As our local group's first experiment with WRG 7th edition Ancient Rules, we chose a little known but documented battle (Monte Maggiore, fought May 4th, 1041) and revised the forces and date to come up with a fairly even and accurate scenario. This also gave us a chance to use five players in the game and "learn while doing". Each player was assigned a general and command of several units of 25mm figures. All together the forces involved totalled a little over 1200 points for the Norman forces, who used three commanders, and 1300 points for the Byzantines who had only two. BYZANTINES (Maniakes C.C., Harold Hardrada) 2x6 SHC Reg. A 1/2L/D/Sh (1 unit w/Maniakes), 1/2L/Sh 2x12 EHC Reg. B 1/2L/Sh, 1/2B/Sh 1x10 LC Irr. C. Pechenegs B/HLS/Sh 202 Hl Reg. A 2HCW/Sh (1 w/Hardrada) 102 LMI Reg. C LTS/JLS/Sh Peltastoi U24 Hl Reg. C LTS/Sh U24 LMI Reg. C B/Sh 2x Bolt Engines w/Crew of 2 TOTAL: 1311 Pts. NORMANS (Robert Guiscard C.C., Ralph Hauteville, Ardoin) 2x6 HC Irr. A L/Sh (1 unit w/Robert Guiscard) 2x12 HC Irr. B L/Sh Normans 2x12 HC Irr. C L/Sh Feudal Horse 1x6 MC Irr. C L/Sh Retainers 1x12 HI Irr. C 2HCW/Sh Swabians 1x12 LMI Irr. C JLS/Sh Slavic Mercenaries 2x12 LMI Irr. C B/Sh Lombard Archers 102 Ll Irr. C CB TOTAL: 1194 Pts Before reporting on the battle itself, just a couple of general observations. Due to the "newness" of the rules, there was an inordinate amount of checking back and forth, interpreting situations, etc. The game took actually six hours to play to a clear conclusion. This broke down to six complete bounds (turns), but considering this was a learning game for all of us, this was reasonable. Conceivably, I could see a replay of this situation cutting that time in half, which is not bad for the numbers of figures and players involved. But, why can't Phil Barker get a computer that will put everything into a cross- referenced format? One of our new players observed, never having played the previous WRG system, that there must be a way to put all this into a better ordered system. The constant checking back and forth from section to section is a waste of time and frustrating as well. But on to the game. The Normans set up with only one hidden unit, the LMI Slavic mercenaries which had force-marched (it had only cost them 2 fatigue pts., not bad at all!) to a position in the large woods on the Norman left. The Norman cavalry, in wedge formation, formed up on the left of the center hill with Ralf de Hauteville (me) in command. The center was lightly held with Ll crossbowmen and LMI archers on the hill and the Swabian two-handed swordsmen backed by Robert Guiscard's (Mitch Abrams) 'A' class Norman cavalry. On the extreme right, Arduin's (Gary Comardo) feudal heavy horse, retainers and a unit of LMI Lombard archers were given the task of clearing that flank and getting around behind the Byzantine foot units. The Byzantines hid two large units in their center woods. (The Normans thought that any enemy hidden units were behind the hill in front of Arduin's troops.) The Byzantine SHC and EHC, commanded by Maniakes (Mark Kordan), were placed opposite the Norman left. The center was strongly held by two units of 'A' class Varangian HI, the Byzantine artillery and the excellent double-armed LMI Peltastoi all under the command of Harald Hardrada (Dave Armer). After much verbal haranguing, order writing, etc., the battle began. Immediately the new rules made their differences felt. Both Mark and I had screwed up! Thanks to our set-ups, we could only move some of our troops, and not the ones we wanted! In the move sequence, if a unit does not move in their appropriate order (the fastest move first, then the next fastest, etc.; in our cases fastest troops were placed behind slower ones), they don't move at all. And since there are several 'strategic' move sequences each turn, we both watched our front troops quickly march off into battle, totally unsupported by their friends who were immobilized to their rear. Arduin's forces pushed toward the mysterious empty area ahead of them only to have a unit of Pecheneg LC horse archers pull up in front, go into skirmish formation (all missile armed cavalry with skirmish type orders may do this) and begin firing. It looks like (from this situation anyway) that the Huns will be a real contender using these rules. The LC were elusive, impossible to catch with our troops, possessing no LC of our own, and DEADLY! The feudal HC charged and after being shot full of arrows, found themselves gathering fatigue points at an alarming rate. Though not removing casualty FIGURES, any more, the fatigue points amount to much the same thing as far as unit effectiveness goes. After five fatigue points are accumulated, the unit becomes TIRED. After fifteen, it is EXHAUSTED and suffers accordingly. The reduced fighting strength is thus reflected as well as a subsequent reduction in morale. in a protracted battle, reserves are now a must. After spending three turns chasing the LC unit (at 'tactical' movement rates: once you move within 240 paces, or 91/2" using 25mm scale, of the enemy, you may no longer use the much faster 'strategic' movement), the Norman right flank cavalry crested the hill to find... nothing! No ambush, no hidden units... this was great! Reconnaissance finally comes into its own in these rules. From now on, those unknown areas will have to be checked out or else... but that's coming. Meanwhile the SHC had passed the LMI unit the Normans had hidden in the woods. Thanks to the command control (Prompting) limitations, they were unable to charge out, which turned out to be just as well. My Norman cavalry on the hill, being 'B' class irregulars, declared a charge; were made voluntarily impetuous and slammed into the counter charging Byzantine cataphracis. Luckily for Mark, Maniakes was leading the SHC wedge, and this saved them from routing, as both of his units rolled down on their random dice while the Normans rolled up. The Normans scored 90 hits, the Byzantines only 40. On rechecking, though, his scores were brought up by the CiC in the front rank and the troops being 'A' class. Thus, he was only pushed back. It was frustrating, being an archer on the hill. No more overhead fire (they couldn't support the cavalry attack) and moving was really slow when congested on a hill crest. These two Norman archer units spent the entire game moving back and forth and didn't fire a shot the whole time! The Byzantine artillery units, though, were fairly effective. They were about double what they used to count in fire effectiveness, at least as far as how many troops counted as firing. They battered my small six man Norman cavalry wedge by putting fatigue points galore on it. Maniakes' EHC units finally moved past the woods and my hidden LMI unit was prompted (they were within range of the commander, thistime) to attack in wedge. They hit the Byzantines in the flank, scoring an enormous five casualties per figure and thus routing both units simultaneously while suffering no hits to themselves! The SHC units couldn't handle this (when 2/3 of a command is routing, or shaken, which the SHC were, the whole command becomes demoralized and heads for the rear) and they too retired leaving the Byzantine foot and Hardrada totally unsupported! Visibly shaken, the Byzantines brought their infantry out of the woods only to have them face the massed Norman cavalry and archer assault. The game ended at this point. To put it bluntly, I like these rules! I feel that they are much improved over the previous six editions. They are a definite departure from the Newbury, Shock of Impact and other WRG systems currently in use. While not raving maniacally about them (due to the usual format problem which has never been corrected), I am enthusiastic. I can't wait to get all of my 15mm Normans and Late Romans painted up and into action. Perhaps an army of Huns as well? Maybe, but with the new ambush and fatigue penalties, I know that I''ll be making use of reserves and hidden LMI. And the best part of all... our outcome of the battle was historically accurate! What more can I say? Maybe by convention season of next year... who knows? I might make it out of the first round for a change! Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VII #1 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1986 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com