Ah, but you see, that was the beauty of this scenario. It was a meeting engagement with a longer time frame than necessary for a straight up fight and a large map for maneuver. The British could get to some good ground first
if the British player immediately recognized the good ground and made a perfect movement for it. The French player, on the other hand, had ample time to maneuver the British player out of any position he selected. The key was patience and a methodical approach.
In our battle, to David's good credit, he did not hurl his cavalry at me on first contact. He waited for his infantry to come up, but in truth, he never really attempted to outmaneuver my position until after the battle had already been essentially decided through frontal assault. From the evidence I viewed in the end game files, I suspect many of the French players hurled their cavalry headlong into the British Guard, confident that they would easily override them, without waiting for their infantry support to arrive. Once the French horsemen were halted, the British Guard deployed into line and utterly decimated the ranks of disordered horsemen at a great profit in Victory Points. Again, this is supposition on my part. I would be interested to hear how the French officers actually handled the initial cavalry contact in their matches.
Now please realize that I am not picking on anyone here. This is an open discussion of tactics for all officers in the club. These are the types of exchanges that can be used to improve one's play if you maintain and open mind and a willingness to learn. If you want to see a brutal learning curve, I can send you the BTE files from my game with Colin.
If the reason you lost is because the scenario was unbalanced, or your opponent was gamey, or a solar flair disrupted your brain waves at an inoportune moment, then you are not likely to learn and improve. I have lost only two battles so far in my NWC career. The first was against Colin Knox and the reason was because he was the far superior officer. He beat the crap out of me because he was better. By the end of the battle, I was also better, but by that time I could not even see him to hit him because of the copious flow of blood covering my eyes. He won because he deserved to win. Period. When the battle was over, I publically, albeit defiently, surrendered my sword to him in the Rhine Tavern. It was the least I could do as honorable tribute to so fine a gentlemen officer.
My second loss was to Chuck Jenson. I played a nearly perfect game against him until I confused my rules between the HPS and BG series. I was playing masterfully, right up until the point that I made a fatal mistake on a monumental scale. Chuck defeated me because he did not make a mistake. Now I would say that Chuck and I were pretty evenly matched. It was a wonderful contest until I got utterly stupid. Chuck did not make a mistake, I did, and he rightfully earned a Major Victory as a result.
The very first step in improving your play is to own your weaknesses, and constantly strive with the firmest resolve to overcome them. That is the only path to substantially improving your play.
That is exactly what I hope that the senior officers in the SON Tournament can instill in their junior companions. James Bell has inherited me for the remainder of our tournament. God bless him. I hope he makes it through to the other side. Now I cannot say what the rest of you senior officers are going to do, but I will do everything in my power to make him the better player by the end of our run in this tournament, and I will become a better person just by getting to know him. Whatever happens, win or lose, James and I are going to have fun. I sincerely hope the rest of you do as well.
NWC
Login
FAQ
. So let's get it on moi opponent and I have agreed to the rules and it will be a balance