Warring States: Qin vs Zhao, Conquerors and Kings

We used the Conquerors and Kings rules, which are grid-based: I fielded my Qin army (strong in infantry and ranged fire, weak in cavalry), and faced the Zhao army (strong in cavalry and skirmishers, weak in formed infantry). The scenario had me entering the board almost immediately into combat, so there was little time or room to maneuver. Both of us set up our cavalry (chariots in my case) on the same flank, so the battle opened with a typical "let the cavalry decide who wins and gets to flank" move.

The Zhao cavalry won that clash, and the way these rules go, once you win there is a momentum that advantages you: in retrospect, the outcome of the battle was decided in this very first turn. Once the Qin chariots were swept away, the Zhao cavalry had free rein to attack the flank of the infantry block.

There was still a slim chance that any all-out assault by the infantry in the centre would decide the battle before the Zhao cavalry had time to re-form and attack the flank, so an all out assault it was - and it was a close-run thing for a while, but my opponent managed to swap in his reserves to bolster the centre and thus hold back the assault long enough.

This army is possibly the longest and lowest return on investment ever - I first started painting this in 2008 and it was the first (and so far only) time I've paid for a painting service, with the core 12 bases (basically the DBA army) painted by me and the remainder painted by DJD. So this army probably cost me the most (considering figures, shipment to and from the painter, and painting costs), and has been played the least (today is the first count) and has been idle the longest between painting and the first game (17 years)! - hence, the longest and lowest ROI of any set of figures so far. So I was happy to get some play from them, whatever the outcome, and the game was exciting and fun.