Monday 15 April 2013

Hail Caesar Fantasy - Battle on the Fields of Kuttel - Part 2

Finally here comes the second part of my AAR about the battle on the Fields of Kuttel (part 1 here). As you might remember the two armies were set up and ready to engage when hunger overwhelmed the generals.

So after lunch break we were ready to readopt combat operations:

Evolution after lunch
The line of the allied forces of men and elves stood firmly. On the outer right flank Holger lead his handgunners into the dense terrain of fields and took position behind one of the stonewalls. Additionally he formed a firing line with his second division to secure our right flank. It was one of our fundamental ideas that he had to withstand the wild charges of the savage orcs to give me time to attack on the left flank with my fast and furious knights.
Imperial men behind the stonewall.

Firing line on our far right.





Savage orcs on boars and mammoths.
Knights advancing (picture provided by Axel).
Meanwhile I ordered my knights to the top of the hill carefully estimating the speed and range of their orcish enemies since their large warbands of snarling green monsters impressed my slightly...

However while the dark elves held their center the united villains tried to rush forward. But this time luck was with us. The wild orcs managed a small progress only and on my flank one of Kalle's divisions was affected by a blunder he rolled. The orcs and trolls on their outside flank left the battlefield and opened an excellent corridor for my attack.

While I rolled up my sleeves and prepared for attack Holger unleashed deadly fire on the savage orcs. While several of Robert's units suffert minor casualties a large warband broke and fled for good.
Robert removing the broken warband.
Heinz and his elves were steady in the center and were engaged in some kind of ranged combat with their dark brothers.
So the knights' finest hour arrived. For units of knights rushed over the hill with the tremendous speed of pure-bread warhorses. Two units were fast enough to turn in and catch the goblin wolf riders in their right flank. The greenskins reform hastily and turn their front to their approaching fate. But they weren't able to use their long Kontos lances and were entirely crushed. Yet that didn't slow down the impact of bretonnian knighthood. The noblemen dashed further on and reached a unit of boar riding orcs. Reforming as hastily as their comrades in arms they met the same fate. Having destroyed two enemy units I ordered the knights to regroup and pivot to await the returning orcs and trolls from the left. However this round of combat was top-notch for me and my knights!
The enemy cavarly doomed to fall under the hooves of my noble knights.
Despite the succesful turn for us allies the united villains weren't beaten yet. After a much better command phase they managed to stabilize their right flank with Kalle's reappearing division and build up severe danger for my knights who might have hurried ahead a bit too far. With the my second division pressing from behind it became really narrow on top of the hill and the orcs had the important tactical advantage of space to manoevre.

The orcs reappearing while my knigths were crowded on the hill.
Meanwhile the elvish forces in the center were only seperated by a narrow strip of lawn and exchanged bolts and arrows over a small hedgerow. Both sides took casualties but none of their units broke until three units of bretonnian longbowmen swung in and sent a cloud of arrows to the unlicky unit of dark elvish corsairs in the corner of the hedherows. The combined firepower of those peasants and the elven archers at their side was enough to diffuse the raiders.
The two elvish battlelines severely affected by enemy fire. Observe the free space beyond the second bolt thrower were the corsairs broke.
Unfortunately it was getting later and later while both armys exchanged blow after blow and none of the armies faltered. Although we reached some success in earlier turns we weren't able to lead the decisive blow against the united villains. On the other hands their forces were heavily wore down and it was more than doubtful whether they would be able to reach the desired break through.
So at dead of night we all agreed that a draw would be a fair outcome for the epic battle. Although both sides might have been able to enforce the decision the leader were to considerate to take the risk of sacrificing their last men. At least the allies (aka. we) were able to push the villaineous troops from Kuttel.
The final situation: A steady center with fierce fighting on the right flank. Unfortunately the left flank with orcs, trolls and knights in close-combat isn't pictured.
However it was a great day at Erkrath and we six took part in an epic scenario between good and evil. It was great fun and probabaly the next two turns might have brought the decision. But unfortunately none of us had the condition to find it out...

Anyway there was a simoultaneous battle fought at the walls of Kuttel. Although I wasn't able to follow the whole game I'll present you some pictures during the next days.

8 comments:

  1. Interesting game - well done. Best, Dean

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    1. Thanks Dean!
      It was indeed very interesting to have such an unusually large game and it was great fun as well!

      Cheers
      Stefan

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  2. Great report and some lovely looking miniatures on show Stefan, great job Sir.

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    1. All the fellows had great looking armies and especially Robert's savage orcs are real eye candy.

      Cheers
      Stefan

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  3. Looks like a grand battle. I'm curious what you'll show us from the other table.

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    1. The other table was smaller but the troops were even more colourful:
      Dwarves, lizardmen, beastmen, undead...

      :-)

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  4. Excellent job Sir, well done . It looks fantastic (loved those mounted knights), and hopefully a good time had by all :-)

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    1. The look of those mounted knights were the only reason for me to begin a Bretonnian army ages ago.
      But those masses of horses are so boring to paint... ;-)

      Cheers
      Stefan

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