Category Archives: Ancients
Mortem et Gloriam Dark Age lists
In case you missed it ….. here are the first two Dark Age lists for sanctioned play
Frankia
http://www.thewargameszone.org/sites/141/pg/42/MeG-DarkArmyLists-2-Frankia.pdf
Britain
http://www.thewargameszone.org/sites/141/pg/42/MeG-DarkAgeArmy-Lists-1-Britain.pdf
Battle of Stamford Bridge – 1066 Mortem et Gloriam
The next installment of our 1066 anniversary battle is the Battle of Stamford bridge. This time round Harold Godwinson was to take the field against Harald Haldraada. The armies lists were –
The Campaign game replaces the ‘5 days before battle’ section with its own map. The Saxons are always attacking , and the Pre Battle cards indicate whether the battle took place at its original spot (where the Vikings are surprised and the army split) or whether the Vikings are more ‘canny’ and force a more conventional pitched battle. Both sided had 9 cards, so it wasn’t a guarantee that it would take place as historically.
The preamble began slowly with the Saxons winning or drawing the early hands and thus the battle being held in the spot advantageous for them. The penultimate hands saw the Vikings make a break out away from the river and to an open plain for battle. However, a last red Saxons card in the last round saw the Vikings pushed back to the river, and the battle would be fought as per the special rules.
The battlefield was split with a traverse river, which while fordable was difficult going. The Viking army was split in two , each half being deployed on each side of the river. In the first turn the Viking would be dealt cards ‘face up’ – using the allies rules – to represent their lack of preparedness for the battle.
The scouting phase was not particularily exciting , with 100% heavy infantry armies there is not much in the way of scouting cards. The Saxons did outscout , but only by 20% (which was 2 TuGs)
The blasted north, looking a bit more like Mordor than Yorkshire. The coloured sticks a necessary evil to denote troop quality and command. As they are all my figures and are the same it could get a bit mixed up
So there were 5 Vikings battlegroups on each side of the river. The Saxons had 11. The victory conditions were that the Saxons must break the Vikings (destroy 5 TuGs) while if the Vikings held on (for 3 hours) then it would be a Dane victory. So if Harold could crush the 5 battle groups on the near side of the river, before the others ‘woke up’ then that would be the game.
The cards were dealt.
Luckily the Vikings did have a good hand of cards and not one of their commands was ‘asleep’ – the Saxons has obviously trod on a few too many twigs en route to the battlefield.
Harold and his Hearthguard had made the unusual decision to go right at the end of the line to try and act as a hammer while the anvil of the Select Fyrd held the surprised Vikings in place.
Battle was joined. The Viking on the far bank of the river formed up and advanced (as quick as their cards would allow) , but the river was slow going.
The Vikings facing the onslaught of the Saxon army fought valiantly. The first casualty of the game being one of Harold’s elite Hearthguard. The shieldwalls ground into each other, but they were evenly matched and the Vikings broken the deadlock when one of the Saxon Huscarl catastrophically units broke on the centre of the line. The Vikings started spewing though the gap and rolling up the line
Things were looking close. Harold broke his opposition on the end of the line and tried desperately to turn the line there and capitalise on that advantage. However disaster struck and the huscarls next to Harold were attritted away and broke. They was a sizeable hole in the Saxon line now. The was a slim chance now, as the Saxon training was marginally better and the ‘tribal’ Hird would find it difficult to redeploy in a different facing.
As an indicator of quality green = average, yellow = superior and red = exceptional
At this point the remainder of the Viking force crossed the river. This equalised the numbers and the Saxons would just have to be lucky. This was not the case. The Saxons ended up having to commit elements of the lesser Fyrd, and it was getting desparate. As we approached the end game (3 hour time limit for Viking victory) Tostig and his men destroyed another Saxon Huscarl unit. The only positive being that it cost the treacherous brother his life as he fought in the front rank! The Saxon army teetered on breaking, the coup de grace being when the flanked Saxons had a disastrous set of dice and a unit of Viking Huscarls – who had been 1 hit from breaking for most of the game – hit the end of the lined diced well and broke the unit they hit in the flank for no loses… Harold Godwinsons army broke.
Harold and his men by virtue of being at the end of the line could only be spectators as the Saxons army crumbled and fled. That did save him from being part of the destruction.
As our Battle of Stamford bridge concluded we rationalised that Harold with his army now defeated would not be in any position to stop Willliam in the south, and would flee to the continent. For our next instalment we decided to break from history try and see what would happen with the North still under Viking rule and the South now controlled by the unopposed Normans. Stay tuned for the next instalment …
Battle of Fulford – 1066
As the 950th Anniversary of the battles for England in 1066, I set up a game of the first of the three battles – The battle of Fulford
The Battle of Fulford was fought on the outskirts of the village of Fulford near York in England, on 20 September 1066, when King Harald III of Norway, also known as Harald Hardrada, and Tostig Godwinson, his English ally, fought and defeated the Northern Earls Edwin and Morcar.
Tostig was Harold Godwinson’s banished brother. He had allied with King Harald of Norway and possibly Duke William of Normandy but there is no record of the reasoning behind his invasions. The battle was a decisive victory for the Viking army. The earls of York could have hidden behind the walls of their city but instead they met the Viking army across a river. All day the English desperately tried to break the Viking shield wall but to no avail.
Tostig was opposed by Earl Morcar who had displaced him as Earl of Northumbria.
The battle started with the English spreading their forces out to secure their flanks. On their right flank was the River Ouse, and on the left was the Fordland, a swampy area. The disadvantage to the position was that it gave Harald higher ground, which was perfect for seeing the battle from a distance. Another disadvantage was that if one flank were to give way, the other one would be in trouble. If the Anglo-Saxon army had to retreat, it would not be able to because of the marshlands. They would have to hold off the Norwegians as long as possible. Harald’s army approached from three routes to the south. Harald lined his army up to oppose the Anglo-Saxons, but he knew it would take hours for all of his troops to arrive. His least experienced troops were sent to the right and his best troops on the riverbank.
The English struck first, advancing on the Norwegian army before it could fully deploy. Morcar’s troops pushed Harald’s back into the marshlands, making progress against the weaker section of the Norwegian line. However, this initial success proved insufficient for victory to the English army, as the Norwegians brought their better troops to bear upon them, still fresh against the weakened Anglo-Saxons.
Harald brought more of his troops from the right flank to attack the centre, and sent more men to the river. The invaders were outnumbered, but they kept pushing and shoving the defenders back. The Anglo-Saxons were forced to give ground. Edwin’s soldiers who were defending the bank now were cut off from the rest of the army by the marsh, so they headed back to the city to make a final stand. Within another hour, the men on the beck were forced off by the Norwegians. Other invading Norwegians, who were still arriving, found a way to get around the thick fighting and opened a third front against the Anglo-Saxons. Outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, the defenders were defeated. Edwin and Morcar however, managed to survive the fight.
The game used the “1066 and all that” MeG Supplement
You can read the supplement here
In the scenario game the Saxons were always the ‘attacker’.This gave the Viking choice of the ground on the pre battle map. It was the Saxons task to manoeuvre the Vikings on the map. Ideally to get the river to the Vikings rear. This failed spectacularly and the Viking hand of cards pushed them further and further away from the river.
Being 100% close infantry neither side wanted much in the way of terrain and a couple of pieces of fought going were dotted around the edge, with a secure flank of steep hills.
The armies were
The game was played by
Saxons
Pete
Bob
Vikings
Andy
Paul
All, bar Bob, were relative neophytes … and this game was a challenge.
There was – as Barker intended – very little in the way of manoeuvre tactically with both sides lining up. The Saxons has a larger army, but were lead by lesser generals. The scenario rules were that the Saxons got an additional red card during scouting (which made little odds) , also for the first turn the Vikings were all treated as allies. As such their initial hand was played face up. If they got no coloured cards they would be unreliable, simulating the surprise that the Vikings suffered.
Here is the first Viking ‘hand’. You can just see at the bottom the last card of Harald was green to prevent him getting caught with his trousers down
Again the cards dictated that none of the Vikings were unreliable. So, with all their advantage the Saxons gained nothing, and it would be decided by sword and spear.
The army closed with an almighty clash.
I don’t like the coloured chits to denote unit – but as all the figures are mine identification of who is who was a real problem. So this was a necessary evil, to help those that hadn’t played much !
The ensuing melee was challenging as the big dark age armies who were all subtly different calculated all their factors to try and understand where all the advantages were to be gained. We laid out all the dice for the whole line to illustrate this.
The Viking has 3 bases of berserks and had integrated them in the Hird. So as exceptional devastating chargers they went in first , trying to get the shatter and force their way in the lines and give their lesser comrades more of an advantage. The Huscarls (on both sides) fought to try and push back their enemies The Huscarls were not facing one another as the Viking had placed theirs on the ends of the line to try and hold on to prevent the larger Saxons flanking them. Most troops had shieldwall – so ’S” results would not count. However, ‘Skulls’ would ‘shove’ so the where the troops were better advantaged gave more opportunities for than and therefore aid the supporting files.
At the begining the battle seemed largely bloodless (just on the dice) , but the game progressed both armies ground into each other. The granularity of the troop types did give a choice of on determining the order of the combat, compared to ALDG which would have been a largely droll experience. That said it was tough, and the large number of combatants and different file types was tricky to manager. However, it did feel like a dark age battle decided with a scrum of fighting, with local advantage escalating into a larger one.
The Vikings did win ultimately, while the Huscarls held on the weaker Fyrd collapsed on the wings and when the pub beckoned Saxons had lost 4 of their 5 TuGs before collapse to the Vikings 1 out of 4. That said a couple of Viking Tugs were teetering and their smaller army could have easily have had a reverse – should the dice gods desert.
A hard fought game, which required quite a bit of concentration. Probably not best for beginners!
Godendag 2017
GODENDAG 2017
15MM ANCIENT/MEDIEVAL/RENAISSANCE DOUBLES COMPETITIONS
28TH & 29TH JANUARY 2017
NEW VENUE:
Firestorm Games (Cardiff) (Tel: 02920 227117)
Trade Street
Penarth Road
Cardiff
CF10 5DT
United Kingdom
Mortem et Gloriam
Any published army
The list submitted must not exceed 12000 points.
Umpire and list checker: Alasdair Harley
Field of Glory: Ancient/Medieval
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
Any army from 600 AD.
The list submitted must not exceed 900 points.
Umpire and list checker: Richard Bodley Scott.
rbs@byzant.demon.co.uk
Rules: See below
Field of Glory: Renaissance
EUROPE’S TRAGEDY
Any European army 1618-1648 (including Russia and Turkey).
The following list modifications and additional restrictions will apply:
To represent usual historical proportions in European armies of this period, ignoring artillery, the army cannot include more than 1 battle foot unit more than it has battle mounted units. (e.g. If you have 5 BGs of mounted battle troops, you can have up to 6 BGs of foot battle troops).
No more than half of all mounted battle troops can be Superior or Elite. Armies with insufficient Superior mounted battle troops in their army list to achieve this limit can upgrade whichever type of Average mounted troops in their list is most expensive in points to Superior to achieve the above limit.
No more than half of all foot battle troops can be Superior or Elite.
The army must have at least 6 bases of foot battle troops per heavy or medium artillery base.
The list submitted must not exceed 900 points.
Umpire and list checker: Richard Bodley Scott. rbs@byzant.demon.co.uk
Rules: See below
DBM
Any army. List not to exceed 500 points.
Umpire and list checker: John Graham-Leigh
jandagraham-leigh@blueyonder.co.uk
L’Art de la Guerre
400 points doubles, made up of 2 x 200 point armies (each army must be no more than 210 points with a total combined army size of maximum 400 points). The armies chosen must be listed as potential allies in either army list.
Armies drawn from Ancient Period, Classical Period and Roman Period lists (1-124 inclusive)
4 Games, same games times as the other periods
Umpire and list checker: Mike Baldwin
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Cost: £ 25.00 per team of 2.
(Food will be available on site, but is not included in the entry price).
Tickets are available from Firestorm’s web site: http://www.firestormgames.co.uk/events
CONTACT: RICHARD BODLEY SCOTT, 28 PRIORY GARDENS, USK, MONMOUTHSHIRE, NP5 1AJ (RBS@BYZANT.DEMON.CO.UK)
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GODENDAG 2017
VENUE:
Firestorm Games (Cardiff)
Trade Street
Penarth Road
Cardiff
CF10 5DT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 2920 227117
TIME: 8.30 – 9.00 – Registration time on Saturday
Games will be:
Saturday: 9.30 – 1.00 and 2.00 – 5.30
Sunday: 9.00 – 12.30 and 1.30 – 5.00
ENTRANCE: £ 25.00 per team of 2. (Food will be available on site, but is not included in the entry price). Tickets are available from Firestorm’s web site:
LOCAL ATTRACTIONS:
If you are able to make a long weekend of it, there are numerous local historical attractions relevant to our period. These include the Roman Legionary Fortress and Museum at Caerleon and the Roman walled city of Caerwent. Among the many local castles, the best are Chepstow, Raglan, White Castle (at Llantilio Croesenny) and Caerphilly. Caerphilly castle has a permanent exhibition of full size working medieval siege engines including ballista, mangonel, trebuchet and perrier. The Welsh Folk Museum at St. Fagans is worth a visit. The Brecon Beacons National Park and the picturesque Wye Valley are also nearby.
QUERIES: Richard Bodley Scott, 28, Priory Gardens, Usk, Gwent, NP5 1AJ. (rbs@byzant.demon.co.uk)
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FOGAM/FOGR TOURNAMENT RULES
1) Godendag is a Doubles competition. Each army is to be commanded by 2 players. Consideration will be given, however, to entries with only one player or three players if there are special circumstances.
2) The rules to be used are the current Field of Glory rules, together with the latest errata and FAQ posted on the official Field of Glory web site.
3) The competition will use the full rules including the terrain and set-up appendices. There will be no formal division of the battle groups comprising each army between the members of a team. It is usual, however, for each player to take control of the troops on about half of the battlefield.
4) The scoring system will be the standard FOG tournament scoring system, where 25 points are up for grabs each game.
5) Army lists must specify the number and size of battle groups and their order of march for deployment, and the number and type of commanders chosen. They should also include the total pre-battle initiative modifier and the territories list for the army. If the detached shot option is to be used, a second list differing only in this regard must be submitted. Once an army list has been submitted it may not be changed or altered other than to correct any errors. Players may only correct their errors by making reasonable changes to their list. It is not allowed to completely re-write the list, and the list checkers decision on this is final.
6) Please note that the Godendag 2017 Field of Glory event is a single list format. Any incorrect list discovered after a game has commenced (after set up dice have been rolled) must be corrected prior to deployment if spotted in time, and fully corrected in any case before the next match.
7) Army lists must be submitted for checking in advance and must be received by the Tournament Organiser by 14th JANUARY 2017.
8) The Tournament Organiser and List Checker is Richard Bodley Scott (rbs@byzant.demon.co.uk) 28 Priory Gardens, Usk, Monmouthshire, NP5 1AJ.
9) Players must fully define their troops as they are placed on table. Figures must provide a reasonably accurate representation of the troops they are trying to represent – they must not look deliberately misleading.
10) Table size is 6′ x 4′ and players must supply their own terrain pieces. These must be to an acceptable standard, and umpires will have the discretion to remove unsightly items. In addition all figures must be representative and painted and based to an acceptable standard.
11) Players must be present and ready to start the match at the appointed time. Where a player has a reasonable excuse for arriving late the match start will be delayed by up to 30 minutes. After which time the affected player will be awarded a bye. No player will be awarded more than one bye for any reason.
12) If a player resigns from a game at any stage after the first set up dice have been rolled their opponents will be awarded maximum points, and they will be awarded 0 points.
13) Time will be called after 3 hours 20 minutes plus up to 10 minutes. Play will stop at the end of the current phase. Players may always commence games earlier than the stated time by mutual consent, in which case their game continues until time is officially called as normal.
14) Admission to the tournament is at the sole discretion of the organisers and their decision on all matters is final. CONTACT: Richard Bodley Scott, 28 Priory Gardens, Usk, Monmouthshire, NP5 1AJ