Excellent, looking forward to seeing this pan out!

Great to see Isaac playing and he has grown since I last saw him! My kids show absolutely no interest in my games, other than Thomas showing up with his Daleks to shoot everything in sight .

His interest didn't *quite* hold out today - he wanted to have these on his side as well...


You'll see him playing with these on a table corner later on...

Right - off we go:

We left this with Salah-ah-Din having moved his infantry forwards and split some of the cohesion of his army:


In the Crusaders turn, the right flank took the fight to the somewhat isolated units that were playing dodge-the-knights:


...with largely expected results:


On the left flank, the Sergeants failed to move off the hill, whilst in the centre the Crusader infantry repositioned themselves to face the threat better:






In the next turn, the Horse Archers and Faris on the right flank charged towards the sergeants who reacted and they engaged:


The results weren't pretty...


The spearmen in the right-centre advanced further - but then stalled, leaving the centre looking a bit ragged:






Over on the left flank, the combat was brutal:




In the Crusader turn, the infantry charged up the hill into the archers - who were clearly spooked by this bravery and missed with their shooting as the Crusaders closed:


The Crusaders really got their act together now and pressed their advantage fiercely - the knights joining the fray with a vengeance, supported by infantry to both flanks:




Not to be left out, the Sergeants on the left continued their charge into the archers:


This was the critical point of the battle - both forces enjoined:




The fighting was fierce, with no quarter given by either side - combat ebbed and flowed, but the Crusaders gained the upper hand as the knights rode down the front-ranking units of spearmen:


They clattered on into the next ranks:




The Crusader infantry on the left was pushed back - but with the Sergeants rampaging through the archers, things looked bleak for Salah-ah-Din:


...who was left with no option but to withdraw:


To the victor, the spoils...


What a great game - I'd forgotten how much I love Warmaster Ancients, and this was a really enjoyable battle - lots of ebb and flow and then crunching, decisive combat for the endgame. Superb - and (if I do say so myself) this looked top-notch on the table...a real bonus that Isaac enjoyed this (at times!) and 'got' some of the key core mechanics. I'll let him off for wanting to introduce some giant undead into the mix - he is only five, after all  

So you beat a five year old, Nik. I think you should have allowed the zombies as your handicap. 

Quote from: Hertsblue on 05 June 2012, 08:21:52 PM
So you beat a five year old, Nik. I think you should have allowed the zombies as your handicap. 

To be fair, he'd gone into the garden quite a while before the end of the battle...so I only really beat myself 

Really cool report. It was a long time since I did enjoy a battlereport as much as yours!

Never forget the quality of warmaster it is a great game not in his best hours.

Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to see more reports.

Thanks jc 

I'm now tempted to get some more medievals - time to go watch Joan of Arc again I think 

Quote from: nikharwood on 06 June 2012, 06:33:21 PM
time to go watch Joan of Arc again I think 

Mila Jovovich, Leelee Sobieski, or a host of others?

I just hope you don't get distracted too much 

Such lovely distraction though  

So I sense that in order to beat your five year old you send him off to the trampoline. Perhaps the Crusads should have tried this in the Holy Land - deploying trampolines as decoys ....

Yep - works even better now cos he's six and therefore even more tactically astute 

   great show!