CinC Reg Kn(F), 11 x Irr Ax(S), 3 x Reg Kn(F), 3 x Reg Cv(O), 3 x Reg LH(O), 2 x Irr Ps(S) 22 = 7.5
Sub Reg Cv(O), 12 x Reg Ax(S), 3 x Reg Kn(F), 2 x Irr LH(O), 1 x Reg Ps(O) 18.5 = 6.5
Sub Reg Cv(O), 12 x Reg Pk(O), 4 x Reg Sp(I), 4 x Irr LH(O), 1 x Reg Ps(O) 21.5 = 7.5
CinC Irr Cv(O), 6 x Irr Bd(O), 12 x Irr Bd(I), 8 x Irr Bw(O), 4 x Irr Ps(S), 4 x Irr Ps(O), 2 x Irr Hd(O) 32 = 11
Sub Irr LH(O), 12 x Irr Bd(I), 4 x Irr LH(O), 5 x Irr Cm(O), 4 x Irr Ps(S), 4 x Irr Ps(O), 1 x Irr Hd(O) 26.5 = 9
Sub Irr Cv(O), 4 x Irr Cv(O), 4 x Irr LH(O), 1 x Irr Hd(O) 9.5 = 3.5
Nomad Ally Irr LH(O), 2 x Irr LH(O), 3 x Irr LH(I), 4 x Irr Ps(S), 4 x Irr Ps(O) 10 = 3.5
I didn't like the look of this one. I was sure that Hugh would go for the Meccan option for the Arabs. Aggression 0 and no terrain options for me. Since he could also outnumber me significantly in light horse (potentially 25 against my 9) I wasn't quite sure how I could protect my flanks. He'd surely have 4 commands and could easily have a big flank march if I tried to hug one side of the table. Hmmm...
On the up side, the troop match up looked reasonable if I could arrange for my cavalry to fight his foot and my infantry take on his camels then I'd have the advantage. I had superior manouverabilty so hopefully I had a good chance of arranging this. However, I was a bit concerned by the possibility of my knights pursuing piecemeal through a line of blades to be met by supporting light horse and taken out in turn. I decided that the exchange wouldn't be in my favour as his army could take the losses more easily. Consequently, I decided that I would have my auxilia up front and be willing to take on the blades if necessary. Then I could use my knights as a reserve to intervene once the blade line had been broken up a little.
So it just goes to show that second guessing your opponent is a difficult business. My carefully laid plans took an initial dent when Hugh announced that his army was Omani. This was a surprise as it gave me the potential for steep hills to close down the battlefield. I went for 3 small and 2 normal sized steep hills. Hugh then surprised me further by trying for a Waterway (unsuccessfully) and by putting down another two steep hills and a BUA! Hardly the empty table I'd expected.
My deployment was not ideal. I had originally planned to deploy the pike and spear command on my right but changed my mind at the last minute because I was guessing that Hugh would flank march on my left and I felt that this would be the best command to face such a flank march. This was a bad decision as I could probably have defended against a flank march with any of my commands given the terrain and the Thracian command would have been very useful on this flank.
My plan was to throw my auxilia at the BUA, hoping to catch the blades before they were able to get far out of it and then try to push them back in where they'd be easy to beat. Hopefully, if I could take out this command, capture the BUA and get the baggage behind then this would be enough to take the army. I wasn't entirely sure because some of Hugh's troops were in ambush.
Reasonable PIP dice in the initial moves allowed me to close in on the blades with my double ranked hypaspists while they were still close to the BUA. However, the blades proved pretty tough and the fight here went on throughout the game with little result until the final two turns when a companion charge into overlapped blades resulted in ignominious destruction for the companions on a 1-6! Disgusted with this inept performance, the hypaspists immediately upped the ante by destroying 2 elements of blades on a 6-1 and 5-1. This created a hole and the hypaspists started to press forward into the BUA.
Meanwhile on the hypaspists left, the pike and spear command started to outflank the BUA position and Hugh brought his blades forward to contact. Superior numbers started to tell here and another blade went down. Lacking appropriate troops on this flank, I could do little about the psiloi holding the hill on the left, other than to discourage them from descending with some light horse.
On my right, Hugh's main command, his cavalry command and the allied nomads moved forward slowly but little happened on this flank other than some posturing on both sides. Eventually the arab bowmen shot a Thracian peltast and some of the central blades got involved in the hypaspist fight to their right but that was about it.
At this point we called time after about three hours since the beginning of deployment. This was a pity as the game was really only beginning to develop. I was fairly confident that I could have taken Hugh's right command and thus the BUA but the right flank of the hypaspists was a bit exposed and it might have been a race to demoralise the command and get into the BUA before this flank pressure caused me serious problems. Hugh certainly had a lot of troops against the Thracian command but only the bowmen really concerned me. Again, the survival of this command would have depended on how quickly I could have won in the BUA.
In retrospect, my deployment was poor and my plan less than inspiring. A better option would have been to deploy the pike and spear command on my right with the Thracian command on the left flank. I could then have grouped the companions and some light horse or Thessalians and gone hard for the line of bd between the bua and the hill with Thracians in support. Hugh would probably have tried to bring through his camels to counter but this might not have been easy and there would have been infantry around to assist the companions.
Of course this is all easy in hindsight but ganging up on one command while skirmishing with the others should be basic tactics and I should have seen real potential to do that here. As it was, I didn't really use the manoeuvre potential of my army to best effect. As the attacker, I suspect I should be deploying in columns rather than long lines to make this easier.
I liked the composition better than the one I had used in the previous game, although admittedly, it might not have fared as well against John's numerous blades. I could have had the same factor by double ranking the Auxilia but my line would have been much shorter. Having said that, I could have afforded to pad out the line with pikes and spears since I had more light horse for skirmishing.
Over the two games, I think that the blocks of three companions are inefficient. Two groups of four might be ideal but isn't possible unless I want to risk fighting with generals - a very dangerous practice! I guess I could have a group of 4 companions and then another of 2 companions and two thessalians. That might be something to try in the next game.
In general terms, I think I have tried in both games to win with infantry and both times it has proved difficult and slow. I'm beginning to wonder whether I should be more aggressive with the companions and use the rest of the army to support their charge.