The Toenail of San Sebastian part one.

Chum Chris Flowers asked me to put on an El Cid game for our next Saturday all day game using Hail Caesar, I was halfway through organising the game when Steve Shann asked if I fancied doing an El Cid Hail Caesar for our Thursday night game, initially I thought it might be overkill and then I thought why not have a smaller game on Thursday that links into the Saturday game. Genius!

There would be three players and me as the Umpire so three forces, why not make is a three way encounter with each player vying to beat the other two.

So for the purposes of our encounter a small troop of men are carrying the most holy of relics, the Toenail of San Sebastian, to the Monastery of the same name. There they intend to unfurl the gonfallon of San Sebastian in the presence of the holy relic and then lead the Christian army into battle against the Almoravid invaders and drive them from the land.

Well thats the plan but they have to get it there first.

Realising they are being pursued by a force of Moors led by the Emir of Zaragossa they have sent for reinforcements, the Count of Asturias is riding to support them at the head of his household knights, however the Mercenary Captain the Bastard of Guyes has been paid by the Almoravid leader Ben Yusuf to capture the relic for him and deny it to the Chrisitans. Should be interesting.

Each player has a sheet detailing his forces and their abilities, they also have their individual objectives laid out.

Chris Flowers plays the flamboyant Emir of Zaragossa, he is well provided with lights cavalry and medium infantry but does not have much to stand up to the Christian Knights.

1 Unit Heavy Cavalry
1 Unit Horse Archers with Parthian shot rule
6 Units Berber light Cavalry
5 Units Berber medium Foot with long spears rule
3 units of Berber light archers

He must slaughter as many Christian's as he can and stop the relic reaching the monastery.

The devout Count of Asturias is played by Steve Shann, he commands the small escort trapped inside a ruined fort and heavily armed reinforcement of cavalry. He must ensure that the relic is escorted safely to the monastery of San Sebastian.

2 Medium infantry in the fort
1 archers in the fort
1 Crossbows in the fort
 6 units of Mounted Knights with lance special rule
2 units of light horse
2 units of heavy infantry

The bastard of Guyes, played by Mark Stimpson, has been paid by the leader of the Almoravids, Ben Yusuf, to capture the relic, his only interest is money and loosing as few of his professionals as possible. His force consists of:

6 Units of Knights with lance special rule
2 units of light horse
1 unit of horse archers
3 units of heavy foot
1 unit of crossbows

Each army will approach from a different corer of the table and each commander rolled a D6 to see the order in which they would move. Steve rolled a 5 and went first, followed by Mark and then Chris.

The initial moves see part of Steves mounted Knights move forward but the bulk of his force refuse to move at all, Mark gets good movement but is playing it cagey and moves his force just a few inches forward. Chris likewise gets a steady movement and closes his foot towards the ruined fort whilst half his light cavalry move to block Steve and the other half does nothing at all having failed a command roll.

Move 2 and again just the one group of 3 Asturian Knights moving forward, the mercenaries remain cautious and move forward slowly, Chris now manages to get his Horse archers and light archer skirmishers into range and inflicts the first casualties of the day as he creeps nearer to the Christians.

We are now in charge range and Steves Asturian Knights charge the light cavalry, the horse archers decide to evade, fail their order and are caught and destroyed, Steve bounces on to the first unit of Berber light horse and an immediate melee sees a draw! Well done on holding the line Chris. The Asturian foot next to the fort charge the nearest unit of archers and see them off.

At this point Steve and Mark hatch a plot to gang up on the Moors and divide the spoils at the end of the game, I have seen both of them do this before and it never ends Will as they usually betray each other at the end. The mercenary cavalry sweep around the fort but their foot are left to cover the flank facing the Asturians, there might be a deal but there is not a lot of trust between these two.

Next go and Chris has some amazing dice to stay in the game and charges and after beating a first unit of Asturian Knights bounces straight on to a unit of light cavalry, meanwhile his Berber foot press into the ruined fort and charge the Asturian foot outside the walls and drive them back.

Marks cavalry have now appeared on the flank of the Berber foot just as he is about to charge the fort. The first unit have been driven off by spear chucking and the cavalry are now all over their open left flank.

Throwing to see if his reserve can save the day and charge the Mercenary horse Chris gets an amazing three moves and charges 26 half inches (maximum is 27) the only unit of light horse is his target and they decide to take the charge at the halt with the two units of support and chuck spears at the Moors as they close. Chris saves all his casualties and inflicts just one on Mark which forces a break test and half the mercenary horse are forced to retire a full move.

On the other flank the melees of horse have reached critical point and the light horse finally loose their uneven battle with armoured knights, two more units of Berbers are destroyed forcing a divisional break test, a role of 3 on two dice sees all of the Moorish cavalry flee the table. Its the end for the Moors and the Emir of Zaragossa decides that discretion is the better part of valour and rides after his fleeing cavalry. To be fair once the two forces of knights join forces he stood little chance.

With the remnants of the Emirs force fleeing the table it is down to the Count and  The bastard to divide the spoils, there are two donkeys but only one contains the relic, the Count being in possession of both the fort and the Donkeys has first choice and gets lucky, the relic is safely in the hands of the Christians and on its way to the Monastery of San Sebastian.

The scene is now set for the big battle outside the walls of the monastery on Saturday. Will the Count Win through with the Toenail of San Sebastian? Will the Moors already have taken the Monastery and put all to the sword? Will it be tomato soup for lunch? All will be revealed. See you soon.