Pictures by Ollie Hurd words by John
Well, the Baltic Crusade game played out as most expected and was a very tough scenario for the Russians of Rupert, Mikey and Matt. They had to cross a marshy battlefield with a river running through the middle and get their ill gotten spoils of war nicked from their Danish/Estonian enemies commanded by Steve and Ollie ‘of the Order‘ and Dave and Phil of the Estonian Warband off table by ‘smashing’ their way through the said defending Danish/Estonians and their allies the Sword Brethren (Livonian Teutonic Knights) Mighty difficult, and as usual the old duffer of an umpire (me) buggered up the difficulty of it all.
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| The Tabletop |
You see, gentle reader, the Russians like spearmen but spearmen rely on formation, not easy in wall to wall marsh. Also, the Estonians knew the ground and could ambush….. and they did……
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| A figure's view of the advance on the opposition |
Result, the Russians played well but despite putting in a valiant effort the writing was on the wall for week two. Therefore, I have extrapolated…….One - Nil to the allies.
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| Crossbowmen trying to stop them |
In discussion with Rupert and Mikey we have moved the scenario on for week two. The Russian Novgorod Militia under Domesh Tverdislavich (Rupert) have retired from Mooste abandoning their plunder and wounded which Phil’s Estonian wing has recaptured and put to death in lots of interesting ways (this will of course take days) The said militia got away reasonablely easily due to the terrain and the fact that the Russian Druzina cavalry was in a position to cover the retreat. Meanwhile, Rudolph Von Kassel, Landmeister of the Livonia Order (Steve) has sent messengers back to Riga (his base) to whistle up more troops to finish the task. As luck would have it a Confratai Brother, Witslew of Rugen (Ollie) was out scoping for Russians with some recently arrived German Crusaders and is hot foot to help his Landmeister out.
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| The critical fight on the bridge, to control the river crossing |
Not to be out done, Herman, the Bishop of Tartu (Dave) who commands the Danish/Estonians cos they’ve all been ‘Christianised’ Is also keen to finish off the Russian raiders so he’s cobbled together what he can of the warbands and with Phil’s help is pursuing the Ruskies whilst Steve try’s to pin them frontally.
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| A view of the battle mid fight |
Poor old Russians, in for another drubbing…… Hold on though, The famous Nevskii brothers have heard what’s happened and the younger one Andrey is determined to avenge the earlier bruising defeat of the Novgorod Militia by riding hot foot at the head of his own Druzhina heavy cavalry to reinforce Domesh. Who will triumph in the final analysis? The Russians are weakened but reinforced and have a simpler battlefield. The Order and Estonian allies are stronger but don’t have ‘mother nature’ on their side now.
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| Archers firing on a distant enemy |
Now, if the old duffer can keep up it should go off half cocked…….
