A Han Chinese civil war is a dangerous one to try and pick army composition for. There are three types of Han Chinese:
- Full of Protected impact foot
- Full of Protected Polearm and Crossbow
- Full of Armoured Polearm and Crossbow
The impact foot beats the protected polearm, the protected polearm beats the armoured polearm and the armoured polearm beats the impact foot. So a true rock / paper / scissors scenario!
I had ran over my opponent's protected polearm with impact foot previously, so I didn't think he would go for the protected polearm again - so I designed an army to take out the Armoured Polearm version:
IC, TC
8x8 Medium Foot, Protected, Average, Drilled, 1/2 Polearm 1/2 Crossbow
2x8 Medium Foot, Protected, Poor, Undrilled, 1/2 Polearm 1/2 Crossbow
2x4 Cavalry, Armoured, Average, Drilled, Light Spear Swordsmen
1x4 LH, Unprotected, Average, Drilled, Bow
The theory was to go wide and use my better and more numerous cavalry to overwhelm a flank and then turn into the enemy and ride down the line. If the polearm units charge each other, it's the unit that charges that will normally lose due to the overhead shooting, so these matches are very cagey until one side gains an advantage and then it usually turns into a massacre...
I had PBI 3 and my opponent had PBI 2. Neither of us really wanted terrain, so it was a barren, featureless plain (note the trophies being played for on the left hand side):
Terrain:
It turns out I guessed correctly and my opponent had (by and large) the armoured version. The army was (I think)
IC, 2xTC
4x8 Medium Foot, Armoured, Average, Drilled, 1/2 Polearm 1/2 Crossbow
1x8 Medium Foot, Protected, Average, Drilled, 1/2 Polearm 1/2 Crossbow
2x8 Medium Foot, Protected, Poor, Undrilled, 1/2 Polearm 1/2 Crossbow
2x4 Heavy Chariots, Drilled, Crossbow
1x4 Cavalry, Unprotected, Average, Drilled, Crossbow Swordsmen
Deployment looked like this.
NB, all descriptions are from the perspective of the camera - so my opponents right wing is on the right side of the photographs.
1LHS:
1RHs:
The two Chariot units had been something of a surprise and rather scuppered my plans of overwhelming a flank... However, I was wider than my opponent - we had both put our poor units on the outsides of the main line. I intended to use my cavalry to skirmish with the chariots, so put my IC on the left hand side and the light horse to have a run at my opponents right flank which was somewhat in the air.
I won the roll to move first and I ran forward as fast as I could, my oponent largely doing the same:
2LHS:
2RHs:
My Poor Foot on the left hand side didn't fancy the superior chariots, so scarpered behind the average mob with the help of the IC, the cavalry turned tail and fled! Most of my line also turned 180 degrees to retreat if necessary.
On the right I was heading towards the open flank - my opponent bringing the Unprotected Cavalry to try and save the camp and shore up the wing.
3LHs:
3RHs:
My opponent angled his line to try and protect the flank whilst pushing towards my cavalry (and the camp behind). On the right the isolated unit turned towards the line to try and form a hinge.
4LHs:
4RHs:
I was putting as much pressure as I could on the right side - getting the Light Horse behind the flank to try and get the cavalry to commit and threaten the infantry. As I needed to turn the line, my main line turned 180 degrees again to face the enemy.
One unit of chariots was deemed sufficient to chase off the two cavalry units, whilst the other threatened my open flank.
5LHs:
5RHs:
We moved to within charge range across the line
6LHS:
6RHs:
I reckoned my opponent had made a mistake, as on the left I wasn't in front of the chariots and could charge the poor unit with my average unit - which I promptly did.
It was a similar scenario on the right wing, with my average troops charging the poor. I was hoping that re-rolling one's would offset the overhead shooting. Which it did! on the right wing the poor unit lost a base and disrupted, on the left it was a draw.
7LHs:
7RHs:
I expanded out to thwart the chariots attempt to get behind me or even directly in the poor unit whilst my chariots tried to keep the other unit busy. In the melee, the left hand combat was again a draw, but on the right the poor unit lost another base and fragmented.
8LHS:
8RHs:
One of my cavalry units dropped to disrupted on the left wing - although shooting as a whole was hugely ineffective, largely due to large units, inspired commanders and needing fives to hit. On the left the poor unit double dropped and fragmented, on the right hand side, despite me having eight dice (re-rolling ones) against three dice plus two overlaps I managed to lose the melee four to three. I passed my cohesion thanks to rear support, but lost a man. Somewhat humourously (at least from my perspective) despite the poor battlegroup drawing 3-3, the poor unit threw a one for the death roll and broke! Note the five bases left.
9LHs:
9RHs:
This meant I could slam into the average unit behind with two of my units - which I did. I won the impact and the unit lost a man and disrupted.
On the left, my cavalry dropped to Fragmented, but I broke the poor unit that was fragmented. I managed to stop pursuing into the chariots, which would have been fairly painful...
10LHs:
10RHs:
That didn't prevent the chariots from charging me though! Both units charged, my fragmented unit passed it's test and both my cavalry escaped. The impact with chariots against the polearm was a draw - the chariots having three dice on a four and the foot having four dice on a five ended two all.
It was unravelling fast than a 50p shirt on the right wing though. Despite having an IC and rear support with the unit, they lost the melee and double dropped, which put the cavalry in a whole world of pain.
11LHs:
11RHs:
I managed to bolster my cavalry to disrupted on the left wing and survived the melee against the chariots who broke off in the joint action phase.
The cavalry were shot to disrupted and sensing that something needed to happen quickly, there was a general charge in the middle of the lines.
12LHS:
12RHs:
The charge resulted in a couple of lost bases on either side, with the white unit of my opponents disrupting. My Light horse were preparing to charge the camp and the cavalry were looking increasingly desperate to be somewhere else...
In a rare moment of shooting effectiveness, I shot the chariot unit to disrupted.
13LHs:
13RHs:
Both of my cavalry units were now disrupted - but it meant little. The unit in side edge contact with me on the left turned 90 degrees to attack my unit facing the chariots - I declined to turn to face and lost the melee one nil, as I didn't fight back. This was sufficient to drop me to disrupted.
On the right, the unit that was disrupted dropped to fragmented and the unit that was overlapped dropped to disrupted.
I charged the camp with my light horse and shot the cavalry to fragmented - which gave me the ten points I needed to break my opponents army.
14LHs:
14RHs:
Woo hoo! Bish, Bash, Bosh, 35-0 to the boys from China.
I had won the rock / paper / scissors army prediction, which meant I was wider than my opponent which gave me all the advantages I needed. The Chariots could have worked better as my cavaly held them up all game. I had an IC, but shooting very rarely forced a test. I rarely passed a manoever test, but passed most of the cohesion tests I took, whereas my opponent passed every single manoever test, but failed the majority of the cohesion tests, which was telling. As mentioned at the beginning, any slight advantage in a Han civil war tends to be critical and the right wing collapsing was that slight advantage.
I promised to be gracious to my opponent in the write-up, so begrudgingly, I suppose I must give thanks to my opponent for a sporting game played in good spirits.