Well, Dave and I had another wheeze of a game last Thursday night.
I decided to try out Middle Anglo-Saxon with Alfred the Great as a Brilliant General, while Dave used Pre-Feudal Scots with Viking and Strathclyde (Sub-Roman British) allies.
I was the invader, invading in summer.
The terrain included a marsh and a couple of woods down the left side of the table – enough to rule out flank marches by either of us on that flank. In addition there was a gentle hill in the middle of my deployment zone, and another at the left end of Dave’s deployment zone.
Dave deployed first, with the Strathclyders at the right hand end of his line in a block facing a small wood near the centreline of the table. Next to them were the Vikings – mostly Bd but also including some Irish Ax. Next was a Scottish command with Wb (S) thegns and then some Pk (F) in four ranks. Finally, the other Scottish command was on the left, with some more Pk (F), Cv, LH and Ps.
I then deployed three commands. On my left, facing the Strathclyders and Vikings, was Alfred’s command, with Bd (including the general) in the front rank and Sp (I) behind. That command also included some Ps facing the wood. In the centre and on the hill was Edgar’s command, again with Bd in front and Sp behind, but also with a couple of files of Sp in the front (facing the Pk (F)). Out on my right was Athelstan’s command, again with the Bd in front and Sp behind. And out at the end of the line I had a column of Sp at the end intended to be expanded outwards to face the Scottish Cv which currently outflanked my line. Finally, I also had a fourth command – more English led by an ally-general (presumably Mercian King Ceolwulf), flank marching on my right flank. I had the Flank Attack and Delay Battle stratagems on hand to expedite the flank march. In combination it meant that I’d be able to bring Ceolwulf's command on with a roll of 4, 5 or 6 each bound.
Before we started I had to roll the dice for the amount of the delay – six hours – pushing the start time of the battle back from 7am to 1pm. But also, given that there were no weather effects, the fact that I’d used the stratagem also gave away the fact that I had an off-board command.
Anyway, Dave had the first bound. The Strathclyders were unreliable, and the Scots on Dave’s left also rolled 1 for PIPs which restricted their activities. In the centre the Vikings and the other Scottish command advanced.
In my first bound I sent Alfred’s Ps towards the wood, and used Athelstan’s 6 PIPs to expand the Sp line. Otherwise I sat where I was.
Dave’s next bound saw the Vikings’ Irish advance towards the wood too, while the Vikings and all the Scots advanced. Plenty of PIPs for his left wing allowed the mounted troops and Ps to start turning to face the flank where my ally was due to arrive.
In my next bound I sent Alfred’s Ps into the woods. I also advanced Athelstan’s entire command in order to be close enough to co-ordinate their attack with the flank marchers. Alfred’s and Edgar’s commands otherwise sat still. In part this was respect for the Wb (S) thegns – staying where I was meant they’d be attacking uphill.
Dave continued his advance, taking advantage of high PIPs to wheel some Pk (F) out to his left to threaten the flank of Athelstan’s command.
My flank march now rolled a 6 for arrival next bound. And having seen the threat of the Pk against Athelstan’s command I also decided to advance Alfred’s and Edgar’s commands – which meant that Edgar’s command had to advance off the hill to face the thegns.
This was now the worst possible time for Dave to roll a 1 for the centre Scottish command, meaning he had to advance the thegns and putting them in charge range of Edgar’s command. And to cover their flank he also had to advance the Vikings, putting them in charge range of Alfred’s command.
So, naturally, I charged in across the line. Alfred declared a combat brilliant stroke, Edgar’s Bd (O) hit the Scottish Wb (S), and Edgar’s and Athelstan’s Bd (O) and Sp (I) hit the Scottish Pk (F). Meanwhile, out on my right, Ceolwulf arrived. I spread the command out into a single rank, keeping only the general in reserve. I was able to march twice, reaching the top of the hill on Dave’s flank. The subsequent combat worked pretty well too – two of the thegns were destroyed, along with a few Pk (F), although Alfred was only able to achieve a recoil.
But then the thegns showed why infantry always need to respect Wb (S). Despite two elements being only single-ranked, they proceeded to wipe out four elements. This alone was enough to cure the Strathclyders of their unreliability, as well as dangerously weakening Edgar’s command.
The game now settled down into a solid grinding fight, with something like 20 combats each bound: Alfred’s command against the Vikings, Edgar’s command against the centre Scots command, and Athelstan’s command and the flank marchers against the left Scottish command. Unfortunately, with generals in the front rank, I had few PIPs, meaning that I couldn’t really exploit my one positional advantage – the wood where my Ps outnumbered the Irish Ax by 2 to 1. Likewise, as the PIPs dried up on my right I found it hard to exploit the fact that I was attacking the left Scottish command from two directions. Alfred’s command was able to destroy a couple of Bd (O) elements but couldn’t then exploit their advantage against the Bd (I) in the next rank. And the troops facing the Pk (F) also disappointed – I destroyed a few Pk (F) but nowhere near enough to cause any problems for the Scots.
By contrast the thegns eventually blasted their way through Edgar’s command, disheartening it, and some swung around to hit the flank of Alfred’s command.
With the time getting late we agreed to a draw. Edgar’s command was in trouble, but none of Dave’s commands was anywhere close to being disheartened. And with three generals in combat it was unlikely I was going to be able to try any fancy maneuvers. Edgar’s command was unlikely to survive long. The only issue then was whether Dave would have the PIPs to direct troops away from pursuit to attack Alfred or Athelstan in the flank.
The game was a visual spectacle – both armies had over 90 elements on the table. And it also showed that the Middle Anglo-Saxon army is at least moderately viable: it simply has so many troops on table that opponents are going to have to work hard to get around its flanks, it fights solidly to its front, and it still has the points available to afford a large flank marching command which is very likely to appear early in the game.
Having said that, I realised I need to tweak the army’s structure a bit. Each command needed a mobile reserve, and in the absence of anything useful that reserve would probably have to be a Ps (O) for each of Edgar and Athelstan. And putting the generals in the front rank was a tricky issue: creating wing-man bonuses is very tempting, and it stretches out the line of Bd (O) a little further. But the price is in movement opportunities lost because of having the generals in combat.
Anyway, thanks to Dave for an entertaining game.
