Turks (Cameron)
v.
Crusaders (Mark)
The armies are those from the POTE campaign battle recycled again so Cameron could see how our rules worked on the same armies as he used before using Ironbow.
Cameron deployed his spearmen on his left centre, heavy cav right centre and light cavalry on his left. Mark had some heavy and light cav on his right, his main body of heavy cav in the centre, his infantry in a wood left centre and light cav on the far left.
Cameron held back his centre, redeployed his light cav as skirmishers to meet the crusader right and advanced his right in a hook hoping to hit a crusader advance on his centre in flank. This was a mistake because the manoeuvre itself exposed its own flank. But hot dice can make up for mistakes - his second line used initiative to face the flank threats and his front line charged straight through the crusader’s mercenary heavy cav. The second line was beaten, but the first line eventually rallied and came back in good nick with decisive results.
The skirmishing cavalry destroyed the heavy cav on the crusader right with bowfire before it got around into the rear of the spearmen.
The centre was a mixed bag, but the spearmen held their own and in the end the returning Turkish heavy cav finished the job.
Cameron was a bit disconcerted by the amount of dice rolling to do with getting his troops to do what he wanted. But it was a battle with an unusual amount of new orders, initiative and morale testing
