After losing so badly to Peter’s Later Tibetans in Game One, it was inevitable that my second game would also be a tough one…facing Dillon’s Later Swiss, to whom I’d lost my first game at the Roll Call competition.

At least I knew what to expect and, sure enough, the Swiss shot forward, determined to get their massive four-hit pike blocks into action as soon as possible.

My only chance was to somehow stem the tide of the Swiss advance and then manouevre around their flanks and rear: something I had failed to do last battle.

The opening moves were therefore very much me trying to get behind what terrain their was, block the Swiss advance as best I could, and get my Knights and Lights into the lanes between the advancing pike blocks.

Although stopping the pike blocks proved problematic, I was helped by Dillon’s cards and, as the game unfolded, looked to try and roll him up left to right.

I also managed to get my best unit (veteran Later Knights, Lance, Hero, General, Army Standard) through his lines, all ready to turn and crash into his men from behind when…

Well that was somewhat frustrating…especially as that proved to be the highpoint of the Venetian game!

The battle settled down into a series of grinding melees with neither side getting an advantage, except for the fact that the Swiss were gradually getting closer and closer to my camp.

At this point we unfortunately ran out of time, with my troops suffering a 42-105 losing draw (three medals vs eight medals) which, to look on the bright side, was better than they did against the Swiss last time!

Two games in and a big loss and a losing draw to my name: things were not looking good!