1. Burgundian Ordnance vs French Ordnance

2. Alexandrian Macedonians vs Achaemenid Persians

Picture to follow

1. Burgundian Ordnance vs French Ordnance (500 points a side)

Once again, the Evil French were trying to force the wayward Duke of Burgundy to toe the line.

The French deployed with great skill (i.e. I did it) with skirmishing handgunners and crossbowmen in a ploughed field on the left, ready to dash forward into a marshy area;  Gendarmes and Archers in the centre;  with more Gendarmes in reserve. The infantry held the right, with the Francs Archers trying to hide in a cornfield!

The Burgundians deployed with their Knights on the right, then their archers and crossbowmen, then their Dutch allies, and finally the English holding the left.

The Burgundian Knights started to roll forward at an angle to avoid the marsh to their front.  This had 2 effects:  firstly it exposed them to flanking fire from the French skirmishers in the marsh (as well as archery from the front) while at the same time masking the shooting of some of their own archers!

The French Gendarmes charged in, and soon Burgundian right was smashed, the victorious Gendarmes pursuing into the archers behind.  These fights were short and one sided:  soon the Burgundian centre was collapsing too.

The Dutch now became the target for the Gendarmes and archers:  and these soon started to fragment and head for the rear.

What of the heroic English Allies?

They had been stuck with Hold orders for most of the game, only moving forward one unit of Longbows, but these had had little chance to do anything. The Burgundian CinC finally managed to get an order to them:  "Retreat"! These were the only troops who had a chance of getting away, so off they went.

His forces shattered, the Duke of Burgundy was forced, once again, to swear loyalty to the French crown...well...at least until the next time!

The Forces

French Ordnance

Sub General

Leader 1
2 x Gendarmes (veteran CO Knights)
1 x Archers (veteran CO HI LB and 2H)

Leader 2
2 x Gendarmes (veteran CO Knights)
1 x Archers (veteran CO HI LB and 2H)

Leader 3
1 x Italian Knights (average CO Knights)
1 x Feudal Knights (veteran OO Knights)

Leader 4
1 x Crossbows (average SO)
1 x Handgunners (veteran SO)

Leader 5
1 x Militia Spears (average OO MI HS SH)
1 x Partizans (average HI PO)
2 x Francs Archers (Levy OO LI LB)

Burgundians

Sub general

Leader 1
4 x Knights (average OO Knights)

Leader 2
4 x Picardy Archers (average OO MI LB)
1 x Crossbows (average OO HI)

Leader 3 - Low Countries Ally
3 x Pikes (Levy CO MI)
2 x Crossbows (Levy SO MI)

Leader 4 - English Ally
1 x English Knights (veteran mounted CO EHI PO)
2 x English Longbows (veteran CO HI LB 2H)

John Hills

Some fantastic looking Persians from Vendel

2. Alexandrian Macedonian vs Achaemenid Persians

As this was our first game, we decided not to bother with leader bases but just deploy straight away.

We also deliberately chose simple tactics: the Macedonians were given Attack orders; the Persians were given Forward orders. Basically, the Macedonians would charge full pelt into contact, while the Persians would try to wear them down with missile fire.

So what happened?

The Persian cavalry soon got into long range with their bows and opened up. However, this proved to be largely ineffective: causing one or two casualties only as the x½ multiplier for cavalry firing and the -4 for the Macedonians' shields were significant. The Persian infantry used similar tactics against the Macedonian cavalry with greater success: seriously disrupting the Thracian light cavalry that were at the front of their attack.

The Companion cavalry then charged into the Persian infantry, and the Macedonian pike phalanx charged into the Persian cavalry. Now here two tactical errors crept into the game, due to it being our first. Firstly, the Macedonian light troops at the front of their attack got in the way of the pikes and Companion cavalry, and caused some disorder before getting out of the way! Secondly, "evading" was forgotten as the Persians stood their ground to counter-fire before receiving the Macedonian charge.

All the melees caused complete carnage amongst the Persians. Every Persian base took heavy casualties and routed. It then became apparent how difficult it is to rally a mass rout. In the following command phases the Persians could only rally on a roll of "2", and not surprisingly all failed. The decent Persian troops who remained were now heavily outnumbered and soon scarpered!

An emphatic victory for Alexander: he's still great!

Post Match Analysis

Okay, so what did I think about the rules ?

Did I enjoy the game? Yes, definitely.

Will I play it again? Yes, definitely.

Was it worth re-basing from DBM? Yes, definitely.

I've always struggled with Alexander under DBM. The phalanx has to be so deep to be effective that it ends up with a narrow frontage and gets out-flanked very easily. The Companion cavalry as Kn(F) could come to grief very quickly, particularly against light horse; and, apart from the levy horde, the Persians always stick around a lot longer than expected.

Now admittedly, in my first Vis Bellica game my grasp of the rules and tactics wasn't as good as they could have been, but the outcome seemed right.

I'm going to replay the same encounter later this week: after the Persians have looked up "evading a charge" in their dictionary!

The Forces

Just one Sub-General and two Leaders per side: 340 points each.

Macedonians -

Leader 1 : 

3 x Phalangites 

1 x Hypaspists 

1 x Javelinmen.

Leader 2 : 

3 x Companion Cavalry 

2 x Thracian Light Cavalry.

Persians -

Leader 1 : 

6 x Assorted Cavalry (mostly bow/javelin armed)

Leader 2 : 

1 x Greek Hoplites 

2 x Kardakes 

2 x Takabara (javelin-armed light infantry)

Nick Challuk