03 July, 2010

The Battle of Garestin

The forces of Johannes of Bohemia are arrayed outside the town preparing for an attack on Francesco Savorgnan.



Johannes (the Bastard) or Bohemia is breakfasting in the town and relies upon his lieutenants Ulric Meinhard of Görz and William Wittelsbach or Bavaria to execute the battle plan

Forces of Johannes of Bohemia arrayed outside town

But the wily Italian from Udine has hired a strong band of mercenaries from Brabant and marched through the night to raid the town at dawn. Here the Brabazon crossbowmen advance in a line up to the strong walls surrounding a large field of young wheat

Brabazon crossbowmen advance

Francesco Savorgnan keeps his men together and prepares to sweep the town in search of the claimant of the throne of Ruritania from Bohemia

Francesco Savorgnan's phalanx

William Wittelsbach hurries across footbridge, holding up his men-at-arms as he negotiates the old wooden structure

William Wittelsbach hurries across footbridge

Ulric Meinhard heads for the ford with his trust squire beside him

Ulric Meinhard heads for ford

Geoffrey of Brabant's light cavalry race around field. Are they going to head off Meinhard at the ford, or are they just avoiding the heavy foot traffic through the town?

Geoffrey of Brabant's light cavalry race around field

They avoid contact at ford and turn into town, perhaps dissuaded by the presence of archers on the hill overlooking the ford

They avoid contact at ford and turn into town

They are shot at as they approach Wittelsbach and they wheel away to circle the butter market in the town square

Once shot at they circle butter market

Johannes of Bohemia emerges from hiding now that relief has arrived. He begins to back away towards Wittelsbach's men-at-arms

Johannes of Bohemia emerges from hiding

Archery from river bank begins to tell on the mercenaries. Over the course of the next few minutes, the infamous Saracen archer Yusuf Edrisi (reputed to be blind) wounds two crossbowmen and two men-at-arms with his accurate shooting

Archery from river bank

A cavalry charge hits home, but one of the knight's timing is off and he doesn't arrive in time to support his fellows

Cavalry charge hits home

Savorgnan's infantry stands fast and repels the knights, wounding two of the horsemen

Infantry stands fast and repels knights

One of the knights is pursued by two infantry, Ulric would have taken one prisoner except he thinks better of sticking around while wounded and continues his flight

Knight is pursued

A grand melee erupts as Johannes of Bohemia advances to support his beleaguered knights

Grand melee erupts

A flanking force finally arrives from Wittelsbach's retinue, killing two men-at-arms outright

Flanking force hits hard

They follow up to set Geoffrey of Brabant to flight (thinking of his profit margins no doubt) until arrows from Savorgnan's trusty hunter kill Wittelsbach's squire

As Geoffrey of Brabant flees arrows kill squire

The grand melee intensifies. with Savorgnan's infantry making in into contact. Wittelsbach sees off three men-at-arms, capturing a soldier on foot and a hobilar. Savorgnan himself is taking on Johannes the Bastard and a brave footmen wielding a voulge, despite the odds he wounds Johannes in the face. Geoffrey of Brabant is taken prisoner by one of Wittelsbach's trusted retainers

Grand melee intensifies

Johannes of Bohemia is mortally wounded by Francesco Savorgnan who has single-handedly turned the battle. The disheartend forces backing the Bohemian's claims rout, but the pursuit is lacklustre as losses have been high and the dreaded Saracen bowman still holds the ford

Johannes of Bohemia mortally wounded by Francesco Savorgnan

Alexios Doukas' claim, the Byzantine Knight in Exile, is in the ascendency, but resistance must be stamped out before a new claimant can hold his hand up. A silver must be found to pay the Brabazon mercenaries...

5 comments:

  1. Hi Donogh! Nice AAR, wich rules did you use?

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  2. We used Bloody Borders from Miniatures Wargames. Fast playing and simple rules based on border reining in 16th century Scotland. I'll see if I can hunt down a link for you

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  3. Actually it was Wargames Illustrated. They seem to have disappeared off the site since the revamp, but the Wayback Machine still has them in the gallery/downloads section
    http://web.archive.org/web/20071228115611/www.wargamesillustrated.net/reader.asp

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  4. Thats freaking beautiful man.

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  5. Great game! Good to see that you found good skirmish rules to work with...and those figures look better than they ever did on my table!!...well done!

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