Three battles with Byzantines

My friend Steve Riley and I travelled to Rushden, Northamptonshire for the Phoenix gamers annual Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) event, Axes.
The tournament was for a 2100 army using the Armies of Antiquity 2 lists. Note that a 2100 point army under the new lists is worth about 1600 under the old WAB lists, so really armies were quite small.

We took a Byzantine army;
Mounted general
2 units heavy cavalry
2 units mixed spearmen (also equipped with darts) and archers
1 unit Varaginian Guard
2 units of skirmishing javelinmen (one elite with a ballistic skill of 4)
All three of the units of formed infantry have the Shieldwall special rule.

There were 17 other players, 6 of them taking Normans. Now Steve and I discussed this on the journey to the event and agreed that the best way to beat Norman knights was to shoot them, not fight them.

Game 1 vs Italian-Normans

The scenario was with a river across the table, with a ford and a bridge. Extra bonuses would be scored by capturing either or both of the crossings at the end of the game. I hate rivers in games of WAB because they stop my normal tactic of hitting the enemy in the flank. But this game was Steves to command.

Looking across the River at our Byzantine army. The Varaganians have taken advantage of their Riding Horses special rule to swiftly move up and start crossing the river at the ford. Meanwhile on the right of the picture, a unit of cavalry are heading for the bridge. We are facing an Italian-Norman army, basically Normans with some Arab allies.

How the battle looked from our side of the table. Norman knights on foot, supported by archers near the bridge with the main part of the Norman army (2 units of Arabs, 2 units of cavalry and some skirmishers near the ford).

I am afraid that the Varaginian guard were shot to death but behind them came the Byzantine spear units who swiftly engaged the Arab spearmen (see top of picture). A unit of Byzantine cavalry had chased off the enemy skirmishers and got behind the Norman knights on foot (bottom of picture) with the Byzantine skirmishers also now across the river, Hurrah!

However it all went wrong for us. Despite charging into the rear of the Norman foot knights, our cavalry was beaten and broke. Likewise the Arab infantry broke the Byzantine spearmen. But the spearmen rallied and in this picture are ready to have another go.

Towards the end of the game. In the end neither side was able to claim control of the crossing and although both sides had lost units, the Byzantine units were worth more points and so it was a slight win to the Normans. But passer-bys said that were the only army successfully to get across the river, so moral point scored.

Game 2 vs another Norman army.
This time on an open battlefield but with heavy rain falling, which limited the ability of missile armed troops to shoot. That was bad news for us as we stood little chance trying to out-fight the Norman knights.

 

Our opponent has massed two units of Norman knights on the right of the photo, with a large unit archers on the left and light troops coming through the woods.

Our army, with cavalry on the right and the infantry on the left. Probably precisely the wrong way round, the infantry would be much better trying to face up to the Norman charge, in shieldwall formation.

Disaster, one unit of Norman knights swept forward, crushed one unit of Byzantine cavalry, killing the general and causing half the Byzantine army to rout.

We did pull the game back slightly, rallying the heavy infantry and then counter-attacking with the Varagians but it was too little too late and the Normans had won the day big style with a maximum 32-0 victory. To make us feel a little bit better about it, quite a few Norman armies scored maximum points in the this round. With the freedom to move and a reduction in the effect of shooting, this game was where the Normans were going to excel.

Game 3 vs Arabs

This was an attacker/defender scenario, with the Byzantines acting the part of the defenders. Apparently our army had recently looted some Arab villages and the Arabs wanted their stuff back. This time I was in command and I stuck our loot behind a hill with the Varaginians on top of the hill. Either side of the hill were the two units of spearmen. The idea was that these three units provided a blocking ‘wall’ – and a wall that could shoot – whilst our cavalry and skirmishers probed any enemy advance for weakness.

Here you can see the initial Arab advance, the Byzantine cavalry are just about to charge the enemy skirmishers. They did not catch them but rather than face the charge the skirmishers broke and ran.

On the right, the Arab firepower was impressive, on the first turn the unit of Byzantine skirmishers (underlined in red) took 8 losses, reducing them to only 2 figures but those 2 figures passed their leadership test, advanced and killed an Arab horse archer before being shot down in the next round of shooting. Meanwhile the other unit of Byzantine cavalry advanced on the enemy, to drive them back and keep them away from the loot.

The Byzantine cavalry died to a man but drove off 2 units of enemy skirmishers and kept those machine gun horse archers busy. Mission successful.

On the left the Arab cavalry charged home and though it was a close fought battle, the Byzantine spearmen (in shieldwall) just gained momentum in the first round of melee. From there it was downhill for the Arab cavalry, they needed to be charging to gain the strength bonuses and they lost every round of melee after that. After 3 further rounds of combat, they broke and the Byzantine spearmen pursued, capturing the Arab unit and army standards!

In the centre, the Arab spearmen charged the Byzantine cavalry. Much to my amazement the Arab spearmen won (although only by one point) and the Byzantine general fluffed his leadership roll and the cavalry ran away – although they got away safely. At this point the Varaginians started to move off the hill to see if they could help with any of the melees.

And toward the end of the game you can see that the Arabs have been kept well away from the hill.

The final move of the game I don’t have a picture for but it was amazing. The Arab cavalry on the left had rallied but knew that they had no chance to beat the Byzantine spearmen without their standards, so wisely pulled back. The Byzantine cavalry (with the general) rallied on the right of the hill where the Arab horse archers shot at them. The Arabs caused 5 hits, all of which became wounds and I failed to make any saves at all (saving – or rather not saving – roll of 3 or more!), 5 dead Byzantine cavalry. The Byzantine cavalry unit was then reduced to a single figure, the leader plus the army general. However they passed their leadership roll and then charged the horse archers who elected to stand and fight. With only 5 attacks between them, the Byzantines inflicted 4 losses on the horse archers who now only 4 figures left themselves were forced to flee immediately.

The loss of the horse archers meant that the Byzantines had won the game with a small points advantage in losses but when captured standards and the game objective of holding on to the loot were considered it was a good 20-12 win.

Overall our army came 14th out of 18 players but we really enjoyed the days gaming. There is bound to be another Axes WAB event in 2013 and I would recommend it if you fancy a fun days ancient gaming.

The Phoenix club website is here for more information about the club.

Warhammer Ancients Grand Tournament 2012

I have just come back from the UK WAB GT held at Mansfield, using my WF Gallic troops as Galatians.
We were using the lists in the new Armies of Antiquity book, 2800 points each.
My army was:
General (mounted)
a unit of 3 chariots
2 units each of 8 noble cavalry
4 units each of 24 Fanatic infantry
3 units each of 18 Fanatic infantry
with the following Greek allies
a unit of 18 peltasts
unit of 11 javelinmen
2 units of archers 10 and 14 strong respectively
The Galatian army is mainly made of fanatic infantry who are classified as Frenzied. That means that each figure fighting gets 2 attacks each and because of their mixed weapons, get to re-roll misses in the first round of every combat. A fearsome lot indeed. The other benefit of being Frenzied is that they ignore all Panic checks and are immune to Fear or Terror. That means that I will have an army that I can rely on not to break and run if their friends break or they are shot at. The only disadvantage is that I am forced to charge enemy if they get within my charge reach, which a cunning opponent will try to do.
The players and their armies

My first game against Andrew Beer using Dacians. These Dacians have bows as well as Mixed weapons giving them a fearsome firepower

And my Galatian army

My units as they advance toward the enemy. My losses are extreme the unit on the right has lost 2 full ranks and the unit to the front has lost only slightly less, one rank. So I pull back the unit on the right and try a desperate charge with the unit at the front, it fails and the Dacians break them and start pursuing me.

This picture is linked to a bigger version of the picture, so just click on it if you would like to see the larger version.
The view of the right of the table, My chariots and infantry advancing against Dacian cavalry, the Dacians charge and beat my cavalry, pursuing into the infantry.

In the centre I am counter-attacking whilst the victorious Dacian unit moves forward. My broken unit has rallied in the rear but has been severely damaged.

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My charging troops won and swept the enemy away. Because of the losses I suffered, it was a decent 23 (to me) - 9 (to him) defeat.
Second game against Tony Garrys Romans, it was fast, I didn't take any pictures and I lost completely 0-32. The Romans just charged me, won all the combats, destroyed my army and I did not cause a point of damage to them. Lesson learned, the Romans can beat me easily if they charge me (other way around is a different story).
Third game against Andrew Kershaws Seleucids. Hard army for me to beat with elephants, pikes and very good cavalry.

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I managed to sneak some javelinmen through the woods and throw javelins into the side of an elephant, causing it to stampede. OK one down, another to go.

On my right the peltasts charge my chariots, who beat them, pursue close enough to the elephant to take a Terror test, which they fail and run straight off the table edge. Just one of those days.

On the left I manage to break 2 units of cavalry and start to advance

but the enemy rallies both units of cavalry and counter-attacks, it is a savage fight and could have gone either way. Losses mounting on both sides but I had the numbers to take it. On the last turn of the game I break the enemy and get a slight win 19-13. One lesson I learned from this is that I cannot break a pike block frontally, they strike first and kill so many of my figures that I have no chance to win. And because I have to charge if I can, the trick is to be no where near them in the first place.

So 3 games on the fist day, onto the next day for 2 more.
First up against John Walls Imperial Romans. OK know the drill for this one, get the charges in and win! Sorry I didn't have time to take pictures of this one. It was a hard fought game and John had done well in earlier rounds and I got a 25-7 victory.
Fifth and last game against Bob Stradlings Romans - more Romans well at least I knew what to expect. Bob totally fooled me for deployment as with a hill to deploy his artillery, I thought he would put the artillery there and deploy the rest of the army below the hill using his artillery to act as fire support to his attacking legions. OK he put his artillery on the hill but then put his legions on the other flank.
Bob got first turn, moving aggressively toward me with his legions and getting lucky and wiping out my chariots with long range artillery fire on the first turn, this game was going to be no joke.

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On the right Bobs Numidian cavalry first wiped out my skirmishers but were then charged and defeated by my peltasts (rolling the best dice I had all weekend)

My units on the right then swept forward, taking out the Roman skirmishers, almost wiping out the Numidian cavalry and finally charging the Roman auxila from the front and the flank at the same time. I had the option to go for the artillery with one of my units of fanatics but instead turned it left to threaten the Roman centre with a flank attack, so that he was forced to stop advancing toward me and threatening to charge me. So by turning the flank, I had effectively won the game.


Meanwhile I had broken the Roman cavalry on the left, so was swinging round on that flank too. However the Roman general had taken the legions standard and launched a charge in the centre which (as we would expect) broke the infantry in front of it, it then pursued into and broke another of my units. But I had another unit prepared for this and it then charged into the only successful Roman unit on the table, who chose to flee rather than fight it out.

Click on above for larger image
View of the right

an isolated unit of legionaries surrounded by screaming Galatians

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the end. The Galatian cavalry charge into and wipe out the fleeing Roman general, his army standard and the unit he was with - the Romans fled to this position from the cavalry charge and the cavalry had sufficient charge distance to reach them.

A 30-2 victory for me but my opponent rolled the worst dice I have seen all weekend.
Third place, Ed McDonald with Imperial Romans

Second place, Tony Garry (the guy who trashed me in game 2) with his Romans

And in first place Malcolm Barnfield with Seleucids

And some of the prizes for the event

Andrew Beer is the most sporting player (he was using the Dacians and was a pleasure to play)

Keith Tait gets the prize for the best painted army

Now some of the armies that I did not get to play, in photos
Mike Whitakers Ancient British

Martin Gibbins Late Romans – all these picures below are linked to larger versions of the picure. Just click on the pic for the larger version.


Phil Vernons Seleucids

 
Now I am not sure but I think these are Keith Taits Sassanids

Overall I scored 113 points (23 in first game, 0 in 2nd, 19 in 3rd, 27 in 4th and 30 in 5th game). I calculate that as 99 points scored out of a possible total of 160 and somewhere I picked up another 14 points but the event organiser will know where those came from. And all that was good enough to get me 5th place.
The winner was Malcolm Barnfield Seleucid with 156 points and that is a really stunning total.
It was my first chance to use an army from the new Armies of Antiquity lists and from chatting to the other players it seems that all the armies were balanced to play. I think the Germans and British were always going to struggle, both fairly weak warband armies with little armour. But there seems no need for the ABC balancing system which was in use with earlier supplements. A lot of the special army rules have gone but if you wanted to bring those back, simply use one of the earlier specific WAB supplements and both players choose from that, no problem. But for tournaments (and remember a tournament is just a place for people to come and play people they don’t normally play, not a place to prove how ‘good’ you are) allowing a wider range of armies to play against each other fairly allows more people with different armies to come.
Plans for next years 2013 event are already in progress and you can see what is happening here:

Warhammer Ancients Axes and Axis 2011

With Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) hard to find these days it was nice to see the Phoenix Gaming club running a combined Flames of War and WAB event on Saturday the 20th August. That meant I could go down to Cambridge pick up my mate Steve Riley and head off for a days gaming in Rushden not far away. Steve seems to live in a wargaming desert near Cambridge, so if you know of any gaming going on round there please let me know and I will pass on the details to Steve. As it turned out I ended up being the sponsor for the event, so took down prizes as well as stuff to sell.
I decided to take Carthaginians the first chance to use the new Carthaginian spearmen I had worked on earlier – you should be able to spot them in the photos.
We were using 1500 point armies to give fast games and my army consisted of
General and Army Standard bearer, both mounted
20 trained African spearmen
32 Gallic warriors
22 Oscan hoplites – the cutting edge of the army
14 Oscan warriors – light infantry, to be used as a formed unit or as skirmishers depending on the game
12 Gallic cavalry
1 elephant
9 skirmishers with javelins
The day consisted of 3 battles using a scenario pack, shown here for info. So on to the games
First game, with defenders in the middle trying to cross the table with the attackers closing in from both sides. I was up against Imperial Romans

the brown felt represented an area of difficult ground. My opponents deployment was 2 units of legionaries on the left of the picture with mainly missile troops on the right. The cavalry played no part in the battle and marched off (to gain victory points) as soon as they could.

on the right I deployed my skirmishers, elephant, hoplites and Gallic warband. The idea was to advance quickly to prevent the Romans from marching off the table (to victory). The Gauls were my fast attack force to be supported by the hoplites if serious fighting was involved.

and here you can see the whole table with my cavalry, Oscan warriors and African spearmen ready to roll in from the other side.
The Gallic cavalry hit the Roman artillery from behind and destroyed them, the Gallic infantry took heavy losses from artillery and bow fire as they advanced but charged and over-ran the Roman archers. But I was unable to break the legionaries and the game ended as a draw. Lesson learned from this game, warband cavalry are too unmanoeuvrable, so don’t use them in your army. Cavalry are there to exploit enemy flanks and rear and these guys failed to do it (the rule, warband only move at half speed unless they go directly ahead unless charging).

A look around at some of the other games going on


Paul Scrivens-Smith the eventual WAB winner with another Carthaginian army

my friend Steve (on left) with his Franks, against an all cavalry Scythian army. The Scythians got first turn and simply rode off the table and to victory. Silly scenario!


this chap has obviously decided to stand his ground, form a semi-circle and fight it out.
Second game, a head to head battle up against a late Persian army

close up on my Gallic infantry

against the might of the Persian army

The game was a fairly simple affair, both sides advanced. I cleared the enemy skirmishers out of the way but was then charged by the Persians. It came down to a combat grind with in the end the better armour and fighting skill of the Carthaginians winning the day. A massive victory for me.
Sorry no pictures of the last game – it was too hectic – Paul and I fought in the floor of a valley, the battle swayed backward and forward, I thought I had him but like in the previous game, his troops were better than mine. Both units of Gauls charged in when they should not have (failed the test for warband charging nearest enemy), the elephants crew were all shot dead and it stampeded back into my own army. A dismal defeat was my fate.
But a great day out, well organised by the Phoenix club who are a great bunch of gamers. Paul got first prize for the WAB side of the event and since he did not want to take two prizes I won the goblet of blood for the most troops killed (I think that includes your own!) on the day.