ER Bickford
United States
Auburn
Maine
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Crecy France, 26 August 1346
King Edward III of England has decided to face the French on the hills just outside of the town of Crecy. He has about a thousand men-at-arms with him. These are dismounted and in the center of the hill. The defensive terrain is surrounded with pot holes which will inhibit enemy horseman.
The perimeter is manned with some pikes, but many longbows. The longbows will have an advantage against the Genoese Crossbows in this battle. It has been raining and the ground is difficult to traverse. The movement in clear terrain is 2 MP due to the conditions. Additionally, the Genoese Crossbows are not functioning to capacity due to the heavy rain.
King Edward is going to attempt to defend as much as possible. The English flee with only 40 Flight Points, while the French will have up to 50. Still, the French player has the burden of attack and the English have the weather and the terrain in their favor.
Openings
Ottone Doria is leading one wing of Genoese with crossbows. These advance on the center of the hill. The initial contact is at a distance. The Genoese crossbows face the English longbows. Both sides’ men get some disordered results. Carlo Grimaldi of Monaco, successfully activates and advances on Doria’s left. He is still out of range. The French player decides to activate Doria again, but he fails his activation roll. The English player selects The Earl of Arundel. This will allow him a shot at the disordered crossbows and to rally one of his longbows. The Genoese crossbows retire and the French collect their first flight point.
Grimaldi’s crossbows try again to get the English, but only become disordered by the traitor, Godfrey’s longbows. Some of Godfrey’s pike men are destroyed by the unrelenting crossbows. This adds 2 to the English flight level.
Much of the opening rounds involve the battles of Arundel and Godfrey fending of the Genoese crossbows led by Grimaldi and Doria. The Genoese leaders are a little better than the two English commanders, but the crossbows are a disadvantage. The French player is trying to close with the English longbows to neutralize some of the advantage, but the crossbows do not get return fire. Here is how things look.
Now, John of Luxembourg arrives along the roadway that follows the River Maye. As the notes state, John is very old and very blind, nonetheless, he is riding to battle with his men. What chivalry! Meanwhile, Grimaldi continues engaging with Godfrey’s longbows. Both sides are taking damage. John of Luxembourg heads toward Crecy. As he heads for the English rear, Godfrey’s longbows strike. Several units are unhorsed and others become disordered.
Comte d’ Alencon orders his mounted men at arms to charge the English position on his right flank. The horses cross the pot holes without any trouble. Unfortunately, the English Pike Infantry causes the center unit to fail due to reluctance. The left manages a charge against the long bows, driving them back and finally causing them to flee. On the right, the longbows unhorse the charging horsemen. These continue to battle.
Alencon attempts another charge. Most of his horses cross the pot holes without effect. Then the horsemen charge the pike infantry and long bows. One of the groups suffers from reluctance, but the other charges are successful. A long bow group is destroyed and the pike infantry becomes disrupted.
John of Luxembourg continues to retreat toward his standards, but most of his units have been unhorsed so it is a slow walk. Meanwhile, King Edward III is in pursuit. His long bows and are slightly faster and he is gaining on John’s men.
Comte d’ Alencon’s mounted men are still attempting to attack across the pot holes. Some of the men become unhorsed. Although Arundel is dead, his subordinate is finishing up what was started and the French mounted men-at-arms are slowly retiring. The bombard is finally employed and this stalls some of the Genoese crossbows. With mounting losses, the French Army flees the battlefield. King Philips forces never arrived.
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Kent Reuber
United States
San Mateo
California
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I'm curious--how long did the scenario take to play?
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ER Bickford
United States
Auburn
Maine
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It took me about 2-3 hours, but I was also writing the replay as I progressed along.
I would say 1-2 hours is about right.
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Alexander Meyer
Germany
Hamburg
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Great replay, beautiful pictures! I've played this scenario a couple of times and never saw a French victory, no matter if using the historical rules or not. But the game system is such a blast with almost no downtime and rather short play time. Along with the second volume, INFIDEL, I rate this amongst Richard Berg's finest games.
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