Retrospective: Cold Wars WAB Doubles Tournament, 11 March 2011 (Game 1)

Opponents: Mike D (Teutonics) and John B (Ottomans).  John is a long-time opponent and I am very familiar with his maneuver-heavy playstyle with Ottomans.  Mike’s Teutonic Knights, on the other hand, was sure to be a fairly blunt instrument, but also heavily reliant on cavalry.

Armies: (3000 pts)
TEUTONICS (Mike)

• General & BSB on warhorses with full armor, not attached to units
• 2 units of 5 Knights and 5 Turkopoles in back ranks, one unit with WS5
• 3 units of 8/8/9 crossbows with heavy armor and pavise (3+ saves)
• 1 unit of 8 skirmishing cavalry with bows

OTTOMANS (John)

• General & BSB on horses with armor, not attached to units
• 2 units of 10 medium spear/archer cavalry (one unit is Janissaries)
• 2 units of 9/10 skirmishing nomadic cavalry
• 2 units of 9 skirmishing infantry archers
• 1 unit of 10 medium infantry (Janissaries with halberds/bows)
• 1 Bombard artillery piece with crew

Mission: Alternating deployment (2 units per side until all units set up), 12” in from long board edge, and an unmodified roll-off afterwards to decide who takes first turn.

Terrain: Playing on a 4x8 table, the left half was almost completely open, with a few trees and hills about 12” in from either long edge.  The right half had a huge hill in the middle of the table, neatly blocking up LOS from most angles.

Retrospective: 17 July 2009 Historicon WAB Medievals (Game 3)

Opponent: John Eiche (Imperial Ottomans). Sardonic and delightfully sly, John had seen some of what had happened to his son Tom’s army in the previous game, had heard even more details about the wrath of the Burgundian gunline, and was confident that nothing similar would happen to his elite janissary corps, consisting of the crème de la crème of the Ottoman Turkish military. That said, it’s difficult to see what the Burgundians and Ottomans would be doing facing each other on the field of battle. It’s a bit anachronistic given the fact that the Burgundian military reforms that my army is based on, all happened after the major European Crusades against the Turks, and shortly afterward Burgundy ceased to exist anyway – but anachronism is the name of the game in WAB, so full steam ahead!

Army: (2250 pts)

• 1x10 Drilled Medium Cavalry (plus General, ASB, and Meterhane)
• 1x10 Allied Knights (with Lances, Full Plate, and First Charge)
• 1x8 Drilled Medium Cavalry
• 1x8 Medium Cavalry
• 1x8 Light Cavalry (Nomadic Bowmen)
• 1x10 Janissary Infantry Halberds
• 1x24 Janissary Bowmen
• 1x10 Janissary Handgunners
• 2x Light Artillery and crew

Mission: “Pitched Battle” – standard 12” deployment zones, with two variations. First, both sides deploy in secret, setting up all forces with a screen dividing the table. Second, both sides may deploy all the way to either short table edge, given the larger point values being fielded. Table quarters do not count for VP purposes.