So, Tomcat and I just duked it out in Empire: Total War. His British Army vs my Prussian Army. Sadly, the game crashed right at the end, so I can't give you statistics on what went down, but it was a blood bath! The only thing standing towards the end were the Artillery! I started off by moving two batteries onto some nearby hills on my left flank, with some Infantry and Cavalry to fend off ground forces. This area turned into a literal blood-bath as Tomcat brought up reserves trying to take it. Prussian Jaegers ended up being the last-man-standing (literally) when it was all said and done, along with the Artillery. The right flank pitted Prussian Regulars and Arty vs English Special Forces, Regulars, and Artillery. The center of the line saw intense fighting, including hand-to-hand, though it resulted in the British getting a whooping. The British Black Watch saved the day, wiping out some Prussian Cavalry and became the turning point on that front. Prussian Artillery was also destroyed in the ensuing madness. With Artillery and Jaegers left, Tomcat focused on my survivors. He charged my guns which wiped out his Cavalry with two guns firing buckshot at near point-blank range. Minced-meat was the only thing left. Next, Infantry tried to Assault the guns, two regiments being wiped out in similar fashion before a third managed to reach the guns. The valiant gunners fended off this regiment of british Infantry and manned their guns once more! The Jaegers routed another unit with help from the other baterry, at which point the game crashed. All in all, a well fought DRAW with Tomcat, Artillery being the decisive factor in this one!
Once I had seen the map, I had noticed the small hill on my right and knew that he would be on it before me, and right then I decided on the tactic of divide and conquer here. Against the hill I moved three varions types of infantry head on to the hill, but due to matt;'s hurried postioning I was able to advance up the hill through a small gully infront of the hill and managing to avoid incoming fire from the cannons until the last minute. As matt says it turned into a blood bath with almost nothing left, I even had to move up 2 Regiments I had in reserve to finish the attack I at that time still thought could succeed. The Two Black Watch regiments owned that line, one unit faced a charge by calvary while under fire from some skirmishers, once the horses were routed they then charged and routed a line of rifle infantry. A feat to be proud off, well until they ran of the map. Mistake two of the battle, was charging those guns down thinking it was an easy kill then. Mistake one was charging my General and his 22 horses into a skirmish line of stakes killing all but 3 of them. this move had nothing to do with combat and in no way was the commander in trouble, I simply thought I had another unit. I think had he survived the battle would have ended much different. Matt's commander was killed during the assault with the Black Watch onto his center line. Matt's jaegers did exceptionally well, not only in the firefights but also in hand to hand as well as those cannons on the hill blowing the calvary away at point blank. We both saw it at the same time and all matt had to say about it was 'lol'. All in all a great game, and looking forward to the next one.
