First 400-point Impetus Game Against Marc's English

After a long yet steady road, Marc finally had his completed army for Impetus ready last Saturday night. It was with great excitement that we deployed our 400-point armies and got down to business. Here were the forces we used:

Marc's English (399 pts)

• Average CS, Charismatic General x1, Fair General x1
• Longbowmen (T) x6 (two units were Discipline A)
• Dismounted Men-at-arms (FP) x2
• Welsh Spearmen (FL) x3
• Breton Javelins (S) x2
• King and Household (CP) x1
• Hobilars (CM) x1
• Cohesion re-roll x1

My Free Company (398 pts)

• Average CS, Fair General x2
• Longbowmen (T) x3
• Dismounted Men-at-arms (FP) x4
• Peasants (FP) x2
• English Mounted Knights (CP) x1
• French Mounted Knights (CP) x2
• Crossbowmen (S) x2
• Breton Javelins (S) x3
• Cohesion re-roll x1

The battlefield was a wide open plain with some gentle rolling hills. The bulk of the game (which was a long one for Impetus) saw Marc's force trying to occupy and defend a hill while I tried to drive his defenders from their entrenched position.

My impetous knights advanced under the cover of skirmishers toward Marc's right flank.



Marc wasted no time in advancing his infantry line to the hill. With all of those longbows threatening me at range, I had no choice by to advance and engage.

Breton skirmishers formed my first wave and, it must be said, they did an admirable job of tying up and disordering the enemy archers.

The fleet-footed Welsh charged out from behind Marc's archers and drove most of my skirmishers back towards my line.

In the meantime, Sir Jonathan Deere led an assault from my right flank towards the enemy cavalry. It was an interesting back and forth affair which I eventually won.

Although my French knights found their Marc (get it...), without any support they were quickly overwhelmed by enemy infantry.

By the time my full assault of the hill began, my army was well-limbed.

My infantry was doing an admirable job but, just as I had victory in my grasp, Marc's infantry defeated one key unit of men-at-arms. With my breakpoint reached, the Free Company broke and left Marc's English as the lords of the field.

A truly excellent game. Either Marc and I are equally matched or benefit from equal amounts of luck. As with most of our games, victory always comes at the closest of margins.

There's one small subordinate command that I've been having great luck with so I'll share it with the rest of you medieval generals. I deploy a unit of dismounted men-at-arms (with attached general) flanked by two units of peasants and behind a line of three javelinmen. In other words, the men-at-arms are VD:3 while the other five units are VD:1 for a total of eight. If the general leads from the back (and stays out of danger), the enemy must destroy four of the other units in order to route the command and, even better, if the command does route, it's only a tiny portion of the entire army and so is complete disposable.

As a final note, there's a new player in the group who is quite taken with Impetus. I believe he is going to embark on a Teutonic army project. As usualy, the rest of us shall support and coax him along. More opponents is always a good thing.

Thanks for reading,

JET

Impetus Battle Report: Beauregard LeFleur Wins the Day

Marc is so close to finishing his 400-point Impetus army now that it's quite maddening. This weekend past we played a 360-point game and it was another nail-biter. Here we see my main infantry line facing Marc's significantly smaller flank.


As it turns out, the most dramatic action of the game took place on my right flank, where Rodger of Lynn (yellow banner) led the mercenary cavalry into a line of enemy archers and horsemen.


Disorder caused my main line to break apart as I advanced the troops forward. I was hoping to occupy Marc's small infantry line with enough left over to put pressure on his main force who were deployed on the other side of that hill. (i.e. the line that my cavalry was facing)

Marc's javelinmen rushed out from the cavalry and destroyed my two units of skirmishing crossbows while my cavalry seemed incapable of rallying and moving forward. I really predicted that my entire right flank would fold up under mass longbow fire.

And then the miracle came. Beauregard LeFleur (red banner) managed to rally his men (Discipline C, meaning he rolled a 5), and to make two moves without disorder, and then a third move, extended by a charge roll, right into Marc's infantry. By the time it was all said and done, LeFleur and his knights had taken out a couple of units of Marc's infantry and his Hobilars.

With the strong cavalry threat removed, the mercenary knights moved into the broken English line and began punishing Marc's infantry most savagely.

Meanwhile, back on the "main" battlefield, my heavy infantry reached Marc's line and a bitter clash ensued. Marc's forces were fighting back hard now but, with so many of his units defeated, he was hovering dangerously close to his break point.

In the end it was one of my units of Breton javelinmen that won me the game. They moved in on a unit of Welsh spearmen and drove them from the table. It turned out the be the key unit that dropped Marc's force just below his breakpoint.

A most excellent game on both sides of the table. I really love the way in which one unexpected (not to mention unlikely) event can happen out of nowhere and set off a chain reaction in Impetus. As far as I can remember, this was probably the best my cavalry arm has ever performed. I learned that losing their impetus bonuses isn't necessarily the end of the world. Just getting them into an infantry line is sometimes all the disruption that is needed.

Anyway, last night Marc and I conducted a little trade - more heavy infantry for him and more cavalry for me. I now have just enough cavalry models to put together two more units. This will allow me to field a more cavalry heavy force with longbows fulfilling a less central role.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Light Troops for Marc's HYW English

Marc and I played a 335-point game of Impetus on Saturday night. It was a historic game in a sense in that it was the first time that Marc played without borrowing any of my collection. I was too lazy to give a full report of the game (which I won... just sayin), but I thought you guys might like to see some of his newer units.

These two photos show his two units of Breton Javelinmen. These minis are by Feudal Castings. You'll find them in the Feudal Welsh range of the site. Notice the wooden plank pattern on the shields.


Here we have Marc's second unit of Welsh spearmen. In the game, they function as FL with the Long Spear rule, making them particularly effective at neutering enemy cavalry. The bulk are Feudal Castings but, if you look closely, you'll see a couple of Khurasan Welsh Knifemen mixed in there as well.

When last I spoke to Marc, he had finished a unit of archers and was in the process of painting his final two elements - another unit of archers (for a total of six) and his third and final unit of Welsh Spearmen. Next time we play, we'll be back at our group's usual 400-point size engagement. I really can't wait. The group now has four players with fully-painted 15mm Impetus armies. It's a good time to be a geek.

Thanks for reading,

JET