Game Reports

Battle of Agincourt with Medieval Tactica

Posted by PaulRPetri on 29 Jan 2023, 23:48

Once again I have a battle report to share with our group. I was very fortunate to have 5 players assemble for the game as a snow storm began to descend on our area! We decided to give the Medieval version of Tactica a try. I decided to try out the Agincourt scenario that was in the rules. The rules use 8 foot wide by 5 foot deep tables and my gaming space is six feet deep by twelve feet six inches wide I hade to upscale the forces just a bit.

As usual we start with our happy calendar.
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The rules in play.
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I was unhappy with my cardboard walls so I redid them as foamcore walls instead. Much lighter and easier to set up and take down.
The English army awaiting to be deployed.
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The French army.
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Over all shot of the French army ready to charge forward.
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The English have decided to take up an immediate defense of position with no chance of maneuver.
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A few shots showing the French lines advancing to the attack.
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English left flank.
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The distance English right flank lines.
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I had control of the French cavalry which occupied both flanks.
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The crafty English have sent a Longbow unit into the woods.
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The English lines brace for contact.
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The French cavalry advancing pell mell across the field of honor. I got carried away.
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The lines close.
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I was never known for tactical subtly my cavalry heads for the staked archers!!
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Collision Course!
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I was never one to employ tactical subtle I plow into the staked archers. Oh Well.
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The lines close
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Even though only one corner of my unit has come in contact with the hated English cavalry a fight ensues.
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For some unexplained reason I altered the course of my cavalry to contact the English Longbowmen hiding behind stakes!! What was I thinking!
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In the unlikely event my massed cavalry assault failed my infantry had my back!
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The French right engaged in heavy combat.
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The fight in the center.
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The fight on the French left with the giant hand trying to get out of the picture!! How dare he!
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Sneek English emerging from the woods.
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At this point in my narrative I must confess that the rules seem to let us down. Most of the English army is made up of longbowmen who really did not inflict much damage on us French with missile attacks. Once engaged in hand to hand combat they were no match for the French knights. We being the French had to eliminate 8 English units to win while the English had to get 9 of ours. The French in short order wiped out 8 English units while only losing one, which of course was one of my mounted knight units!! A large portion of the English army was made up of bowmen who were no match for our French knights in hand to hand combat.I am not sure if we are missing something but it was a very unbalanced game. Anyway some more action shots.
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We played the Agincourt scenario as recommended without the mud option which would have reduced the French movement by half which would have allowed some more casualties to be inflicted by the archers. As writen the rules the English Longbowmen cannot initiate melee and if they are not protected by stakes they are dispersed when contacted by the enemy. The stakes are only useful against the French cavalry the French infantry are not effected by them. Even though I was on the winning side it felt that something was wrong with the rules. We may try this game again with the mud in effect.

The unfortunate weather made life difficult for the departing players.
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As always thanks for having a look.
PaulRPetri  United States of America
 
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02 Apr 2019, 00:59


Posted by MABO on 30 Jan 2023, 01:19

Clash of amazing armies but it really seems that there is something wrong with the rulesystem. But of course: Thanks for sharing all the pictures. :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:
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MABO  Europe
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Posted by PaulRPetri on 30 Jan 2023, 01:26

Yes there is something wrong for sure. Live and learn.
PaulRPetri  United States of America
 
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Posted by C M Dodson on 30 Jan 2023, 09:10

Very nice indeed and I love the calendar.

It does seem strange that the English, using broadly the same tactics managed to effectively destroy the French at Agincourt, Crecy and Poitiers. Perhaps the Rules are geared towards a ‘fairer’ fight?

I would imagine that an arrow storm whilst not being pleasant for the knights would be devastating on the horses with the resulting mayhem reducing the effectiveness of the advance.

Add in gentle slopes, mud, restricted areas of combat etc and the defence has the advantage in would appear.

I hope everyone got home safely.

Best wishes,

Chris
C M Dodson  United Kingdom
 
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Posted by Rich W on 30 Jan 2023, 23:44

Great again Paul! And well done for not letting that weather get in the way of a good meet-up!
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Posted by Ochoin on 31 Jan 2023, 00:27

Wow! That's really inspiring stuff. I really like the figures.....so much heraldry.....

I know nothing about Tactica but I assume it needs multi-figure bases? And your figures are based - singly- for something else?

donald
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Ochoin  Scotland
 
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Posted by PaulRPetri on 31 Jan 2023, 01:28

Yes everyone made it home safe and sound. This is standard Chicagoland weather in January we are used to it.
Yes Donald I based my figures individually for skirmish gaming many moons ago but as the collection grew I did not want to rebase them so I hot glued these metal washer based troops onto black heavy card stock. Sort of works. I am a master of the half assed. Oh well.
PaulRPetri  United States of America
 
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Posted by Ochoin on 31 Jan 2023, 04:34

PaulRPetri wrote:. I am a master of the half assed.


I must vehemently & strenuously disagree with you there.

donald
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Ochoin  Scotland
 
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Posted by Minuteman on 31 Jan 2023, 12:04

Splendid stuff, quite spectacular in fact, Well done Sir! Great-looking (and large) medieval armies, all very inspiring. :yeah: :-D

I am not familiar with this rule set, and I note your observations on Longbowmen being relatively ineffective and relatively poor in close quarter combat with armoured opponents. I guess the difficult balancing act in any rule set for this period is to get the effectiveness of longbows 'right'.

i agree with Chris Dodson's observations above .At Agincourt, ground conditions played a part, slowing down the charging French and allowing the English bowmen behind a pallisade of stakes more time to 'take down' their targets. Even at close range a bodkin arrow shot from a longbow would only penetrate plate armour to the extent of causing a fatal wound if it hit a joint or slit in the armour; but the effect of close range shooting against (relatively unarmoured) horses would be much more damaging to the unfortunate animals, resulting in many dismounted riders and general mayhem in close-packed ranks. My understanding is that, at Agincourt, it was this, coupled with soggy ground conditions, and an ability of English archers and men-at-arms on foot to close with dismounted French knights who might have been wounded, trapped beneath horses, or struggling to stand in the mud, that gave the English an advantage in the hand-to-hand combat following the arrow-storm.

Well done, incidentally, to the gamers who struggled through snow and ice to make this game happen! Here in southern England it is a balmy 10 degrees Centigrade and sunny today!
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Minuteman  United Kingdom
 
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Posted by C M Dodson on 31 Jan 2023, 13:22

I found this which is interesting.


http://www.aginc.net/battle/index.html

The actual field of ‘honour’ at Agincourt was nine hundred yards wide with the woods creating a funnel effect.

That is not a lot of space to deploy such a vast French host.

It had been raining for two weeks apparently and the rising ground was a syrup.

The slippy ground, maimed horses and press from the rear ranks would have negated in part or completely the French ability to manoeuvre and fight.

The alleged casualty list imbalance is indicative of a one sided slaughter.

Not nice at all.

Best wishes,

Chris
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Posted by Peter on 31 Jan 2023, 15:15

Wonderfull pictures again and very nice game report! Thanks for sharing! :thumbup:

Chicago? I got some family over there! :-D
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by PaulRPetri on 31 Jan 2023, 19:52

I must confess that we did not play the scenario with the mud effect, which would have slowed all armored units to half speed. In my defense the scenario only mentioned that as a side note if you wanted to do that. The staked longbowmen did in fact defeat one of my mounted knight units on the right flank, the French only lost unit of course. The mounted units lost 1/2 of their attack dice while fighting longbowmen behind stakes. The main problem was that the stakes had no effect on the French foot knights which gave them a good thrashing. The game is a D6 based system and the longbowmen only caused hits on a '6'. Additionally longbowmen were prohibited from initiating melee. We like to play the rules straight up as written before making our changes so we left this in place even though I cannot see the logic in it. I do not mean to beat up Arty Conlife who wrote the rules, the regular Tactica rules for ancients are excellent, and his Shako rules for Napoleonics and his WWII rules Crossfire are outstanding efforts.
Thank you all for your comments!
PaulRPetri  United States of America
 
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