Battle Reports May 2004

Being outnumbered, the Yorkists decided to attack in echelon, leading with the right wing, hoping for a good victory on this flank before engaging the rest of the Lancastrian line.

Caution got the better of the Lancastrians, who decided to sit and await the arrival of the Yorkists, greet them with a hail of arrows and then counter-attack.

The Battle

Turn 1

The Yorkists advanced in their echelon formation, while the Lancastrians tried to spot them through the fog.

Turn 2

The Yorkist right and centre emerged from the fog, to be hit by a lethal hail of arrows that caused much carnage in the front line of archers, whose return fire was rather pitiful by comparison.

Turn 3

Oxford, on the Lancastrian right flank, started to advance, hoping to be able to attack the Yorkist centre in the flank, but was engaged my archers who had been hanging back in the fog.

The Yorkist centre and right now pushed forward to point blank range, and took a good hammering – 1 unit of Longbowmen being destroyed while 2 others broke and headed for the rear.

Turn 4

The Yorkist right and centre now hit the Lancastrian line, with Longbowmen from both sides moving to the rear to escape the carnage. Unfortunately, the Lancastrians were not able to give all of their heavy foot Attack orders in time, with the result that some were caught flat-footed. The Lancastrian line was unceremoniously shunted to the rear, with 2 units breaking on impact. Both Warwick and Montagu suffered injuries in the melee, too, severely impacting their ability to control their troops from this point onwards!

Turn 5

Hastings, on the Yorkist left, moved his battle line forward to engage Oxford, who was facing him, but was not able to prevent Oxford moving some of his units to attack Edward’s exposed flank. This gave the Lancastrian centre a welcome boost and Warwick was able to stabilise what had been a dire situation. No such help was getting to Montagu, however, and his troops completely gave way at this point. They had given a good account of themselves, though, and leaving the victorious Yorkist right in no state to influence the battle further.

Turn 6

On the Yorkist left, Oxford hit and pushed back Hastings, while in the centre, Warwick re-dressed his line for one final charge. Edward was not up to the challenge, however. Outnumbered 3 to 1, he decided that a winter at the Burgundian Court suddenly had a certain appeal, and headed off into the sunset.

Comments

This was a very enjoyable and interesting battle to refight, and I hope that this came across in the above report. Not only was it fun, but the course of the battle and its various events felt very realistic and plausible.

So, how well did Vis Bellica work for this battle? Was the game good because of the rules or in spite of them? I will look at some salient features of the battle and explain a little about how Vis Bellica turned a good scenario into a great game.

· Spotting. Vis Bellica has a system for spotting enemy troops as they approach. Using this rule (modified as explained above to represent fog) meant that the players did not know exactly where the enemy was until they emerged from the fog, usually at very close range! Real ‘fog of war’!

· Shooting rules. In Vis Bellica, stationary missile units have an advantage over units that are moving (i.e. they shoot first and are not penalised for moving!) This meant that the Lancastrian plan to remain halted gave their Longbowmen a big initial advantage over their Yorkist opponents.

· Command system. Each turn, Leaders and Generals get a random number of Command Points (similar to PIPs in DBM) that are used for a variety of purposes, such as spotting enemy troops, issuing orders (units follow an order until it is changed or the enemy persuades them not to) and rallying Disordered or Shaken troops. A shortage of Command Points resulted in much of the Lancastrian line being stationary when the Yorkists charged them – not a good thing. Wounded leaders get less Command Points, with obvious results.

· Damage and Morale systems. In Vis Bellica, units accumulate damage from enemy shooting and in melee. This means that as the game progresses you can see your once proud units becoming more and more battered. Even if they pass all of their morale tests and avoid becoming Shaken or Routed, attrition will eventually get the better of them. This played a huge part in this game, as several units (notably on the Yorkist right flank) became so battered that sending them into action again would have meant almost certain destruction.

· Turn Sequence and Melee system. These features, in particular, contributed a lot to the enjoyment of the game. When a unit charges into contact with the enemy, the results of the impact are resolved straight away, including recoils and routs, before anything else is done. Add to this the rules allowing units to charge into an existing melee (to either help out a struggling friendly unit or to finish off a battered enemy) and you should start to see that the charge phase of the turn can see some major changes in the situation on the battlefield. The frantic reinforcement of wavering units was what saved the situation for Warwick.

So, in summary, Vis Bellica added a lot to the success of this game. The Wars of the Roses are often pointed out as being a very interesting period of history that makes rather dull wargaming. This is certainly not the case if you use Vis Bellica!

Greece Is The Word

Being Greece the battlefield was littered with terrain with the Greek half having a steep hill on both flanks and one in the centre, leaving two open channels between them. Opposite the central hill was another in the Galatian territory. The Greek general (me) was quite happy with this situation.

The Greeks deployed their two mixed peltast and javelinmen commands opposite the hills on the left and centre with the aim of taking the high ground as soon as possible. The far right Greek command was their three units of cavalry supported by archers also intent on the high ground to their front. The gaps were to be plugged by hoplites, again with javelinmen in support.

Heading for the Greek left were some treacherous Thessalians who had allied themselves to the barbarians and given them some unexpected mobility with principally their light and medium cavalry. Heading for the hill on the Greek right were three Galatian warbands and coming between them and the unidentified mass on the central hill were the noble cavalry backed up by more warbands.

The Greek plan had one flaw to start with as they had the far left command facing air and would need time to cross the hill to their front and get into the Galatian flank. Otherwise it was a case of harassing the warbands with light troops and keep the hoplites away from them until they could be worn down.

The Greeks soon seized all the high ground keeping their cavalry in reserve on the right whilst the archers started shooting at the approaching warbands. Javelinmen also went forward in the centre but started being worsted by shielded Galatian and allied Greek slingers and had to fall back.

The terrain now started to work against the Greeks as a log jam formed on their left as hoplites and peltasts tried to get through the gap but found the space closed down by advancing allied Greek horse. In the other gap the javelinmen had been obliged to stay behind the hoplites because of the Galatian noble cavalry but now the warbands came through so the Greek general decided to halt the hoplites and send forward the skirmishers. Disaster! For the next couple of turns the Greek general and his most senior lieutenant both threw ones for command, so the hoplites pressed forward on attack orders toward the warbands.

The centres were still eyeing each other up, all the action was taking place on the flanks as Thessalian allied cavalry charged a hoplite unit and threw it back whereas the similar Greek cavalry were obliged to break off their attack on the Galatian bodyguard due to heavy losses. And then the warbands went in against the hoplites driving two back with great loss but the other being forced back itself.

As units fell back, flanks were exposed allowing both sides to launch attacks in support against winning enemy, the Greeks more able to do this with reserve light infantry. However things were looking bad for the Greeks as their right was giving too much ground as the archers were forced off their hill inflicting minimal casualties (awful die rolls) and repeated cavalry charges were repulsed by the Galatians with ease (more awful die rolls) and the Greek second in command ended up badly wounded (expected awful die) then killed in the subsequent rout of the hoplite unit he was with.

On the Greek left pressure was finally brought to bear with the rout of the Thessalians and a unit of allied peltasts but it was too late as the Greek right was disintegrating allowing the fresh Galatian cavalry to get into the rear. A win for the Galatians!

In most games a superior number of units is a very good thing and I know Jon was worried about how Paul(Russcats) amended tariffs for Veterans and elites was going to effect him. Trouble was I forgot that, and was fooled by 5 leader bases, one false, leaving one of mine not facing a target and slowed by terrain in getting into action. We both think the amended tariffs a good idea as levy, veterans and elites need some adjustment as they are too cheap/expensive as they are. (Ed.'s Note: see the Yahoo discussion group files for more details)

The truth is that I was really hamstrung by bad Command dice at a crucial stage. The irony is that if I had given my prestige units, hoplites, to a more junior commander the pips could have been passed down. Bad die were the order of the day with me again, shooting was terrible and had a senior officer badly wounded as usual.

Having sacked various shrines a few generations ago the new Galatian Chieftain decided to refill his coffers the same way and invaded Greece recruiting his traditional Thessalian Allies along the way.

The Greeks, as always, chose to make a stand where the road the Galatians were using passed between two hills . The left hand hill had orchards, vineyards and rough ground on its right and rear effectively sealing off their left from the centre and right. The left contained the Greek Cavalry, a mixture of Tarantine and Thracian lights and Greek mediums with some missile support from light infantry occupying the hill.

The Greek centre consisted of six pike blocks with javelinmen support and the right saw the hill confidently held by Illyrians, Thereuphoroi and slingers.

With Greek cavalry and light infantry sent forward the Galatian dispositions soon became clear. The Galatian chieftain had also elected to place his Noble cavalry on the right, directly opposite the Greek horse, supported by the Thessalian allies giving them a clear advantage with their veterans. The Galatian centre and left was warband all the way with support from only a single unit of slingers as the Thessalian light troops were with their cavalry.

The cavalry wings soon closed the distance with the skirmishing Greeks outshot by the Galatian nobles. The phalanx rolled forward with the javelinmen from the centre and slingers from the right flank hill racing forward to start pestering the warbands.

With their light cavalry coming off worse some Greek cavalry charged to drive off the enemy light horse and others into the Thessalians who promptly threw them back, shaken. The others failed to contact the evading enemy and found themselves disordered and facing a fresh unit of Galatian nobles.

The Greek skirmishers closed down the warbands who promptly started outshooting (Jons better die) them and continued to roll forward driving the skirmishers back in disorder. The only place the psiloi were making any headway was in the orchards in the centre where the warbands were slowed down and the naked fanatics were coming under an effective shower of javelins. Not being able to degrade the warbands was starting to worry the Greek commander.

On the left the Greek cavalry were starting to give with the tired unit charged by nobles and immediately shaken but the previously shaken unit held the Thessalians up as a unit of Thracians delivered a ferocious charge to rout a base of allied light horse. The other Greek light horse were being driven back by nobles becoming shaken in the process. On the hill to the right of the cavalry action the Greek archers were shooting rather ineffectually at approaching slingers and peltasts bent on driving them off the hill.

All the time the warbands pushed forward driving back the skirmishers who were soon called off and retired behind the main infantry line. The Greek commander now hoped his pikes could halt the advance and his veteran Illyrians dispose of any warband coming up the hill and then hit them in the flank.

The cavalry action was virtually over as the Thessalians routed their opponents as did the nobles the tired Greeks. The successful Thracians were then taken in the rear by more allied light horse and disposed of. Seeing this the archers surrendered the hill and retired to the orchards to the rear to harass any approach that way. It all now depended on the phalanx.

Warbands now crashed into the pikes and charged up the hill as the Illyrians came charging down. Where the Greek commander stood with his deep pike block came success as they drove back a warband. Everywhere else disaster as the whole line was thrown back disordered. One unit of Illyrians triumphed but unbelievably a disordered average warband charging uphill threw back the other Illyrians and routed them. The next melee phase confirmed the inevitable as three of the five pike blocks became shaken leaving the Greeks no option but to concede the field.

Terrain was better for the Greeks this time as even if the Galatian cavalry won they could not easily threaten the rear of the phalanx. Greek shooting, and all other combat die, was abysmal which was a pain as I needed to wear some warband down. Making the fanatic naked warband LI(for protection only) worked a treat as they really did suffer from shooting and offset the cost of being elite. Russcats tariffs are worth going for.

I should have kept my own cavalry further back and hit the Galatians in the narrows rather than advancing to where their superior numbers worked.

At the end of the day you can do tactics all you like but the dice count. In that last melee there were seven attacks and Jon rolled 5 or 6 for each whereas I was rolling 1-3's all the time. That hurt.

Vis Barnetica

The Plans

The Battle