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| Muslim Army |
Richard starts the battle with the bang! Activating the Right Wing first, Christian light cavalry charges pell-mell up the slopes and into enemy horse archers. Well, I though this a pell-mell attack but Richard had other ideas! The horse archers fail to evade and are driven back through a second body of horse archers. Continuing on, the Christian cavalry hit the second body of enemy cavalry. They too are carried away by this sudden attack. When these multiple attacks and pursuits end, one Muslim cavalry unit is scattered and a second clings to life at the table's edge. What a tremendous start! I was awestruck by the devastation this one, seemingly harmless cavalry unit made. Yusuf's left flank seems in tatters before he can even muster a response. Oh my.
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| Armies prepare for battle. |
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| Christian light cavalry attacks... |
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| driving the horse archers from the field! |
Al-var Fanez is not finished yet!
One of the Caballeros Villanos on the right end of the Christian cavalry battle line charges forward. The Badajoz skirmishers covering the tercio are driven away before the heavy cavalry crashes into the Muslim tercio. The tercio's archers let loose a volley but that does not stop the hard charging horsemen. Not having the discipline of the Almoravid infantry far back in their rear, the Badajoz spearmen are driven back in search of support. Fanez' horsemen pull up and do not pursue.
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| Christian heavy cavalry crashes into the Badajoz tercio. |
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| Muslims fall back finding support among their own cavalry. |
On the Christian left, Alfonso sends two bodies of heavy cavalry forward. The skirmishers to their front stand little chance and are quickly scattered. Into the Granada tercio come Alfonso's heavy cavalry. Two heavy cavalry units against the tercio is too much. The Granadinos collapse suffering heavy casualties as they fall back in disorder. The Spanish do not pursue.
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| Mass cavalry charge into the enemy. |
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| The enemy is driven back with great loss. |
Seeing the Taifa collapsing on the right, Yusuf orders his medium cavalry forward in an attempt to stabilize the situation. Medium horse charges forward into the Caballeros Villanos on the left of the Christian battle line. These horsemen are repulsed and gallop toward the rear. Next Yusuf sends in the camelry. They, too, suffer a similar fate and are repulsed. What? Seeing enemy cavalry turn tail and run, Alfonso's heavies follow up. One Almoravid body of horse is caught in the rear and destroyed. Others continue their flight away from battle. The Muslim right cavalry wing disintegrates. The battle has only begun and already the situation looks perilous for Yusuf.
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| Yusuf sends in cavalry with a one, two punch. |
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| Both punches fail to land. |
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| Destruction of the Almoravid Right. |
Sometimes, the best defense is a good offensive. Yusuf snaps into action on the left-center. With both flanks in jeopardy, the Sevilla tercio moves up to contest this central part of the battlefield. In the tercio's way is a body of heavy cavalry. Shooting arrows as the tercio advances, the cavalry is forced back under the threat of the tercio's long spears. Now disordered and unprepared, the Christian cavalry is hit by Alfonso's medium cavalry. Having suffered casualties in earlier efforts, these horsemen are scattered. Wheeling to the right, Yusuf's cavalry takes up a position to threaten a second, forward Christian cavalry unit. The camelry turns to dispatch that pesky light cavalry that caused so much mischief. Yusuf regains some ground on this front,
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| Yusuf delivers another one, two punch... |
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| This time with success! |
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| Caught in flank and destroyed! |
With two bodies of Christian cavalry deployed possibly too far forward from the main battle line and being peppered by enemy archery, Christian heavy cavalry chose to fall back. While the Caballeros simply fall back in disorder, the red knights turn around and retreat back between two skirmishers for cover. Seeing an opportunity opening up to catch the knights from the rear, the men from Sevilla quicken their pace in an attempt to catch the enemy before the knights can rally. Allah is watching over the Sevillians this day. They muster enough courage and speed to come to grips with the red knights. The red knights are driven from the field! To stabilize the right, Fanez orders his cavalry forward and into Yusuf's medium cavalry. This attempt is a complete failure, and these Christian horsemen are destroyed in the ensuing melee.
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| Christian cavalry come under fire. |
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| Discretion is the better part of valor. |
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| Sevillians attack... |
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| driving the red knights from the field! |
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| Christian horsemen attack and fail! |
By now, Yusuf has managed to get his elite Black Guard up into the main battle line. Alfonso's heavy infantry are yet to reach the enemy. Having lost three heavy cavalry units, Alfonso's army looks vulnerable, but Alfonso still has three heavy cavalry to wield in breaking the enemy line.
Alfonso wastes no time! The black knights are sent forward into the Granada tercio. Having already seen many of their comrades cut down in earlier cavalry attacks, the survivors are cut down where they stand. Possibly not wanting to face a fresh enemy tercio, the black knights fail to pursue.
Now, the white knights charge into action. Their target, a body of massed archers, gets off a volley before contact. The knights suffer some casualties and are disordered but plow on! The archers fall back between two tercios with the knights hot on their heels. Even with support from the adjoining tercio, the archers are overrun, and their supports fall back. With their battle lust up, the white knights cutdown stragglers in pursuit.
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| Black knights attack the Granadinos! |
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| White knights attack! |
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| Archers driven back... |
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and hit again!
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| White knights pursue into the enemy rear. |
At this point in battle, both army breakpoint clocks are grinding down toward their breaking points. Time to engage the infantry to settle the matter!
The Badajoz tercio moves forward to come alongside the Sevilla tercio and offer mutual support. No sooner has this tercio moved up, they are attacked! Into the tercio charges Fanez' heavy infantry. The initial impact drives the tercio back. Following up on this success, the two blocks of infantry battle it out until one side is forced to retire. Which block retires? Fanez'!
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| Infantry battle... |
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| with casualties mounting. |
Upon seeing Fanez' infantry falling back to his right, Alfonso, himself, leads his heavy infantry up into battle. The target, this time, is the Sevilla tercio. This hard-fought struggle continues with the Sevillians finally giving way after heavy losses. Alfonso pursues. With the balance teetering on a knife edge, the next unit lost with bring defeat to that army. After a few more hard-hitting rounds, the last of the Sevillians are destroyed. Yusuf's Army breaks!
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| Alfonso leads an attack! |
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| With Alfonso leading the way, the enemy is driven back... |
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| and finally destroyed! |
While Yusuf's Army breaks first, the Breakpoint Clock shows how close this contest was. With only a single point separating the two clocks, I declare the battle a draw. Richard kindly agrees!
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| Yusuf's Army breaks but it is close! |
Another game coming right down to the wire! The decision was in the hands of the last die roll of the last combat of the day! Excellent stuff, hard-fought until the very end. As for game duration, we managed to fight to a conclusion in about two hours. Half the time of the other contests.
On the Butcher's Bill, The Dead Pile tells the story. Notice that all of the Christian losses came from Fanez' wing. Alfonso lost nothing!
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| Butcher's Bill |
Great game, Richard! Very enjoyable and entertaining contest. Thank you!
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