Joust

I've been in a bit of a doldrum this past week so no battle report. However, I a new mania to discuss. We'll show how long it lasted

It all started when I was looking for something to read on my Kindle and I came across this.

Reading the particulars, I am a little leery of buying it, but it got me interested in some joust games.

Rules

I created some simple rules at one point but now I can't find them. So I went searching.

I'm looking for something incredibly simple, with maybe 1-2 die rolls per pass. It would be nice to have a little decision making. I also want something that will allow a character to develop skill over time. Here are some under consideration.

• Full Tilt - very easy albeit no campaign mode.
• Atteint! - from Alan Saunders aka Kaptain Kobold
• Joust: Heroes of the Lists - a THW title - not a fan of the THW mechanics but they often have good campaigns.
• To Cry a Joust - picked it up years ago. Seems simple. Also includes some paper miniatures.

I've taken cursory looks at the above. Right now, Full Tilt seems simplest. I would just need to create a campaign or import one from some other rules.

Campaign

Speaking of campaigns, I developed a simple one a few years ago. I lost the rules I used for the jousts but I still have the campaign rules.

The campaign follows a young knight trying to make a name on the tournament scene. He can participate in up to 4 preliminary tournaments. Making the semi-finals (requiring 2 wins) gets him an invitation to the regional finals. Making the semis there results in an invitation to the grand championship.

I tried it out using some extremely simple rules (1 die roll, no modifiers). Here is a season with Ser Gervaise (using this Knight Name Generator).

• Preliminary One - gets knocked off his horse in his first joust.
• Preliminary Two - makes it to the finals before losing 5-1. Still, he earns a ticket to the regional finals!
• Preliminary Three - he continues to joust to hone his skill. Alas, he loses the first joust.
• Preliminary Four - to the finals and victory!
• Regional - he wins his first joust. In the second, he is tied 3-3 after two passes, In the third and final pass, he misses but his opponent strikes him in the head. Gervaise loses 5-3 and his season ends.

Not a bad start. Two finals, one tournament win, and a trip to the regionals. Let's see how he does next season!

The entire season only took about 10 minutes. A season will likely take a bit longer as I add complexity.

Let's Be Frank

More Battles Using 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

This time featuring Frankish and Frank-adjacent armies.

Summary

Here are the results for the battles. Battle reports below.

• Tours (732) - Umayyads 3, Merovingian Franks 1
• Lechfeld (955) - Magyars 3, Eastern Franks 1
• Civitate (1053) - Papal States 5, Normans 1
• Agincourt (1415) - English 3, French 1

Tours

King Charles of the Franks (blue) tries to stop a Muslim incursion.

The Franks repulse the Muslim attacks, but losses leave their flank open.

The Umayyad spears flank and destroy the cream of Charles's army.

Looks like we won't be calling him Martel.

Lechfeld

This time the Eastern Franks (red) under Otto try to stop a Magyar incursion.

The battle starts off well for Otto.

But the Magyar horse archers whittle his army down, and then breach the flank.

Desperately, the remaining knights charge, only to be struck down by a hail of arrows.

Civitate

Normans (blue) vs Papal States in southern Italy.

In the initial clash, the Pope's Swabians overran the Norman spears in the center.

Then, the Papal levy held off the Norman knights on the right.

This allowed the levy to flank the Norman reserve spears and put them to flight.

Agincourt

The English (red) under Henry V are raiding French territory. The French pursue and bring him to battle. Between volleys of English arrows and muddy fields, the French knights must dismount on the right and center.

The remaining mounted knights charge but get cut down (left). Meanwhile, the English longbowmen on the right finish off the dismounted knights.

The knights in the center manage to overrun the English blades.

Then they chase off the archers. But the knights get flanked and annihilated.

A Viking in Sicily

A Mini-Campaign from A Viking in the Sun

Previously, we followed the adventures of Harald Hardrada in the Holy Land (part 1 and part 2).

Now we turn to the second mini-campaign, using Dominion of the Spear rules to conduct the battles.

Background

The Byzantines launch an expedition to reclaim Sicily from its Muslim conquerors.

Harald commands part of the expeditionary force.

Harald's Command

Harald command consists of the following units:

• A contingent of the Varangian Guard (elite melee infantry)
• Archers (missile infantry)
• Byzantine heavy infantry (melee infantry)
• mercenary knights (armored melee cavalry)
• Byzantine cavalry (melee cavalry)

Battle 1 - The Landing

The Byzantine commander, Georgios Maniakes, decides to make a landing near Palermo. He hopes to catch the Muslims by surprise and seize the city by assault before the defenders get organized.

Harald's command lands on the beach of Sicily. A Muslim force (consisting of 2 units of missile infantry, 2 units of missile cavalry, cavalry, and spears) bars the way. Harald's cavalry is dismounted in reserve.

Harald leads a charge against the enemy archers. A hail of arrows cuts down the Varangians.

Then the Muslim archers pepper Harald's heavy infantry and dismounted knights.

The Byzantine heavy infantry charges the archers and wipes them out. But then they get flanked by more archers. The infantry does not last.

The remnants of Harald's force rush back to the boats. Maniakes's hope for a quick victory are dashed.

Rolling lots of 6's is a really effective way to win with missile troops. 😉

Battle 2 - Seize the Gate

The Byzantines settle in for a siege. After learning of a secret tunnel into the city, Harald proposes a bold stratagem. He will lead a force through the tunnel then rush the gates. His force will hold open the gates until the main army can relieve him.

Harald enters the city. His Varangians, the dismounted knights, and archers form the front line. Muslim heavy and light infantry contest Harald's assault.

Again, archers cut down the Varangians. The dismounted knights have better success.

And they continue to cut down archers.

The Byzantine spears take up the offensive in the center.

The knights fall! But Harald's archers clear out the right flank.

The reserve dismounted cavalry then clear the other flank.

Rushing past the remaining defenders, the flanking forces secure the gate.

The first part of Harald's plan succeeds!

Battle 3 - Hold the Gate

After seizing the gate, Harald manages to rally some of his force. Alas, his command his smaller due to casualties. Actually, I reduced both sides to reflect casualties.

The Muslims launch a counterattack to retake the gates.

The Muslim spears overrun Harald's archers.

The Varangians manage to check the spears, but are exhausted in the process. Meanwhile, Harald's infantry scatters the Muslim archers.

Harald's men close up to protect the gate. I know, not in the rules. It just made sense in the context.

The Byzantine spears take out their counterparts but then get flanked and defeated.

Note: The marker is on the wrong Muslim spear counter.

This leaves the dismounted knights alone. They are forced to retreat through the gate. The Muslims then shut the gates before Byzantine reinforcements arrive.

With this defeat, Maniakes abandons his campaign.

NOTES

• Harald loses this campaign with 1 victory and 2 losses.
• I had a turn limit for the last battle. Harald needed to hold for 2+D3 turns. This came out to 5 turns. I ended up forgetting to count turns, engrossed as I was in the narrative. Nevertheless, I don't think Harald made it.

Battles of the Byzantines

Using 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

More Dominium ancient battles. Our theme this time is Byzantines.

Summary

Here are the results of the Byzantine battles. Numbers represent remaining units at the end of the battle. Brief battle reports are below.

• Dara (530) - Sassanid Persians 2, Byzantines 1
• Taginae (552) - Byzantines 3, Ostrogoths 1
• Yarmouk (636) - Arabs 2, Byzantines 1
• Manzikert (1071) - Seljuk Turks 4, Byzantines 1

Some close battles but not much luck for the Byzantines.

Dara

The elite cavalry wipe each other out.

Both sides slowly whittle the others down. The Byzantine archers clear the center but the Sassanid spearmen rout the cavalry (right).

The spears then flank and assault the archers, winning the day for the Persians.

Taginae

The Ostrogoth's fierce cavalry smash the front line. It looks like it's going to be another bad day for the Empire.

But Byzantine missiles strike down the enemy cavalry.

The Byzantine archers then flank the Ostrogoth reserve spears, sending them in flight. General Narses pulls a victory from seeming defeat!

Yarmouk

The lines clash. Great quantities of blood are spilled. Note: I don't know if I ever had 4 units lost in 1 turn!

While the cavalry (left) wipe each other out, the Arab's fanatical spears rout their Byzantine counterparts.

The Arab spears then smash the Byzantine reserve for the victory.

Manzikert

The Turkish horse archers on the left slowly wear down the Byzantines, draining their reserve,

Then the battle comes down to this - elite cavalry for both sides. The Turks prevail.

Battles of the British Isles - Part 2

Using 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

I have 2 more British battles to report. Again, I used my virtual board.

Summary

Here are the battles. Details below.

• Hastings - Normans 5, Anglo-Saxons 1
• Bannockburn - English 4, Scots 1

Hastings

Duke of William of Normandy lands in England to stake his claim to the throne. His Norman forces (blue) attack Harold's troops at Hastings.

And it's a disaster for the Anglo-Saxons. The archers strike down Harold and the Breton cavalry rout the spears on the flank (R).

The Bretons continue their charge, slamming into the reserve spears. These also rout. Battle over; England falls to William.

Bannockburn

King Edward II leads an English force (red) into Scotland. Robert the Bruce's Scots confront Edward.

The English cavalry charges with devastating effect, routing two units of spears, including the Bruce.

The English cavalry on the flank continues its charge, attacking the reserve spears. Just like Hastings, the reserve routs. Edward is victorious.

Wow! Those were two ridiculously short battles!

Hassan vs. Harald

A Viking in the Sun campaign game

I'm completing my Viking in the Sun campaign. This time, I'm using Dominion rules on a 3 by 3 grid.

Previously

This campaign follows the exploits of Harald Hardrada in the Holy Land. He has led his force in two battles.

1. The bandit Hassan ambushed Harald's force, stopping him from escorting a Byzantine ambassador to his destination.
2. Then Harald ousted Hassan from a local shrine.

Set Up

Harald tracks Hassan's bandits to a box canyon. But Hassan is waiting on the cliffs, ready to attack.

Forces:

• Harald has his Varangians (elite), spears, archers, cavalry, and knights (armored). Harald is with the Varangians.
• Hassan has 2 horse archers, 1 cavalry, 2 archers, and a unit of spears. Hassan is with the spears.

Each leader wants to kill his opposite number (rout his unit).

The Battle

Harald (red) advances his forces. Hassan's horse archers on the right advance and engage the knights. The knights ride through the storm of arrows and rout the horse.

Then Harald's archers rout the horse archers on the left.

Harald's Varangians engage the cavalry on the hill. The cavalry routs.

Hassan can no longer skulk in the rear. His spears contest Harald's Varangians. But it is an unequal contest. The Varangians rout the spears.

Harald catches up with Hassan and kills him.

Aftermath

By killing Hassan and scattering the bandits, Harald helps bring a semblance of peace to the Holy Land (and wins the campaign!). Now his Byzantine overlords plan an invasion of Sicily. Harald prepares for his next adventure!

WHAT'S NEXT

Vikings in the Sun has two more mini campaigns. Before I get to those, however, I'm going back to Dominion. 

• First, I played some scenarios from the Dominion of the Spear supplement. 
• Then Dominion of Frederick the Great came out. I felt compelled to purchase it and to try it out. 

Stay tuned!

A Viking in the Sun - Part 1

On my old blog, I started a Viking in the Sun campaign, but never got far with it. I decided to rectify the situation using a mix of Dominion and 3x3 rules. I used a 3x3 grid but for the most part used Dominion of the Spear combat rules.

Ambush

Harald Hardrada leads a (red) force escorting a Byzantine ambassador. He gets waylaid by bandits.

• Harald has a company of elite Varangians (gold marker), heavy infantry, 2 squadrons of knights, and some archers. Probably should have made the knights armored. Oh well.
• The bandits have 2 bands of horse archers, 1 of cavalry, 2 archers, and some spears,

Harald must clear a path to the town before him. 

• The town is off the board in the bandit reserve area. 
• Because my mat is only 4 squares deep, Harald's reserve area is off the mat.

The bandit leader Hassan springs his ambush.

Harald destroys the spears in front of him but his flanks fall to hails of arrows.

Then bandit archers rout the Varangians. Harald must retreat with the ambassador.

• I assumed that the ambassador was with Harald and the Varangians. The loss of the Varangians meant game over.
• I gave units a chance to retreat instead of getting destroyed but Harald's losses kept failing the roll.

Disputed Shrine

Licking his wounds, Harald is spoiling for an opportunity to pay back the bandit leader Hassan. Harald learns that Hassan has seized a local shrine and is forcing pilgrims to pay an entry tax. Harald leaps into action.

I kind of messed this one up. I thought the bandit's back row was the reserve area, but it was really part of the board. This meant that the bandit troops weren't in the best formation. Ah, fog of war.

Harald crests a hill and sees the shrine below him.

Bandit archery takes out some of Harald's knights.

Harald attacks the shrine and routs the spearmen holding it. Meanwhile, knights from Harald's reserve wipe out the enemy archers.

Then the knights overrun more archers.

Looks like I'm missing a photo.

After the knights and bandit cavalry fight to a standstill, Harald's Varangians sally against some horse archers. The horse rout, leaving Harald in command of the shrine.

Aftermath

Harald has evened the score. Both leaders prepare for the climatic finale.

Stay tuned to find out what happens next!

Mercians vs Welsh

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

There is no list specifically for the Welsh. I decided to use the Britons one but I changed the 2 cavalry to a ferocious foot.

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.

The Battle

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.

Penda then wipes out the reserve spears.

As Penda positioned his spears for a flank attack, he Mercian spears wipe out the Welsh right.

The remaining Welsh retreat. Victory for Penda!

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.