DBM: Normans in Action!

I finally had a chance to use my Normans. They squared off against Steve's Italian Lombards.

The Lombards set up as a big wall of troops. From left to right, he had knights (Irr Kn(F)), spear (Reg Sp(I)), and more knights. His right flank was anchored in a marsh guarded by some Ps and Bw.

The Norman battle groups were arranged with the Allies on the left, the smallest knight group in the middle, and the largest knight group on the right. The CinC's command formed a reserve in the rear. All of the Norman groups were set up in three "waves". The first wave was the knights, the second wave contained the bowmen, the third wave contained the other infantry. The Aghlabids had the LH and Cv in a group, with the infantry in a group in the rear.

From the get go, I advanced the Normans in echelon, with the right most group leading the way. The Norman right crashed into the Lombard left, beginning an epic Kn vs Kn battle. Even though I had the advantage on the flank, Steve was able to break through in the center of my line, despite losing his CinC in the second round of combat. I did manage to cause a lot of casualties, though, so while he broke my smallest command, his largest command was one stand away from breaking.

On the left flank, the Aghlabids moved up to skirmish with the Normans opposite of them. We exchanged casualties... two Lombard Kn for two Arab LH, but not much else happened. His bow caused a couple of stands of LH to flee, but that was it.

At that point, it was getting late so we decided to call it. The final result was a slight Lombard victory, although it was pretty close.

What did I learn? Well, Kn(F) die quickly! The combat penalty for F doesn't sound like much, but its surprising how many casualties were caused by it. Also, it seems like there is a lot to be learned about controlling impetuous troops. Even without the cheesy stuff, it appears that there is a lot that you can do with them (both offensively and defensively). Finally, I'm still getting used to some of the combat interactions. For example, Bw in two ranks is good for shooting but bad in melee... I learned that the hard way. :-(

Overall, though, it was a lot of fun and look forward to playing with them again.

Here's my army list:

Irr Kn(F) - CinC
Irr Kn(F) x5
Irr Sp(I) x6
Irr Bw(O) x6
Irr Hd(O) x1
18.5 EE, breaks at 6.5

Irr Kn(F) - SG
Irr Kn(F) x8
Irr Sp(I) x2
Irr Bw(I) x6
Irr Hd(O) x5
Irr LH(I) x2
21.5 EE, breaks at 7.5

Irr Kn(F) - SG
Irr Kn(F) x6
Irr Bw(I) x6
Irr Hd(O) x5
15.5 EE, breaks at 5

Aghlabid Allies – 3/33
Irr Cv(O) - AG
Irr Cv(O) x2
Irr LH(O) x5
Irr Ax(I) x4
Irr Sp(I) x4
14 EE, breaks at 5

EDIT: Here are some pics of the action at Steve's blog: http://huzzahespee.blogspot.com/