It was back to Scotland in 1547 again for game 10. The French were Blue, the English, Red. I placed 3 companies for each scenario unit. I was short on Gensdarmes (hence the embarrassing temporary bases) so the English got lancers for heavy cavalry and Border horse for mediums.  The French rapidly advanced and seized their side of the bridge while their Scottish allies closed in on the far side. The English led with their cavalry which chose to ford the river while their infantry went straight for the bridge. The English border horse appeared early and clashed with the Scots border horse, both battles being effectively destroyed, the remnants eventually retreating without taking further part. The English cavalry, having moved beyond command range, stalled and suffered heavily from the Landsknecht arquebus fire. The Scots advanced rapidly and the Highlanders getting out of hand, moved through the wood and charged the English archers driving them off before falling back to the woods, hotly pursued by the Red coated Bills. Meanwhile the White coated 2nd English battle arrived and deployed to face the Scots. After a flurry of arrows which did serious damage to the Scots pike, the Bills charged forward driving the Scots back and cutting them down.

On the far side of the table, the French cavalry slowly moved around the wood and dispersed the remnants of the English cavalry then splashed across the river to attack the English archers and artillery. The river must have been deeper than it looked as they also had trouble crossing and suffered heavily from bow and cannon fire. Seizing the opportunity, the English foot charged across the bridge and drove back the German pikes but eventually the losses  to arquebus fire, push of pike and lances shook the battle and it retreated. The French cavalry attacked and drove off the remnants but were themselves shaken by losses and retreated off table.  Undaunted, the Whitecoats, having driven off the Scots, splashed across the river and attacked the Germans in the centre. After a series of charge and counter charge interspersed with volleys of arrows and arquebus and cannon fire, both sides suffered heavily but the German mercenaries cracked first and the English were left in control of the bridge. Sighhh, I was so sure my Scots and their allies would win this one.....

Click on the picture for a much closer look. You may have to click again on a magnifying glass to get the full size. The lead elements of 2nd battle of English foot can be seen on the far table edge.

Forgot my camera in the car, so just a fuzzy cell phone snap I'm afraid.

We cut out a 6'x8' section of Gary's table to play this on. Looked like a verrrry long stretch of river to Rossius, King of Hants. My army consisted of 1 unit of 9 cavalry and 6 infantry units with 18 figures in each. I placed my Immortals at the right hand ford supported by slingers. Two units of Persian foot guarded the left hand ford, stretching in towards the center. Some Saka foot with bow and axe occupied a hill in the center while some Bythnian peltasts (javelin and rhompaia) and the cavalry formed a mobile reserve. The motley horde of Assyrians and allies came pouring through the gaps in the woods, cavalry, cart mounted archers, auxiliary warbands and skirmishers on their right, heavy infantry and skirmishers on their left.  With 2 armies of archers, the arrows darkened the skies but as usual in WAB, to little effect, some skirmishers were chased away temporarily but no major units cracked.  I delayed on planting my shield barrier incase I needed to maneuver but Gary decided to  concentrate and come straight at me, counting on superior numbers to break my line and open a hole for his cavalry to exploit. Once his massed archers got in range, my unarmoured infantry started to drop alarmingly so I planted my shields and this miraculously increased their defensive value enough to balance the numbers (a questionable rule at best). As darkness fell, the Assyrian Guard Cavalry passed through their skirmish line and splashed through the ford to hack at the shield wall. This went on turn after turn with the Persian spearmen more than holding their own but the cavalry sticking it out. As the Assyrian center thinned, I brought up my cavalry and Bythnians and sent them across the river just as a massed Assyrian archer unit in the center broke under fire, taking the general with them. The Assyrians weren't coming across today. 

The Chevalier Sans Peur holds the ford, until the artillery fires again......

All was well as the Egyptians marched forward until the hidden warband became inpatient and surged forward without orders. Norman decided to send his 1st Chariot unit forward since his cover was blown.   Faced with  a rattling horde  of chariots appearing out of no where, the Egyptian chariots chose to evade. Unfortunately this took them past the Hittite archers who shot one down. Under the rules, there were now too few chariots to rally. (oops, bigger units next time.) The small warband chased off the Nubians but came to  grief when it came up against some sea people mercenaries moving forward from reserve. 

The next phase of battle now involved an attack by Egyptian chariots supported by bowfire against the Hittite spearmen.  Under the shower of arrows, the spearmen faltered and broke but rallied before the chariots could exploit the opening.

While the rallied spearmen advanced all along the line, the Hittite chariots chased down the enemy general. The extra crew and long spears proved crucial and the remnants of the Egyptian force fell back leaving the desert to the Hittites.

I'm still gathering forces and working on the background for my Red vs Blue campaign so technically haven't started yet but it seems to be developing a storyline all by itself. After the surprise appearance of Pirates as Blue allies in #11, an attack on a fortified city suggested a punitive expedition by Red, so instead of trenches and breaches its a surprise attack from the jungle at 1st light: the escalade of Freeport. The pirates had 1 unit spread out along the wall in detached companies with a heavy battery in the stone tower guarding the log boom blocking the river. A 2nd unit was asleep in town as well as the Grenadiers of San Carlos who had volunteered their services to defend the town. I counted the pirates as Veteran Militia. Apparently there are some religious issues as 2 armed Franciscans were serving as aides to Captain Mulrooney, the Pirate chief. Red had 2 storming parties, one with 3 ladder parties, all grenadiers,  and a company of rifles led by Brigadier Macfarlane, the other with 2 companies of grenadiers, a company of rifles and an Engineer with petard, all under the command of Brigadier Grey. The back up force under General Turner comprised the Rocket Troop, FTC Horse Artillery and 2 battalions of foot as well as the gunboat FTCS Recycle with a heavy mortar.     
Grey's party managed to creep within 6" of the gate before the alarm was sounded but the laddermen, no doubt slowed by their burden, were not even 1/2 way from the edge of the jungle. As the alarm went up the rocket troop galloped forward and opened fire as the Recycle steamed into view. In short order, the surprisingly accurate rocket and mortar fire had silenced the Tower Battery (not counting a rogue rocket that just missed the Tigers!). Meanwhile Gray's grenadiers charged forward and engaged in a desperate close range firefight with the defenders while the Engineer struggled with his charges (tied melee) but at last the fuse was lit, the door blown open and the forlorn hope entered. Now where were the relief's? There had been some confusion in the jungle and the Tigers were not even 1/2 way there so Grey sent 1 company to seize the rampart above the gate while the other held the door itself. Over on the wall, the 3 ladders went up but resistance was surprisingly fierce and 2 of the 3 parties were thrown back. The 3rd company was undaunted and clung to a narrow foothold. The Buffs were quickly at hand and started feeding men up the ladders into the fight under a withering flanking fire. Macfarlane spotted an empty stretch of rampart and led the closest ladder party to it to effect a lodging, eventually reinforced by riflemen and some Buffs. Inside, fierce and bloody fighting reigned as the pirates and San Carlos Grenadiers struggled to evict the enemy but eventually, despite local, temporary victories, their casualties were too high and they fled back through the town, leaving it to its fate.

This was pretty straight forward with the mysterious Yellow Knight and his companion holding the pass. I figured that it didn't matter what made the other side of the defile so I used the shore of a deep loch, made for much easier access!  One by one the Yellow Knight laid low the Saxon chieftain, his standard bearer and 5 other Saxons! At last the Saxons had to fall back and ply their bows. Exhausted by an hour of hand to hand combat in heavy armour, the Yellow Knight fell back as the King's men came rushing to the rescue. After a brief exchange of arrows, the last of the Saxons were driven off. (as it turns out, the mysterious Yellow Knight was the young Prince Michael himself in disguise, engaging in battle for the 1st time and earning his spurs.)