Belated Byzantines

 A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned my burgeoning interest in the Byzantines. 

Recently I wanted to play a MicroBattle game featuring Byzantines, but I realized I did not have enough cavalry. And you need cavalry for a Byzantine battle. I should paint up some horse, but I packed up my miniatures while some having some work done in my garage. And I was too lazy to pull them out.

I did mess around with armor, making a splinted bracer out of cardboard.

This is a prototype. Ultimately I want to make a version out of plastic.

Battle of Diessenhoff Hill

 After their defeat at Breugen Crossing, Bluderian forces are retreating southward (note: I should have turned the board around. As it is, south is at the top). Redgrave is in relentless pursuit.

Note: I randomly rolled for a scenario from One Hour Wargames and came up with fighting retreat. It seemed fitting that Bluderia would be in retreat. I substituted a line of impassable woods for the river of the original scenario and tweaked some of the other terrain.

General Hogwaffle of Bluderia decides to make a stand at a hill just a little ways from the village of Diessenhoff. He orders his forces to head for the hill. Redgrave is hot on their heels.

Redgrave brings the retreating Bluderian infantry to bay. Firefights break out.

Note: The big die in the upper left of the picture above is my turn clock.

Opposing cavalry regiments duel (right). Bluderia overruns the Redgrave horse.

Madly, the Bluderian cavalry continues its charge into a line of Redgravian infantry. Surprisingly, the infantry breaks and runs. Note - the cavalry were disadvantaged but pulled off the attack and then scored a follow-up victory.

On the left, sustained artillery and musketry wipe out the Bluderian infantry.

As the Redgravian left begins marching on the hill, another Redgravian infantry regiment breaks on the right.

Note - At this point, Redgrave had lost half its army so was due for a morale check. I gave it a bonus to simulate the esprit that the left wing would have felt after its victory. Redgrave just passed.

Bluderia falls back toward the hill. The skirmishers on the hill begin sniping at the advancing Redgravian army. Their fire is enough to rout the already weakened infantry.

As the infantry flees, the rest of the army loses heart. General Spengler realizes that he should have pulled back the shaken infantry and let the fresh troops lead the assault. But time was running out and he got impatient. Therefore he has no option but to call the retreat. 

On the other side, Hogwaffle breathes a sigh of relief. His army has survived this crucial test. He will have time to regroup.

Campaign Notes

This is the second battle of the War of the Imperial Succession. Redgrave was victorious in the first, so the combatants have each won 1 battle.

Once again, I used my MicroBattle rules. 

I continued to use a rule that a movement roll of 1 means that the unit cannot act that turn. Combining activation with movement works well for me. I still have the fog of war of variable movement plus the occasional twist of a unit not acting at all.

The Byzantine Path of GADD

In all my wargaming years, I have to say that GADD (Gamer's Attention Deficit Disorder) is rather common occurrence. By GADD, I mean that I am in the middle of one project only to have my interest piqued by another conflict or period. I then go rushing off into a new project, abandoning the old one.

Well, my latest bout of GADD has to do with this:

Basil II Bulgar Slayer

Yes, I'm on a Byzantine kick now. How did that happen?!

It Started with Armor

As COVID vaccines are rolling out, I have been thinking about returning to my favorite hobby - live action roleplaying (LARP). I've posted before about this hobby (here's a post about my kits over the years). Anyway, I began thinking about armor.

Here is my current set. I love the look, but right now my lower torso is exposed, and the cuirass is difficult to put on by myself.

I also have this faux brigandine made of leather and steel rivets. It is easy to put on, but it is a bit heavier than I like.

I began pondering armor because I have a bunch of these lying around. With 4 cats, I tend to order a lot of pet supplies.

It dawned on me that these boxes would work great for making armor templates. I decided to experiment.

My Armor Experiments

I'm interested in making a brigandine coat with plastic plates. I found a simple pattern and set about doing a test version out of a Chewy box and a t-shirt. It faltered, however, when it came to riveting. I began to look for something easier to make.

This led me to lamellar armor. In this type of armor, the plates are laced together (which is a lot easier than riveting). I decided to try it out and began searching for patterns and instructions.

Historically, lamellar armor was not widely used in western Europe. It was more prevalent in Asia (e.g. samurai armor) and eastern Europe. What intrigued me most was references to Byzantine lamellar armor (kind of like what ol' Basil is wearing above). I was disappointed to learn that Byzantine lamellar was riveted to a leather backing. Oh well, I may try to make some Byzantine-inspired lamellar without the backing.

Which Leads To

Anyway, this has now led me into research on Byzantine military equipment, which has led to research into Byzantine military history, which has inspired an interest in gaming some Byzantine battles.

I have another horse & musket battle to post, but don't be surprised to see some Byzantine battles in the near future.

Battle of Breugen Crossing

Last week I realized that I hadn't posted any photos of miniatures on my blog this year. I decided to rectify the situation by finally playing a miniatures game! Not only that, I decided to kick off a new campaign set in Francesia. Welcome to the War of the Imperial Succession.

Background

When the Emperor died without an heir, the Imperial Diet sets about securing a replacement. King Henrik of Bluderia, a distant relative of the Imperial line, puts forth his candidacy. Redgrave feels menaced by this move so they threaten war if Henrik does not renounce his candidacy. Henrik refuses and war breaks out.

The Battle

Bluderian forces (bottom) advance into Fenwick (seized by Redgrave during the Short War). They must secure a river crossing to continue their advance. Redgravian troops hold the bridge at Breugen Crossing (bottom right) while reinforcements approach (top left).

Note - I developed the scenario on the fly. I laid down some terrain cards and got this layout.

I decided to place the river so that it flows left to right. The rest of the terrain just fell into place. I originally intended the scenario to be a meeting engagement but the terrain just cried out for a defense of the river. I ended up going in that direction. Given the strong defensive position, I should have reduced the Redgravian forces. Oh well.

Bluderian infantry tries to force its way across the bridge while the remaining troops discover a ford (left)

After crossing the ford, Bluderian cavalry ride down some skirmishers defending the bridge. 

But sustained artillery and musket fire rout two infantry units that try to cross the bridge.

Then the Redgravian infantry in the village turn and unleash a hellish volley on the Bluderian cavalry. It is a massacre.

With the attack across the bridge completely defeated and facing insurmountable odds, the Bluderian army once again retreats.

Aftermath

The war has begun with a resounding Redgravian victory. They lead the campaign 1-0.

It seems likely that Redgrave will pursue the Bluderians and more battles shall ensure.

Stay Tuned!

Game Notes

I played using my latest version of MicroBattle. The game took under 40 minutes including set-up.

I made one tweak to the rules. I like adding fog of war to my games, and having units fail activation and not move is an excellent form of fog of war. I also like variable movement. However, I am not fond of using both of them - too much dice rolling required. So I decided to combine them:

Every turn, each unit rolls a D6 to activate / determine movement.

• Infantry, artillery, and heavy armor fail to activate on a 1, move 1 space on a 2-4, and move 2 spaces on a 5-6
• All other units fail to activate on a 1, move 1 space on a 2-3, move 2 spaces on a 4-5, and move 3 spaces on a 6

At least, that how I intended it to work. In practice, here is what I did:

• Infantry, artillery, and heavy armor fail to activate on a 1, move 1 space on a 2-3, and move 2 spaces on a 4-6
• All other units fail to activate on a 1, move 1 space on a 2, move 2 spaces on a 3-4, and move 3 spaces on a 5-6

Essentially I used the prior rules, but had the unit freeze on a 1. I think the second version may be easier to remember.

Regardless of the exact method, I think the concept worked well. There were some occasions of inactive units, which added a nice fog of war, but it was not so prevalent as to be too disturbing. I think I shall continue to experiment with this idea.

As far as future battles, I will be doing a Neil Thomas-style 5-battle campaign.