Play resumes with the Russian player draw for their command deck. Since Gavrilo is the only remaining Russian Lord, there is no surprise to see his command card drawn here.
Gavrilo has little choice but to find a way to score VP. To that end, He marches twice to Tolowa, then Rositten where he uses his last command to ravage. This gives him provender and loot which he uses to feed his troops. The move gives him 1/2 VP and with that the game is tied at 5VP per side.
Hermann is too far away to engage Gavrilo. He needs to be in Russ to ravage and so must move East and close the distance to Gavrilo. His plan is to close and limit the Russian’s options. He elects to march 3 times Southeast to Fellin, Southeast to Odenpah and then Southeast to Kirrumpah.
With just 1 cart Hermann can only bring 1 provender on the trackway. He requires 2 provender to feed his troops so for the first time his vassals go hungry. This moves his service marker 1 space to the left going from the turn 4 box to the turn 3 box. Not enough to disband him this turn. One more missed meal, however, and Hermann’s troops will bail.
Hermann’s move puts Gavrilo in a pickle. He is objectively weaker than Hermann in battle. While he is tougher than Vladislav, Gavrilo’s force has too many light horses and militia units. Hermann’s force is primarily Knights and Men-at-Arms. It would be no contest and losing to Hermann would seal the victory for the Teutons. Gavrilo will have the last card and so decides to head for the safety of Pskov.
Gavrilo uses 3 march commands, to Lettgallia, then Izborsk and finally Pskov. Safe behind the walls Gavrilo waits on Hermann’s last card. Gavrilo too is without provender to feed his hungry troops so his marker joins Hermann’s in the 3rd turn box.
Hermann uses his third and last command card to march to Pskov and lay siege to the fortress. It takes 2 march commands to get there and with his last command Hermann ravages the region surrounding Pskov for the loot and provender to feed his hungry troops. He also to gains a critical 1/2 VP. Teutons now have 5 1/2 VP to Russia’s 5.
Gavrilo is trapped behind the tall walls of Pskov and the Russian’s trail by 1/2 VP. Gavrilo has no choice but to sally forth and attempt to win an uneven field battle. The game comes down to a battle below the walls of Pskov. This time we will use the Lord’s mats facing eachother to track our battle:
Here is an outline (Handy player aid) as a reminder of the battle procedure:
Archery:
Herman is the defender so will go first with archery, Gavrilo has no archers. The Balistarii card is again a critical piece of kit. Gavrilo must survive 2 Hits in the archery phase. Gavrilo uses his militia to absorb the armor piercing crossbow bolts. He rolls a 1, 2. One of the bolts routes a militia but the another militia evades the bolts.
Cavalry:
The defenders are first again. Hermann’s Knights and Sergeant do 7 Hits in the charge. Gavrilo will use his militia again to absorb the hits. It takes 4 of the 7 hits (5, 1, 2, 5) to route the remaining 3 militia units. There are 3 remaining hits, so Gavrilo decides to use his 2 Men-at-Arms to attempt to tank the rest of the damage. The next 3 rolls (3, 6, 4) are enough to route both Men-at-Arms units.
Gavrilo has a Knight and light horse to counter. This is 2 1/2 hits which is rounded to 3. Hermann decides to tank the hits with his Knights. The rolls go poorly for Herman (5, 5, 6) and just like that 3 Knights route granting some much needed hope to Gavrilo.
Infantry:
Hermann’s Men-at-arms will do 4 hits to Gavrilo who has only 1 Knight and 2 light horse remaining. Gavrilo will attempt to tank the hits with his sole Knight. The first roll is a 6 and the Knight routes immediately, so much for hope. The next two rolls (4, 2) route the remaining unarmored light cavalry and that ends the battle.
Gavrilo’s defeat on the last turn of the game gives the Teuton player 1 VP and the overall victory in a tightly played game.
I will end the post here but will spend the next blog post ruminating on this interesting game.
Strategic Buffoonery 