Poland vs Portugal multiplayer, game-play-style AAR
This AAR shows one of the battles of our league. SS 4.1 Poland (me) vs Portugal (Spacehusky) Points: 6000 Poland (attacker) 5000 Portugal (defender). Time limit 15 minutes.
Round 1
thrashing_mad POL(attacker) VS Spacehusky POR(defender)
Portugese deployment
First bad mistake made by Spacehusky, which probably allowed me to win, was pick catapult as first unit, and thus making it general`s unit. As you can see he deployed it in front of his line, which was another mistake, and his first move once battle started was withdrawal of catapult at the rear.
His front line consisted of four peasant crossbowmen units, wisely arrayed in spread formation, to minimize losses in case of eventual missile fire. Second line was made from 3 units of spear militia - too thinly arrayed IMHO ( easier for me to brake his formation and thus morale ).
In the rear Spacehusky kept his general bodyguard (but without general), fourth, reserve regiment of spear militia, and on right flank two units of feudal knights. Those two powerful, disciplined and heavily armored units, were main threat to my forces, and their eventual charge would crush any infantry regiment in seconds.
Polish deployment
Bulk of my forces were made of infantry. Line consisted of four units of woodsmen - fragile but with powerful, armour piercing charge -, and two units of polish dismounted nobles on wings - reliable medium infantry. I also deployed three units of peasants before main line. Their aim was simple - cannon fodder to stop eventual missile salvos and charges. General bodyguard followed this main formation at far rear, ready to go wherever he`ll be needed.
On far right I`ve deployed 2 units of Strzelcy (mounted crossbowmen), incapable in close combat, but fast and able to pierce weaker armour with their crossbow bolts.
On far left flank were 2 units of Polish Nobles - they are excellent javelin throwers, but also good hand-to-hand soldiers with good morale, and decent armour. Not so good as feudal knights but still capable.
Battle
Seeing two units of feudal knights I`ve sent my whole missile cavalry galloping to Spacehusky`s left wing. They were main danger, so I wanted to weaken them best way I could. In the meantime, core formation of infantry and general began slow advance to the enemy.
When Spacehusky noticed my advancing cavalry, he made good move: he moved his feudal knights away from vulnerable flank to the center, and ordered one unit of his peasant crossbowmen to return fire of my Strzelcy.
At this point my Strzelcy couldn`t fired at feudal knights, and wasted their time and bolts by shooting at loosely arrayed crossbowmen. Thus I`ve decided to move a bit closer, entering to enemy`s rear. This was risky because, you can`t see it on screen but I moved meters from the edge of battlefield, and my Strzelcy were easy target for charge. I`ve disabled their skirmish formation, otherwise they could stuck in battlefield edge. At the same time I halted my Polish Nobles half way to enemy flank. With their close range, they couldn`t get close to portugese feudal knights, and were endangered by crossbowmen`s fire.
Feudal knights were under heavy fire of my Strzelcy. Their heavy armour gave them good protection, but few of them died from time to time. Finally Spacehusky decided to charge them. Usually charging at missile cavalry with knights have no sense, but here they were close to battlefield edge.
In case of AI-controlled skirmish formation they would probably be charged and crushed, but I 'clicked' retreat action of my Strzelcy personally, and succeeded.
Spacehusky halted charge of his knights after few seconds, seeing that they couldn`t catch my cavalry. More and more of them fell with each moment, so he decided to move them to his left wing, probably to get them out of fire and to eventually deal with my main force, which was getting closer.
In response I`ve sent my Polish Nobles galloping to Portuguese left flank, moving in wide arch to avoid crossbow fire.
Maneuver succeeded and my cavalry started to throwing javelins, devastating ranks of feudal knights, despite their heavy armour. Knights tried to charge again, but I`ve retreated them succesfully, though with some luck - due to their armour they aren`t so agile as Strzelcy.
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Originally Posted by Werg
