The Waving Flag: Re-Mystified on Tour :: Stoke Challenge 2014

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Re-Mystified on Tour :: Stoke Challenge 2014

I've finally recovered from Sunday's 650 point Field of Glory Renaissance competition. The day was organised by Ray Boyles and Keith Spedding who worked well as an organising team and the day went quickly and smoothly.

Between games I got a chance to take some photos of the very well attended DBMM competition which gives you a flavour of the venue:



Speaking of flavours the smell from the canteen was awful and lasted all day. Yuck! Naturally, the only photo I got of the FOGR competition was between rounds:



As far as the games went I, or rather the Early Lithuanians, had a terrible, if enjoyable(!), day with only 15 points from a possible 75. Here are the reports:

Game #1 - Local Dispute in Eastern Europe



Opponent: Ray Boyles
Club: October
Army: Wallachian - Moldavian
Points: 650
Terrain: Agricultural (Opponent's choice)
Result: 15-5 loss


This was an enjoyable match and the only one of my games not to end with a decisive result.
My superior armoured Horse failed to make the breakthrough I needed and were involved in a slugging match with Ray's Gendarme's which had a point of advantage (see Game #3).

It was attritional and my Horse held on for longer than I expect. Enjoyable and played in a great spirit.

Game #2 - Regular Opponents Meet Up



Opponent: Graham Hutchinson
Club: MAWS
Army: Early Russian
Points: 650
Terrain: Agricultural (Opponent's choice)
Result: 17-8 loss


Sod's law was clearly in operation here: Graham and I had used the same armies for the preceding month in practise games! As you can tell from the score losses were high on both sides.

My flank march arrived and caused chaos. My Horse did for Graham's cavalry whilst his artillery and heavy weapon armed medium foot did for my horse and medium foot respectively.

Near the end I needed to roll 3 or more for a pursuit the would have ended in me conatcting a battle group of artillery to win the game. I rolled a 2 and Graham gained the points he needed in the next bound. Tough but enjoyable.

Game #3 - Tibet!



Opponent: Keith Spedding
Club: October
Army: Tibetan
Points: 650
Terrain: Agricultural (Opponent's choice)
Result: 23-2 loss


Keith had had terrible luck with the dice in his previous two games. Of course it changed when I met him: he had really good dice rolls throughout and mine were awful.

For example I chased a battle group of six slingers all game and they repeatedly passed complex move tests to withdraw in good order and remain just out of reach.

Elsewhere the game was very simple with battle groups lined up against one another from the start. My armoured horse with heavy lances failed to gain an advantage on impact and in the resultant melees Keith's heavily armoured cavalry had a telling advantage because of their better armour.

My horse stood for a very long time but with everything committed I could do nothing to stem the inevitable. We both knew what the outcome was to be and I would have resigned well before the end but I didn't want to skew the final standings. In FOGR the dice can be brutal.

Summary

A good day out with lots of well painted armies. As always, losing is good for the soul but I need more time to reflect on my list and see if I can tweak it in the light of these games. I will post my musings on my Early Lithuanian list later when I post the competition standings.

Finally, here's a photo of yours truly at the start of the day looking all "bright eyed and bushy tailed". I looked far more tired at the end of the day.

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