So Here we are again ! The Belgian MEG Prophet umpiring a game between the Talent of AKKAD and the Talent of the Nikephorian Byzantine . Once again after so many years ( 2016 and Britcon) was I to witness the efficiency of the varangian guard a unit dear to me .
AKKAD knowing of my softness towards that unit tried tio bribe me with a belgian beer
But I did remain true to myself ... for a real bribe I need a much strongher beer
Both armies are deployed, Akkad to the left, Nike to the right . The nike are the invaders, outscouted Akkad and took a bet : the camp is relativl unprotected as it is on the nike left flank while the army is mainly on the right flank ! this will be interesting .
Blue mounted are the tagmata and next to them cataphracts with the exceptionnal varangians next to them ..an iron fist
Prrotecting the camp a very fragile line with holes in it
Impressive Akkad might ( with still many Proxis but Ambiorix is working on it )
An Akkad mistake : the leader is mediocre so it will delay the assault on the Nike camp ! never give an attack duty to mediocre leaders !
Meanwhile on the other flank ..Akkad is confident
Have you seen those nice Z museum miniatures
Akkad's camp
And so it begins ( Babylon 5 )
The Nikes have some coordination problems on their right flank
As does Akkad
The ferocious varangian guard is ready ! "même pas peur"
The shield cover did save byzantine's lives but to charge or not ?
Ok so there are 18 bases + 8 facing 6 varangian guards ..here we go in the same old style ( Waterloo )
Akkad deploys his unprotected LS to shield his skileld shooters but forget a small detail ! his shield cover does not protect him if the tagmata shoots while charging ( charge only ) and they will be on green as he is unprotected ! he should have gone for depth but went for lenght .
the proto-carts advance to protect the bowmen
The skirmishers delay the enemy advance but for how long ! but the nikes are now ready to strike
The Nikes go for it
So the varangian guard took a loss but inflicted 5 bases loss + 2 wounds ..not bad but they are outflanked
In the center Akkad finally reaches the skutatoï
But thanks to Tugs breaking ..there is a hole in Akkad's line ! The LS in 2 ranks broke as they had received loses during the charge and thanks to a timely skull by the tagmata who now goes for the kill vs Akkad sup carts
The other Akkad flank does not make contact
The end of that flank
The end of the game as we lacked time to finish
Akkad had lost 5 TUGS, Nike none but the varangian guard would have been taken in the flank ..but still not killed so what would have happened is unknown !
Akkad's mistake is a common mistake : when you have a huge army, do not try to hold the whole long edge of a table ! . You have resilience, but when tribal and formed ...you do not manoeuvre easely so depth is also a good solution ! You will loose TUGs but you do not care if the opponent's TUGs are now weakened because your reserves can change the flow of the battle !
Enjoy