First game of WAB in many a month

Samurai battle line

I'm currently working in Surrey so that gives me a great opportunity to meet up with Wayne to play a game of WAB.

Yesterday evening I popped over to Waynes and we tried out a couple of Medieval lists (1200 CE+) at 3500pts. The only army I have that meets these criteria is my Christian Spanish so I used:

  
King - 179pts
Warhorse, Hand Weapon, Throwing Spear, Heavy Armour, Shield

Captain - 108pts
Warhorse, Hand Weapon, Throwing Spear, Light Armour, Shield

Spanish battle line

Standard Bearer - 124pts
Warhorse, Hand Weapon, Heavy Armour, Shield

10 Military Order Knights - 395pts
Hand Weapon, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield
Leader, Musician, Standard. First Charge

12 Military Order Knights - 471pts
Hand Weapon, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield
Leader, Musician, Standard. First Charge

11 Cavalry - 389pts
Hand Weapon, Throwing Spear, Javelin, Light Armour, Shield
Leader, Musician, Standard. Light Cavalry, Feigned Flight

9  Jinetes - 239pts
Hand Weapon, Throwing Spear, Javelin, Shield
Leader. Light Cavalry, Feigned Flight

21 Guards - 435pts

Monks and Samurais

Hand Weapon, Thrusting Spear, Javelins, Light Armour, Shield
Leader, Musician, Standard.

21 Spearmen - 337pts
Hand Weapon, Thrusting Spear, Javelins, Shield
Leader, Musician, Standard. Combined Formations
7 Archers
Hand Weapon, Bow. Combined Formations

21 Spearmen - 337pts
Hand Weapon, Thrusting Spear, Javelins, Shield
Leader, Musician, Standard. Combined Formations
7 Archers
Hand Weapon, Bow. Combined Formations

Spanish left flank

21 Spearmen - 288pts
Hand Weapon, Throwing Spear, Javelins, Shield
Leader, Musician, Standard. Light Infantry

9 Crossbowmen - 126pts
Hand Weapon, Crossbow, Light Armour

6 Skirmishers - 36pts
Hand Weapon, Sling

6 Skirmishers - 36pts
Hand Weapon, Sling

Wayne used his Japanese which if I recall correctly was:

Ashigaru archers

Lord with bow, two units of Hero plus 20 Samurai with heavy armour and bows, two units of Hero plus 23 infantry with bows, two units of Leader plus 11 monks with halberds, two units of 12 Samurai cavalry with heavy armour and bows.

Wayne drew a map and I deployed my force, I deployed heavy on the right flank with my Cavalry and Military Order Knights backed up with the crossbow, the centre was a solid wall of infantry and my left lightly held with the light infantry, slingers and Jinetes.

Wayne had a unit of cavalry and monks on each flank and his centre made up of the Samurai foot and Ashigaru.

First charge of the game

I took the first turn and made a general advance towards the Japanese line, Wayne replied with some pretty poor shooting but my armour was also pretty poor and a couple of Military Order knights Knights were dispatched along with several spearmen. I launched my first charge, the larger unit of Military Order Knights crashed into a unit of Samurai cavalry, scattering them to the wind and pursuing them off table. On my left I was harassing the other unit of Samurai cavalry with the Jinetes and slingers.

Where did they go?

Wayne continued to concentrate bow fire on my poorly armoured spearmen and they were soon whittled down and eventually scattered by a charge from the Samurai warriors. My pursuing cavalry returned to the fray and were soon engaged with a unit of the Ashigaru, having spent their first charge they made heavy weather of the ensuing combat but eventually beat the foot. My other Knights with the General and Army Standard charged a unit of Samurai foot, but suffered a couple of casualties from the closing fire and then badly lost the combat and were forced to disengage with only five figures remaining!

Eventually, at the cost of my Jinetes the other Samurai cavalry were whittled down to a couple of figures and were then hiding from the slingers for the remainder of the game. The monks charged my light infantry and the combat initially went my way, but the monks eventually got the upper hand and broke them, but were unable to pursue because the monks also panicked due to the Ashigaru breaking.

Going for it in the centre

By the end of the game both sides had suffered heavy losses, but the Christian Spanish had a slight upper hand. I think Wayne initially thought that the Japanese did not have a chance, but they performed a lot better than he had expected.

I really enjoyed this and would certainly be up for some more games of WAB.

Monks and light infantry