Going post AD 450

Well, now that the first half of the CWC DBA competition is behind me it’s time to look at what I’ll field in the second half. I’m still going around in circles on what army to use, but I think I’m getting closer to a way forward. I like the idea of the Early Muslim North Africa and Sicily (III/33), and I’ve now learnt a lot more about them since I started looking at them. They remain a little light for a competition army and perhaps the Fanatic Berbers (III/74) would be better. They are similar geographically and temporally to the North Africans, and I can imagine creating an army that could morph into both of them and into the Andalusian army (III/34). However, I remain reluctant to buy more figures until I’ve painted some of the stack I’ve got.

Therefore, I reckon I’ll set to on the early feudal figures I’ve got from Essex. I’ve done a few and a relaxing way into this army might be to rebase these on MDF in the style I’m using now. I painted the Essex Normans that I’ve done in no time, so I may be able to do the same with the stuff remaining. Whether I use these figures as the Early Crusader (IV/7) army as I was thinking earlier or not, or as some other army that it can easily morph into, I can definitely use it as an opponent for whatever army I look to get next.

So that settles, hopefully, my next painting project. I’m coming back to going with the Komnenan Byzantines (IV/1a) as an army for the competition. I’ve got the figures already, from Outpost. However, my efforts to paint them hit a brick wall when my heart was really in painting some of the Corvus Belli figures I’d just got. On top of this I’d made a hash of replacing the spears of some of the cavalry. Anyway, I figure I could finish this army quite quickly and use it for practice and then look to sell it. As it is, it’s in limbo, some elements are done (six of the possible seventeen) and most of the rest are started. This would make it hard to sell as an unpainted army. It’d be better to paint it with a view to selling it than to leave it in this state.

The plan, then, is to finish the Komnenans after the feudals. Once I’ve done those two I can start seeing how the Komnenans fare as an army. I can consider buying one from Khurasan Miniatures and look to sell the Outpost one. The feudals would be useful as opponents for the Komnenans and should have the flexibility to model quite a few potential opponents from Books III and IV. This delays buying anything else until I’ve done some painting, which has to be a good thing, as I can see myself getting overwhelmed by unpainted lead and doing nothing!

Also, another reason for not buying yet is that I’ve yet to paint any of the Khurasan figures that I have, and before I buy more I plan to paint at least one element of their Normans. They’d be used initially for the Komnenans, but I can see myself getting an army of Khurasan feudals at some stage. Patience!

Hordes

Last week I painted up three elements of 7Hd for the Battle of Hastings. I also finished all the figures I need for the King Magnus campaign.

Feudal Hordes

These are all Essex figures, some of which I got by trade from Paul Potter. They are pretty primitive looking figures, some are armed with lumps of wood or crude stone clubs. They’ll be used in campaign games for emergency reinforcements. The middle element is made up of figures without trousers, so it’s particularly suitable for the Welsh and Pre-feudal Scots, who don’t hold with such fashion!

I also finished one 3Sp and two 3Bw for the Welsh (Feudal Castings, of course). Until I’m inspired to paint the early Welsh option (lots of 3Wb), that’s all of them for now, though I do have the figures for some more command elements, particularly another mounted one, but I think other projects will take priority.

More Welsh

And I’ve done some more Viking archers (also Feudal Castings), only to decided that if I make the Anglo-Norse huscarls immune to QK, they won’t need any more light troops. Still, I’ve now got enough archers for two Viking armies, and I’ve probably got the blades too, if I painted the rest; again I can’t see that being an immediate priority.

Viking Archers

The Battle of Hastings (Harold v. William)

No sooner had Harold sent the Norwegians packing, after a hard fight, than he got news that William of Normandy had landed in the south. Without hesitating he marched his forces to meet this challenge to his sovereignty. He was able to recover one element of the fyrd he’d lost at Stamford and he brought his force up to strength with some hastily raised levies of dubious worth. Hi s force to face the Norman invader was, 3x4Bd (huscarls), 6x4Sp (fyrd), 1x2Ps (skirmishers) and 2x7Hd (fyrd dregs). The huscarls acquitted themselves so well at Stamford that I decided to give them a bonus; they can only be killed by knights if they’re doubled. This was a variant rule I saw in Slingshot 263 (“The Normans in Italy”). It seems eminently reasonable to make these elite troops the steadiest in the army against knights rather than some of the most vulnerable.

William had brought with him plenty of cavalry (7x3Kn and 1x2LH) with some spear (2x4Sp) and archers (2x2Ps). It was a toss-up whether to deploy the archers as skirmishers or in formation, as the formed-up archers could have a lot of fun with the hordes, but then so can the knights.

William had the first piece of luck as he was able to set the terrain, and he wasn’t about to play fair! He managed to meet Harold on a road with only a pair of small woods in opposite corners to break up the flatness. This was that flat bit on the way to Senlac Hill, which is clearly where Harold was heading! This is the battle of Hastings where Harold doesn’t get to that hill.

There was little to choose between the various edges, but Harold got the road running between them and the smallest hill on his left flank. William deployed with his spear on the road, hoping to use it to help them keep up with the knight. He them put his light horse and skirmishers on the right flank, hoping to move quickly to contest the wood with the Saxons. Otherwise his knights formed up either side of the spear.

Harold met this with a block of psiloi-supported spear flanked by himself and his huscarls and a two-deep block of spear on the right flank. He tried to give the hordes what little protection they could by placing them near the woods, hoping to delay the Norman light troops with them. He kept some fyrd in the camp in case the LH got through to it.

Initial deployments; William on the left, Harold on the right.

On his first turn Harold moved his horde out of the woods to stop the Norman light horse getting around it to the camp and he advanced the line (not needing 2 PIPs to move hordes on the first turn is handy!).

With 4 PIPs William opted to send his light troops forward quickly.

Turn 1: The Norman light troops advance quickly.

On the next turn Harold wheeled his line and brought the horde on the end out to anchor it. William with 6 PIPs got clever and advanced his spear along the road and broke up his knights as they chased along after.

Turn 2: The Normans rush forward.

Harold, excited to see the Normans in disarray, rushed forward, moving his horde around to ZOC the enemy skirmishers. William paid the price of his rashness with only a single PIP, which he used to try to get the spear across to face Harold’s spear.

Turn 3: Harold gets closer and William's line is not yet organized.

Harold continued to advance. Now he had the enemy ZOCed. It would be harder for them to manoeuvre. William was still in a dither with only 2 PIPs. He used these to support his spear as best he could.

Turn 4: Harold's bold advance looks to catch the Normans in disarray.

Harold didn’t hesitate and on the next turn attacked William’s left flank before it could properly deploy. He succeeded in destroying a conroi of Norman knights with spear that had overlap support (6-3) and drive back some knights with his huscarls.

Turn 5 (Harold): First blood to the English as the knights on the right flank break.

William has better PIPs now (4) and starts to organize a response, but it’s not easy with the enemy already so close. His skirmishers attack the end of Harold’s line forcing the fyrd to turn to react, and William gets a better line to face Harold on his left.

Turn 5 (William): The Norman skirmishers force the Saxons to turn to face them.

Harold now throws his army into the attack before William can outflank it. It’s a disaster! Despite being two-deep, the spear on the right flank are routed (3-6). Any chance of an advantage against William with his huscarls is lost and they are forced to retire (had I not made them special it would have been game over!). The huscarls to the left of Harold seem disheartened too and are forced back, destroying any chance against the Norman spear, who are fought to a standstill.

Turn 6: Harold's luck fails and his right flank is blown away.

William responds by flanking Harold’s huscarls and throwing everything he has against the Saxons. The hordes remain unfazed by the Norman light horse supported by skirmishers and throw them back. Elsewhere there are three stalemates, including the beleagured huscarls and the fight between the two commanders.

Turn 6 (William): The Saxons hold firm against the Norman charge.

Harold can do little to put pressure on the Normans beyond straightening his battleline and fighting bravely. Sadly this was not to be a repeat of Stamford, and this time his huscarls are destroyed. Nevertheless, he throws back William’s attack on him, and his other huscarls, heartened by this, rout the knights in front of them (5-2).

Turn 7 (Harold): The right flank continues to collapse, but elsewhere Harold's huscarls are victorious.

William now gets 5 PIPs and flanks his rival for the throne. Clinically he straightens his line, extending the spear to cover for the lost knights. His skirmishers advance to ZOC the spear on his far right again. No heroics here, he’ll wait for English right flank to collapse under the weight of knights opposing it. He is victorious. Harold’s huscarls fight bravely, but flanked they go down in a close fight (4-4). Legend has it that Harold was killed in single combat with William, who was able to lift the crown of England from his head.

Turn 7: (William): Harold falls surrounded by his huscarls. The heart of English resistance collapses with him.

With their commander gone all resistance collapsed and the Norman cavalry was able to carry out a terrible pursuit. Only the hordes got away. They melted into the woods and claimed to be innocent truffle-collectors. The Normans, being partial to these, were surprisingly fooled!

• Review:

There was no Senlac Hill for Harold, unlike at Stamford. For all that he gave the Normans some anxious moments. Had the right flank not folded, the odds against the rest of the knights there would have been in his favour. William was still really getting organized, and it could have got even worse. Surprisingly the hordes were not the weak link. Harold’s bold advance gave William no time to organize a real attack on them, and they performed their duty of guarding the left flank very well.

William would have been better to have moved his spear as part of his reaction to Harold’s set-up. If he could have got them opposite Harold’s psiloi-supported spear he would have been able to drive it back and attack the remaining spear with knights at even odds and a quick kill. That was his plan part way through his advance. They were certainly better against spear, but the manoeuvre threw his line into disorder. It was luck that brought down the Saxon’s right flank and gave him the battle. Harold’s plan was really as good as it could get in the circumstances. Waiting to be attacked would only have made the hordes a target and allowed the camp to be attacked.

• The outcome of the battle:

Well, I can let out a sigh of relief. I was worried Harold might create another upset. And what if he wasn’t killed himself? What if his hordes and a few fyrd were destroyed? There might have been yet another battle!

With Harold dead, William set to securing the south of the kingdom. Harald got wind of this victory and returned to claim the north of England for himself. Neither were keen to attack the other that summer, and in the next season, when William advanced north he was met by Harald at Navenby and given a bloody nose.

The only battle remaining to be fought before the campaign can begin is the battle between Gruffudd ap Cynan and Gruffudd ap Rhys to see which represents the Welsh in this campaign.

I think I’ll give the same status to Harald’s huscarls that I gave to Harold’s. They certainly showed it at Navenby! This means that the Anglo-Norse will get 3x4Bd (huscarls), 1x3Kn (Norman adventurers), 7x4Sp (fyrd), 1x2Ps or 3Bw (archers). Now that I’ve finally painted enough archers for them to have more I’ve decided not to use them!

The Picts sail forth

This weekend I finally finished the Picts, and what I need for their opponents, so it was time for them to get into training for the competition next month. I’ve decided that the Picts will be led by Bridei mac Máelchú. He was converted to Christianity by St. Columba in the 6th century. Not long later, as the story now goes,  he decided to set out for Ireland for a spot of raiding, only to get sucked, along with his army into a peculiar temporal anomaly. Having heard rumours of voyages like that of St. Brendan, Bridei and his men were unfazed, deciding that perhaps they were having their faith tested.

In due course they came to an island where another similarly confused time-traveller had already arrived. This was a Norman adventurer called Patricius, who’d used his name to claim some highly dubious connection with Ireland and one of its saints. Setting out from a similar place in Scotland to Bridei, he took with him an army of Norman knights and scouts along with some Islemen who were keen on the idea of loot. These Islemen, in turn were supported by a proportionately large number of Galwegians and Irish mercenaries. A dubious observer might comment that the combined force bore a peculiar resemblance in troop-mix to an Eastern Patrician Roman army!

Patricius was not about to share this island, and the two sides drew up their battlelines to contest control of it. He got off to an ominous start, rolling higher to be attacker, despite a lower aggression, and then getting the edge he wanted. Bridei was forced to deploy side on to the two low hills and with a small wood in the centre of his line.

Bridei deployed with two blocks of three spear elements each backed by an element of skirmishers on either side of the woods. He placed the other skirmishers in the woods and both his light horse on the the right flank. He himself deployed behind the spear on the right flank. He chose to ignore the hill on the left flank as likely only to cause his force to be split.

Patricius responded to this by deploying in a line with all his light horse on the left flank to meet their Pictish counterparts. He deployed in the centre with the Irish between him and the light horse. On the right flank he drew up his Islemen and Galwegians with skirmishers on the outer flank. Bridei didn’t alter his deployment.

Bridei deploys on the left to meet Patricius

Bridei started well, with enough PIPs to get ahead of the woods. There was some initial inconclusive skirmishing between the light horse. The Norman light horse then retired to the hill behind them and the rest of the Norman battle line had the opportunity to line up (after the cavalry and Irish had got ahead of the slower-moving foot). Bridei had moved himself to the centre of the line, linking the two blocks of spear. He then got high PIPs and decided to pull himself out to move to the right flank, where he hoped to overpower the enemy light horse. One of his own light horse had also decided to charge the Irish, who had been left exposed by their own light horse hanging back. He succeeded in destroying the Irish as they had no room to recoil because of the knights next to them.

The Normans responded by attacking the victorious light horse with the remaining Irish and flanking it with one of their own light horse. The Picts shrugged this attack off. Their other light horse was less fortunate, being attacked and doubled by the other Norman light horse.

Bridei had wheeled his left flank backwards in an attempt to gain time for his attack on the other flank. He himself attacked the victorious light horse, but without doing more than forcing it back. Meanwhile, the Normans finally attacked the left flank with overlaps on each flank and Islemen facing the centre spear element. The hope was for these to knock back the facing spear and remove the skirmisher support for the other two spear, as well as leaving them overlapping on both flanks. The spear they faced resisted them manfully, scotching this plan. With skirmisher support the spear to the right fought the knights opposing them to a standstill, but on the left the spear went down to a wild charge of double-deep Galwegians.

Bridei, in desperation, sidled the skirmisher support across to face the Galwegians, and brought the other skirmishers out of the woods to take their place. These skirmishers had the potential to really upset the Galwegians, who were overlapped through their advance, but the dice allowed them only to feebly push the Galwegians back. The spearmen locked in combat with the knights forced them back.

The Normans returned to the attack on the left flank. The spearmen were now overlapped by the Galwegians against the Islemen and were forced back. This left the spear facing the knights in a terrible position and they finally broke.

Bridei had good PIPs in a turn that would probably be his last, and returned to the attack on the light horse that he faced. He also peeled off an element of spear to give flank support in another attack by his light horse on the Irish. And in a desperate roll of the dice he sent the other two spear against the knights that had as yet not seen combat. The dice continued to scorn him and his light horse were destroyed by the Irish (2+1 v 1+6)! He continued the mediocre form of the Scots command element and only pushed back the Norman light horse. However, some pride was restored by the spear that had charged the knights succeeding in destroying one of them.

Bridei and his men took to their ships and found another island where their strength was miraculously restored,  ready to continue their voyage.

• Review

Besides having a lot of bad luck in getting such an unfavourable location to set up in and then in the ensuing combats, Bridei should not have tried to redeploy himself, as he left a hole in the battleline, and there was not enough time before the Norman attack came for him to make the difference he was looking for. He hoped to win on the right flank, but short of getting lucky against the opposing light horse he had no special advantage there, and yet he had weakened the left flank to this end.

Anglo-Norman Dismounted Knights

I’ve now finished 4 elements of dismounted knights to allow my Anglo-Norman knights to dismount:

Dismounted Knights

They are largely Essex figures, but the front element on the left has two Feudal Castings spearmen. The other spearmen and the two-handed swordsmen I got from Paul Potter in a trade. They mix well with the other knights and command figures that I’d already got.

I was particularly pleased with the flag, as it was small and folded and I was sure I’d make a mess of it. However, I noticed that a VVV roundshield transfer was actually a cross, and of the sort I was going to try to paint. all I had to do was paint the centre! I think it came out very well.

The Knights' Flag

I also finished two elements of Essex Norman light horse. These will be useful in allowing me to create non-historical armies to represent probable opponents in the up-coming competition. I’ll use them tonight, hopefully, in a contest between my ‘Picts’ and some Eastern Patrician Romans represented by a mixture of Normans, Irish and Galwegians!

Norman Light Horse

I should add that the ‘Picts’ are now complete, as I finished three more elements of Pre-feudal Scots spearmen; this means the Pre-feudal Scots are also finished. I only painted six figures this weekend, and converted two to being axemen, but I was able to base 7 elements and flock 13 elements (most of the painting was done last weekend).

Big Painting Session

This weekend I surprised myself by getting two batches of figures painted, some 6 mounted and 35 foot. The first lot were started on Thursday, I think, inasmuch as I’d done their flesh, but I finished them totally Friday night. These were figures for my Pre-feudal Scots army: 2 figures for light horse and 7 figures for spear. I’m planning to use them as Picts at Conquest,  a wargames competition in Christchurch next month, so I need an extra 2LH and 2 more 3Sp. I’m now waiting for a few figures from Feudal Castings, so I can finish the spear.

The next day I spent the afternoon and evening on armoured infantry—mostly metal, so relatively easy. These were 12 dismounted knights and 12 Islemen.The knights are now based and waiting for their magic wash and flock, while the Islemen need 4 more figures from the Feudal Castings order before I can base them. I also painted 4 feudal scouts (2x2LH). These were figures I got by trade from Paul Potter through a chance post on the Fanaticus Forum. I swapped Museum Miniatures figures that don’t scale well for me for some Essex ones.

Figures painted this weekend in array: on the left are the pre-feudal Scots and Islemen, in the centre are the knights and on the right are the feudal scouts; behind them are Macbeth's witches waiting to be based. On nails are the next batch, some Irish. Right behind them is the set of drawers with all the unpainted lead. On the far left the Pre-feudal Scots are trying out used business card holders as storage for their trip to Christchurch.

In the next few weeks I’ll be trying out my ‘Picts’ against various assortments of Normans and others to get practice against probable opponents at the competition. In particular, I want to see how they go against Patrician Romans and Classical Indians (for which I’ll need to use my HOTT Bh as El!).

Painting Progress Update

No interesting battle reports this weekend. Instead I’ve finally got back into painting. Yesterday I finished a batch of figures except for their shields. They’re all Feudal Castings figures, 7 mounted (Norman knights) and 23 foot (6 x Welsh 3Sp and 1 x Islemen 4Bd and 1 galloglaigh who’s really too late to fit in with the Islemen). 11 of the foot have no shields so they’re done, and until transfers from Veni, Vedi, Vici and Little Big Men Studios arrive I can’t do the shields of the others. I’ve never used transfers before, so I’m not sure how it’s going to go!

I’ve already started on the next batch, the last of my Feudal Castings Vikings (23 figures) and an element of dismounted knights, which is a combination of Feudal Castings Norman spearmen and Essex knights. I’m not sure how well they’ll mix, so it’ll be interesting to see how they look when finished.

Inspired by the tallies of Neldoreth and Tim of Saskatoon, though I’m not in their league either in quality or quantity of output, I decided to work out how many figures I’d painted, and more damningly, how many I had to paint, especially as I’ve recently bought quite a few figures for the King Magnus’ War campaign.

Figure Purchases and Painting

What was surprising about this exercise was to discover that I now have 1,251 15mm figures, of which only 2/5 are painted (484). I didn’t realize buying DBA armies would add up so fast—after all, I keep telling myself they’re only about 12 elements each. I’ve got a few hordes to blame for some of this, and as yet of them only half of the Goblins are painted. Anyway, when the last order arrives (72 more figures from Feudal Castings), I’ll try to avoid buying more and focus on making some inroads into that pile of unpainted figures!

Battling around hills

This is a short report from a battle with my son over two years ago. It’s not very detailed. I’m not even sure whether I was Norman or Anglo-Norman. Ieuan’s terrain placement made for an odd game.

Ieuan and I had a battle this evening. He was Pre-Feudal Scots defending and placed two large steep hills fairly centrally. I advised him to defend on one flank with some spear and put his cavalry on the other. In the middle were two columns of foot trying to get onto one of the hills.

It was fairly scrappy—our generals were on one flank and the hill blocked their vision and complicating command and control. My psiloi slowed up his deployment on the hill; eventually I won by defeating his spear on one flank and capturing his camp—a first. My psiloi were very effective in stopping his warbands coming to the aid of the spear. However, one of them—the freshly painted Feudal Castings element acquitted itself superbly and wiped out 3 spear single handedly! We kept going and I managed to hang in, surviving having my general overlapped and flanked, but he finally destroyed my last two spear and his LH finally got the upper hand against the knights they faced.

It was something of a first for me—no linear deployment. All good fun.

Normans v. Saxons

This was one of the first games of DBA I played back in December 2007. It was with the newly finished Tabletop Normans and Saxons and is perhaps interesting mostly for the mistakes with the rules that I made. Hopefully I’ve learnt a little since then!

The Norman army encountered the Saxons drawn up on a low hill. Beside the hill, to the right of it for the Normans, ran a road. On either side of the field, midway between the two armies was a wood.

The Saxon king and his huscarls had drawn up on the hill, they had archers in support behind them. The fyrd was drawn up on either side of them, the majority on the road side and a few on the other side of the hill to prevent outflanking.

In game terms the Saxons had gambled on terrain that suited them and got the position they wanted. The battleline when it advanced to the edge of the hill was impossible to outflank without going through the woods.

The Normans drew up their knights in the centre with some Breton cavalry on the left flank and the spearmen on the road. On the right flank were the light infantry and light cavalry.

They advanced quickly, the cavalry as a line, the spearmen along the road and the light infantry into the woods with the light cavalry following alongside them.

The Saxons advanced to the edge of the hill (I wonder if that is still technically uphill?).

The Normans advanced the spearmen two deep almost into contact and moved the light cavalry and infantry and cavalry to give them flanking support (the cavalry to the left and the infantry to the right) . The knights continued to advanced steadily, but slowed to keep line as the Bretons entered the wood.

The Saxons waited.

The knights continued to advance; the spearmen made contact, confident of the impunity of their flank support. The flank support either recoiled or fled, as indeed did the spearmen.

At this stage the knights made contact as a line, along with the spearmen their supports. The spearmen this time destroyed the fyrd in front of them, as did the Norman general. Otherwise the attack failed, though fortunately with only one element of knights attacking fyrd on the hill breaking.

The Saxon huscarls and fyrd flanking the Norman general who’d advanced into the gap he’d created were able to attack his flanks—the knights flanking them had recoiled. On both the Norman flanks the Saxons saw an opportunity to attack knights that had recoiled into the woods and advanced on them. Aided by an overlap they succeeded on both flanks; the Normans were close to breaking.   The combat that really mattered, against the Norman general, however, was a stalemate.

The Norman general, flustered, was unable to issue many orders, beyond having knights advance on the huscarls he faced to give him flanking support. It was enough to destroy those huscarls.

The Saxon king, alone on the hill, saw a chance to attack some knights still regrouping after the first attack. Huscarls that had offered overlap support on the attack on knights in the woods now turned to flank these knights, whom the king charged into contact with. In a hard fought battle the king emerged victorious. The Normans broke, but it was a close fight and the Saxon king might well have fallen himself.

The woods proved crucial to victory, the hill less so. The knights’ charge uphill was pretty reckless, but it doesn’t take much for them to get lucky. However, as they advance they never gain overlaps, but in recoiling make things progressively grim!

They’d have been wiser to work on the flank, but Ieuan was in a hurry! LH are actually pretty deadly against spear, and came close to making a mess! I learnt about moving before this game—all group moves are either wheels or straight ahead. Very awkward. One tactic would be to flank the spear with knights and hope for it to create overlaps for the knights—they needed something to lift the odds!

A month later I added this by way of review:  there were multiple errors here: firstly overlaps due to pursuit, then turning to flank while in ZOC. Nice to see I’ve learnt a little.

More Armies

I’ve redesigned how I store the pages on armies (I discovered how to subordinate pages), so I now have a page My Armies that I can add to as I go along. I’ve started with my oldest armies, the Normans and Anglo Danish and also made a few pages with camps and miscellaneous figures. I’m still getting to grips with the camera—I’ve finally read the manual, so I may learn how to adjust the focus and use a delayed exposure to avoid camera wobbles. As I discovered how to use thumbnails I also changed the photos for the Goblins.