With the first game such a disaster for the Timruids, I was keen to ‘get back on the horse’ and try my luck again against the Early Byzantines.

For this game, as it was supposed to be a participation/demonstration event, we had a brand new player join the table, so he (with a bit of help) would face me.

As you can see in the picture, above, this time I adopted a more traditional deployment: infantry in the centre, with my cavalry on the wings. My plan ws obviously to outflank on the left, and roll up his line to the right.

The two sides quickly headed towards each other, with my plan to conquer all on the left starting to unfold.

Unfortunately, the cards had other ideas and my flanking manouevre failed dismally!

This left me very vulnerable to the fire from his mass auxiliaries with bows, and soon our new companion was drawing 8s, 9s and 10s from his deck to shoot my heavy cavalry straight off the field.

I’ve never seen cards like it. Usually shooting is more of a nuisance than a threat, but here my opponent drew so many high cards that we calculated that there were only four 8s, 9s or 10s left in the deck, whereupon he promptly drew two 8s for his next two shots!

For my units in the center and right of the table, it really was a case of “now you see them, now you don’t”!

My flanking force on the left had now started to arrive, but it was too late to make a difference. One more ‘twang’ of enemy bows, and the last of my coins left the table!

So that was Vanquish: an excellent little show but with a decidedly sub-optimale performance from the Timurids.

Let’s hope this weekend’s inaugural To The Smallest goes better!