Some of my comments in a previous article were unfortunately construed by some as a personal affront against them because they enjoy playing ancient wargames with WRG 7th. Those comments only stated my personal likes and dislikes. I personally do not enjoy WRG 7th wargames, but that does not mean that I or THE COURIER do not respect those who enjoy playing under those rules or any other set. I will from time to time comment on things with which I disagree, be they based on WRG, Tactica, or whatever. Likewise, articles on games fought under WRG and related articles on WRG matters will periodically appear, as will articles and battle reports dealing with other rules and other formats. One thing I learned from my comments is that there are as many who dislike WRG as those who like it (at least as to those who cared to put their thoughts in writing). It is also my belief (mistaken though it may be) that in a magazine covering a broad spectrum of wargaming interests, that historical wargamers from other periods will find more interest and a greater ability to relate to ancient battle reports set in an historical context. To that end I asked Terry Gore who enjoys both "semi-historical" ancient games as well as WRG 7th to supply me with a battle report. He kindly responded with the following which I hope you will enjoy. - JOHN BOEHM, Ancients Period Editor The early Crusades offer an intriguing number of wargaming situations upon which to draw. The traditional Crusader vs. Byzantine, Turk, or Saracen warfare was interspersed with any numberof sporadic 'civil wars' which often found Crusader knights battling each other instead of their Moslem foe! During the march on Jerusalem following the capture of Antioch in 1098, dissension between the Norman leader, Tancred and the titular leader of the entire Christian army, Baldwin, resulted in an open battle in which many knightswere killed. The two leaders later reconciled their differences, but this flare-up was indicative of the sectional rivalries which were brought to the Holy Land under the guise of Crusader unity. The following scenario is very loosely based upon an episode such as that noted above where two Crusading forces decided to settle a disagreement by military means rather than reason. For too long, the cruel dry lands of Syria had sapped the strength from both man and beast of the powerful Christian forces sweeping towards Jerusalem. When, on another startingly bright and hot morning, advance scouts of Bruce the Bastard's Aquitainian and Flemish forces sighted an area of oasis surrounding deep and cool wells of water, he ordered his troops to secure the area and encamp for a well-earned respite from the heat. Ternred of Apulia, leading the extreme right flank of the Crusading host had also spied the lush green areas and had ordered his own, equally thirsty troops to make camp as well. The two armies of hot, tired and hungry Christians soon found themselves embroiled in an argument over who was there first and the two generals, each eager to wash the dust from their bodies immediately came to blows over the disagreement. The hot-tempered Ternred and his nephew Ronald of Sterling stormed away from the fistfight vowing revenge and demanding justice while Bruce promised them theirjust rewards would be found on the field of battle the following morning. Both armies spent the night refreshing themselves from the wells and prepared for the next day's action by verbally sparring in a dozen different languages! There was little love lost between the Italo-Normans and the Western Europeans, thus the battle promised to be both long and bloody. As the dawn neared, both forces deployed. By virtue of his supreme army command, Bruce held the sacred relic of the Holy Lance which he placed with one of his knight units on the left wing of his line, locating himself on the right flank of the army. Bruce also had under his command the only light cavalry unit on the field, a unit of bow and javelin-armed turcopoles who were stationed on the far right. Robert of Blois remained in the center as sub-commander to support the left or the middle of the army. A surprise came with the sunrise, as Ternred saw revealed five units of Frankish close-order foot who had stolen a march on the Normans and were in position to the immediate front of the intended Norman high ground positions! Ternred had a few tricks up his mailed sleeve as well, however. His portion of the Christian Army included two large units of non-combatants and poorlyarmed pilgrim foot. Instead of placingthern behind the Norman army (and out of the way), Ternred placed them in the wooded oasis to his left, anchoring his flank and keeping them hid- den from Frankish sight. To add insult to injury, the Norman intended to actually use these next-to-useless units to ambush any unsuspecting Franks foolish enough to try turning this flank. The Normans had deployed with heavy horse to either flank, and the pilgrim-fanatic foot, sailors and archer units in the center (I counted on taking the high ground where my LMI (Light-Medium Infantry) could hold off the tougher Frankish close-order foot). Ronald, rash as most Normans were, immediately advanced toward the oasis to his front, fortunately he led the advance with his Armenian Ll (Light Infantry) archers. As theyentered the oasis, theywere attacked bya large body of archers which Bruce had placed in ambush. The LI didn't have achance and were quickly destroyed. Nonplussed, Ronald ordered his fanatic pilgrims to go in afterthe archers, which they eagerly did, and a bloody melee began. In the center, Bruce's close-order troops advanced toward the hills, but Ternred's faster horse and LI gotthere first, buyingtime forthe LMI sailors and LMI archers to advance and take the positions. Ternred and his two Norman HC (Heavy Cavalry) units made a feint toward the center, then turned and quickly galloped around the rear of the center oasis (in which two units of 'E' class (lowest morale class) non-combatants as well as a unit of fanatic pilgrims lay in ambush), hoping to catch Bruce's foot units and HC hopelessly out of position and thus be able to fall on his open right flank. The Turcopole LC moved to halt this end-run, but could not pin all three Norman units, letting the 'A' class (highest morale class) Apulian HC slip by. A deadly game of charge and evade ensued in the center as Bruce's foot units attempted to outflank the central hillandthe Normans tried to slow their advance to allow the flank attack to get into position. Tern red determined that the LMI archer units would be utilized to protect the higher ground from being taken (actually, this determination had been made before the game started and it had taken this long to get these troops into an attack position). Firing before charging, the left-hand archer unit impetuously attacked the waiting long-speararmed Franks. These and all the other Frankish foot units had crossbowmen in their rear rank but their fire was ineffective as the shielded Norman archers crashed into their front line. The frenzied Normans actually managed to push the startled Franks back! To stabilize the front, the Frankish knight unit with the Holy Lance standard charged into the engaged LMI Norman archers, who were so caught up in their melee that they didn't waver in the face of the mounted attack. Ronald, seeing the archer unit fighting two enemy ones, threw his Italo-Normans into the fray, breaking through and disordering the Frankish knights. The victorious Normans then turned around and charged intothe rearof the milling, disordered Frankish knights, immediately breaking them! On the Norman right flank, Ternred's Norman horse had moved around and to the rear of the Turcopoles when a large body of ill-armed LMI peasant pilgrims streamed out of the woods and headed toward the open LC flank! (Note: 'E' class troops in ambush can charge with no prompting, but if they lose and rout, they also cause waiver tests on friendly observers, just as any other friendly unit.) Turning to evade the unexpected attack, the Turcopoles were in turn caught in the flank bythe Irregular 'A' Apulian Normans. The situation was beginning to look grim for the Bastard's forces. Endeavoring to salvage a win in the center, the Frankish extreme right wing HI (Heavy Infantry) unit charge the now visible (by nature of their having moved out of their ambush position) fanatic-pilgrim LMI who heldthe north end of the centeroasis. Though disorganized upon hitting thetreeline, the Franks managed to push the pilgrims back, opening up a gap between the hill and the oasis. Two more HI units plodded forward to exploit the hole as the Norman retainers and European HC moved to block the attack. Bruce's attack was too late, however. The rout of the extreme left-hand HC unit, the one carrying the Holy Lance, caused morale to waiverand fail all alongthe front of the Frankish center. The HI unit facing the forward slope of the center hill was shaken and, with a triumphant yell, the LMI sailors streamed off the hill and routed their tormenters (who had been shooting at the sailors with crossbows all day!), causing a chain reaction of further morale failures among the remaining Frankish foot. Bruce gathered his remaining HC and HI and fell backto a position near his camp and asked for terms. Ternred was only too happy to sit down with his ex-commander and discuss a change in command structure as well aswho would receive first choice of future campsites! Itwas not long before the Crusaders were united once more and continuing toward their date with destiny at the City of Jerusalem. Notes: The rules used were WRG 7th. The forces were approximately 1600 points perarmy using WRG Book III 1st Crusader's for Bruce's army and myown Norman Crusader list (published in SAGA and SPEARPOINT) for Ternred's troops. The game lasted nine turns with three players, two Norman, one Crusader, and took 31/2 hours from setup to finish. This type of semi-historical battle is always the most enjoyable to me as it gives me an opportunity to pit my generalship against a contemporary opponent. Whetherwinningor losing, I always come awayfrom these games with an appreciation of the leadership qualities of the actual generals of the time. FORCES INVOLVED FRANKS Bruce the Bastard w/11 HC 'Irr. B' L, Sh. and PA Robert of Blois w/11 HC 'Irr. B' L, Sh. 2x12 HC 'I IT. B' L, Sh. (One unit carrying Sacred Standard) 1x12 LC '[IT. C'JLS, B, Sh. Turcopoles 1x24 LMI 'Irr. C 1/2 B, Sh., 1/2 B 5x24 HI 'Irr. C 1/2 LTS, Sh., 1/2CB NORMANS Ternred w/5 HC 'Irr. B' L, Sh. and PA Ronald w/same as above 1x12 Norman HC 1/2 'Irr. B', 1/2 'Irr. C' L, Sh. 1x9 Sicilo-Norman HC 'Irr. A'L, Sh. 1x9 Calabrian HC'Irr. B' L, Sh. 1x9 Italo-Normans HC 2/3 'Irr. A', 1/3 'Irr B' L, Sh. 1x12 Retainers MC 'Irr. C' L, Sh. 1x12 European HC'Irr. C' L, Sh. 2x12 LI 'Irr. C' Bow 2x18 LMI 'Irr. C' 1/213, Sh., 1/2 Bow 1x24 LMI Sailors 'Irr. C'1/4 2HCW, Sh. 1/4 Bow 1/2 JLS, Sh. 2x30 Fanatic pilgrims LMI 1/2 'Irr. A' JLS, Sh. 1/2 'Irr. C' Bow 2x36 Non-combatant pilgrims LMI 'Irr. E' IPW Irr = Irregular LTS = Long Throwing Spear L = Lance 2 HCW = 2 Hand Cutting Weapon Sh Shield IFW = Individual Peasant Weapons JLS javelin Long Spear PA = Plate Armor Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #55 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com