Watching a bunch of overpaid footballers on the telly always inspires me to get my DBA mercenaries out. This is a picture from my latest battle, featuring Condottiere Italians against Renaissance Swiss. The Italians won, but it was a close call – just click on the image for a full-size version:
I’ve just finished reading Philip Matyszak’s military biography of Mithridates. This is a subject I knew almost nothing about prior to reading the book, and I came away enlightened, amused and slightly horrified. Matyszak’s book is a short but thorough study of a man whose career was one long struggle against the Roman state. Matyszak is an entertaining writer, and the life of Mithridates makes for great copy. When he wasn’t fighting the Romans Mithridates was bumping off members of his own family, including several of his sons, his sister, and probably his own mother and brother. He was notorious for dosing himself up on a wide range of poisons in order to build up his immunity, developing an allegedly encyclopedic knowledge of the subject along the way. And then there was the matter of the ‘Asian Vespers’, where he ordered the massacre of every Roman and Italian in the region, with the result that 80,000 men, women and children were slaughtered by his allies. So Mithridates is hardly a heroic figure in any conventional sense, despite his tenacity and personal bravery in opposing the Roman juggernaut.
The book is written in a very entertaining style, with a light touch and the occasional laugh-out-loud moment. It also provides a solid narrative of the events from a military perspective, with detailed sections on the battles of the River Amnias, Chaeronea and Tigranocerta. There’s plenty of material here for a promising wargames campaign, which would be all the more interesting for including not only the Romans and the Pontics (whose military organisation changed significantly over the course of the wars), but also Armenians, Greeks, Galatians and others.
Matyszak’s Mithridates is a larger-than-life character, sometimes brutal and always ambitious, but also capable of inspiring great loyalty. And (as the title says) he was an indomitable and remorseless enemy of Rome’s insatiable lust for power and gold – a man who became a legend among foes and friends alike.
Verdict – highly recommended, and another winner from the Pen & Sword publishing house!
I recently played another variant on the ‘static defence’ theme, with an Undead army led by two Magicians facing a heroic ‘Arabian Nights’ force. This is how they lined up (the Undead are at the bottom of the picture):
Here are the Undead in more detail, with Hordes supported by the two Magicians and some Warbands, plus reinforcements off-table:
And here are the Arabians, consisting of a core of Spears plus a unit of Knights, a Flyer, a Shooter, a Behemoth and a Rider General:
The rules were similar to those used previously, but with provision for the following random Undead reinforcements (throwing on a D6):
1 -2 : Witches (Flyer)
3 – 4: Pumpkin Head (Sneaker)
5 : Ghosts (Warbands x 2 elements)
6 : Undead Charioteer (Hero)
As things panned out the Arabians proved far too strong for the Undead Hordes, cutting through them easily and getting to the Magicians before they could do any serious damage. An Undead Sneaker (old Pumpkin Head himself) belatedly arrived on the Arabian flank, but the Undead general had neither the time nor the pips to bring him into the action. So, a fun game but a little one-sided in the end!
No, you haven’t accidentally clicked on a Tom of Finland website. Better luck next time ;o) It’s been a while since I got my toys out, but over the past few days I’ve been playing a variant of what I think was the first scenario I ever posted on here. Basically it’s designed to create a static enemy position, but with the added spice of reinforcements arriving unexpectedly. The HPG (human player general) will have little clear intelligence as to when they’ll arrive (if at all), what they’ll consist of, or from which direction they’ll enter the fray. Of course it’s just another variant of one the oldest solo set-ups of all, but it’s been fun playing it…which after all is the main thing!
So, this is how it stacks up. A roving band of Vikings have been caught off-guard, and have taken up a strong defensive position with impassable terrain covering their flanks. They elect to form a shield-wall, and behind them stand their leader – an Icelandic witch of great prowess – and a magician who hides his lack of scruples beneath his pointy green hat. They won’t shift, and they won’t cut and run; to defeat them, they have to be wiped out to the last man (or woman). The NPG (non player general) will simply attempt to maintain the cohesion of the shield-wall, reinforcing it where necessary, and direct the two magic users to take out the most vulnerable or most dangerous enemy units. The Norse army consists of 8 Blades and 2 Magicians.
As the HPG you command a force of Carolingian Franks consisting of 3 Knights, 3 Shooters (bowmen) and 6 Spears. Your most potent weapon is the Knights, and here I’ve varied the usual HoTT rules somewhat. Knights have the potential to “quick kill” Blades in this scenario; if the Blades are beaten (but not doubled) by Knights, throw a D6 – with a throw of 4 to 6 saving them, and anything lower meaning that they are destroyed. Clearly it will be in the interest of the Vikings to direct their magical attacks primarily against your Knights.
To add a little spice to what would otherwise be a static encounter, Viking reinforcements may arrive once per game. After the end of game turn 4, dice at the start of each Viking turn. If a 6 is thrown, reinforcements have arrived. Throw a D6 once more to determine the make-up of the reinforcements:
1 – 2: War Dogs (1 element, Beasts)
3 – 4: Frost Giants (1 element, Behemoth)
5 – 6: Valkyries (2 elements, Flyers)
Then throw a D6 again to determine point of entry (your baseline, your left flank or your right flank). Note that although the reinforcements can move that turn, if they are out of command range they will need the extra Pip to do so. The priority of the reinforcements is to single out and attack your most vulnerable unit(s), or your General if he is accessible to them. As the HPG you lose as per the standard HoTT rules, so in this sense the NPG has the edge over you!
This has produced a fairly balanced game so far, and naturally has a huge potential for variation and development. Simple but effective! Here are a few pics from three different games:
My Knight General sandwiched between Norse warriors and Valkyrie:
Valkyrie surround a unit of Carolingian archers:
Enter Frost Giants, stage left:
Turn 11
Robert: 2. His force is struck by disease. Two units are lost (Spears). Robert isn’t having much luck!
Henry: 4. Barren lands. No effect, no further action.
Turn 12
Robert: 6. Easy plunder. Better fortune for Robert this time. He picks up 50 gold pieces from the terrified locals.
Henry: 5. Reinforcements arrive – one Knight element.
Turn 13
Robert: 1. Desertion! This is disastrous for Robert, one Bow element deserts, leaving him with just eleven elements in all.
Henry: 6. Easy plunder – Henry adds 50 gold to his coffers as his good fortune continues.
Turn 14
Robert: 9. Hostile force encountered! His depleted forces face an army of Vikings. Robert has no choice but to pay 100 gold in ransom and turn for home. His campaign has been dogged by bad luck from beginning to end.
Henry: 1. Desertion! Henry loses one unit of Spears, but it is of no importance now, as his field army remains formidable. As a messenger arrives with news of his brother’s ignominious retreat Henry realises that he has won the day, with 600 gold pieces in his coffers to his brother’s 350, and much honour to his name. He too heads for home, but in far better spirits than his hapless brother. Henry has taken a giant step towards winning his father’s favour, and with it the dukedom.
Final Thoughts
The campaign was a lot of fun but there were flaws in the way I set it up:
1. It was a mistake mixing HoTT and DBA armies, and jumping between the two rulesets. This made it easier to fall into the second error, which was…
2. To inadvertently pick ‘killer armies’ for my two protagonists. I suspect that the potent pool of Knights, Bows, Blades and Spears available to my semi-historical Normans would have blown away most Dark Age DBA opponents. The games against the Welsh and the Slavs were very one-sided affairs (though the Slavs might have done better if they’d got decent pip scores). Against HoTT opposition (as the battle against the Ratmen showed) the contest was much more even. So…
3. Next time around I’ll avoid mixing the rulesets. I’ll also ensure that the campaigning armies will be more vulnerable – and that they’ll meet a good range of tough opponents!
I will probably also look again at the attrition side of the rules. Poor old Robert lost out to a run of bad dice throws, without much chance to do anything about it. Still, I suppose you could argue that’s all part of the fortunes of war…
Turn 9: Robert and Henry both receive reinforcements of one Blade unit apiece.
Turn 10: Robert’s new Blades don’t like the look of things and immediately desert! Henry meanwhile finds himself facing a Slav attacker. The Slav NPG is designated aggressive, but without the advantage of choosing the terrain he faces a difficult struggle. Henry (on the right in the picture below) deploys Knights, Blades and Bows to face his enemies:
Slav Auxilia advance into the bad going to take on the Norman bowmen – surely their best chances of picking off some enemy units:
This fight develops on the Norman left, while Henry advances his centre and right towards the waiting Slavs, who are immobilised by poor pip throws:
A lucky dice throw sees off one unit of Slav Auxilia, while there is a stand-off in the rough going:
Hand-to-hand fighting all along the line, with Bows flanking Auxilia in the rough and Henry’s Blades and Knights crashing into the Psiloi-supported Auxilia in the centre:
The Slav Auxilia hold off the Norman Bows, but in the centre it’s a different story, with two quick kills for the Normans:
The Slav general launches a desperate counter attack against a unit of Norman Blades, but another Auxilia detachment is destroyed and it’s game over:
It’s another thumping victory for Henry, whose war chest at the end of turn ten stands at 550 gold pieces. Robert, in contrast, still has only 300 gold pieces.
