Aquitaine: Chevauchee 1355

 

The first campaign game of Aquitaine ended in disaster for the English routiers, with a defeat by the massed army of John the Good at Perigeux, where the Black Prince, Chandos and Audley were attacked by the entire French army of John the Good. The English had captured Guyenne and Brive, taxing but not capturing Tulle, Cahors, Perigeux and Rocamadour, yet underestimated the distance the French army could cover when they managed to roll a six for movement in turn three. The Black Prince unwisely chose to evade rather than dig-in, while John opted for a hasty attack, the end result being an overwhelming advantage for the French and total defeat for the English. In their defence, I'm very rusty with the rules and made a couple of bad decisions, so they should do better next time?

Aquitaine

 

As a bit of a change, I'll be playing the Society of Ancients, Hundred Years War hex and counter game Aquitaine, originally published as part of Paddy Griffith's Book of Sandhurst Wargames. I used to play this using my copy of the book but have since got hold of the later edition, which is basically the same but with a thinner counters and a booklet for the rules. It's a mini-campaign based on an English 'chevauchee' or war ride in the 1350's, with the Black Prince leading his army to capture and tax the towns in central and southern France, while the French under John the Good try to bring him to battle. It's good fun and quite fast to play, so I should get at least a couple of games in over the next few days.

Aquitaine

I had an original version of this simple but fun medieval board game in the Sandhurst Wargames book as a kid, so was really pleased to find a stand alone version published by the Society of Ancients but now out or print. It was on eBay and one else put in a bid, so I got it for less than the price of pint, which is pretty good. I really enjoyed playing this solo when I had my copy, so I'm looking forward to playing it again. I just hope it hasn't aged as much as the TTG micro games that I've been playing recently that are from a similar era?