A lot comes down to this very next command card. There are 2 potential lords Hermann could go after, Vladislav in the North or Gavrilo in the South. Since I am playing solo, the Russians would know (because I know) the Teutonic plans. To avoid this issue I randomly selected the order of the Russian command cards by rolling the dice. I think this fair as the Russian player would not know what the Teuton is planning. As before, we start the campaign phase with by drawing a command card from the Teuton player’s deck. There is no surprise here, as Hermann is the only Teuton lord on the map:
Hermann has 3 commands to work with and Vladislav is the closest enemy, only 2 spaces away. Hermann will use his first command to Supply. This is a command we have not yet used during this game.
Hermann has 2 nearby supply sources and 2 boats. He can use the supply command to gain up to 2 provender, 1 from each supply source. He is at his home location Dorpat which is one of his supply sources (it shares his heraldry) therefore no transportation is needed to gain the first provender. He has a second adjacent supply source at Odenpah. This is connected by a waterway so Hermann can use boats to transport the second provender. Herman gains the needed 2 provender with just 1 command. He uses his last 2 commands to march and intercept Vladislav at Jerwen which triggers combat.
When intercepted lords have the option of Avoiding Battle. Avoiding battle allows a lord to slip away to an adjacent location with a few restrictions:
- They cannot avoid in the direction the attacking lord arrived from.
- They cannot avoid battle into an enemy stronghold or another enemy lord.
- They must be unladen when avoiding battle so loot and any provender that causes the laden condition will be left behind.
Avoiding battle also tags the fleeing lord with a moved/fought marker requiring that lord to feed his troops. In Vladislav’s case he has been feeding his troops from the proceeds of his ravaging so it without loot. Should he avoid battle he will be subject to immediate disbanding as his service marker is just 1 box forward in the next turn 3. Disbanding will grant the Teuton player 1 VP so it would be no different than losing a battle. Battles are more fun so let’s do that instead.
To battle you can slide the opposing lord’s mats together or place the unit pieces on the battle board. I have set up the battle board here with Hermann as the attacker and Vladislav on defense:
In the case of multiple lords on one side, any subsequent lord fills in the flanks of the battle board. This is a one-on-one battle so there are no flanks.
Next, lords can play battle events and Hermann has Field Organ to play. Marsh is only playable on defense so he will have to continue to hold that event:
Each side now has the opportunity to concede the battle after one round. This has the advantage of potentially limiting the losses following a battle. Vladislav is outgunned. In a full game conceding would be the proper play but in this case Vladislav will have to stick it out. He can’t feed his troops and will have to disband if he loses so best to go for the win.
Defender gets the initiative in all battle rounds. Battles start with archery first. Vladislav does not have archers in his army. Hermann, however, levied the Arts of War card Balistarii that gives all of his Men-at-Arms crossbows. Hits from crossbows enjoy a -2 to the target’s armor.
Herman has 4 Men-at-Arms units who all fire their crossbows. Here are the combat stats for all of the units so you can follow along:
The 3rd column shows that Men-at-Arms with crossbows do 1/2 hit each. 4 crossbows inflict 2 hits on Vladislav’s units. These hits get a -2 to the defender’s armor rating.
The Russian player has to decide which units take the 2 hits. He has 1 Sergeant, 1 Light horse, 2 Men-at-Arms and 1 Militia. The -2 armor on these hits will negate the benefits of his armored units so the Russian player choses instead to suffer the crossbow hits on his unarmored units. The light horse and militia will take the hits. As detailed in the armor chart (4th column) above these units are unarmored and must roll a 1 to avoid being routed. The Russians roll 1, 6. The light horse evades the damage but the militia routes. The Russian is down to 4 units.
Next is the melee step starting with horse units. Again defenders go first. Vladislav has a light horse and a sergeant. Light horses do 1/2 hit (rounded up) and sergeants do 1 hit in melee. Hermann will take the hits on his Men-at-Arms units. He rolls 4, 3 one passes and one is too high (needed a 1-3) so 1 Men-at-Arms unit routes.
Hermann turn to strike with horse units. He has 4 mounted units. 2 Knights (2 hits each) and 2 Sergeants (1 Hit each) + he has the Field Organ Arts-of-War card that adds +1 hits for each of his Knights and Sergeant units on round 1. This totals out to a whopping 10 hits from Hermann’s mounted units. The Russian will start by taking the hits on his Sergeant Unit. The rolls are 3, then 5. The 5 is too high and the Sergeant is routed, 8 hits to go. The Russian will start taking the hits on his 2 Men-at-Arms units. The dice come up 3, 4, 1, and 6. The 4 and 6 are too high and the Men-at-Arms units both route. The light horse is the last Russian unit left with 4 hits to go. The Russian will need a miracle to survive. The rolls are 1, 1 and 3. It is the second to last hit that routes the resilient Russian light horse. The battle ends with a Teutonic victory.
Lord Vladislav is permanently removed from the game after his defeat. For his victory Lord Hermann gets 1 VP. Hermann also gets all of Vladislav’s assets. This amounts to a single cart.
Lord Herman now gets to see if his routed unit can be recovered. To succeed in recovering a routed unit you must roll under the units armor rating. If successful the unit returns to service if not, then it is permanently routed and removed from the game. Hermann has 1 routed Man-at-Arms unit and he successfully rolls a 3 returning the Man-at-Arms back to service.
The Teutons currently have 5 VP and the Russians 4 1/2 VP. We will complete our Nevsky exploration with my next post.
Strategic Buffoonery 