ADLG HYW English v HYW French

The second outing for the new(ish) HYW English army saw them take on Stan's HYW French at 200pts this time.

I went for two mixed foot commands and a small command of mounted knights. The terrain included an impassable river, a lake and a couple of woods:

On the left the Black Prince moves over to face the French crossbowmen and mounted knights while the Earl of Oxford leads the English mounted knights towards the centre:

On the right King Edward III faces a mass of dismounted French knights and the possibility of an ambush lurking in the woods:

The initial shooting goes in favour of the English:

The lines close on each other. The French foot knights are tough opponents but have some gaps in their formations which the English might be able to exploit:

The opposing forces clash in the centre! Though outnumbered the French foot knights cut down an English mounted knight. Surprisingly the English longbowmen hold the initial French charge:

As the King prepares to engage the French on the right a horde of Brigans rushes out of the woods. Though mediocre in quality the English only have a single Hobilar and the two Irish Kerns to face them:

In the centre and left the English hold on as they attempt to work the flanks of the French knights. So far they are doing well:

Disaster follows though as much of the Black Princes command is routed in a single turn. On the right the King's men are in combat:

The Black Princes command is reduced to a few scattered elements. Vicious fighting on the right sees both armies sustain losses:

The French mop up the remains of the English left flank:

The Black Prince leads a desperate charge against some French crossbowmen but does not damage them and will soon be hit in the flank by French knights:

On the right the King is slowly gaining the upper hand assisted by the Earl of Oxford. Both armies are close to breaking:

Further combat sees enough English cut down to break the army with the French teetering on demoralisation themselves but surviving for the win:

For a long time the battle seemed winnable for the English but a couple of bad turns saw the Longbowmen collapse against the French knights very quickly. In reality the Longbowmen are quite poor against the foot knights, to shoot them they need to overcome a two factor disadvantage while in combat it is even worse so they perhaps did well to last as long as they did.

I think perhaps I should have taken my mounted knights as impetuous as well, without impact they are not great against foot knights being on equal factors but only needing 3 hits to die instead of 4 plus the effect of the 2HCW.

Another enjoyable game anyway and I'm certainly getting some use out of the English army!