Cancon - Game 4, 5, 6

(Jan 24 & 25, 2010)

(Wow - over a year ago... long time no blog! I'll finish the Cancon 2010 entries, since I'm started now. Just a few photos to wrap up)

So Game 4 against Luke and his Parthians. Actually got stuck into it in this one, and the Heavy Weapons guys get their game on against his Pikes somehow. On the right flank I manage to damage his swirling Light Horse as well. However, as hard as I tried, I just couldn't put it to bed - so finished with a 15 - 5 win at time. A good moral boost at this point of the comp.


Game 5 - against Stephen and his Early Macedonian Successors.
Facing another wall of pikes today - feeling good about pikes off the back of the previous game - so went at them hard. Not helped by another very sparse tabletop (these Medium foot HW are meant to be good in Rough - if I could ever get any to stick to the table!)
As you would expect - got spanked by the pike. Fun game though, especially with the die-hard remnants of the Heavy Weapons hanging in for so long at the end. 6-19 loss.

Game 6 - against Ian and something Viking-ish... Yeah - end of comp exhaustion was setting in.
Messed up deployment, completely out-of-whack (see photo) and then proceeded to just throw it away. Not that I was sure what I was doing anyway against this foe... N00b!
Got smashed - 0-25
Still had fun though. I'm in it for pushing lead and dice rolling, so I definitely got lots of that!

Cancon - Game 3

(Jan 24, 2010)

Sunday morning, after a late night and some (but not too much) drinking. At least I got to go home and enjoy a warm, soft bed... unlike last years camp-out at the venue.

Now I've drawn Mitchell with a Later Crusader army. Oh..lookee...knights...

aaaaaaand... another billiard table. At least, on my side.
So I put all the Heavy Weapons together, ready to drop their Portable Defences at the first hint of Knights. To their right are my Swordsmen, hoping to fight into the Rough opposite, then the Cav and some Crossbow to try to hold the flank.
To the left stretch my Heavy Chariots, then more Crossbow and finally on the far left my Light Horse and the Psiloi.
He sets up mostly in the middle. Defensive spear and mucho mucho Knights.
Naturally, it's the knights that come out to do the most damage. My heavy weapons behind the PDs are mostly ignored, the cav come undone quickly against knights and my swordsmen are caught and flanked long before reaching the rough. My light horse are way out of the picture, trying to make threatening advances on the left flank that are mostly ignored.
I have some luck though, getting my chariots into some knights while they are trying to deploy across my front to reach the crossbow. The chariots kick arse and take names.
But the damage is being done mostly on my right, and the cavalry, swordsmen, and crossbow all quickly fall and the end of my Heavy Weapon line is exposed and hit by knights.
So the army crumbles and thats a 6-19 result.

Cancon - Game 2

(Jan 23, 2010) (even my catch-up posts need catching up!)

Saturday afternoon, after a kebab and a quick walk around the vendors. Now I'm facing Daryl from Sydney and his Early Arab Dynasty. The usual good fortune with the terrain setup leaves my medium foot with all the cover a putting green would provide. Dazza has heaps of good cavalry, and of course the camel cataphracts. Eeep.

I staggered my pointy foot and my shooty foot and then had my mounted on my left flank. Happily I had a longer line, so it was a good feeling to know my swordsmen were not exposed on their right, unless Dazza was going to make some sudden moves later on.
We got to it and developed into a simple run-em-up-and-smash-em game. I was rapt in being able to pull out my surprise Portable Defences right in the face of the cavalry, leaving them the tough option of backing off and redeploying or trying to get across them - Dazza decided to try to get across them, and got into a hard fight.
The Ch'in Heavy Chariots kicked arse and took names - simple as that. But, the losses mounted and my light horse and cavalry did not fare so well, finally the Ch'in army broke.
Got some points this time, a 9-16 result.