Friday, November 29, 2019

9th November, Tarrington


After our weekend in Kenilworth, the following Saturday saw us head off towards the Welsh border for the first round of a new Society of Ancients sponsored UK DBA League season.

This event uses the scramble format ... everyone picks/takes their army but, mostly, the army you play with is drawn randomly from a pool of everyone's submissions.  But (a) you fight against your own army the first round; (b) you fight with it in the last round; and, (c) in between, you will always get a different army and it won't be your own.

Further, the terrain selections come as part of the package.

I particularly like this last aspect as it allows the 'thinking' of the army to be complete.  I also think it speeds the set up ... it is difficult enough to hit the ground runnig with an army which might be completely new to you.  Being defender and having to choose the terrain modules as well would be a lot to think about.


I decided to go with Early Lombard as I was looking at needing to refurbish the warbands and updating the photographs ...

Here is the new gallery: Early Lombard 

That, and I thought it would be a solid sort of an army that I knew how to play with.  Tarrington requires that you specify before round one whether dismountable troops will fight on foot or mounted (and then everyone has to follow that choice): the 4 'follower' knights can dismount as warband (so I opted to define them as infantry).

So the Lombards would fight as a 3Kn Gen + 4x 3Kn; 4 x 4Wb and 3 x 3Bw.  I managed to defeat them in the first round and win with them at the end - so, for me, at least, that arrangement was the right one!

(Double prize fund ... books (left) offered in reverse order ... trophies for the players and their armies)

Armies I fought with and against over the six games included Dacians, Hyksos, Irish, Early Achaemenid Persian, Tuareg, Midianite and Khazar.  And Lombard.

(Baptism of fire ... taking the Dacian/Sarmation combo up against my Lombards)

(Tarrington 2019: some more of my games)

 (Tarington 2019: with the Early Lombards against the Khazars ...)

(Tarrington 2019: prizes for the best and worst armies plus the slayer award for the player with the bloodiest games)
 
Surprisingly, I won all six games, and so won this round of the UK DBA League.  I was able to beat the Lombards in game 1 and win with them in game 6.  And I got the lucky for the games in between. 

Actually, I'm surprised how badly the Lombards did (13th out of 16 scoring only 7 points all told, 3 of which were mine in the last game): then again, I was lucky not to have to fight Tuareg with it.

The top scoring army was Papal Italian.  The most challenging was one of the two Tuaregs (the other tuareg did quite well so don't read too much into any of this) ...

Here's some results

Position Points         Player                 Army                   Army Points Army Pos. Slayer Points
      1        18         Phil Steele         Early Lombard                       7              13                   33
      2        12         Patrick Myers   Dacian/Sarmatian                  13              4                    34
      3        11         Craig Allen     Later Carthaginian/Spanish         9             10                    27
      4        11         Colin O’Shea    Papal Italian                           16              1                    30
      5        11         Stephen Finn   Medieval Irish                          14              2                    31
      6        10         Richard Pulley  Khazar                                  10              8                    33
      7          9         Baldie              Early Ach'm. Persian/Lykian   10              9                    30
      8          9         Alan Davison     Later Hyksos                          7             11                   37
      9          9         Pete Duckworth Norse Irish/Anglo-Norman        4             15                   34
    10          9         Scott Russell     Tuareg                                 13               3                   36
    11          9         Neil Mason        Midianite                               11              5                    35
    12 Mark Johnson, Tuareg; 13 Mark Skelton, Numidian; 14 Martin Smith, Makkan; 15 Matthew Davison Early Imperial Roman; 16 Pete James, Sub Roman British (Vortigern)

(Tarrington 2019: the top 3, with Craig in the middle)

(more armies from the Tarrington scramble credits to Martin Smith)

So, another UK DBA League season begins.  Tarrington is a great event and a special challenge.  Well done Martin for putting it all together.

On a broader note, I know the players would like my to register our thanks to the Society of Ancients for their continued support of the League.  It brings people together and that is much appreciated.

(Tarrington 2019: the 'players and umpire' publicity shot)

Monday, November 25, 2019

1st to 3rd November, Kenilworth


In which the Shows North 'on the move' blog shifts to Kenilworth for the annual Society weekend:

The 2019 Society of Ancients Conference

This was probably the last time at the current venue, Chessford Grange ... excellent for a number of reasons (less than ideal for others).  It will be going out on a high.

This report will have more than the usual number of pictures as I participated in a number of splendid sessions and wanted to do them justice.

But after a Friday evening of pick up games, board games and chats in the bar, Day One began with a talk by Mike Ingram.

SATURDAY


There was a preamble by me on why you need to abandon all your old books on Bosworth and base your interpretation on someting written since the 2009 archaeological survey.

Basically, 200 years ago, an influential antiquarian moved the battlefield to the wrong location based on local anecdote but no facts or artefacts ... 10 years ago, a major archaeological survey was commissioned by the Battlefields Trust which - after a lot of searching - finally found unquestionable evidence of the location ... and strangely the location ties in with references on early maps etc. before the late 18th century shift to the wrong location ... (in a nutshell)...

Bosworth is the 2020 BattleDay topic and the single biggest challenge Richard faces will be to get game designers to abandon their old Osprey and L&L Soc books (which have fictional reconstructions tied to landscape features that are not on the battlefield) and embrace the new, much simpler story of what unfolded on the flat land straddling Fenn Lanes (no Ambion Hill on the real battlefield).

(the real Bosworth: the penultimate phase as seen by Mike Ingram: the French engage while Northumberland departs - Richard now needs to make a decisive intervention)

Mike went on to explain the campaign, orders of battle, troop origins and probable weaponry etc.  The likely deployments (as given, at least, in the contemporary accounts) and how these led to Richard's downfall.

He also explained how Bosworth formed part of overt French foreign policy - and only really happened because the French (or Madame, at least) decided it was time to intervene.

If you are interested, Mike's book is available on Amazon:  Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth

Anyway ... great talk.  Other presentations included Harry Sidebottom on 3rd Cent. Rome; Graham Evans on the Battle of Edgcote; Simon MacDowall on the Goths and Matt Bennett on William Marshall and Medieval Tournaments.  That's a great line-up in itself

Games ...


(a Bosworth inspired skirmish game from Simon MacDowall using Swoppets) 

Simon's game was actually quite quick to pick up and rattled through a couple of actions that resulted in my Richard III being able to charge and topple the upstart earl of Richmond.  Good stuff, then.

(melee)

(Richard wheels away wounded - rolled a 1 -  from the combat where he killed the earl of Richmond - Henry Tudor)

The mechanisms were quite (shall we say) 'traditional' but had a lot of merit and might well have been a good way to do the tournament game that followed after lunch ...

History changes ...

In no particular order, here's a collage of other games going on ...

(Chariot warfare, Gangs of Rome, Adrianople - To The Strongest - and Sumerians)

(Simon gave an interesting summary of what we know about the Goths)

Tournaments

Then Matthew Bennett gave a brief appraisal of the Norman and Medieval tournament scene and the deeds of William Marshall.  Followed by game in which bands of Knights and men-at-arms picked fights with each other to win money.

(Medieval prize fighting: the tournament ground was more than just a tilt yard)

(some of the players put their heaped winnings on the table)

(to the victor the spoils) 

As a surprise to the players, punctuating each flurry of combat, Matt awarded a prize (books about the Marshall) to the player topping the money stakes at the time.

Food for thought.

Dinner ...

More thought ... more food ...

This year, academic, author and wargamer, Harry Sidebottom gave us a fascinating look at Rome's forgotten era - the third Century AD.  Valerian being made prisonner by the Sassanids; appeasing the Germans; fighting for the Imperial crown, Civil War and fragmentation.  Rome, said Harry, repeatedly sowed the seeds of her own eventual fall.


I was fascinated by all this as it addressed the unmentionable: even a great, classic guide like Warry's Warfare in the Classical World follows the military history of Greece and Rome though, epoch by epoch, until the age of Augustus (around 1,000 years in just under 200 pages) then wraps the whole story up in a couple of chapters (500 years in less than 30 pages): not a lot, given how profusely illustrated the text is.

Harry gave a flavour of how rich the missing stories can be. 

... and after dinner ...

(more games from SoAC 19 ... Mongols, Commands and colours, Northampton 1460 and Rome on the march)

Telamon

My contribution to the late entertainment was what I expect to be the final run at Telamon - the 2019 BattleDay feature - with the current version of DBA (V3): this time 'Big Battle' DBA.

(BBDBA at SoAC 2019: Papus and Regulus trap the Gallic host)

(the Gauls fought valliantly and outscored the Roman infantry in repeated charges)

(Telamon at the Society of Ancients Conference: part of a Roman camp)

The game was hard fought but, on both fronts, the Warband inflicted frontal losses on the Romans.  Eventually the Gallic prowess (aka luck) in close combat demoralised all three Roman commands.

This was the most decisive win in a series of games in which the Romans have generally been victorious.  Indeed, previously, it had been looking unbalanced.

History changes ...

Sunday morning


Sunday kicked off with Graham Evans talking us through the evidence for what happened at Edgcote in 1469 (NB, again, Wikipedia is useless on this battle), re-evaluating the evidence and making sense of it (such as, e.g. it was fought on the 24th July, very clearly not on the 26th) ...

... followed by a 4 player run at our reconstruction of the battle with 28mm Foundry figures and Hail Caesar rules.

(The battle of Edgcote on Danesmoor on July 24th 1469)

(Edgcote at SoAC 2019: an eager earl of Devon moves his archers onto the battlefield)

In this playing of the battle, an eager Humphrey Stafford (earl of Devon) was quickly up in support of Pembroke's Welsh array (i.e. good early command rolls).  Meanwhile, whilst holding most of the line on Edgcote Lodge Hill, William Herbert (earl of Pembroke) sent off a party of mounted Men-at-Arms to ride around the rebel left.

(Pembroke had the part of his force mount up to outflank the rebels.  He chose not to lead it personally) 

Once he had taken a few hits from the rebel archers, Herbert went in hard on the rebel centre, cutting down Robin of Redesdale.  3 times, Robin was hit.  Twice, he popped up somewhere else.  Meanwhile, first Richard Herbert, Pembroke's brother, was killed in the melee, then the earl himself was cut down and captured.  Nevertheless, the retinue around them, well-harnessed - the best men in Wales - fought on, undaunted.

(Edgcote at SoAC: the battle for the centre) 

The Conyers contingent broke and fled.

(Edgcote at SoAC: despite the loss of their leaders, the Herberts chase the Conyers from the battlefield) 

The rebel reinforcements (Gates and Parr) eventually collapsed but not before repulsing the cavalry attack and breaking Herbert's main battle (leaving just Herbert's own, now leaderless, contingent hacking at the fleeing rebels).  At the same time, the main rebel battle broke and the battle was won.  By Humphrey Stafford.

(Holding the field of Edgcote at SoAC 2019: Humphrey Stafford, earl of Devon)

So .. a result we had not seen before ... We rolled dice to see whether Herbert's men were able to recover their leader (who had fallen captive earlier in the fighting) but the dice said he was dead.  Likewise Robin of Redesdale, though it had become unclear who, indeed, was Robin of Redesdale.

The Welsh will mourn the loss of the Herbert brothers but King Edward will be pleased with the recently appointed earl of Devon.  So not quite what really happened.

History changes ...

Sunday afternoon

After a roast lunch and the Conference wash up, those with further to travel started to take their leave.  I had less far to go, and with my work for the weekend done, I settled down to be a player in one of the final sessions: a 6mm Hydaspes using Hail Caesar.

I thought this would be useful and entertaining as, with the Edgcote game, I pretend to know my way around HC these days.

This Hydaspes game is the one run at the 2015 BattleDay

(SoAC 2019: 6mm Hydaspes game from the BattleDay of 5 years ago)

Great panoramic battlefield but, ever trusting in my mobile phone, I tried a gratuitous close-up (which I think flatters both the phone and Pete Berry's figures) ... Click on the picture for a better view ...

(Hydaspes: splendid Indian Chariots by Baccus) 

It was a very grand and formal affair (lots of units and lots of space) compared to my shambling medieval methodology - and it was useful and entertaining to get to use the mechanisms 'properly'.

I commanded the left wing of the Indian array and although the wargame, as wargame, still had plenty left to run, we wrapped up when Alexander rescued his shattered Companions one too many times and succumbed to the dreaded death roll.

(Hydaspes: the Indians heap pressure and misfortune on Alexander)

Again, history changes ...

*******

All in all, a great weekend and an event the Society of Ancients can be proud of.   We explored Ancient and Medieval warfare with talks, boardgames and figure games (and over pints in the bar) ... we wargamed from Ur to Bosworth, from the heart of Europe to India and the Asian Steppe ... and with figures from 6mm to 54mm (and with commercial rules, self-published rules and experimental homegrown mechanisms).  A truly representative mix.

Thanks to everyone involved - I am looking forward to next year and a new venue.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

DBA Special: III/24 Middle Anglo Saxon 617 to 1016 AD

(Phil's Anglo-Saxons: original photo)

This army now gets a gallery after the reorganisation and refurbishment of a number of Dark Age components, Saxons, Goths, Gepids etc. formerly featured together (here and here)

The army rephotographed:


Book 3 List 24a Middle Anglo Saxon for DBA V3

So just a word about the lists ... this is 'middle' Anglo-Saxon and comes in an early and a late version.  Earlier Anglo-Saxons (the Hengist and Horsa folk) are covered by list II/73 and are basically all warband but for a single Ps.  'Later' Anglo-Saxons are covered by Anglo Danish (the Hastings period) ...

So this is the heptarchy period and the wars against the Danes ...

The core of these armies is 'select fyrd' (Sp) ... the earlier list (a) hird (household troops) are warband and have a cavalry option, the later hird are 4Bd but lose the cavalry option.  In 11th cent.armies we usually call them huscarls.  I can do either but have tagged the army (a) because of the cavalry. Some of the figures have long shields which does, of course, suggest a later date.

(the command group are Donnington New Era figures)

(Donnington, Khurasan and Peter Pig figures)

(as above plus Museum, Gladiator, Irregular, Lurkio, Essex, Two Dragons, Chariot, Tabletop and Outpost)


I suspect most people will take the Spearmen although a shield wall of 7Hd has a lot of period feel about it.  You can have 4 of them in the Anglo-Danish.

(all Gladiator/Metal Magic figures although I think the rider is on a Mirliton horse)

(the kneeling figure is Essex, the attacking figure is Gladiator/Metal Magic)

(cavalry are Chariot Minatures, the foot are: 2 Metal Magic plus a Two Dragons and an Essex)

LONGSHIP CAMP

The original Anglo-Saxons were, of course, 'boat people', invaders and migrants from Northern Europe, and although we think of the Danes as the archetypal longship raiders, the English were always seafarers and the great rivers were the highways of Dark Age Britain - so I decided to give these Angelfolc a longship camp ... beached on a river or inlet to the rear of the battlefield.  That would be just off the table in most games, of course, and the ship will have been dragged ashore (and so just on the table edge) - it all makes sense to me.


The ship is one of those old Revell ones (regularly re-issued under various brands)  and - judging by the shields - is a little under 10mm scale.  I swapped the plastic sail for a spare, furled, Essex one.  There's an Essex and a Hallmark crew figure and a miscellaneous heap of supplies.

(longship with camp follower)

The camp follower, in this case, is just a Ps element with the base notched to accommodate  the mast structure.  I decided in this instance to match the basing to the rest of the land army (so it's just an army element sitting in the boat) rather than match it to the vessel - I guess a perspex base would be another option.


There's also a couple of basic 'baggage heap' camps which I recently added as we have a big game coming up and will need some extra baggage markers.  I bought these decades ago and I am sure they were from Peter Pig.  When Colours was at the Hexagon, anyway.  Drum roll: they have now been painted and have a job!

(Big Battle baggage)

BUAs

Also in the Anglo-Saxon box are a number of bua options which I will include in this gallery - a ring fort and some huts ... the huts can go in the fort or on my generic terrain templates to make hamlets ...

(scratchbuilt fort with a rock 'Barker marker' and some resin huts)

(generic cork tile templates serving as hamlets)

The gateway to the earthwork is an element wide.


This army is an ideal opponent for the Vikings although strictly speaking you should use the later variant (24b)