New Project: Chain of Command Platoons

Why not add to the lead pile

Having recently acquired a copy of the Too Fat Lardies rules Chain of Command, and having had a couple of test games with stand in models (the sight of Roman legionaries advancing into the MG42s of the Gauls is not one I will soon forget), I have decided to bite the bullet and add to my not inconsiderable painting pile with two platoons. After a bit of consideration, I picked late war western front (Italy or France/Germany) and the Americans and Germans for the forces I'd use.

First up, the Americans. I chose to go with an Armored Rifle Platoon, which consists of the Lieutenant and Platoon Sergeant, two large infantry squads, a smaller HQ squad, a machine gun squad with two medium machine guns and a mortar team as standard. In addition I got some support options, a 57mm Anti-tank gun, a flamethrower team, a mine clearance team, an observer team for a mortar battery, an M8 armored car, an M10 tank destroyer, an M24 Chaffee and an M4A3E8 Sherman.

To face down the green machine, I picked the German Panzergrenadiers, with a leutnant, panzerschreck team and three squads of two teams, each with an MG42 and a small clutch of riflemen. To back up the core platoon there is a sniper team, an extra senior leader (probably some form of senior NCO), an MG42 team, a mortar battery observer, a mine clearance team, a motorbike with sidecar, a Pak 40 Anti-tank gun, a Sdkfz 234/3 armoured car, a Stug III, a Panzer IV and a Tiger 1.

The rationale for choosing these forces was, as usual with me, they offer a variety of play styles. The Germans are fairly simple to play conceptually, each fire team has a lot of firepower, plus panzerfausts to keep tanks on their toes. This also means that a section or team can perform fire support or maneuver roles, giving tactical flexibility. Their weakness comes from a lack of senior leaders (one to the American two) which hampers activity on the field or deployment, and a general fragility due to limited numbers.

The Americans play very differently. With their large squads of riflemen and separated out firepower in the medium machine guns and mortar units, the Americans have great resilience, but need to coordinate their firepower and movement more carefully than the Germans. The presence of two senior leaders also allows the Americans much more flexibility in battle in terms of patching up unit morale, directing the action and deploying troops. The Americans can also bring serious anti-tank firepower by adding bazookas to the infantry squads.

So with the forces assembled (although I won't deny it is entirely possible more supports will be acquired at Salute later in the month), the painting shall soon begin. Assuming my other unpainted projects don't get in the way. Like the 100 or so 28mm Gauls currently occupying the painting table. Bah.

Action of the 22nd of December, 1942

Action of the 22nd of December, 1942

Flora II MTB Base, Invergordon, UK

Lieutenant R. Hansen RN headed toward the Flotilla Office for the morning briefing. For some reason, he had a nagging feeling this was not going to be a normal day. Two Royal Marines were guarding the office, an unusual precaution. The other boat commanders were already there, waiting impatiently for the Squadron Officer to brief them.

When the SO strode in, he placed in front of the assembled officers a piece of paper.

Well, that confirmed that this would be a dangerous mission. This was the first time the Admiralty had sent orders directly to the squadron, and such a deliberate targeting of a single convoy was unusual. Still, there was no option but to head to the boat and the sea.

Sailing to Norway took the night and most of the next day, although with the winter darkness it was difficult to distinguish between the two. The boats hid up in a fjord for the few hours to wait for the enemy convoy.

The force consisted of two Fairmile MTBs (656 and 660), each armed with a 2 pounder, 6 pounder, a twin 20mm cannon and two twin LMG mounts in addition to 2 18" torpedoes, and 4 MTBs, 22 and 29 armed with two twin HMG turrets and 2 21" torpedoes and 527 and 531 armed with a 6 pounder, twin 20mm cannon and two twin LMG turrets, plus two 21" torpedoes.

Working as two small forces, 656, 22 and 527 as one group, 660, 29 and 531 as the other, the boats took up a position on the convoy's expected route. At 2212, Lt Hansen heard the growl of approaching diesel engines. The boats began to crawl towards the noises, preparing to hit their prey. A fog bank provided cover for 660, 22 and 527 as they moved forward.

The boats close in on the sounds of a convoy

 Taking advantage of surprise, the British boats swept in, picking out two E-boats and two merchants. One E-boat found itself the centre of attention of three of the MTBs. 

Contact! Contact!

Tracer rounds began to fly back and forth, with 660 and the German boat both taking hits. A small fire broke out on 660, while the German boat was hit by 531's 6 pounder, taking serious structural damage, before catching fire, losing the use of its twin 20mm cannon mount and her engines cut out, leaving the boat adrift.

Under a hail of fire, the German boat is left in a serious state.

Additional fire from other boats hit a second German E-boat, damaging the steering gear and caused a small fire on the lead merchant ship, the SS Lina Fisser, allowing the MBTs to launch a barrage of torpedoes cutting across the convoy's route. 

The merchant crews fail to react to the suspicious trails in the water as the firefight rages around them.

With their torpedoes in the water, the British boats swept further into the convoy, using their guns to rake the German E-boats and merchants. The two lead E-boats were left without any useful weapons, while the Lina Fisser manage to extinguish the fire, another broke out almost immediately, as did one on the right hand merchant, the SS Laknes. Two more S-boats came roaring forward from the rear of the convoy, opening fire on the MTBs. 531 took fire and a small fire broke out, while the left flank S-boat took heavy fire, which kept the German crew's heads down as a small fire broke out.

The two forces close in on each other under a hail of fire, with the Germans generally getting to worst of the engagement.

Then the torpedoes struck. The one torpedo launched by 656 missed the Lina Fisser, passing beyond her to hit the Laknes, tearing her stern off, bringing her to a complete stop. Two further torpedoes from 22 struck the wreck moments later near the bow.

The two torpedoes launched by 660 struck the Lina Fisser amidships, leaving her wrecked with the crew hastily abandoning the ship.

Torpedoes devastate the convoy.

29 was able to launch a further pair of fish towards the third German merchant, the SS Maudie. To further confuse the situation, from the south a star shell was launched, illuminating most of the boats in the fighting.

In the next moments, one German E-boat tried to ram 22, but skilled maneuvering by the crew managed to keep them out of harms way, while they battered the German craft with machine gun fire leaving the crew stunned and the boat burning.

A crazed German mariner scrapes the paint clean off MTB22

Being the only remaining merchant, the Maudie suffered horrifically at the hands of the British, raked by machine gun and cannon fire from at least three boats. Seven separate fires broke out along the length of the ship, with bridge hits reducing the crew's ability to respond, but not before she managed to turn head on into the oncoming torpedoes.

Battered from all sides, the SS Maudie rapidly turns into an inferno

To add the the misery of the crew, one of the torpedoes from 29 struck home, causing massive flooding and ripping open the hull, leaving the Maudie barely afloat.

With the Maudie having just 6 Hull Points remaining, Lt "Why is it always me?" Arvinda got 2d6 bonus flooding damage. Oh well.

While the Maudie was in her death throes, MTB 531 was torn apart by close range fire from an S-boat, while on of the first S-boats attacked was finally sunk by 660. From the gloom to the south, more German vessels, a destroyer and two R-boats emerged, rushing to intervene and save what little could be saved of the convoy. 660 suffered a near miss from the destroyer's 105mm heavy guns, causing minimal damage but convincing the British it was time to clear out.

A German patrol rushes into the chaos, with the Elbing class torpedo boat blasting away.

With the final German merchant rapidly succumbing to fire and flooding and enemy heavy forces closing in, the British boats began to make a break for the open sea. 29 bravely chose to halt to pick up the survivors from 531 just as she slipped beneath the waves. 

660 made a break to the west, while 656 broke east with 527. 22 headed north while exchanging fire with a German S-boat. With the R-boats in a half-hearted pursuit of the MTBs, the German destroyer charged into 29 while she was stationary. A last second burst from 29's engines allowed them to escape without serious harm, but left her at point blank range for the German close range armament. Raked by the Flakvierling and a single 20mm cannon mount, 29 was cut apart and foundered.

The action winds down as smoke and darkness make picking out targets impossible. The last German boats concentrate on rescuing survivors

To further compound British woes, 660 was still illuminated and visible to the German destroyer, and with no better target, the German vessel opened fire with her 105mm guns. A solitary hit smashed 660's flank in and she sank, leaving her crew adrift. With all other targets receding into the night and survivors to be rescued, the Germans left the remaining British boats to make their way home. 

In the post game clean-up, it was determined that 660's crew were rescued by another British boat, but the captured crews of 29 and 531 broke under interrogation and admitted they were tasked to attack the convoy specifically. Fortunately, German counter-intelligence failed to link this to the Enigma messages sent concerning the convoy and blamed local resistance movements. While several innocent Norwegians would doubtless be arrested or killed, the ULTRA secret would remain safe.

Lt Hansen shivered uncontrollably for nearly an hour after being hauled out of the freezing ocean. The remaining boats made good time back across the North Sea. 'Whatever was on that convoy had better be worth a whole damn lot.' he mused. With two crews missing, not to mention the wounded and dead among the other boats, this had been a painful day for the MTBs.

With all three merchants, and their cargo of heavy water for the German atomic bomb project, sunk the game was an Allied victory, even with the loss of 50% of the attacking force. Even better, all the players and myself had a blast, even if there were persistent complaints about the heaviest armaments on most of the boats not being able to fire forwards.

We used A & A Game Engineering's Action Stations rules for the game, which performed very well, giving a good feel and a briskly paced game, even with none of the players having played them before. The only major rules mistake I have since spotted was me missing a bonus to hit large vessels, but that was due to my idiocy rather than any fault of the rules or the handy QRS A & A provide. The models come from the Skytrex (now Heroic and Ros) 1/600th Coastal forces range.

The Battle of Dvin, Spring 363 AD

Outside the City of Dvin, March 23rd 363 AD

Vahan Vzur glanced about nervously as he waited for his army to assemble for battle. The morning had seen the accursed Roman garrison march out to face down his army. The siege was still young and his men were spoiling for a fight. When all was prepared, he marched his men forward under the defiant bellow of the trumpets. Ahead, the Roman banners fluttered in the wind, almost beckoning his men forward. Vahan was painfully aware his predecessor had died shortly after attempting to take this city. "His mistakes will not be mine.." he muttered under his breath "These lands will bow to the King."

This battle, the fourth of the Caucasian Campaign, pitted the might of the two great empires of the region, the Eastern Roman forces sallied out from Dvin where they had been besieged by the Sassanid Persians. Johan commanding the Romans set up the terrain in a nicely symmetrical manner with a solitary hill in the middle of the edge of each of the four sides.

Johan's Romans:

General and Bodyguard (10 A Class Heavy Cavalry)
Clibanarii (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
Cataphracts (10 B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry)
Horse Archers (10 B Class Light Cavalry)
Light Cavalry (10 B Class Light Cavalry)
Comitatenses A (24 B Class Heavy Infantry)
Comitatenses B (24 C Class Heavy Infantry)
Medium Archers A (18 C Class Medium Infantry)
Medium Archers B (12 C Class Medium Infantry)
Allied Heavy Cavalry (Western Roman Empire) (10 B Class Heavy Cavalry)

All Roman troops are Regulars

Arvinda's Sassanids:

General (Armoured Cavalry)
2 x Immortal Cavalry (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
2 x Cataphracts (10 B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry)
2 x Light Cavalry (10 C Class Light Cavalry)
Light Slingers (12 D Class Light Infantry)
Hunnic Cavalry (15 D Class Light Cavalry) (Note: Due to my idiocy only 10 of these appeared on the field, not that it made any difference)

All Irregular troops.

Deployment:

Johan's mathematically precise terrain deployment was entirely dictated by his planned deployment. Centering his line on the hill, he deployed his medium archers on the hill, with the Comitatenses regiments deployed at its base to protect them. To their right, he placed his general and bodyguard, the cataphracts and on the far right his horse archers. The left cavalry wing comprised the allied heavy cavalry, the light cavarly and the clibanarii on the far left.

Arvinda deployed his forces in a line between the central hills, from left to right comprising his two light cavalry units, the two cataphract regiments, the two Immortal regiments, the Hunnic cavalry (with the general) and the light slingers deployed on the right hand hill.

The armies assembled and ready for battle.

The Plans:

Johan:

I strategically placed my archers on a hill outside the city walls. I placed my heavy infantry so that the Sassanid scum had to approach within archery range to take on the infantry. I put my fastest cavalry around the outside so that I would be able to encircle the Sassanid scum should they go for my infantry and archers.

Arvinda:

Attack!

The Battle:

The battle began with the Sassanid line sweeping forward and the Romans waiting patiently for them to come closer.

The Sassanids approach the waiting Romans

Soon after, the Roman archers began to fire which started off a hail of bad rolls from Johan who couldn't pass a single kill roll for several turns. Initially outranged, the Sassanids were unable to respond and continued there advance. With the wave of enemies approaching apace, the Roman cavalry wings went onto the offensive. Arvinda sent his two light cavalry regiments smashing into Johan's horse archers on the Roman right.

The Roman cavalry races towards the enemy and the first fights break out.

Unsurprisingly, the heavily outnumbered Roman Horse Archers, who were further disadvantaged being Missile troops fighting Basic type troops, got the worst of the hand to hand fighting and broke with the Sassanid Light cavalry in hot pursuit. One of the Sassanid units had the misfortune to smash into the Roman cataphracts and after a brief fight they shattered and broke off. Meanwhile, Johan's general and bodyguard found themselves facing off with both of the Sassanid Cataphract regiments. One of the cataphract regiments managed to push back on wing of the bodyguard, while the other wing pushed back the Sassanids, effectively splitting the bodyguard into two separate units.

In the centre, arrow fire from the Roman archers and darts from the heavy infantry regiments began to cut into the Immortals, whose return fire was relatively ineffective.

On the Roman left, Johan threw his allied heavy cavalry and his light cavalry after Arvinda's general and the Huns. Faced with an imposing wall of steel heading their way, they wisely chose to fall back. The Roman Clibanarii charged into Arvinda's slingers, shrugging off the barrage of lead missiles from the Sassanid light infantry and hitting them in the rear as they tried to flee. The result was predictable and the slingers routed.

Chaos begins to engluf the battlefield.

In the next turn, the slingers were futher cut apart by the victorious Roman clibanarii, with losses mounting to 50% of the unit's initial strength. Johan managed to halt the allied heavy cavalry while leaving his lights to chase off the Huns and Arvinda's general. In the centre of the field, the Immortals attempted to charge the Comitatenses. One unit passed its morale checks and smashed into the Roman infantry and began to push them back. The other unit, however, failed the checks (spectacularly in a classic example of Arvinda's magic dice rolling) and instead the Roman infantry charged the stationary cavalry and began to cut them apart.

On the Roman right, the Roman horse archers fled off the field and Arvinda was just able to halt his pursuing light cavalry (one of the downsides of irregular forces under the rules is a significantly increased chance of refusing orders). The Roman cataphracts began a half hearted pursuit of the other Sassanid light cavalry unit as they vanished off into the distance. The ongoing fight between the Immortals and the Roman general's bodyguard continued in two halves, with the Roman general and his segment of his bodyguard continuing to push back one regiment of Immortals (with Arvinda rolling poorly and losing by a single point) and the other regiment of Immortals further degrading the other half of the Roman bodyguard cavalry.

Both armies are now more of less fully committed to battle.

In the next turn, the regiment of Immortals that had been charged by the Roman Comitatenses broke and fled to the shame of their reputation. The other Immortals unit, despite heavy losses, managed to shatter the Comitatenses facing them and they broke through the supporting medium archers, demoralising them in the process as the Immortals followed up.

On the Roman left, Johan managed to halt his clibanarii from their pursuit of the slingers and began to draw them back into the central melee. The Huns and the Sassanid general were pushed to the very edge of the field. The half of the Roman bodyguard cavalry that had been losing continued to do so and their morale broke and they fled. Around the Roman general a giant mess ensued as the Sassanid light cavalry closed in from the Roman rear and the Roman cataphracts closed in behind the badly battered Sassanid cataphracts to make a four layer sandwich melee.

The field empties as units flee or are drawn into the central vortex around the Roman general.

The final turn saw the Sassanid general exiting the field with the Huns, the Sassanid cataphracts chasing the routed half of the Roman bodyguard refusing to halt their pursuit and heading off the field after them and the Immortals punching through and routing the large medium archer regiment in their pursuit of the Roman heavy infantry. At this point, Arvinda's only real hope for victory was to kill the Roman general and hope that broke his army.

In the most complicated melee we've had thus far in the campaign, the general's bodyguard took a casualty and (for the second time in the game) Johan rolled one point off the score that would cause that hit to be on the general. The final blow was the rout of the cataphract regiment

With his army collapsing, Arvinda conceded the match. Johan had managed to inflict enough damage on Arvinda's army to gain an additional VP, giving him a 4-0 victory. (Note: I'm thinking of including half the value of routed units to the "killed" VP list to give more of these consolation VPs.)

'Blasted barbarians' muttered Vahan Vzur as he rode around rallying scattered survivors of his army. His anger was with himself, placing himself with the weakest link in his army had meant he had barely any influence over the entire battle and that had cost him. It had cost many of his men their lives, and with this failure he may lose his own life at the hands of the Royal Executioner. 

Perhaps this city of Dvin was a cursed place for his people, he mused as he chased after a small knot of cavalry.

Closing Thoughts:

This battle turned on a few key rolls and moments. Twice Johan's general was nearly killed in the frantic fighting on the Roman right, and if he had fallen it could easily have broken the Roman army, even in the last few turns. At the same time though, the Sassanids failed to make the best of their strengths. As a missile heavy army with high mobility they could have chosen to concentrate on one section of the Roman army at a time, weakening them in sections, whereas they chose to throw themselves at the Romans in big wave across the front, despite being out pointed by around 250 points.

The battle also demonstrated the value of Regulars several times, with Johan being able to bring back several units into the fight after they had broken one opponent, whereas Arvinda had to watch two units of his best cavalry storm off the field in pursuit of broken enemies.

Casualties for both sides in the battle were heavy, with Arvinda losing ~250 points out of 1100 killed and Johan about 160 points out of 1350, a reflection both on the relatively expensive nature of most of the troops involved (a single cataphract or clibanarius figure being worth around 20 points)and the stubbornness with which both sides fought.

Johan:

I lost my horse archers early from a miscalculated charge. Although I easily routed his slingers  as his Immortals approached my heavy infantry I wasn't able to encircle his troops. Arvinda fought very hard and refused to give up even though the odds were stacking against him as his army fled the field.

Arvinda:

Why is it always me?

The Battle of Petra, Spring 361 AD

Outside the city of Petra, 18th February 361 AD

Marcus Alfidus was roused from his sleep by the bellowing of the horns around the camp. The barbarians within the city were pouring out and forming up for battle nearby. Cursing all barbarians, Marcus struggled into his armour as the army was brought to order. Soldiers swore, officers yelled and the servants scrambled to provide all the services needed. 

Presently Marcus was leading his army out of camp to battle. For the past few weeks, the army had been assaulting the city, his men were tired and many were wounded. If he could defeat this army in the field he could reward his men (the Emperor's men he mentally corrected himself, mindful of the presence of several Imperial appointees in his bodyguard) with the sack of a city. All that was needed now was to drive back the barbarians.

He rode out in front of his men, met by deafening cheers and the bellow of horns and trumpets. Over the field the Huns were bellowing their own unintelligible, barely human, language, or the closest they came to it. The thud of their battle drums could almost be felt in the air. "Today, brothers, we drive back the barbarians, in the Name of the Emperor. Cut down the savages, show no mercy!"

The third battle of our Caucasian Campaign, the Second Battle of Petra pitted the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire under Johan, who had been besieging the city, against Joe's Hun garrison who had sallied out. Joe was defending and set up another of his now classic empty battlefields (see here for the first example) with a handful of hills around the edge of the battlefield and a large, open, cavalry friendly area in the centre. The stage was set for quite a game.

Joe's Hunnic Army:

1 x General (Command Value 3)
4 x Hunnic Heavy Cavalry (10 figures per unit, B Class Heavy Cavalry) *One unit suffered from demoralisation due to Roman subversion attempts so was reduced to C Class.
3 x Hunnic Light Cavalry (10 figures per unit, B Class Light Cavalry)
2 x Hunnic Light Cavalry (15 figures per unit, C Class Light Cavalry)

Johan's Roman Army:

1 x General (Command Value 2)
1 x Bodyguard Cavalry (10 A Class Heavy Cavalry)
1 x Clibarnarii (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
1 x Cataphracts (10 B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry)
1 x Horse Archers (10 B Class Light Cavalry)
1 x Comitatenses (24 B Class Heavy Infantry)
1 x Comitatenses (24 C Class Heavy Infantry)
1 x Medium Archers (18 C Class Medium Infantry)
1 x Medium Archers (12 C Class Loose Order Medium Infantry)

Deployment:

Johan deployed on the hilliest side of the battlefield, two small hills dominating the left side of the battlefield. His line from left to right and starting from effectively the centre of the field was made up of the B Class Comitatenses, the Clibanarii, the Cataphracts with horse archers and the larger Medium Archer unit in support. The remaining Comitatenses formed the far right flank with the small Medium Archer regiment supporting them and the general and his bodyguard in close attendance.

In the opposite corner the Huns were formed up in a wide double crescent with four units of light cavalry (two small and two large) forming the forewardmost arc, the other light cavalry unit and the heavy cavalry units forming the rear arc.The general was attached to one of the heavy regiments.

The Plans:

 Joe:

Charge!!!!

Johan:

My initial plan was to advance on Joe, shower him with arrows and then smash him with my cavalry. As Joe failed to cooperate by staying still, I had to improvise and a running battle developed.

The Battle:

The battle began with a general sweeping advance by both sides towards the centre of the field. The Roman cavalry rapidly outpaced the footsloggers, beginning what appeared to be a very dangerous dispersal of the army, while the Huns began to close down the Romans, getting around the cavalry on the Roman left and moving in to threaten the infantry from the flanks.

Cavalry thunder across the field as arrows begin to fly.

The Romans were soon feeling the effects of massed Hunnic bows, particularly the Roman Horse Archers who were far ahead of the other Roman forces and facing rather daunting odds.

An arrow storm descends on the Roman light cavalry.

To try and alleviate the barrage of arrows, the Romans threw their Heavy Cavalry, Cataphracts and Clibanarii at the leftmost Hun Light Cavalry unit, which wisely chose to fall back away from the ironclad horde bearing down on it. The Roman Horse archers charged into another unit of Hunnic Light Cavalry who countercharged into melee. Pressing the advantage with the Roman cavalry fully engaged elsewhere (including almost half of the points value of their army charging after a single low cost Hun unit) Hunnic cavalry swept into the virtually abandoned Roman infantry who were barraged with arrows.

Roman cavalry chase an elusive target back toward the Hunnic rear while Hun cavalry sweep around the exposed Roman infantry.

The Roman infantry managed to swing around to take on the flanking Huns, with the archer units giving as good as they got in the missile fire while the Comitatenses regiment on the left pushed forward towards javelin range in the teeth or Hunnic missile fire and a feint charge. The smaller unit of Roman archers attempted to evade a unit of Huns who charged them and ended up being run down and routed. Meanwhile the mass of Roman cavalry charging off after the Hunnic lights came under threat from Hun heavies on their left flank. The cataphracts were halted and started to reform. The Hun heavies charged into the Roman general and his bodyguard, who managed to swing around and countercahrge. Despite being disorganised, the Roman troops managed with the inspiration of their general win the ensuing melee. The Roman horse archers and the Hun light cavalry in the centre fought themselves to a standstill with both units suffering morale losses and being forced to break off.

Heavy fighting breaks out in the cavalry horde and the infantry stand their ground.

The next round, things went south quickly for the Huns. The unit of heavy cavalry facing the Roman general lost their combat and broke, fleeing through another heavy cavalry unit that was then hit in the flank by the victorious Romans and broke after a round of melee. The light cavalry being chased by the Roman Clibanarii fled the field while the Romans managed to bring the Clibanarii under control and keep them in the game. Although they were inflicting heavy losses on the fleeing Roman medium archers, the pursuing light cavalry disobeyed orders to halt and were heading rapidly towards leaving the field in pursuit of their quarry. Other Hun units were suffering morale losses under fire from the Romans, and Roman heavy infantry waded into combat with some Hun heavy cavalry and drove them back.

As chaos consumed the Hun army, the Huns tried to regain the initiative, surrounding the isolated Cataphracts and hammering arrows into them, to little effect. Unwilling to confront the Roman armoured cavalry openly, the Huns commander conceded the match and the Huns fled into the hills.

In one last push the Huns try to break the Romans as the dice turn on them.

Marcus Alfidus watched as the Huns fled into the gathering dark, his men pursuing them halfheartedly. His shield arm was in agony from the battering it had taken, his sword arm ached and his sword was welded to his hand by drying blood from men and horses. Around him, he could hear celebrations from his men, but other troops were helping the large numbers of wounded men to the camp for treatment. In addition, his men were setting upon any Hun stragglers or wounded and cutting them down, in no mood to show mercy after such a hard fight.

At dawn, he accepted the surrender of the city of Petra. He had given the Emperor a victory and a new city, now he needed to reward the army. "It's yours men!" he cried out to the assembled army. A deafening cheer accompanied the army as they stormed into the city.

Closing thoughts:

This was easily the bloodiest of the battles fought up until this point in the campaign. The Huns had a great chance to inflict a devastating defeat on the Romans. The Romans failed to remain in a cohesive whole, leaving their infantry exposed as their cavalry stormed off into the aether. With a bedraggled line of cavalry exposing their flanks, the Huns tried to take full advantage, slamming into the exposed Roman cavalry and infantry, but they were badly let down by the dice.

Joe:

Gargh! Barbarians don't write!

Johan:

In the end Joe lost the battle partly due to unlucky morale checks and disobedient soldiers and partly due to underestimating the morale of my troops. Several times at critical moments Joe attempted charges that were denied for lack of morale on Joe's side.

Battle of Dvin, Winter 360 AD

Outside the city of Dvin. 5th December, 360 AD

Fazir of Mihran looked over the massed Goth ranks ahead of his army. They had spent the year fighting their way through the barbarians' lands, taking two cities with barely a pause, but here, in front of the walls of their capital the advance had stalled. The King of Kings has demanded the fall of the city, and so he and his men were spending the winter here, camped out. The cold was eating at his men and he knew if he had to withdraw many would not survive.

The barbarians had sallied out from behind the walls, intent on forcing the Sassanids back, now they sat taunting them, goading them into attacking. With his officers in attendance, Fazir looked over their force. His men were ready to end this, his officers eager to end this so he signalled his men to their battle formations. Draco standards whipped around in the wind, the drums hammered, drowning out Goth battle cries and insults. The King of Kings required a victory, and Fazir would have to deliver.

Recently we played out the battle that occurred when the Goth army sallied out from Dvin, which was under siege by the Sassanids as the second battle of the Caucasian campaign. The Sassanid army had suffered some minor losses besieging the city in the autumn before deciding to remain around the city during the winter. Whichever side lost the encounter would lose an additional 100 points worth of troops above any battle losses to cold and desertion during the retreat.

Arvinda's Sassanid army consisted of:

The General, Fazir Mihran (Command Value 2)
2 x Immortal Clibanarii (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
2 x Cataphracts (B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry, one unit of 10 and one of 5)
2 x Light Cavalry (10 C Class Light Cavalry)
1 x Elephant Squadron (2 Elephants and crew)
1 x Hunnic Cavalry Squadron (15 D Class Light Cavalry)

My Goth army consisted of:

General and bodyguard (Command Value 2, 15 B Class Heavy Cavalry)
4 x Noble Cavalry (B Class Medium Cavalry, 3 units of 15, one of 10)
4 x Light Archers (12 D Class Light Infantry)
3 x Warriors (30 C Class Medium Infantry)

The terrain we would be fighting over consisted of a settlement in the centre of the southern edge of the field with a series of hills to the east and west, with one especially large hill to the east. The Sassanids would be deployed in the east, the Goths in the west.

Ian's Plan:

With the Goths being deployed in the more open end of the field, I had to alter my intention to sit on top of the hills and throw things at the Sassanids. There were two small hills forming two intruding spurs into the field with an open central area between them. My plan was to position infantry on the two hills, providing them protection against the Sassanid cavalry hordes, with my cavalry in between. As these hills were right by the edge of the field, I would deploy well back from the Sassanids, with my cavalry as far back as possible. The idea was to use the open space and cavalry to draw the Sassanids in between the infantry wings and then use the infantry to cut off and smash part of the Sassanid army, then use the cavalry in a general assault to inflict heavy losses on the enemy as they fell back, relying on the speed advantage over the Sassanid super heavies to keep my cavalry safe. Alternatively I could use the infantry to absorb the cavalry assault and use the cavalry as a hammer against their anvil.

This was, however, all secondary to the main plan. Arvinda has a reputation (and he both believes it and would be the first to claim it is true) for bad luck in wargames and being able to snatch defeat from any situation. My plan therefore was to convince Arvinda he was losing, keep the pressure on him and convince him I was totally confident of winning. If I could convince him of this, I could pressure him into conceding fast,  which would allow me to defeat him without losing too much of my army.

Arvinda's Plan:

The plan was to deploy the Sassanid army right up on the line, and reach the Goths in as few turns as possible. I expected the Goths to move towards the centre of the field in a similar manner, where I'd (in theory) have had an advantage with stronger troops. I also learned (I was probably told this well before, but had forgotten) that any troops I lost here could not be replaced until the following winter, so I was keen to minimise losses, even if that meant conceding the battle and losing the city.

Deployment:

The Goths deployed with the small Noble Cavalry unit on their far left (beyond the left most hill), a unit of Warriors with Light Archers deployed in front of them, the three large Noble Cavalry units in the centre of the army, two in line and one in column with the General's Bodyguard behind them. On the right flank the remaining Warriors and Archers were deployed along the edge of the hill they were occupying. The Goths were deployed at the edge of the battlefield.

The Sassanids were deployed with their Elephants on their far right, followed by Cataphracts preceeded by the Light Cavalry regiments. The General and the Immortal Cavalry formed the centre of the Sassanid line, with Hunnic Light Cavalry on the far left of their formation. The Sassanids had chosen to deploy as far forward as possible.

The armies stare each other down across the field of battle.

The Battle:

The battle began with a general advance by the Sassanids aiming towards the Goth positions on the hill to the Sassanid right. Unfortunately for the Sassanids, they chose to advance all units at their best speed, which left the Elephants and heaviest cavalry far behind the lighter cavalry. The Goth foot bowmen could outrange the mounted archers of the Sassanid forces and began to inflict light casualties. When they were in range Sassanid forces began to reply in kind.

The opening flurries of arrows begin to fly.

The first Sassanid forces to close on the Goths were the Light Cavalry who charged (boldly or foolishly depending on your point of view) uphill into the waiting Goth infantry after the Light Archers fell back behind the waiting lines of heavier troops. To the left of the Light Cavalry, the Huns in Sassanid service swept into the open area between the two hills and towards the Goth Cavalry.

The Light Cavalry charge came to an abrupt end when both units failed their 30 Yard Check. This check occurs when cavalry charges infantry. Given horses, being far more sensible than people, will sometimes refuse to charge into a solid mass of people holding sharp objects, and if they don't refuse that said block of people will tend to run away, this test gives the opportunity for these effects to occur. In this case, both light units refused to charge home. Unfortunately for the Sassanids, both units had lost morale from taking losses to missile fire, and with the additional morale loss from being forced back they began to retire from the action, directly through the lines of the supporting Sassanid forces.

With the initial Sassanid push checked, the Goths went over to the offensive. Their right wing infantry and archers swept forward to put pressure on the Sassanid left with both missile fire and sheer physical presence. The Goth cavalry also went onto the attack, with one unit charging into the Huns.

Suddenly the Sassanids find themselves facing the fury of the Goths as the enemy sweep forward.

The Huns managed to counter charge the onrushing Goth cavalry and a brutal melee broke out, with the Huns getting the worse of it due to being outnumbered by the more tightly concentrated Goths. The poorly motivated Huns broke and fled, leaving the heavy Sassanid centre isolated with Goth forces beginning to swarm around them.

The Sassanid centre suddenly feels rather vulnerable as their light supporting elements break and run.

At this point Arvinda, intimidated by the various losses and the imminent prospect of being surrounded, conceded. Having saved my capital with minimal losses to my forces while inflicting some losses on the Sassanids I let him flee with no further harm, not wanting to pit my forces against his heavy cavalry.

Fazir rode his starving mount over the mountains. The cold was cutting through his clothing, even with the additional furs wrapped around him. He couldn't quite understand what had happened, from his position deep within the saravan he only saw brief flashes of action, his Huns and Sassanid light cavalry surging forward, arrows hurtling into the clibanarii unit in front of his. Then the light cavalry running back in various levels of panic. His elephants and cataphracts were likely to lose heart seeing their allies breaking and from somewhere Goth forces were swarming in from both sides. He signalled a general retreat, better to save the army than fight to death for the dunghill that was the Goth capital.

His men were dejected, dragging themselves along the road, the twin daggers of defeat and hunger cutting into their hearts. Here and there small mounds in the snow marked where a man or horse had just given up the fight and lain down to die. The King of Kings would require something to wipe away the disgrace of this failure, and fortunately the army was mostly intact.

Closing Thoughts

Ian:

Well the plan worked better than I intended. Arvinda's army lost some minor supporting elements but he came to the conclusion he was doomed. The truth of the matter was his army was in a poor position, but at the same time his remaining forces, the Cataphracts, Immortal Cavalry and Elephants, were his best and I had little that could match them. I would have had to rely on numbers and being able to bring back the cavalry unit that was pursuing the Huns off the field, neither of which were certainties. One factor that really aided me in the fight was Arvinda's use of his troops. He effectively reversed the roles, with his heavy forces relying on missile fire and his light troops boldly/foolishly being used as contact troops, which did provide me with critical advantages at key moments.

Nevertheless the battle has shown that the Goths can beat the other factions with some careful planning and good luck, plus a good dose of mindgames. Now to throw those Sassanids out of my lands completely.

Arvinda:

 Everyone knew how this was going to end when they heard Arvinda was playing... I wasn't keen on having a severely depleted army for the rest of the year, so decided to concede before I lost too much of it. Apparently I actually had the advantage at this point, but I didn't want to hang around and prove that wrong!

The Goths earn 3 VPs for winning the battle and again neither side destroyed enough of the enemy to earn additional VPs (Goths being about 10 points short again!).

The First Steps

Border Wars Campaign: 360 AD

So the first round of our campaign began recently. The three players chose their forces and their winter quarters and prepared to move into conflict over the Goth territories.

The Campaign Map. The campaign is centred around what is now Georgia/Armenia etc. Red cities are under the Hun's control, Blue the Sassanids, Purple the Romans and Brown the Goths.

The Huns wintered in Arkhalopolis (3), the Romans in Kitharlinda (17), the Sassanids in Xenin (20) and the Goths in Dvin.

Spring 360 AD:

The Huns immediately moved into the attack, reaching Petra (4) and laying siege. They suffered some casualties attacking the walls, and failed to break into the city.

The Goths moved their field army to Artariaj (6), unable to reach the Huns to confront them this season.

Roman forces advance to Vars (18) and were held by the Gothic garrison, losing men during the siege.

Sassanid forces advanced to Sartaxa (9) and successfully stormed the city.

In preparation for the next season, the Romans hired a spy to gather information on the Sassanid army.

Summer 360 AD:

The Romans continued to besiege Vars, which stubbornly held out against them, with the Romans suffering further losses in the fighting.

Trusting that the cities between the Sassanids and the their capital would slow the Persian advance, the Goths attacked the Huns besieging Petra. The Huns elected to stand and fight the attackers.In the ensuing battle, the Huns triumph. The defeated Goths fall back to Artariaj (6). Disheartened by the defeat of their army, the defenders of Petra surrender to the Huns.

The Sassanids advanced to Kapalak (8) and were again successful in storming the city, leaving them within striking distance of the Gothic capital.

Autumn 360 AD:

The Romans finally manage to storm Vars. After the Battle of Petra, the Huns proceeded to attack Trapedaosa (11) but fail to take the city. The Goths call a general muster of the tribes at the capital Dvin. This allows them to restructure their army to a certain point limit based on the number of cities they control and how recent battles have gone. This mechanism is primarily to allow the Goths to contine to cause trouble long into the campaign. The Sassanid army advances on Dvin and lays siege with the Goths inside the city. The fail to take the city and lose men to the skirmishing.
 

Winter 360 AD:

The Huns fall back to winter camp in Petra. The Romans move their army to Traedaosa (11) for the winter. Goth forces sally out of Dvin to face the Sassanids and drive them back from the city after a brief and savage battle.  The Sassanids fall back to Kapalak (8), losing additional men to cold, starvation and desertion during the retreat over the mountains.

End of Year VP Standing

Huns: 3 VPs from the Battle of Petra, 2 VPs for capturing Petra. Total 5 VPs
Goths: 3 VPs from the Battle of Dvin. Total: 3 VPs.
Sassanids: 2 VPs for capturing Sartaxa, 2 VPs for capturing Kapalak. Total: 4 VPs
Romans: 2 VPs for capturing Vars. Total: 2 VPs

The Battle of Petra, Summer 360 AD

Hyspos, near Petra. 12th August, 360 AD

Valamir looked over his men as they formed up for battle. Many of his men were tired, or sported wounds from the hard fighting trying to take the city of Petra, some miles to their rear. Now his forces were faced with the prospect of a hostile city to their rear and the field army of the Goths closing from ahead of them. 

Across the plain, he could see dust clouds and banners as the Goths moved into battle formation. Clearly they intended to force the issue today. Valamir approached one of the formations of heavy cavalry, signalling for the battle horn to be sounded. As the sound rippled across the ranks of Hun troops it was joined by drums, more horns and battle cries. An answering bellow came from the Gothic forces, brass trumpets mixed in with the cries. Sliding his helmet on, Valamir grimaced. He and his men had beaten the Goths before, he prayed to the Gods that today would be no different.

This was the first battle of our Caucasian campaign, fought between my Goths and Joe's Huns. The Goths were attacking the Hunnic forces besieging the Goth controlled city of Petra, a coastal city in arable terrain.

The Goth forces consisted of:

The General (Rank 2) with a bodyguard of 15 Heavy Cavalry (B Class)
3 Units of 15 Noble Cavalry (B Class Medium Cavalry)
4 Units of 30 Warriors (C Class Medium Infantry)
2 Units of 12 Light Javelinmen (D Class Light Infantry)
2 Units of 12 Light Archers (D Class Light Infantry)

The Huns forces (after losses incurred besieging Petra):

The General (Rank 3)
4 Units of 10 Heavy Cavalry (B Class)
2 Units of 10 Light Cavalry (B Class)
1 Unit of 15 Light Cavalry (C Class)

All troops on both sides were Irregulars.

As the defender, Joe got to set the terrain, which resulted in a very sparse table allowing him maximum mobility for his cavalry. I chose to attack from the most open end of the table, with hills to the Hun's rear. Due to a miscalculation on the part of the referee (me!), the table was a bit too large. Future battles will be more reasonably sized so that terrain can play some part in the games!

The procedure we're using for the battles is that each side will draw a deployment on a map before deploying. The attacker may then chose if he wishes to force a battle with those deployments. If he declines, both sides re-draw their deployments (if they wish). The attacker may decline twice, but must either fight on the third deployment or withdraw, conceding defeat. When the attacker decides to press the issue, the defender may either accept battle or withdraw, conceding defeat.

When both sides deployed for the first time, the Goths had their archers and a single warrior band on their far left flank, a unit of noble cavalry in the centre, their javelinmen with three units of warriors in close support to their right, with the two remaining units of noble cavalry ahead of the general and his bodyguard. On the Hun right, there were two units of heavy cavalry and one of B class light cavalry, with a distinct break in their centre and a left flank force of two units of heavy cavalry flanked with the light cavalry forming the extreme left wing of their forces.

Dawn rises over the field of battle with the armies fully deployed

Both the Goths and Huns were happy to engage in battle with these deployments, so we proceeded. My plan with the Goths was to lure the Hun heavy cavalry on my right into my infantry, then grind them down by sheer weight of numbers, while my central cavalry regiment, one of the right flank regiments and my general and his bodyguard closed in from either side and crushed them, hopefully taking the fight out of the Huns and killing their general to boot. My left flank units were effectively a sacrificial goat, I was hoping they'd hold the Hun forces on that flank or at least that the Hun forces would go out of control and pursue the remnants of my troops far enough that they'd be effectively out of the battle. My last unit of Noble Cavalry on the right flank was to drive back the Hun horse archers and allow me to crush the Hun heavies.

 <Joe's plan would go here but he claims barbarians can't write>

After a couple of turns of tentative movement and some desultory bow-fire, a series of charges were declared as the armies closed. On the Goth left, all three of the Hun cavalry units declared charges against the Goth unit nearest them. Astoundingly, the two units who should have charged the Goth Light Archers both failed their morale checks and failed to charge, while the central heavy unit charged home against the warriors in the centre. On the right, the rightmost Noble cavalry regiment charged at the Hunnic horse archers, driving them back, but losing several men to Hun arrows for their pains. The Goth unit that had taken losses to Hun arrow fire was charged by a Hunnic heavy cavalry unit, so they countercharged. Finally a Hun heavy cavalry unit with the general attached charged at a unit of javelinmen, who retired behind a nearby warrior unit. Unfortunately, they were panicked by the charging cavalry and broke. The cavalry charge smashed into the warriors, who stood firm.

The armies close in under a hail of arrows

The Hun's smash into the Goths and brutal fighting ensues on the right flank.

Astoundingly two units of Hun cavalry cannot brig themselves to run down some light infantry

Arrows were traded to some small effect by the archers and Hun cavalry units, inflicting minor losses. Meanwhile, the Goths proceeded to lose all the combats, with their left-most warrior unit being driven back, suffering only minor losses. The combat with Hun heavy cavalry cost the Goths two figures of medium cavalry, although a kill was inflicted in return. Finally on the right, despite inflicting some losses, the Goth warriors facing the charge of the Hun general and his men were beaten, and their morale began to collapse.

The next turn saw the Goth's fortunes worsen. On the left, although the Hun light cavalry was prevented from advancing by a poor morale result, the uncommitted Hun heavy cavalry unit was able to contact the light archers from the rear as they were evading. The Goth general was forced to charge the remaining Hun light cavalry or face a constant barrage of arrows. Other Goth units attempted to close in on the Hun general, but none could reach in time to aid their bretheren already engaged. The Goth infantry on the left flank collapsed after under the pressure, and the archers understandably joined them in routing. In the centre, the already weakened infantry collapsed after another bad round of fighting. The Goth cavalry fought on valiantly, but were still being beaten, taking heavy losses in the process.

The Goth right just before it collapses into rout.

The knock-on effects of the units routing precipitated a general collapse of the Gothic forces. One infantry unit in particular warrants special mention, as what started off as a -2 morale modifier ended up after a spectacular run of 7 1's on a d6 being a -16 modifier, resulting in a collapse from steady to routing (and a fair bit further too!).

The end on the left.

At this point, with my army in tatters, I conceeded the match and Joe was gracious enough to accept with no further turns (if a player concedes, their opponent can either accept, ending the battle immediately or refuse, causing the battle to last another d3 turns), partially in order to catch a train and partially as I was in a position to potentially inflict more losses on some of his heavy cavalry, which he felt he may need in future battles.

Closing Thoughts

Ian:

Overall, I think my initial plan was reasonable. Given the higher mobility of the Huns, I was always going to have to rely on luring Joe into attacking where I wanted him to and then being lucky and taking him out. I could have perhaps done with Joe's deployment being more cooperative to the plan, but allowing him the chance to redeploy while he had such a powerful force facing my holding force on the left would likely have done more harm good. I probably over-estimated the ability of my infantry, being used to having B Class Heavy Infantry in most of my previous games. The plan may have succeeded had I used my cavalry to pin the Hun heavies and then mobbed the infantry in.

While I would like to blame bad dice rolls for my eventual defeat (and they definitely didn't help matters), Joe played his forces well. Aside from his general charging into my central trap, his forces were engaging consistently with a local advantage in combat power, despite me having a slight points lead overall. That said, had my infantry managed to hold the Hun assault for a turn more I may well have been able to swamp Joe's general and pull some kind of victory from the battle. Alas, it was not to be, but the Gothic people will not fade away just yet.

Joe:

Barbarians don't write Gargh!

Final Scores:

Joe gets 3 VP for the win, neither side achieved enough points destroyed or a sufficient lead points destroyed to get any bonus VPs (the Goths being 11 points short of snatching a consolation VP).

Valamir smiled grimly as he watched the Goth horde retreating over the hills, back up into the mountains. Across the field, his men were dispatching any Gothic survivors or wounded they could find, collection loot and bringing their own wounded and dead back to camp for proper treatment. The battle had gone their way, even if he had, for a moment, felt he had charged headlong into a Goth trap. Still, it was a reassuring omen for the invasion of these lands that the Huns could still instill such fear in the Goths. Heralds were already braying news of the Gothic defeat and displaying heads to the defenders of Petra, so it was likely soon that the city would capitulate, giving his men yet more plunder.

One victory and one city taken in these new lands.

'May they be the first of many' prayed Valamir silently.