I got the idea for a Mercian vs. Welsh battle from a recent post on The Wargames Website. I converted it to Dominion of the Spear (DotS)
Deployment
I used the early Saxons list for the Mercians (top). They are deployed thusly:
- Battleline: Ferocious spears, ferocious spears with leader (Penda), spears
- Reserve: 2 spears
Again, due to a lack of counters, I'm using light infantry for the ferocious spears
Here is their deployment:
- Battleline: spears, archers, spears
- Reserve: spears, ferocious spears with leader
Note that I added leaders. This is not standard with DotS. They are more window dressing than anything else. I also added a couple of terrain pieces just for looks. They have no impact on the game.
On the left, the Welsh spears and Saxon huscarls wipe each other out. Penda and his hearthguard survive the rain of Welsh arrows.
But a second volley destroys the hearthguard. Penda manages to survive. Meanwhile, the Welsh leader and Mercian spears fill in on the flank.
Penda calls up his remaining spears. They take revenge on the archers.
As Penda positioned his spears for a flank attack, he Mercian spears wipe out the Welsh right.
Notes
I made a couple of changes to the rules to add a little spice.
- I rolled initiative each turn to determine the attacker for the turn.
- The attacker could choose the direction of attacks, left to right or right to left.
As I mentioned, the leaders were mostly window dressing; they did not affect the ratings of the unit to which they attached. At the start, they were already with ferocious foot. I thought an additional bonus would be too much.
However, I did check to see the leader's fate if his unit routed. In this case, Penda survived. I'm not sure what I would do if the leader died. Perhaps roll morale to see if another unit breaks? Well, we'll deal with it when it comes up. I will use leaders more. It seemed especially appropriate for a Dark Ages battle.
Good stuff! There is a long discussion on activation on Shaun's blog in the discussion to his post. I am really enjoying using his suggestion of each round Attacker chooses a sector (resolve all combat there), then Defender chooses a sector, end of round! It is becoming my preferred way of playing and you feel much more like the two generals directing your troops. Alternative rules for activation will be in the new sourcebook due out tomorrow. Steve
ReplyDeleteRegarding leaders, when working out the army lists for historical battles, I sometimes have upgraded units to elite where there is record of a general with them successfully inspiring them on. I don't see any evidence though of generals changing which unit they are with much or running from unit to unit trying to rally them.
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