El Cid on the Plains of Andulcia - First Game of Midgard Heroic Battles

 I finally got around to my first game with Midgard Heroic Battles. 

My previous attempts to play had been scuppered by my opponents' health issues. Now, as family illness had scuppered our Christmas plans, I had the time to set up a solo game to run through the mechanisms.

I used the lists from the rulebook for 300 points of El Cid’s Medieval Spanish and Ibn Tashfin’s Almoravids.

Due to time issues I didn't want to get out my full table so I used the 30" wide table that was already set up. This meant that both armies had to deploy right on the table edge, I'd make allowances if any units got pushed off the table (which wasn't a problem in the end!).

 I'd split the infantry between the centre and right flanks, and chucked a couple of units of light riders to skirmish on the left. El Cid had all the infantry in the centre, with skirmishers screening the heavy foot. Light riders faced off against their Islamic counterparts , while the mounted knights were massed on one flank led by El Cid himself. 

My idea for tactics was that the Spanish knights would smash the flank opposite them, then roll up the Almoravid line. The Almoravid intention was to hold the flanks and crush the infantry in the centre.

Here is the table at the end of the Attacker's (Almoravids) phase in turn 1. The infantry are steadily advancing, keeping together to maximise their oppotunity for archery before commiting to melee.
                                       

Things hadn't gone to plan with the Islamic horse. the first unit advanced and passed their command test (3+) to make a second move, bringing them into javelin range of their opponents. however the second unit, with attached hero, failed their test for a second move. Not to worry, the Hero has two Mighty Deeds which can be used to reroll failed command tests. He spent one MD to reroll the commandtest, but failed! He then spent his other MD, but failed again!

The eager unit now unleashed their javelins, scoring two hits (5or6). The Light Riders have armour 3, so no kills, this time.

Moving on to the Spanish phase and both their light riders charged in (as their Hero joined them he gained Reputation, both for charging and leading the first charge of the game), as did one of the units of knights. In the centre the skirmishers moved up and shot, inflicting one kill.                                                                                                     

Over on the Spanish left flank, a unit of knights crashed into a heavy infantry unit. Everything was in the knights favour, the infantry did get some extra dice for their shooting ability, but the knights had Thunderous Charge, which meant hitting on 4+ in their first melee, plus as chargers they would reroll any 1s. Despite thie they only scored 6 hits to the infantry's 5! The infantry had supports, which allow them to roll to try and reduce the number of hit they receive. They rolled 4 dice and got a 5 and a 6, so knocked 2 hits of the kight's score. This meant the infantry had won and forced the knights back. As the infantry had armour 3 and knights armour 4, both side suffered a kill.

El Cid's unit failed to advance a second time and charge the infantry in front of them. The big man spent two Mighty Deeds trying to encourage them, but rolled 1s on both occaisions!

                                       

The Light riders rolled appallingly, both were pushed back and each suffered a kill. This forced a Risk to the attached Spanish Hero, who rolled a 1, so was wounded. He could have used a Mighty Deed to attempt to save the wound, but as he had used them up in the combat, he didn't have any left. As the Light Rider are both Stamina 2, this wasn't good. Units down to Stamina 1 who retreat must pass a command test or rout, of course one of them did! This lost the extra reputation the Hero had earned earlier!!!

On to Turn Two.

The Amoravid foot decided to get in first and charged El Cid and his unit (gaining Reputation for charging and charging enemy Army Commander). Unfortunatly I'd forgotten that the Knights had "Counter Charge", so came back at the foot with their "Thunderous Charge". In the centre the Amoravids stopped messing around and slammed into the skirmishers, all of whom failed their Evade roll! I seemed to be channelling someone else's dice rolling when thowing for the Spanish!!!

                                        

                                       

It was a bloodbath on the Islamic right flank, as El Cid and his men hacked their way through the infantry. As you can see, they gave as good as they got and El Cid won the melee by just 1 hit ( if it hadn't been for that Thunderous Charge, the infantry would have won!).

On the other flank the surving Spanish horse were wiped out. 

                                                 

The Hero survied his melle, but lost so should have been pushed back. This would have taken him off the table,  but as this was narrower than usual, I allowed him an extra turn on the table, so everyone remain in place.

The situation at the end of turn 2 was not looking great!

Turn Three

The Avoravid infatry struggled on, managing to hold off one of the Knight's units, but the unit fight El Cid was wiped out.

In the centre they won a hard fought melee and pushed one of the Spanish foot units back. On the Amoravid left they lone hero finally went down fighting, while the other Light Rider unit moved up to threating the centre's flank!

Things are getting a bit hairy for El Cid's Reputation by now!

                                         

Turn Four was fairly inconclusive, with a lot of hacking but no much effect!

In Turn Five another unit of Amoravid infantry fell to the Spanish knights

But it was all a bit too late as a unit of heavy infantry and two more skirmisher 8units were destroyed in the centre.
                                           

At the end of turn 5 El Cid was down to a -2 Reputation, whilst Ibn Tashfin still had a healthy 5 points!

Great fun and this helped me get my head around the mechanisms and order of play. I am really looking forward to playing against live opponents in the New Year. My first impression was that these rules will be a keeper! I like the fact thet the heroes are very important to the effectiveness of the army, but are not super-human killing machines that unbalance play.

Whatch this space for more soon.