A Viking in the Sun

As usual, my GADD-addled mind has been wandering again.

What Now?

I recently picked up this Lion Rampant supplement, A Viking in the Sun.

It covers the campaigns on Harald Hardrada during his employment with the Byzantines. Being a fan of Byzantines, I've had my eye on this and finally decided to splurge on it.

Why?

As usual, this latest foray came quite by accident. I've been crazy busy lately so I took a day off to recuperate. My thoughts turned to playing a game, but I couldn't decide on a period for the game. I've got a bunch of campaigns in progress yet I struggled to muster the enthusiasm for any.

I started perusing some gaming books for inspiration. While reviewing Lion Rampant I came across a reference to A Viking in the Sun. I got hooked.

What's Next?

I started to peruse VitS. It has 3 mini-campaigns that should be perfect for me! You may see them soon.

But first, I decided to complete a campaign before I embark on a new one. Hence, you will see the finale to my Napoleonic Knockout coming soon!

Byzantine Disaster

Despite their defeat at Chobani, the Persians continued their offensive.

Dispositions

The Byzantines (red) have a line anchored between some woods and a village. The Persians advance from the south (bottom).

The opposing forces include:

• Byzantines - 2 units of cataphracts (heavy cavalry), 1 unit of skutatoi (heavy infantry), and 1 unit or archers.
• Persians - 2 light cavalry, 1 heavy cavalry, 1 medium infantry, and 1 elephant.

The Battle

The Byzantines advance to the hill, where a massive melee breaks out. On the Byzantine right, however, 1 unit of cataphracts gets shot to pieces by light cavalry bows.

Note: Above, you can get a look at my new casualty markers in action. Here is a close up.

The Persians wipe out the cataphracts and surround the skutatoi.

Breaking them and killing the general. The archers flee from the village.

Note: You can get a good look at the 2D village above. It is attached to a 1" square of thin wood.

Aftermath

With this unmitigated disaster, the Byzantines lose the war. The Persians win the campaign 3-1.

They sue for peace and make territorials concessions to the Persians.

Notes

I decided to play a quick scenario to entertain Thomasina, my game-loving cat. I chose to whip something up rather than play Battles of Medieval Britain because I wanted to get my new casualty markers and town counter into action. I am quite pleased with them!

More Battles

A trifecta of quick battle reports.

BATTLE OF CHOBANI

A battle in my Byzantine campaign.

Following their victory at Oikos, the Persians send a force deeper into Byzantine territory to seize more ground.

They clash with Byzantine forces blocking the road north (bottom).

The archery of the Persian light horse destroys Byzantine heavies.

The Persian cataphracts charge the road, but the Byzantine skutatoi drive them off.

And another unit of Persian cataphracts get skewered on the skutatoi spears.

The remaining Persians retreat. Byzantine victory!

Notes

• With the victory, the Byzantines stave off defeat. They still trail 1-2.
• The scenario is #25 - Infiltration from One Hour Wargames. To win, the Persians need to get 2 of their 4 units off the north edge of the map along the road (where the skutatoi are located).
• I used the One Hour Wargame tables to randomly determine the army compositions, with heavy cavalry as the primary troop type.
• Somehow I lost some pictures so I don't have one of the initial set-up. The first picture is around turn 4.

BATTLE OF FULFORD GATE (1066)

The second scenario from Battles of Medieval Britain.

English earls Morcar and Edwin (red) intercept a Viking invasion force (blue).

The English aggressively attack the Vikings and eliminate one warband.

Massive slaughter!

Despite losses, the English keep up the pressure.

The Vikings try to hold on. It comes down to one final melee. The English win!

Another fortuitous die roll on the last combat of the final turn.

BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE (1066)

Another scenario from Battles of Medieval Britain.

King Harold's army (red) advance against the Vikings.

After a slow start, Harold makes inroads against the invaders.

King Hairy-old (played by Onyx) surveys the battle.

The end of the battle. The English overwhelm the last of the Vikings.

Battle of Oikos

Background

Following up their first victory, the Persians strike deeper into Byzantine territory. The Emperor instructs General Synchysi to hold the invaders at the town of Oikos.

Dispositions

Synchysi posts two units of heavy infantry in and around the town (left), backed up by heavy cavalry. The remainder of his army defends a nearby hill (lower right) so that the enemy cannot turn his flank.

The Persian commander decides to focus his efforts on seizing the hill. His infantry will  demonstrate before the town.

The Battle

Synchysi's infantry repulses an attack on the town and his cavalry chase the light infantry to a nearby hill. Feeling secure, he sends some infantry to the right flank, where a cavalry melee rages.

Note: I ran out of casualty markers and I was too lazy to go upstairs to get more so I pressed a sunflower seed into service.

The Persian light infantry shoot down their pursuers.

In a display of indecision, Synchysi recalls his infantry in the woods. They are not needed, though, as a Persian assault on Oikos fails miserably.

The Byzantines lose some cavalry (top) and their infantry (left) takes casualties from Persian archery.

Meanwhile, the Persian elephants prepare to assault the infantry holding the hill.

Synchysi rides to the beleaguered hill, but he is too late. The elephants have crushed the infantry and taken the hill.

The elephants stand firm, leaving Synchysi no choice but to concede Oikos. The Emperor will not be happy.

Campaign

With another loss, the Byzantines find themselves in an 0-2 deficit for the campaign.

Game Notes

I took the scenario from One Hour Wargames. It is number 14, Static Defense. The attacking Persians need to control either the town or hill at the end of 15 turns. The elephants seized the hill on turn 14.

For the armies, I used the lists created by Mark Cordone in The Portable Wargame Compendium. He lays out some ancient army lists for his 3 x 3 variant.

Counters

This battle was the first outing for more generic army counters. I used blue for the Persians and red for the Byzantines.

I have to say that I am quite pleased with the result. The counters are easy to handle and easy to identify the troop types. Furthermore, they are much quicker to create than painting miniatures. Expect to see more counters in the future.

I have some enhancements in mind.

First, I would like some better casualty markers. I created a design already, but I have another thought. I may print some more unit counters with some kind of casualty mark (maybe bloodstains) and glue it to the backside of the counters. Then I can just flip the counter when it takes damage. I just don't look forward to all the gluing this would require so I may just make a handful of casualty counters.

I used 2mm terrain for woods and hills, but I was too lazy to dig out any buildings. Instead, I used a piece of card with buildings sketched on it. I actually really liked this approach. I often have difficulty fitting buildings and figures in a square but having flat buildings solves the issue. I may create some building counters, kind of like in the Command & Colors series.

Eastern Med Action

Introduction

After completing some naval counters, I decided to get them in action.

I set up a quick hypothetical action between the Byzantines (red) and Arabs (blue)

Background

A Byzantine convoy is taking supplies to northern Africa. Arab galleys intercept it.

The Battle

Opposing light galleys engage in missile fire (upper right). The Byzantines take damage.

The light galleys engage in boarding actions, Meanwhile, the Byzantine heavy galleys (bottom right) overwhelm more Arab light galleys.

The supply ships turn right in an attempt to escape.

But the Arab heavy galleys overtake them.

There is a mad scrum, but the supply ships are forced to strike.

Arab victory!

Notes

• I used a variant of MicroBattle that I quickly ginned up. Some highlights
• Each counter represent a squadron of ships
• Squadrons move 0-2 spaces per turn
• There are 3 forms of combat:
• Missile fire (range 1-2 spaces)
• Ramming - attacker needs to move into an opponent's space. Roll for success depends on the angle of attack.
• Boarding - for ships that begin in the same space. This uses an opposed die roll
• A successful attack does 1 damage. Squadrons strike on 2 points.
• I made the counters by
• creating the top-down ship images in PowerPoint. They are stylistic instead of realistic
• printing the images on cardstock
• Cutting out the images and gluing them to some 1" wooden tokens I had lying around
• Overall, I like the counters. They especially make it easy when squadrons share a space.
• I want to make some damage counters. I just need to decide on a design.

Byzantine-Persian War

As I mentioned last time, I brought my wargame travel pack with me to Disney, but did not get a chance to play. We returned mid-week but I am off work until Tuesday so I was able to get in some games. Here is the first.

Background

I am going to run a 5 game campaign during one of the Byzantine-Persian Wars of the 6th-7th centuries. Details to be decided.

Dispositions

Army organizations and dispositions are:

• Persians (top) - From left - archers, heavy cavalry, infantry, light cavalry, elephants, heavy cavalry
• Byzantines - From left skirmishers, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, light cavalry, heavy cavalry x 2

The Battle

The opposing armies meet on the sands of Mesopotamia, near a small village.

The Byzantines draw first blood, repulsing the Persian archers (left) and disordering some cavalry (right)

A lot of bloodshed on the right.

The ponderous pachyderms (cream) finally get stuck in.

And defeat the Byzantine cataphracts. Nevertheless, the Byzantines have destroyed the Persian archers and 2 units of cavalry. Yet the Persian army fights on.

There is a cavalry scrum among a copse of trees. Two units of Byzantine heavy cavalry fight one unit of Persian light horse. Yet the Persians get the better end of the fight.

With half the army routed, the Byzantines lose morale and retreat from the field.

The Campaign

The Persians have the early advantage in the campaign (1-0).

Thoughts

• One of the issues with my current blocks is that I cannot easily distinguish troop types. This came into play in this battle, as the Byzantine light cavalry was supposed to represent heavy infantry. I got confused, however, and treated them incorrectly.
• I tried a tweak to my MicroBattle rules to speed up the game. Disorder and retreat tests started at a disadvantage (5+ to pass). Still, the game took about 30 minutes.

Outskirts of Constantinople - 1453

Activity Update

More like lack-of-activity update. Last time I mentioned I completed my Turks and had started the Austrians. Well, the Austrians are in the same state as they were two weeks ago.

I decided to do a quick battle this weekend so I could get my Turks in action. Because the Austrians aren't finished, I choose a different setting. I'll pit my Turks vs. Byzantines.

The Situation

The year is 1453. A Turkish army approaches Constantinople from the North. Its vanguard has seized a river crossing. Byzantine forces hurry to recapture the bridge.

The Battle

Byzantine kavallarioi rush Turkish light troops holding the bridgehead. The lights' archery empties some Imperial saddles.

More archery wipes out a bandon of Imperial cavalry, Turks cross the bridge while some of their cavalry ford the river.

Byzantine skuatoi assault the village while the Turks overrun the remaining kavallarioi.

Then the Turkish light cavalry catches the Imperial infantry in the flank, routing it.

The remaining Byzantine infantry flees from the field.

The Chovoli Project

I need a new project like a hole in the head. I still haven't finished my chariots or galleys.

Nevertheless . . .

Background

I am borrowing this campaign's lore from my LARP group.

The Chimera Legion is a tagma of the Byzantine Empire.

Note: We use legion in our name rather than tagma because no LARPer knows what a tagma is.

The Empire has posted the Legion to Chovoli Isle, a fictional island in Eastern Mediterranean. Pirates have been attacking Chovoli, so the Legion has been ordered to defend the island.

While on Chovoli, the Legion began receiving reports about monster attacks in the interior. The commander dispatched a detachment to investigate. They find a cave entrance that leads to a hidden valley overrun by mythical creatures.

Yes, this is essentially a fantasy campaign.

The Legion forces

My first mission is to find figures for the Legion. I know I want 10mm, but from whom?

What are my options?

• Irregular - They have become my go-to. I like that I can order small batches. But they don't have Byzantines, or Late Romans. Perhaps I could use their generic Dark Age figures?
• Pendraken - No Byzantines, but I could use Late Romans. With packs of 30, I'll have extras.
• Magister Militum - They have Byzantines. Again, packs of 30.
• Old Glory - packs of 100? No thanks.

Right now, I'm leaning towards Irregular's Dark Age line. Here is a photo from their website. I think they'll do.

As mentioned yesterday, I plan to do small "units." Now I am thinking 4 infantry and 3 cavalry figures per "unit" - essentially Portable Wargame size.

My current organization plan:

• 1 commander
• 2 units of spearmen (skutatoi)
• 1 unit of axemen (Varangians)
• 1 unit of light cavalry

The enemies

I found this great blog post that lists different 10mm fantasy lines. I am spoiled for choices.

I want to have some monsters. I'm thinking cyclops, harpies, a hydra, minotaurs, etc. So far, I have found most of these.

But what about the main bad guy army? I had a few possibilities in mind:

• Amazons
• satyrs
• skeletons

Right now, I'm leaning toward skeletons, like those that Jason fought.

And Irregular offers skeletons.