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This will be an apocryphal battle fought between the English and French in the Province of Gascony towards the end of the thirteenth century.

The French King Philip IV has declared the lands of the English King forfeit and French forces have invaded Gascony.  Edward I has sent an expediationary force to assert his rights militarily and the two forces clash outside the ancient city of Auch on the banks of the River Gers.

The battle was fought using Deus Vult Rules.  Andy and Darryl played as the French, whilst Mike was the English.  We decided not to use Duelling.

The players began by rolling up Battle Leaders.  Andy’s Lord Bertrand, Army Commander seemed a good sort with a Cunning Ruse and a deadly fight skills.  Lord Renart his vassal was obviously all bluster with a Command of just one but again deadly in a fight.  Mike’s Lord Henry the Army Commander was a gifted leader but behind his back he was spoken of as  Craven and known never to duel.  His Vassal Lord Richard was ill-fated but otherwise capable.

The clash of patrols saw the central ground outscouted by the English and the French found an irritating marsh in their centre.  The deployment phase saw the French Vanguard (under Bertrand on their right) Crossbowmen cruelly ambushed as they traversed the marsh and they fled in terror.  A similar event did little to hurt the English Archers in Lord Richard’s command opposite.  With both vanguards deployed it transpired that Lord Renart had been delayed and would appear later as a rearguard.  Lord Henry deployed his main force on the French left in readiness.   However spies had attempted to bribe his Gascon Knights and they were to prove disloyal (reduced discipline and courage) whilst Wild Rumours had spread through the English Army further reducing their Courage.

The English Archers disordered the remaining French crossbowmen opposite and these were then duly charged and destroyed by the English Knights, who however became disordered in the process.  They then were destroyed in turn by the French Knights who chose not to storm forward into Richard’s dismounted Knights but rather turn to face the English Archers ahead.  The French dismounted knights and their English counterparts then clashed into a deadly stalemate in the centre where Richard himself dismounted to inspire the men.

The French Knights tried to ride down the English Archers but these scored a resounding success as they evaded just out of range, ready to fire with the French Knights within their clear Killing Range!

To the French left Lord Renard (who it turned out hated Lord Bertrand) finally arrived but chose to advance at a ponderously slow rate towards the English who had now had time to form up Lord Henry’s Archers.  These used Blacken the Sky to disorder the French Knights who had advanced ahead of the Crossbowmen and thus the advance was slowed down even more!

On the French Right Lord Richard’s Archers destroyed the French Knights, seizing the initiative before they could charge and though Richard was pushed back his men held their nerve.  The Militia spearmen marched to their aid and struck their oppnents in the left flank, disordering them and inflicting heavy casualties.  Meanwile the French Knights who had been meant to cover that flank were delayed trying to negotiate round the central marsh.  It turned out after brief dreams of glory they were unable to charge to rear of the spearmen to rescue Lord Bertrand’s men who had been pushed back and decided not to charge Lord Henry’s dismounted Knights to their front.

Thus by turn three it was clear that with Lord Betrand’s command soon to be wiped out and Lord Renart’s making little progress it was to be an English win and Mike was therefore victorious!

I liked Deus Vult for the Medieval period lots of dice and the Reconnaisance and Deployment phases were really fun and interesting.  In fact it was probably there that Mike set the seads for his ultimate Victory.

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