Mistake number 1: I confess to a henous crime. I HAD NO PLAN!
Mistake number 2: I set up in a defensive position in the corner to avoid
the rough ground and hills (I'd placed!) on three quaters of the field. It
takes a bold agressive hand to use the Polys properly, although they're good
at a conservative stance when circumstances present. And while this was the
time to be fairly conservative (Carts have more elements that don't mind
rough ground.)...
Mistake number 3: Now seeing the Carts in full array advancing, I thought
'cor, I reckon I can take em, wiv just a little bit O fancy foot work.' And
being suddenly inspired by a wave of square dancing I promptly set about re
deploying the entire army! Arrgh! Doe-ce-doe! Under the mistaken assupmtion
that two PS and Sp elements could handle the elephants and Wb (my only poor
defence, I haven't actually read the 2.0 rules yet (yes I know not a good
excuse)!)
Mistake number 4 as a result of all of the above: In for a penny in for a
pound! However all but four elements of the Poly army only move @ 200pcs a
turn. Arggh. Not so much Doe-ce-doe. 7 turns to redeploy (lesson about slow
moving 'killer' elements for everyone there) and...
Now Nick had a plan. A good one which was going to be hard to beat even
without the previous...mistakes. But, I never redeployed completely and got
stuck because: I ran out of PIPS, and the Blades didn't move quick enough
and the left hand flank got congested.
I was left with a weak centre and slow moving flanks! Facing one of the most
cunning plans I've seen in a while. Including a slight of hand and a feint!
But I'll let Nick explain that.
The End: Came mercifully quickly. I just didn't have the cohesion needed to
win against the Carts with the van gone. There was even a sort of poetic end
to it with Nick's mercenary Gallic general dispatching the Roman general as
the last element to fall on my side. Lesson learnt.
Hindsight: the only thing I think I could have done once committed to the
dance was to get the Sp meeting the Ele with Ps support BEHIND them and Bls
on either side (Nick suggested this after I lost one of the Ps and the other
had fled. A gracious suggestion but unfortunately too late to rescue the
game for me).
I have no excuse for this particular set of events. Maybe it was the stars,
or something. But definately a good example of just about every mistake you
can make with a Poly army.
