A not-so-decent night's sleep (it turns out city center is fairly noisy, and my rental was right next to some sort of municipal building that really wanted me to know it was 3am with its bells) was fixed with a decent cappuccino and an Italian sausage and egg bagel from the Italian bakery next door. Somewhat revitalized, I rocked up on Saturday morning for my morning game; refighting the Battle of Kutná Hora with To the Strongest.
James, the GM, changed the scenario to a defensive siege rather than the charging column that historically saw the Hussites win the battle.
As a fun coincidence, Ted (from the New Jersey gaming group) had also signed up for the game.
Jan Žižka and his Hussites were deployed atop a hill, their armored war wagons bristling with handguns and crossbows. Supporting the war wagons were a few units of infantry, cavalry, and light artillery.
Surrounding the Hussites was a sea of Catholic forces, with a mix of infantry and cavalry. The most dangerous units were the lance-armed, heavily-armored knights of the nobility.
The game began with the Catholic forces advancing. The two commands facing the Hussite center had the furthest to go, while the flanking forces were relatively closer.
Thanks to the seating arrangement, Ted was commanding the Hussite forces opposite my Catholic battalions.
While the war wagons didn't have traditional flanks that could be attacked for an advantage, the Catholic commanders agreed that the weakest part of the Hussite positions were the spaces where the wagons could be charged on the side.
Combat started with some desultory fire on both sides. I was hoping to place some Disorder markers on the war wagons before engaging in close combat.
The Catholic commanders on the other side of the table had the same idea; try to crack the war wagon line where it intersected
While I was able to put a few hits on Ted's wagons, they were able to rally back to normal. Their guns, armored cover, and supply of ammunition meant that I was likely to lose a longer ranged engagement, so I instead decided to charge in. My Noble command (with four units of knights) began shifting to the right.
And in a stroke of luck, one of the war wagon sections was demolished by a charging unit of Nobles!
Their charge was immediately halted by a failed flank attack on a group of Hussite spearmen.
Another breach was made in the wagon line in the Hussite's center, but the attackers had taken casualties and lacked the heavy cavalry to exploit the exposed position.
Hussite spearmen and Catholic cavalry clashed in the corner of the battlefield. Hussite reinforcements hurried to cover the two breaches made in the wagon line.
My commands were quickly losing troops as they broke upon the Hussite rocks.
And not too long after that realization, the game ended! It was a solid Hussite victory, with the Catholic Germans losing too many troops to continue.
All in all, a very fun game, and it was great to roll dice against Ted.