Ribble Rumpus 2025 - Former Yan, day 1

On 26th and 27th April 12 players attended the Ribble Rumpus MeG competition in Preston. The theme was "From the Euphrates to the Yangtze" and so was armies of a more eastern nature. Additionally they were restricted to be dated between 200 BCE and 1250 CE.

I took a Former Yan army from the MeG Xianbei Kingdoms army list.

To find out how my first 2 games went, read on ...

My army list was:

Anyone interested in the full list of armies used can see all the lists HERE.

The first round draw was conducted, as is traditional, in the pub on the Friday night. I was drawn against Pete Entwistle who was using Eastern Han Chinese. This was the second competition in a row where we had faced each other in the first round. Last time out Pete's dice had been woeful and I was a bit worried about being on the receiving end of them averaging out 😝

I was looking for a fairly open table as my army was more mobile, however, the PBS did not go as hoped and we ended up with Deep Water on the left flank, two Woods on my right flank and two areas of Forest in the Han half of the table - looked ideal for Pete. Additionally, despite a significant scouting card advantage I only just squeaked a 10% outscout.

The Han deployed between the Deep Water and the Woods on the opposite flank with the Forests to their front. The ends of the line were held by crossbowmen, Skilled shooters on my left, and a couple of cavalry units were behind each flank as reserves. I deployed with the Chained horse archers in the centre, horse archers on both flanks (but mostly on my right) and the heavy cavalry spread across the table, catafracts on the left. It looked like:

First couple of moves saw slightly cautious advances by both sides with the Han pushing infantry into the Forests whilst my troops stood off as being cavalry they didn't have any role in the terrain. I did advance my right flank cavalry further forward in the hope of drawing the two Han crossbow units on that flank out - as they were Unprotected I hoped I could win a shoot-off there.

On my right the bait was accepted and the Han crossbowmen advanced into the open which allowed me to get a unit of the lancer cavalry into range to charge them. On the left Pete also advanced the Skilled crossbowmen which allowed me to get the catafracts into charge range - I thought this was a bit of an error by Pete as despite them being Skilled their shooting against catafracts is not good.

My cavalry charges on both flanks were successful. The catafracts rolled over the Skilled crossbowmen without a casualty. However, the lancers on the right lost 2 bases whilst destroying the crossbowmen they hit, and then pursued into a Han cavalry unit that was waiting for them - although the latter lost a base due to KaBs from the broken crossbowmen.

In the centre my Chained horse archers were shooting very effectively against the Han infantry, knocking a couple of bases off.

Despite being depleted my lancers on the right dished out heavy damage to the Han cavalry with Pete's dice being, like at Roll Call, woeful. My horse archers on that flank also disposed of the second crossbowman unit.

In the centre continued good shooting from the Chained horse archers forced a Han infantry unit to charge them, which didn't work out well as the cavalry then did better in the melee.

Pete's dice continued to have an allergy against rolling any hits and my cavalry on the right broke the Han cavalry whilst taking just a single Wound doing so. The infantry fighting the cavalry in the centre suffered a similar fate.

In an attempt to salvage some points from the game Pete charged his Superior infantry at a unit of my lancers. However, this didn't do much and before they had a chance to wear the cavalry down my second unit of Chained horse archers broke another infantry unit.

The game ended up as a pretty unfair 15-0 to me - I'll happily take the win but for Pete to score nothing was harsh to say the least. The dice were again cruel to Pete 😕

The afternoon game pitched me against the earlier version of the Han - Western Han - played by Robin Spence.

This time the PBS went my way and we ended up with a mainly open table with a couple of Difficult hills on my left flank. I also outscouted Robin by a fair amount.

The Han deployed with two blocks of infantry extending from the hills with chariots and cavalry between them. Their left flank was held by other cavalry, one unit being Flexible horse archers in Skirmish formation. I weighted my deployment to my right with both units of Skilled shooting horse archers on that flank. I faced the chariots with my catafracts and the ally held the left to delay the Han advance. It looked like this:

I pushed forward straight ahead with much of my centre and the Han responded by wheeling and advancing clearly looking to put pressure on my weaker left flank. I responded by pushing the allied horse archers (in Skirmisher formation) around the end of the Han line as a threat. The Han left flank stayed in position and was able to advance my cavalry on that flank to out-wing them and have a Skilled shooting unit able to shoot without being shot back at. I'd note that Robin has a bit of a habit of leaving a unit hanging out on the flank which can be targeted  - I've done this a few times to him.

My shooting badly damaged his vulnerable cavalry and I was able to bring up more cavalry to increase the pressure on the Han left. In the centre I decided to bring on the clash between the Han chariots and my catafracts quickly. This did mean leaving the catafracts with their left a bit open and needed a unit of the Chained horse archers pushed up a bit sacrificially, but the rewards justified it. On my left the allied horse archers rode around an infantry unit sent to try and contain them - this left the route to the Han camp nice an open 😁

The right flank cavalry attack worked well with the horse archers and a unit of Han cavalry despatched in short order and my lancers chasing the other Han cavalry unit towards their base edge. This left the infantry on the Han left somewhat isolated.

In the centre my catafracts were beating up the Han chariots. They did have to take a flank charge by a Han infantry unit, however, this could only get one base in as I threw a lancer unit in the way, a bit sacrificially, to limit what they could do. The lancers also had to hit the Han Long Spear infantry so I needed the catafracts to finish off the chariots pretty quickly - especially as the Chained horse archers in the centre took substantial shooting damage.

Thankfully the catafracts did the job (well, it was heavily in their favour), and could then start feeding bases into the fight with the Han infantry which again favoured them. The lancers who had charged in support of them survived and were able to break off, but down 2 bases. On my left the allied horse archers charged into the Han camp and slowly started to win there.

The catafracts broke the infantry they were fighting and the lancers chasing the remaining Han cavalry caught them at the table edge and broke them. The Han left flank infantry were being ganged up on with lancers fighting them and a horse archer unit in their rear teed up to rear charge them. The camp hung on a bit but was nearly gone.

The final Han collapse came quickly after this. The camp fell and the infantry unit on the Han left was broken by the rear charge and this combined with other losses broke the Han army although my allied lancers were broken by the Han Long Spear unit which charged them as they were badly weakened already.

So, 15-4 to me - very happy that the plan went as hoped. 30 points after the first day and leading the field - can't ask for more than that really 😁

The Sunday games will follow later.