Well William did it again......got his butt kicked ...but managed to pull the fat out of the fire...
In his second move he launched his army deeper into Lombard territory (Duchy of Capua) to fight a 'step 2' battle. In this case, after defeating the main Lombard army in a (step 1) encounter battle between 'equal forces' he advanced and had to fight a Lombard army in a defensive position.
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| The defending Lombards. The Lombards anchored their flanks on two large woods and had a row of hills in front of their position. A solid defensive spot that was going to be a tough nut for William's army to crack. |
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The Norman line. On the far left all the cavalry.
In this battle William had a lot less cavalry. He dismounted much of it as he needed the extra 'punch' to smash the Lombard defensive line. |
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| The Lombard center. Here the Lombards stayed behind hills until the Normans were close. The lone cavalry unit charging his crossbowmen.....destroying them or forcing them back- but the dismounted knights and spearmen were tough to crack- and it was here that the Normans won the battle. |
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| The extreme right flank of the Lombards |
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| The main lines clash........the Normans came off second best....forced back...their line shattered.....but like the last game....they proved very resilient... |
I have to be honest- at this stage I actually forgot to keep taking photos as the game was close fought and swung one way and then the other. For William, his cavalry did not perform as well as he had hoped, taking casualties. It was his dismounted knights and crossbow men that did the damage in the center- despite my men being on hill.
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| With dice rolls like this.....no wonder William's troops ran riot in the last two turns. Five dice....four sixes!! |
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| The next stages....William laid siege to Capua and Robert Hauteville (me) decided to attack the Byzantines! |
William won....and decided to besiege Capua immediately after the game above ( basically a die roll). He won the siege(luckily) and conquered Capua, but at significant loss. For William it will be at least a year (of game turns) before he can rebuild his shattered army- but he has conquered the Duchy of Capua- and has a solid base to expand his domains! The main consolation for the Lombards was that William's losses were so high that he will take at least a year (game time) to rebuild his forces.
Next game Robert 'Guiscard' Hauteville takes on the Byzantines.
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