Ambush!

A Viking in the Sun scenario

I mentioned my interest in gaming the mini-campaigns in the Lion Rampant scenario book, A Viking in the Sun. I finally got around to playing one.

Naturally, I used my own rules rather than LR. Likewise, I modified the scenario a bit, so it's more like an "inspired by" version.

Set Up

Harald Hardrada is an officer of the Varangian Guard in Byzantine service. His superiors have tasked him with escorting a Byzantine envoy to Jerusalem

Harald's forces (red) include:

• a unit of Varangian Guard (with yellow marker)
• a unit of Byzantine spearmen
• a unit of archers
• a unit of Fatimid light cavalry, escorting the envoy

On the way, Harald's force gets ambushed by a bunch of bandits. They include:

• 2 units of light cavalry
• a unit of archers
• a unit of spearmen

Harald must get the envoy off the right-hand edge of the map.

The Skirmish

The bandit horse swarm the archers. One unit gets driven back, leaving some of their dead behind.

The horse try again and overwhelm the archers. Harald's Varangians turn to secure the flank. Meanwhile, the escort makes a break for the little village to the east (right).

The bandits pursue the escort.

Harald and his infantry march down the road to assist the escort, which got tangled up with the bandit spearmen.

The spears fall.

The escort reaches the village but the bandit archers begin shooting. The bandit horse units take on Harald's infantry.

The horse units lose.

The remaining bandits break and flee.

Aftermath

Harald successfully completes his escort mission. Next, he will seek the bandit leader, Hassan, and make him pay for such a brazen assault.

Stay tuned for scenario 2!

Notes

The scenario includes rules for capturing the envoy. I generally ignored those rules and decided that the envoy was attached to the Fatimid unit. If it broke, then the envoy would be captured. As it turns out, that did not happen.

I started the bandit spears in the village,  but moved them out to get them in the action. I probably should have left them in.

Quickie Medieval

After trying out a quickie Napoleonic battle, I decided to do the same for medievals.

Battle 1

I recently have taken an interest in Slovak history. Inspired by this new interest, I set this battle in the area of Samo's Empire.

The warlord Samo tries to impose his will on a neighboring village. The chieftain Raduz defends.

I randomly determined the forces:

• Samo (white) - 1 heavy infantry (with leader), 1 medium infantry, and 2 light infantry
• Raduz (red) - 3 medium infantry and 1 light infantry

Here Samo approaches the village.

Samo's light infantry chases its counterpart out of the village but Raduz's medium chase the light away.

Meanwhile, Samo's heavies and mediums take a beating from enemy infantry.

Samo loses his medium infantry.

And a unit of light. Despite some success on his left, Samo must retreat.

GAME NOTES

I planned to do a follow-up battle but haven't got around to it yet.

I determined the forces randomly. I think Samo got the short end of the stick. No matter; I think I may give him some Frankish cavalry next time.

Battles of Medieval Britain

Acting upon a recommendation from Geoff aka elliesdad, I ordered a copy of Battles of Medieval Britain: A Solitaire Wargame from Amazon.

It a nutshell, I'm glad that I did.

Let's take a look.

Physical Layout

Battles of Medieval Britain (hereafter BMB) comes in book form, specifically an 8.5 by 11 inch, paperback booklet with 44 pages. Not fancy but serviceable.

Contents

Inside, BMB contains two sections:

• Rules - which lay out how to play the game
• Scenarios - 12 battles from medieval British history that you can play using the rules

The Rules

The rules only take up about 10 pages and are quite simple.

Turns follow this sequence:

1. If applicable (depends on the scenario) roll for enemy reinforcements.

2. Choose a unit to activate. Roll 3 (for infantry) or 4 (for cavalry) D6s and refer to the scenario chart to determine what actions that unit can perform

Here is an example of an activation chart. Each roll corresponds to a potential action, and units will have multiple actions they can perform each turn.

3. Perform actions - you can choose the order of the actions. For example, if you rolled a 1, 3, and 6 you could move first, attack, then form a shieldwall.

To attack, roll 2D6. If the roll is greater than or equal to your unit's To Hit value, then you hit the enemy. Hits eliminate the targeted unit, which means combat is fast and bloody.

4. Repeat steps 2-3 for your remaining units.

5. Enemy units attack all your units in range.

Yes, an enemy unit will attack every single one of your units in range. If you have 4 units surrounding an enemy, it will attack 4 times in the turn! Thus, you want to make sure you position your troops to maximize your attacks while minimizing the enemy's attacks, especially since hits kill!

6. Check for victory conditions. The scenarios in this book require you either to eliminate all enemy units or kill the enemy leader, depending on the scenario.

The Scenarios
Most of the book comprises the 12 scenarios - battles from medieval British history ranging from Brunanburh (937 AD) to Shrewsbury (1403 AD).

Each scenario comprises 2 pages.

1. The first page has a very brief introduction, the charts you need for the scenario, a summary of combat modifiers, and the victory conditions.
2. The second page has the game map, like this:

What is neat about this format is that you can lay the book open on your table, set up your units, and play by referencing the adjoining page. This makes the game easy to play.

You may notice a bunch of numbers on the map. This is for random setup of the enemy forces. Each time you play the scenario, this will differ, giving each scenario variability and greater replay value.

The tracker at the bottom allows you to keep tabs on the turn. It also shows when enemy reinforcements arrive.

My Play Tests

I played the first two scenarios in my initial test of the game. In both cases (Brunanburh and Fulford Gate), I ran out of time before I could get to all the enemies. I think there were about 3 enemy units left in both games.

Game time was short, maybe 15 - 20 minutes each.

Evaluation

I suppose you could make a lot of quibbles about the rules:

• Your units' actions are limited by your dice rolls. A unit may be sitting next to a unit but if it rolls 3 move actions, it's not doing anything.
• Enemy units don't move. They just sit there passively. This is ameliorated somewhat by reinforcements, which can swoop in next to your units.
• To Hit odds are determined solely by the attacker without reference to the target (and especially the type of armor the target wears).

Nevertheless, this is a fun and challenging game. It is a bit of a puzzle to determine how to best approach and attack the enemy's dispositions. Furthermore, the optimal solution will vary depending on your dice rolls. And because of the random setup, each replay of a scenario will be different.

In all, I'm glad that I purchased BMB and expect to play it quite often.

I have one other minor complaint about BMB. There are no unit counters or markers; you need to provide your own. If you have miniatures, that's probably not a problem. It would have been nice, however, if the author provided a sheet of counters one could cut out and use.

The Series

The author, Mike Lambo, has published 6 solitaire game books. Alas, the other 5 cover World War 2, a topic in which I have very little interest. I hope he publishes rules for additional periods; I would certainly purchase them.

Addendum: More Counters

As noted above, BMB does not come with counters or markers. For my tests, I used the counters I recently created. However, they were a bit wide for the map. I decided to create some 3/4" by 1/2" counters specifically for this game.

Since I was making counters anyway, I added some more to the list - casualty markers, more ships, towns, and chariots. I placed an order with Litko for the bases. Just waiting for their arrival. 

(Greek) Fire on the Med

Once again, I find my attention blown off course. I'm not abandoning the Byzantines, but I am toying with a different theater of war - naval! Yes, I've been thinking of doing some naval wargames featuring the Byzantines vs. Arab or Turks. 

Now I have a few Renaissance galleys from Tumbling Dice, but they are not entirely accurate for medieval Byzantines. I found that Navwar does some Byzantine dromons in 1/1200 scale, but this a little bigger than I'd like.

I have also been looking for rules. I have a copy of Osprey's Poseidon's Warriors, but it is designed for classical naval warfare. I was interested in finding something that would cover medieval Byzantine sea battles. I found a couple by promising titles by David Manley on Wargame Vault. One in particular caught my eye. Called He Hemetera Thalassa, Mare Nostrum (hereafter MN), it is a set designed for fleet actions with multi-ship bases. 

The concept intrigued me, so now I am considering this approach. But I want a base to fit into a 1 inch square. I would need really tiny galleys. A little searching led me to Outpost Wargame Services, who offer a range of 1/3600 galleys. SteelonSandBlog has a nice overview of these minis. They are ancient rather than medieval galleys, so the look is off. But at that scale will it matter? I think these will work.

Right now, here is the plan I have in mind:

• Order a pack each of quinquiremes, triremes, and merchant ships from Outpost
• Base multiple ships (2-3 depending how they fit) on 1 inch square bases
• Borrow from MN to create a galley war variant of my MicroBattle rules.

Temptation

 I went another week without a game so I wanted to provide an update on what's going on.

My mind has been focused on LARPing. We still cannot meet, but the time is drawing near. I get my second vaccination shot next Monday. The same day, our governor is opening up vaccine reservations to all 18+ residents. With the availability of vaccines, I foresee our LARP group returning to the battlefield sometime in May! I have been making preparations for that day, such as this new Byzantine garb (except the shoes; those are slippers)

I am also considering a new miniatures project - Byzantines, of course! My generic 3mm figures work for now, but I am tempted to get specific figures. I would probably start in 3mm, using Magister Militum's Late Romans. This way, my figures would have shields. I envision 3 armies - red Byzantines, blue Persians / Goths, and white Arabs. I know this violates my Lazy Gamer principles, but the temptation is strong. I don't plan on starting is any time soon, though. My paints are packed up for now. My brother-in-law is moving out of our spare room. Once he does, I plan to convert it to an office/game room. Once this happens, I can embark on new projects.

Stay tuned. I have next Monday and Tuesday off, so I hope to have a new Byzantine battle next week.

Battle of Dekaexi

 A Byzantine Battle Using the MicroBattle Rules

Although much delayed, I finally am posting a Byzantine-themed battle. I am using my generic, 3mm miniatures so you'll have to use your imagination that they are what I call them. ;)

A Sassanid Persian invasion force (blue/black) has crossed into Byzantine territory. The Emperor has sent out a force to intercept and destroy the enemy.

The vanguards meet near the village of Dekaexi. While the Byzantine light cavalry gets there first, the Persians have the numbers.

And they force out the Byzantines.

But the rest of the Imperial vanguard arrives. A wild melee begins around the village.

Byzantine cataphracts overrun their Persian counterpart.

Then they get cut down by a rain of arrows from the Persian archers (in the village) and light cavalry.

The Byzantine infantry advances. Persian cavalry tries to halt them, but they are routed.

Seeing their comrades flee, the remaining Sassanid forces break and run.

A victory for the Empire!

Notes

Some points about this battle:

I used MicroBattle as the rules for this game

The scenario came from my new, hardcopy version of One-Hour Wargames. I used a new technique for picking the scenario; one that I can't really do with my Kindle version. I just randomly opened the book to a page and chose the scenario on that page. I ended up with # 16 - Advance Guard. Each army represents a patrol sent out to scout the enemy. It seems like a great start to a campaign. So the Byzantines are up 1-0.

I randomly rolled on OHW's army generation charts to select my forces. I used the infantry-heavy Dark Ages list for the Byzantines and the cavalry-heavy Medieval list for the Persians. I had to supplement the Persian cavalry with some stands from my black army. All my blue cavalry are missing a strip of figures so I designated them as light cavalry. The full 3-strip black cavalry became cataphracts. I did a similar designation with the Byzantine cavalry. I used a stand of light infantry as archers, and treated archers and skirmishers the same. Overall, I felt that my army generation fudges worked quite well.

I intended to play the full 15 turns as specified in the scenario, but the Persians broke before the time ended. Because having an army morale rule causes battles to end early (OHW armies fight to the last unit), I think I need to shorten the number of turns. I may experiment with 10 turns. This battle went 8 turns so 10 turns seems about right. I'll try it with the next battle.

Escape from Antacca

In the land of Palmyra, Duke Rodrick has given orders to detain the Followers of the King. Instead of complying, the King's Men in the Ducal lands have resolved to escape from the Duke's grasp.

I recently kicked off a new Christian-themed LARP, and am using the LARP's setting for this wargame. I used my recent skirmish rules, treating each stand as a character.

As night falls, the Followers of Antacca gather together and make their way to the town gates.

First, the paladins had to cope with the greater cat beast, who decided to sit upon the gates. Fortunately, judicious use of treats resolved the situation.

The Followers form two columns (lower left and right), each with a unit of paladins (the group's warriors) in front. Following behind are the civilians.

The paladins approach the gates but the town guard will not let them pass. The paladins engage while the civilians fan out to the flanks. On the left, the guardsmen are driven back. But the Duke's horse approach.

The paladins scatter the guard on the left and thin out the ranks on the right. An angry mob of townsmen join the fray (left)

On the left, the civilians reach the gate while the paladins guard their backs. On the right, the paladins scatter the guard. More horse approach!

The civilians escape on the right. On both flanks, the paladins engage the Duke's horse.

The paladins are cut down on the left.

The remaining unit of paladins get attacked on both flanks. Suffering serious casualties, they still hold on.

And manage to hold off the horse long enough to escape through the gates.

The Followers bar both gates from the outside, allowing them to slip away into the night.

NOTES

• I generated the scenario on the fly, randomly drawing a cityscape with two gates. 
• I decided to start all of the Followers' forces (4 units) on the board while the Duke's men would only start with the gate guards.
• I randomly rolled a D3 to determine each unit's movement. I also rolled a spare die for the Duke's men; on a roll of 4-6 they would get a unit of reinforcements. The Duke's force was limited to 6 units
• I also rolled randomly to determine what kind of unit would come - infantry, mob, or cavalry - and where it would start on the board.
• As you can see, I was still using hit points (2 per unit).

Planning Bosworth

Recently, the Battlefields & Warriors blog featured a piece about the 1485 Battle of Bosworth. Well, the piece has piqued my interest and I find myself contemplating gaming it. But being rather busy (and a bit lazy) I did not want to put a lot of research into the effort, so I poked around the internet for information. In particular, I wanted to see if someone has posted a DBA scenario for the battle. Sure enough, I struck paydirt.

I don't have many units available so I will probably halve the numbers. This would result in the following armies:

Henry Tudor - 2 Blades, 2 Longbows
Richard III - 4 Blades, 3 Longbows
Stanley - 1 Knight, 1 Cavalry, 1 Blade, 1 Bow

I think I will try to run this scenario during the extended Thanksgiving holiday next weekend.

A HOTT Time in Anarendor

Courtesy of Kaptain Kobold (author of the excellent Stronghold Rebuilt blog), I have a copy of the Hordes of the Things (HOTT) rules. I mentioned before that I grew jaded with DBA (the forerunner of HOTT) so I didn't plan on using them. I was primarily interested in stealing ideas (such as the troop type classifications). Nevertheless, I decided to give them a test.

My medieval troops are based on 20mm wide stands (half the recommended size) so I decided to do a half scale test with 100 paces = 1/2 inch. Midway through the game I grew tired of the glacial movement so I switched to 100 paces = 1 inch, which provided a more interesting game.

I also used half-sized armies (12 AP). Here are the combatants:

• Swartherian barbarians (gold & red army) - 1 Spear (Gen), 10 Horde
• Anarendorians (silver & white army) - 2 Knights (1 is the Gen), 2 Spears, 2 Shooter

For the Anarendor stronghold (bottom center), I placed a couple of buildings and my unpainted barricade from yesterday's game. I added a stand of archers just for looks.

Game Report
Once again, the Swartherians have invaded Anarendor. This time they snuck through the passes and are descending upon one of the Anarendorian strongholds. A force of knights, spears, and archers prepare to contest the invasion.

The barbarians (top), formed into 3 commands, advance on the stronghold.

First blood occurs on the right flank. The archers have taken position in some rough ground. As the enemy approaches, the archers decimate one horde and force another back.

More barbarians fall to the archers. Meanwhile, in the center, a brutal melee break out. A retinue of knights attacks a horde's flank and wipes it out. The rest of the barbarian line falls back.

But the barbarians would not go easily. Encouraged by the chieftain, they beat back the advancing Anarendorians and wipe out a unit of spears.

More hordes appear in the distance. However, the knights finally ride down the chieftain, breaking the barbarian army.

Thoughts

• I was pleasantly surprised with the game. Although I enjoyed DBA in the past, I eventually tired of it. I encountered too many cases where there was a stalemate as the units simply pushed each other back and forward. That did not happen in this game.
• I still intend to proceed with my dice pool rules but I will experiment more with HOTT (although I'll probably only use 12 AP armies).
• You may have noticed that the barbarian command on the left never got into action. The barbarians started rolling some pretty poor PIP rolls, leaving it stranded.
• Although I used my 6mm figures for this game, I'll be retiring them soon. I expect to get my first batch of 3mm this week.

Invasion of Evil

Introduction
From the depths of the Bleak Mountains poured an army of evil. Led by a horde of orc warbands, the army devastated the outlying settlements of the kingdom of Anarendor. Then it approached the bridge over the Deepswift River. Hastily, the human defenders raced to defend the bridge and stop the marauding horde.

Game Notes
Recently I've had a hankering for some medieval-style battling. However, I wanted something a bit more epic than my Francesian medieval campaign; I wanted to pit good vs. evil. I'm considering a project to create 2 medieval armies, most likely in 3mm. I could not wait for figures so I decided to give it a go using a virtual board.

The scenario is #5 - Bridgehead from Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames. The objective is to clear all enemy units from the north bank of the river. Looking at Kaptain Kobold's report on this scenario, I think I may have gotten the sides mixed up, which would explain why the objective seemed so strange. Oh well.

Battle Report
A lone unit of militia stands guard at the foot of the bridge. Two orc warbands, the vanguard of the evil army, approach.

There is a clash at the bridge. The militia falls back.

Reinforcements arrive.

But more of the evil army approaches. Goblin archers trot down the road to the front line.

The militia is forced back but surprisingly the orcs hesitate to pursue.

A unit of Royal infantry arrives

More enemies! Including the Black Riders of the Iron Legion (right)

Heavy fighting occurs on the bridge. Casualties mount

 While the opposing archers exchange volleys, a unit of orcs breaks through and crosses the bridge.

Battle rages on the south side of the river.

The Royal infantry breaks but the militia retaliates and destroys one of the warbands. Another takes its place and wreaks havoc.

The militia takes down another warband. Now, the Black Riders charge across the bridge. Their swirling attacks keep the militia at bay.

 The Black Riders cause severe casualties. The militia lose heart and begin to retreat.

The army of evil has secured the crossing!