good too.
All this was, however, an illusion.
Yes, I had killed some horse-archers, but the Timurids had lots of them so losing a few wasn’t really a concern, especially as their fresh, veteran heavy cavalry armed with lance, bow, kitchen sink etc now moved forward and attacked my right with a vengeance…even having enough troops to send some back to deal with the now-isolated mercenary Christian knights.
The fighting was fierce, and soon I found myself pushed back into a defensive formation as the Timurid horse (both heavy and more lights…where on earth do they get them from!) started to stream around my flank.
I obviously needed to do something fast, so threw caution to the wind and sent the Berber light horse forward on the left (if they could get past the Timurid heavies there then they could wreak havoc from behind the enemy battle line) and the infantry forward in the centre.
Interestingly, the Timurid centre was held by a couple of units of Kharash slave-driven infantry: raw mobs with three hits each. Killing them wouldn’t give me any victory medals, but I couldn’t apply my superior strength in infantry to kill units that would give me victory medals until I’d dealt with the Kharash: a pain as I now needed to win the game (by taking victory medals) before my right collapsed.
The Berber light horse did a superb job: sneaking past the Timurid heavies on the left and doing what they do best and assault enemy units from the flanks and rear. The Berber infantry did well as well: the combination of the two driving Timurid units from the field.
And not before time, as the Timurids had now managed to get around my right flank, and managed to get some horse-archers (yes, more of them) through to attack my camps. Fortunately Lady Luck chose that moment to intervene on the side of the Arabs, but I really needed to win the game quickly now or I would risk snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!
I’d battered the Timurids down to their last victory medal. One more push and they were done. Luckily, a unit of Black Guard was in just the right spot to charge a bunch of Timurid horse-archers (God knows where they came from: I thought I’d killed them all by now). The charge sent them sprinting off the table, netting me the final medal and the win.
That had been a very close run thing.
It had been a real surprise when, in the middle of the game, I suddenly realised that my apparently superior position was an illusion as I’d been spending a lot of time and effort doing not much at all and suddenly had four units of veteran heavy lancers backed up by horse-archers hitting my now-weakened right. If my Berber light cavalry on the left hadn’t managed to sneak past the Timurids guarding the other flank, and my infantry hadn’t proved so steady, and my camp had fallen…well, it wouldn’t have been the Berbers celebrating the win!
A great game really showcasing why I love To The Strongest so much.
