A Rough Wooing

For a long time I have been wanting to try out a hex-based rule-set for the Italian Wars from Issue #7 of Battlegames called 'Sans Peur et Sans Reproche' (SPeSR).

Neither John nor I have armies for the Italian Wars but John does have some for the Tudor period and we opted pit his Scots, commanded by me, against his English in a battle a little bit like Flodden?  The set-up below shows the Scottish army to the right atop a steep hill, with the English army, arrayed facing them, to the left.

The armies consisted of[1]:

Unit Type	Order	Scottish	English
Pike Blocks	Close	4 (Large)	2
Missile Foot	Open	3	5 (Longbow)
Gendarmes	Close	1 (Poor)	3 (1 Elite)
Light Horse	Open	1	1
Missile Horse	Open	1	1
Artillery	Open	2	2

The Scots pike blocks, like the one below, and had Panic and Disperse[2] levels set as if elite to represent their large size, but they were not elite in any other way. 

For 28mm figures, the Hexon terrain tiles are quite small so, we allowed units to spill over into an adjacent hex and enforced a unit separation (between units on the same side) of 1 hex to allow space to do this.

Not wanting to change the rules too much, and create a new 'Bill unit' type, we gave the English just 2 pike blocks, but allowed their Longbow units, like that below, to move and shoot without penalty and increased their shooting range by one hex.

So, without further ado, both armies got underway[3], the English advancing their Bowmen towards the centre and their more numerous cavalry against both wings, while the Scots advanced towards the edge of the steep slope.

As expected, there was little action in this turn except for some fairly ineffectual shooting.

The following turn things got underway with English gendarmes charging some missile horse who neatly evaded[4]. 

At this stage the Scottish pike remained content to sit as the 'king of the castle'.

The Scottish missile horse then came bounding back to shoot at the gendarmes that had chased them off, while the artillery and missile foot tried to shoot down the next English gendarme unit.  Also, just visible at the bottom of the image below are the lances of the 'poor' Scottish gendarmes coming out of reserve to prop up the flank.

On the opposite flank the Scottish light horse (Borderers) charged their opposite numbers, supported by some missile foot and another artillery unit.

In the centre the Scottish pike remained steady despite the clothyard shafts raining down on them.

But the King was beginning to have second thoughts about desirability of just sitting there as such a large, static target.

Clearly, with the wheels coming off his battle-plan, the Scottish King was fully absorbed in deciding what to do next and as a result forgot to take photos.

So, we rejoin the fight after the Scots have decided to come off the hill and break the English centre before their wings get overwhelmed.

As can be seen in the above image the Scottish right flank has gone pear-shaped.  The missile horse have been chased off table (and will not return), the artillery is bout to be overrun and the Scottish gendarmes are losing their fight against their opposite numbers.

On the Scottish left flank things are not a great deal better, their light horse have been beaten back and the missile foot are in grave danger of being run down by the English gendarmes

And just to put a cherry on the top, in the centre the Scots lost one pike press and only drew the other.

And that's pretty much how the rest of the fight played out.  On the Scottish right it ended with the last unit being chased off by the English missile horse.

On their left, their light horse, after a brief rally, was chased off by the English light horse, but at least in this case the English Border Horse pursued them off-table and did not return - no doubt both came to an agreement to join up and loot everyone's baggage.

In the centre the pike slugged it out ...

... but the first to break was a Scots block.

While it took three Scottish pike blocks ganging up to break the other English block.

We then hit the agreed turn limit and with the English army now twice the strength of the Scots the Sassenachs took the win.

Post Mortem

Trying to hold a strong position against a foe that outmatched one in both shooting and cavalry (to turn the flanks) was a very poor decision.  Then when the Scottish pikes were let off the leash, they immediately took some disorder for having to descend the steep slope.  What's worse, is that units cannot rally while moving so, that disorder plus all that from shooting that they had picked up and received advancing to the attack saw them enter combat in a rather ragged state.

As for the rules, we both enjoyed the game and the rather different mechanisms used and will try them again, albeit I am not sure it gives a better game than other rule-sets.  That said the simultaneous movement did make a nice change from I-Go-U-Go.

Notes:

[1.] I'll stick with using the unit type names as in the rules.

[2.] Units acquire Fatigue Points (FPs) from shooting, combat, routing/retreating and moving across difficult terrain.  These can be rallied off but when the FP total hits the Panic level the unit must take a Morale Test, and if it ever reaches the Disperse level the unit disbands and flees the field.

[3.] Movement is simultaneous in the rules and wherever there is a conflict ("if you do that, I'll do this") then the conflicting moves are sequenced by the unit with the highest priority, or failing that the higher quality, and finally by a D6 roll.

[4.] Evading is compulsory for open order (OO) troops charged by close order (CO) troops unless in difficult terrain or behind an obstacle.

Old Boys Weekend - Game 1 of 3

It's been a while since the four of us (Steve, Martin, Keith and I) got together so it was great to meet up for another weekend's gaming.  To not waste any precious gaming time, apart from the Friday evening which was, as tradition demands, spent down the pub, the first game was already set up and ready to go - see here.

We diced off to determine the order in which each of us got to choose which command we would take in the game: the right or left half of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic armies.  I went second and snapped up the powerful Seleucid right which surprisingly wasn't the first one picked.

So, on to the game - the account of which will focus on the wing where I was busy and thus didn't see much of what was happening elsewhere.

The Battle of Panion 200BC

The Ptolemaics won the toss for initiative at the start and let the Seleucids take the first turn; this meant their movement distances were all halved[1].  The right wing under my command, with a plentiful supply of PIPs, moved forward as far as it could; Steve commanding the left wing was more cautious as the enemy had the edge in troops on that side of the field.

In their first turn, the Ptolemaic left (Keith) decided that boldness was the best option and advanced his whole command.  This boldness perhaps went too far when he also decided not to delay the clash with my superior cavalry but charged right in (action nearest the camera).

I thought he was committing suicide, especially as my cavalry were all uphill of his, but the results were disappointing (to me), with one draw and the other unit only being forced to recoil.

On the other flanks things were going much slower ...

... as the Seleucid left (Steve) was hanging back and the Ptolemaic right (Martin) was suffering from a lack of PIPs, which was going to become one of the enduring themes of this game.

The next turn saw my wing advance in the centre and the cavalry (and cataphracts!) charge in, and this time they destroyed both of the opposing units (posed as running away for the photo below). 

This, was how I had imagined it would be in my dreams.

In reality, it was primarily driven by my rather good dice rolling and Keith's poor combat throws, which were going to be the other theme running through the game.

While the Ptolemaic right seethed with frustration over a paucity of PIPs ...

... the battle on their left got into full swing with pretty much all units being engaged, apart from the excess Seleucid cavalry now seeking to turn the Ptolemaic left flank.

After further moves the armies on the Seleucid left still had not come to blows.

By contrast, Antiochus III had led his battalion of the phalanx to burst all the way through the opposing pike[2], but was still a long way from breaking anything.  

The next bit of excitement on my wing was the destruction of a Ptolemaic mixed spear and elephant unit.  This meant, thanks to my rule changes[3], that before being removed elephant would rampage through all in its path, starting with the light infantry directly behind it.

But light infantry are meant to elephant killers, and so it proved, with the rampage being stopped almost before it had begun.

With the demise of this spear and elephant unit, and the defeat of the remaining cavalry on that wing, the flank of the main Ptolemaic phalanx was left fully exposed.

Meanwhile, across the river the battle had so far been limited to light units fighting for possession of the rough and difficult going on the opposite flank to the river.

The writing on the wall was pretty clear at this point, and so it proved with the combat between the light troops on the Seleucid left / Ptolemaic remaining indecisive while the Ptolemaic phalanx shorn of flank protection was hit from all sides and promptly collapsed.

All-in-all, a pretty good match to the account on which this battle was based.  

Post Mortem

While the set-up and rules threw up a few issues, it was fast and furious, and fun.  All was finished, and the troops returned to their shelves[4] before lunch.

The rules worked pretty well, but recoiling a whole box breaks up an army's line by too much and too quickly, so will have to be addressed in future games.  Also, the changes to overlaps, reducing their occurrence[5], made pikes combat almost impossible to break without a flank attack to help you out.  I shall have to do some reading to find some historical cases of where this wasn't the case and if so, amend the rules to allow for what is probably an unlikely occurrence.

The set-up favoured the Seleucids, but that was historical and deliberate although the dice Gods clearly decided to back a winner and my combat dice were consistently better than Keith's.  

On the other side of the battle, I had not given enough thought to how the Ptolemaic force was deployed, and Martin was hampered by a command that needed a lot of PIPs to get moving.  Again, the dice amplified my errors, as Martin's PIP die always seemed to roll low.

Nonetheless it was enjoyable and quick, which was just what I was hoping for, allowing us to get on with setting up and playing the next game, a Lord of the Rings game using Dragon Rampant.  

But that will have to wait for the next post here.

Notes:

[1] Using 6" grids, each equating to 100 paces, means troops move much further than they do in DBM and not limiting the movement of the side that goes first could see the side that goes second pinned from the start against their baseline by the enemy's mounted troops.  This rule means that troops should, except foot facing mounted, be able to meet up about half-way, PIPs permitting.

[2] Recoiling a whole grid square just doesn't feel right when it disrupts the phalanx as much as this.  This is not helped by DBM ruling that pike will always pursue.  I think I need to amend this for future games.

[3] I ruled that elephants will flee a full move, plus 1 box, back towards their baseline attacking all units they pass through, unless they are destroyed.  The owning player rolls a D6 for each box of movement to determine the direction:

1 = it moves diagonally in a direction chosen by the opposing player.

2-5 = it moves straight ahead.

6 = it moves diagonally in a direction chosen by the owning player.

[4] Ikea Billy Oxberg bookcases with glass doors.

[5] Overlap cannot be provided by a unit in combat or in an enemy zone of control (ZOC).

Napoleonic Play Test

Today my friend Steve came over for a play-test of a heavily modified version of Jeffrey's 'Napoleonic Rules for a Large-scale Wargame with small-scale figures' (not a very snappy title but it has some interesting ideas and mechanics).

Most of the changes concerned: translating the rules to work on a hex-grid; 'simplifying' the order system, replacing textual orders with a brief code; and, some ideas to ease book-keeping (peg-boards) and calculations (look-up tables).

The photo below shows the armies as set up; Steve commanding most of my French (on the right) against about two-thirds of my Prussians (on the left).

This was a fairly big game for a play-test, but rule machanics really need to be tested at the intended scale for a fair test.  And now, just for the sake of it, a couple of close-ups to show the troops (all Heroics & Ros) in a bit more detail.

In the game, orders typically take a turn or two to arrive, and are recorded on small chits as shown below in the example of a French order below.

In the order above, 'A1' means the order is to attack and the axis of advance (AoA) is directly ahead.  For the French '1' means directly towards my side of the table and the other hex vertices are numbered clockwise from this direction.  The order was sent in Turn #1 from the divisional commander (B) to one of his brigades (B1) - sorry about the soulless naming of commanders and units (actually Jerome Bonaparte to Bauduin).  

The book-keeping was done on a peg-board which allowed the recording of casualties and disorder suffered by each brigade (artillery batteries are also treated as brigades).

Each brigade's order (either Attack, Support or Defend) is also recorded, but if the brigade is reacting to a change of situation (COS) the order is moved to the 'COS' slot indicating its order is currently suspended.  They will not revert to their order until either they receive a prompt from a commander or another COS allows them to do so.

Combat is initiated when opposing brigades come into contact.  The relative strengths are compared and the dice (d20) thrown are modified by tactical factors.  This may result in one side or the other routing immediately, if not then the combat will last for a number of turns after which the same dice are thrown for combat resolution - which will always result in one side or the other retreating.  In the latter case a marker is put down indicating what is happening as shown below.

This marker ...

Shows the combats odds (force ratio of the two sides) is 'Band C', in favour of the Prussians (placed behind them), will last for one turn, and the Prussians have two tactical advantages when throwing the dice.  Later in the game we also added the turn number in which the combat would be resolved to remove any confusion.

As for the battle, the French put in a big attack on the Prussian right ...

... which saw both Prussian brigades on that flank forced to retreat, each sweeping the other along in retreat until they reached the edge of the world and fell off!

Prussian success elsewhere, including driving back a massed column attack ...

... was nowhere near as decisive and the Prussians decided to call it a day and retire before the French could re-organise for a second push.

While I now have several pages of suggested modifications to think about, we both felt the battle flowed reasonably well and gave a feel for the difficulty of faced by generals controlling an army when limited to what they could see and communicate by mounted courier.  

So, all in all, a fairly successful play-test but still a lot of points to ponder and some careful thinking to ensure that any changes introduced only streamline the game further rather than adding complication and slowing it down.

A Cornucopia of Away Games and Mistakes

The cabin and painting desk have been deserted lately as I went to my friend Martin's place for a couple of day's gaming.  Well, perhaps 'mainly gaming' is a better description, as on the Tuesday evening we just went down the pub for a few pints of Harvey's Sussex Best.  Much like most of the later games I was too absorbed to take photos so this stock photo from the Interweb will have to suffice.

The following morning, when we got our act together, we had a game of 'Mortem et Gloriam', aka MeG, not something I had played before but I was keen to try it and Martin had played it several times as it's a popular rule-set at his local club and he wanted to get some more practise.

The game pitched my Normans as Sicilian Normans, with additional 'Sicilian' types being provided by Martin ... 

... against his Nikephorian Byzantines.

With a newbie (me), guided by an inexperienced player, unfamiliarity with rules saw this game run through to the early afternoon when, as the inevitability of a Norman win became apparent, we called the game.  The rules worked well in terms of outcomes and command structure, with commanders forced to prioritise their actions, but I didn't feel they offered anything new compared to existing rule-sets.  In particular I felt the focus on the files within units felt like a half-way house that was neither unit nor element focused and the separate charge and mêlée phases seemed to slow the game down.  However, these are just first impressions and I need to try them again sometime as I've often disliked rule-sets on first encountering them only to appreciate their virtues with more games.

The next game was a Thirty Years War clash using the 'Liber Militum Tercios' Rules, our favourite for this particular conflict.

These rules use order cards that are placed face down next to each unit with players alternately activating units to perform the order given them.

Looking to play something a little different we opted for an entirely mounted French force seeking to destroy a Spanish infantry force (plus one unit of horse); all troops being provided by Martin.

This proved a really interesting tactical conundrum with the more agile French horse looking for an opening that wouldn't involve frontally charging pike and the Spanish trying to deny them that opportunity.  In the end the French managed to charge a couple of the Spanish tercios in the flank (sorry, this is the only photo I have) ...

... but in both cases the Spanish, while taking many hits just survived being broken and with some French units refusing to charge managed to rally.  The French losses from these combats and Spanish musketry and cannon fire eventually saw several units break and the French conceded the field.  While a fun game with rules we've often played, we still made a number of mistakes that probably drove the outcome.  We also discovered we had always interpreted one rule incorrectly, luckily that error had no real impact on the game.  

So, onto a third game in the evening using Maurice; no picture of the rules so another image grabbed from the ubiquitous web-thingy.

This game used my 1745 armies (15mm Essex Miniatures) and some modifications to the rules to try and bring out a bit more conflict specific flavour.

No rule cock-ups this time, but I still haven't quite got the balance right between the two armies, and the Highlanders rolled over the Hanoverians without loss!

The following morning, we set up a DBM fight between the Rus (me) and the Bulgars (Martin), albeit the armies had to take some liberties with the Army Lists as we didn't have everything needed.

This game, like the earlier Tercios game, saw the Rus desperately trying to stop the Bulgar cavalry getting round their flanks, as they were fairly impervious to cavalry charging them frontally.  The Rus axemen ('Blades' in DBM-speak) were the least effective against cavalry so were held back as a reserve to plug any gaps that appeared as in the photo below - and contributed to the Rus' success in defeating the Bulgars.

The figures in this game were all Martin's beautifully painted 15mm Minifigs, so nice in fact that for once I took some decent photos, this time of his Byzantine Varangians being used to represent Rus Axemen.

Again we made a mistake!  This time over the PIP cost of moving irregulars but luckily corrected in Turn 2, so it had minimal impact on the game.  When this game ended it was lunchtime, after which I wended my way back home.  

So, four games in a day and half, lots of fun but lots of mistakes.  I'm not sure what the lesson here is, but I suspect I need to play more games with fewer rule-sets as it seems that, like so much in life, practise makes perfect, or at least less imperfect.