Check It Out: Halsall's Battle in the Early Medieval West

I haven't made much time for the blog in recent weeks, but I thought I would share something with you that I recently read on Guy Halsall's blog, Historian on the Edge.

I took my time and enjoyed reading Guy's post of Battle in the Early Medieval West. He describes the piece as an unpublished entry submitted for an "Encyclopaedia of Classical Battle or some such." If you have not read Halsall's Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West c.450-900, then this is a great place to start. This piece really re-energized my love for the period after spending quite a bit of time researching, playing, and writing about other military subjects.

I think I am just starting to grasp how differently this period was from Roman Imperial Europe and the Late Medieval West. I mean, I thought that Dark Age warfare was different, but only in a rather superficial way for the most part - ie. not like Late Medieval warfare. As one might expect from Halsall, he challenges the idea that the military trip(s) from Point A (Late Antiquity) to Point B (Late Medieval) are smooth or that they can be interpolated simply by looking at data from better recorded periods.

How does this apply to wargaming? Well, right now I think I'm going to let that swim about in the back of my mind for a bit. I can kind of see pieces of how one could adapt rules to capture at least some aspects of Dark Age warfare, at least in regards to army list stats/abilities of certain types of armies. Try this - take a good look at how Halsall describes 6th Century weaponry and combat, and see if you can build a tabletop unit that moves and fights in the way described. Of course, this is just part of Dark Age warfare - there's also the matter of command and control and tactics. I'm looking forward to revisiting this subject later.

Shogun

I recently got a chance to play Milton Bradley's Shogun (aka Samurai Swords), after a wait of probably 24 years (and even then I probably played it no more than twice). I love the game - not only for it's design - but also for how some its rules could be applied to a campaign game of tabletop miniatures set in feudal Japan.

A core concept of the game is the division of armies into either field armies (each player begins with three) or provincial armies. Field armies can hold up to about 20 units, with limitations placed on the number of noble warriors and peasant spearman and matchlock gunners they may contain. Provincial garrisons may only have a handful of troops. Player choices are further limited - and made more important - by the limited number of matchlock gunners and samurai bowmen he can distribute to his forces, period. I like that. Field armies can pick up or drop off units in provinces they occupy or move through.

Most of the action takes place with the maneuver of the field armies; losing field armies certainly reduces one's offensive capability and doesn't do much for defense either (ie. fewer fire brigades). Ultimately, the game is won by the player who can take over half the island's provinces.

The importance of the field armies is heightened by gaining experience with their leaders, the daimyos. Beating an enemy army - even small provincial garrison - earns the commander experience point. With enough experience, the daimyo can make extra moves and attacks on the player's turn. That could be big - although I think I have been knocked out every game well before anyone developed that kind of expertise.

One thing I would recommend as a home rule would be offer more points to a daimyo that defeats a field army. There's gotta be a difference between besting another army of potentially equal size than it is to roll over a couple spearmen in a backwater province. This would also be a quantifiable reward for players who get the action in quick against other players instead of wheedling them out of pieces of easily obtained territory. There's got to be more honor for one daimyo to beat another daimyo.

For tabletop campaign play, I'd recommend the above to any that use some sort of territorial conquest. You would likely need to reduce the field armies to one per player and probably limited the geographic extent of the map. While army lists probably would address composition limitations and decisions, it might be kind of cool to have a bonus "Dogs of War" unit or two that one could add if a battle took place in a particular region. Battlefront's Firestorm campaign did something like this for adding special units to certain fights and this method would work well here as well.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to add that the game has been re-released under the name Ikusa by Wizards of the Coast.

Coming Up: A few more words on Monte Cassino, plus board games

While I haven't had much time for posting in the last couple of weeks due to a number of unexpected work and home improvement projects, I have been thinking about them at least.

I have a few more game-related things to say about Monte Cassino. After that, I'm ready to talk about some inspiration from Richard Borg's Battle Lore and the Milton Bradley classic, Shogun (aka Samurai Swords).

El Cid at Pine Wood of Tevar (WI 283)

El Cid!

Seriously, I have been remiss for not mentioning this great article by James Morris (another favorite historical wargaming author of mine) from WI 283 (the Gallipoli issue) before now. He and Andy Hawes put on show regarding this 'Forgotten Battle' of the great El Cid at Partizan and the result is we are treated to a visual spectacle to accompany a rather intriguing bit of history and cool scenario. It's a big article - and worth every page.

Check out the WI website here for some great pics. While you are at it, check out Andy Hawes' blog pages on Pine Wood as well here and here. Also here. If you browse Andy's blog, I'm pretty sure you will find some more El Cid army pics, not to mention Late Roman/Arthurians and a Thin Lizzy reference or two. It's always a treat to see what he does.

Hail Caesar released at Salute 2011

I suppose it was no big surprise that Warlord Games released their new ancients wargame title at Salute this weekend. Now that it's out, I know I've got to have a copy. When that happens, I'll be sure to post about it on this blog.

In the meantime, check out the PDF reference sheet downloads available at Warlord here (full color) and here (b&w). Talk about your troop types - it looks like 20 or so infantry classifications and another 20 split between all sorts of mounted, plus specials such as elephants and artillery.

I suppose as far as that goes, you might want to check out the previews and all that kind of stuff on the Hail Caesar page.

WI Artillery Issue: Medieval Guns

Cover of WI 281

Picking up from the last review of Wargames Illustrated's Artillery Issue (#281), we move onto the late medieval period. While I have a general notion of artillery's growing role in military and social trends of the era preceding the dawn of the nation states (and some of that might very well be oversimplified myth by now...), I had no real idea of how it all really got started - nor how complicated and interesting it truly was.

Jim Graham's "Extensive Knowledge of Powder" really does the trick. He gives us a good look at the mercenary nature of the early gunsmiths and how they plied their trade between the Ottoman Empire and Scotland. The reader gets a treat of sidebars on the gunsmith, his patron, and the weapons he creates.

Jim gives us right-sized bits on the scientific, tactical, and political applications (and ramifications) of medieval gunnery.  The article finishes with a 'Siege of Orleans, 1428' scenario.

Right off I see that the article should give sneaky scenario designers some ideas on the iffy nature of medieval guns.  You know, things like increasing the chance for a catastrophic failure for attempting to fire at (or possibly exceed?) long range. Then there's the problem with the gunsmiths offering their services to the highest bidders - easily something worked into a campaign game. It also makes me think that in a campaign game that it might not be easy to replace lost artillery.

Anyway, I've come away with a lot of cool ideas that embrace the dicey nature of the medieval artillery game. Anyone who regularly plays with medieval guns in their tabletop games will get their money's worth out of Jim's insights and have every excuse to make their miniature artillery and even more exciting prospect.

Wargames Illustrated 278 (A Short Review)

I finally got my hands on WI 278. I was quite pleased with it. As mentioned in the short preview post some time back, the 'Sengoku Showdown' makes for good - and exciting - reading.

First off, I do want to thank Dan and Dave for making 'Wargaming The Armies of Carthage' look so good and for some solid editorial guidance. I hope to do some more of these kinds of articles for popular armies of the ancient world. If you are familiar with either of the Roman Army wargaming articles, expect to see more emphasis on gaming with this one. 


'Legends of the Rising Sun' was pretty cool. The concept is based on Warhammer Historicals' 'Legends of the West' and 'Legends of the High Seas', but in medieval Japan. Warbands/gangs of samurai, monks, ninjas, and others can duke it out. It looks like an exciting game, and here is some online bits for the game at the WI site: rules and an article on 17th Century street gangs of Japan.


There is also a great article on scratch-building North African desert village buildings. 


Another favorite piece is by Barry Hilton, giving his report on Historicon and discussing the differences between the US and UK historical gaming scenes. I believe he nailed the American attitude towards gaming conventions on the head. 


I haven't had a chance to read the 'Fleet of Battle' rules in the magazine yet, but it is one of the main draws for me. A good set of naval rules is just about required if you want to game the First Punic War. I may have to pull out my ancient copy of Hasbro's Conquest of Empire and see if I can draft its galleys into service. 


OK - there's more, but I haven't fully explored the whole issue yet. Even so, I'd call this issue a winner.
 

Normans in Ireland

I was quite pleased how my Normans in Ireland (the ca 1170 invasion) article turned out in Wargames Illustrated 277. Dan F did a fantastic job of translating the game scenario into tabletop pics and Matt Parkes did some pretty cool conversions for late 12th Century Normans - its kind of a transitional period between First Crusade and High Middle Ages for their armor and weapons. 


I have been intrigued withe subject matter since I encountered it in Tim Newark's Celtic Warriors in the early 90s. While I don't necessarily agree with the book's pan-Celtic theme - I'm not sure all Celtic peoples shared a common bond or identification throughout the ages, nor that they viewed the world in terms of 'Celts v. Everybody Else - especially those Saxon/Norse Types' - it made for some good reading and had a lot of ancient and medieval sources.


Gerald of Wales wrote a contemporary/near-contemporary account of the late 12th Century Anglo-Norman invasion. I highly recommend an online translation for anyone interested in researching the period. There's lots of wargame scenario ideas, from skirmishes to battles to be found there - and it has lots of flavor. Be warned, Gerald may be a little biased towards the Normans. Gerald of Wales' History of the Conquest of Ireland may be found online at the University of Toronto Library. 

Also of note: Wargames Illustrated has been digging out the ancient archives to support recent articles, and they pull out a series of 12th Century Anglo-Norman battles this time around. Follow this link to download PDFs for Lincoln, Oxford, and Wilton (written by Stephen Simpson, originally published in WI 29-31).

Siege of Jerusalem 1099

Of course, Wargames Illustrated's First Crusade theme issue wasn't all about me. As I stated in the initial post of this week of blogs, a lot of people came together for this project.

Author Neil Smith handled an in-depth review of the crusaders' hurried campaign against the Holy City and the factional problems in leadership that hindered them from moving against their objective for almost a year after they captured Antioch (and withstood its attempted recapture). Their unbelievably successful lightning march in the spring of 1099 put them deep within enemy territory. A well-timed delivery of wood and craftsmen at the port of Jaffa enabled them to erect massive siege towers with which they finally took the city. The battles for Jerusalem's walls were pretty incredible, the resulting massacre of its citizens unbelievable.

Neil wrote a very cool game scenario for the gauntlet that was the crusader's mission to Jaffa. He captures the Franks' divided command structure and agendas for personal glory quite well as they try to escort the crucial cargo of siege supplies back to Jerusalem.

The article features a photograph of a scale model siege tower. The very excellent modeler-supreme Paul Davies constructed this marvel and the issue features a how-to article for building one yourself.

The Last Battle of Antioch (Wargames Illustrated)

I wrote a scenario for the crusader's breakout from Antioch (June 1098). After taking the city after a long, cruel winter, the crusaders found themselves trapped within the walls shortly after their moment of triumph. Surrounded by a larger army and with little to sustain them in the way of depleted food stores, the Franks decided to make a last ditch effort against the enemy hordes. Fortunately, they had excellent tactical leadership with Bohemund of Taranto and Robert of Normandy, religious fervor spurred by the discovery of Christ's Lance, and a reluctant alliance as their opponent. They actually won the battle against the overwhelming numbers of foes  who for the most part, don't seem to have fought - the ones that did were challenge enough, though.


This was a cool game scenario to design because it does away with the typical mounted crusader image. Many of the knights engaged in this battle without horses because they had lost so many during the hard siege. Bohemund commands most of the cavalry in his reserve formation, punching at the enemy as needed. 


This article was originally written as part of the 'Introduction to the First Crusade' article, but instead lives on the Wargames Illustrated website (and a pdf) here.

The photograph is taken from the online article page. I really love the Perry Brothers' work and Dan F's eye for pics.

The Battle of Dorylaeum, 1 July 1097

I wrote this article and scenario as part of Wargames Illustrated's recent First Crusade theme issue.  

The battle of Dorylaeum took place in the river valley hinterland of Anatolia (Turkey), where the large vanguard of the crusader army found itself caught in a large ambush shortly after its initial successes against the Seljuk Turks at Nicaea. Their Turkish foes caught them at a valley junction and the Frankish warriors and pilgrims hurriedly set up a defensive position at the edge of a marsh. They withstood repeated charges and volleys of arrows and javelins from morning to afternoon, when the rearguard arrived to rebuff and outflank the persistent enemy horsemen.


As a game scenario I approached this engagement in two phases. Just like the real event, if the desperate vanguard survives the initial onslaught, the game continues to the next phase, when help decisively arrives. Both players get a chance to pour it on a disadvantaged opponent.

The First Crusade

Wargames Illustrated recently published a First Crusade-themed issue (#267/Jan 2010), which featured a couple of articles that I wrote - 'Introduction to the First Crusade' and 'The Battle of Dorylaeum'. More than that, the editors allowed me to drive the theme content - ie. suggest other articles and graphic content. I thoroughly enjoyed getting a chance to glimpse the editorial side of things and I certainly gained a better appreciation of one of their responsibilities. For me, this was another kind of milestone.

Before going further, I need to seriously thank the editors for what they did to make the finished work look so good. The authors involved with the other First Crusade articles really took the ball and ran with it - and I'm grateful to their efforts as well. The last kudos go to the fabulous Perry Brothers of wargaming miniature fame. The articles primarily used figures from their collection - who could ask for more on a project like this? Well, I suppose the last bit of icing is that some of the material (not published in the printed magazine) made it onto the new Wargames Illustrated website to give folks a taste of what's in the magazines.

I'll review some of the individual articles in following posts. In the meantime, follow this link to the WI website to see a First Crusade chronology.