AZTECS vs CONQUISTADORES

Nick has a very large Aztec force and wanted to give them a try against the Spanish. Now to be honest, if I wanted to make it historically accurate, we should flood the table with Aztecs, (which we did), give the Spanish lots of allies such as Tlaxcalans and the like ( which we did) and have about three elements of Spanish ( which we didn't). In fact I was a bit naughty and took an army more reminiscent of the army of Gonsalvo de Cordoba, who gave the French such a hard time in Italy.
So... my army had pikes and knights etc ....  not really reflective of Cortes' motley crew!
Now this didn't phase Nick- he just offered sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli  (try pronouncing that after a few beers) and sent a large colourful horde against the Spanish invaders.

The Sacrifices! ( How gory!!)

The Spanish

 When terrain was decided on, the Aztecs, for some inexplicable reason, decided to go with NO rough terrain. No woods, no forests, no clumps of grass, no trees, ....nothing!  Being an army predominately of Light and Light Heavy infantry, the sort of advantages conveyed by difficult terrain can't be overlook- but the Aztecs did not seem too concerned this time!

The Aztecs

The eyewitness account of Tlaclohlic , a priest of the Jaguar Knights:
"We were standing peacefully  by our pyramid, having a nice quiet afternoon, no stress, no problems, enjoying the sunshine and the screams of our sacrifices as we cut their beating hearts out when my close friend and fellow heart remover Xochilipi called to me to say that the unwashed and smelly Spanish were coming. I grabbed my weapons and a bag full of hearts and raced to where my brother knights were waiting. True to Xochilipi's words, the enemy was approaching and we could smell them across the field- ugh!
It was decreed on this day that we were to not dart and move thru the woods, but stand and fight them in the open fields. This was to be our undoing, for despite many hearts being sacrificed and the omens looking good, our army was defeated- although I did take one captive- a smelly, unkempt, wretch who pleaded for mercy. His heart joined the others!"

My pike block- not really fair - the thin line on the other end of the table wasn't going to stop this lot!

 Spanish Account
"I Bernal Diaz, swear by the Holy Trinity that what I say is true. The feathered ones came forward in a great seething mass, screaming their blasphemies, coated in the blood of their satanic rituals. But on this day, God himself was with us. They were crushed by our Knights and our pikemen and every shot we fired, found it's mark- such was the great profusion of them. we could not miss! God be praised, we had the victory although my good friend Ramon was taken by one of the Jaguar Knight fiends. I wish his soul peace! On to Tenochtitlan their capital and all the gold that awaits!"

Very nice command figures!

Just before move 1!

Turn 2

Lines moving forward

Turn 4- all opposition to my pike- GONE! ( they were all skewered- Aztec kebab anyone?)

Spanish light cavalry dancing around the Aztecs- the Aztecs moved quickly and nearly penned them in at the "edge of the world"

What looks like a gap in the Spanish line is in fact the space where the Tlaxcalan allies were deployed...and they moved very fast- that's them in front of the Aztec line!

The sacrifices continue- in the hope of rolling more sixes! ( didn't happen- the Aztec gods abandoned their worshippers)

Just managing to get away

Sword and Buckler men holding on grimly!

Spanish cavalry causing some serious havoc!!

The Aztec flank- GONE!

Spanish Arquebus, blasting holes in the Aztec line

Madre Mia! Is he wearing a bird? - Shoot him anyway!