The English wargames firm of Newbury has recently published their Fast Play Rules for Ancient Warfare. They are primarily designed for friendly games rather than tournaments and unlike most tournament rules, it should be quite possible to fight large scale, i.e., 400-600 figures per side, in a relatively short period of time, once one is familiar with the rules, of course.
I would like to preface my review with the statement that although the rules are "fast play", they are not simplistic. They are, in fact, quite comprehensive and should cover most situations which will arise in the course of play. (The author seems even to have had the idea of "fast play" in mind if problems should arise. The rules have a fairly detailed table of contents which should allow the player to find the section which covers the problem; each section is in turn cross indexed with other pertinent sections of the rules book. This should cut down on players endlessly paging through the rules to find answers to their questions,) Moreover, the rules are "fast play" in that there is a minimum of record keeping.
The point system will take a little getting used to for those familiar with WRG. It is best described as a cumulative system. For example, when one purchases a figure, it is, in effect, just the man himself, no weapons, no armour. All of these are added individually. Thus individual f igures have a high point value; e.g., a Roman legionarius is 22 points! This means that a small friendly game should probably be played with about 4000 points, a large game meant to represent an early Imperial field army of two legiones with their auxilia would probably require 15,000 points!
One of the most interesting concepts in the rules is their three parameter morale system. I n addition to rating a unit's actual espirit cle corps (i.e., A, B, C, D, etc.) and level of training (in WRG, Reg and Irg; in Newbury, tribal and disciplined), the Newbury system includes a reflection of the unit's battlefield experience. Troops are rated as veteran, seasoned, or raw. Using Newbury, it is now possible to recreate such armies as a Roman Civil War army, with Praetorians of high morale, but lacking an equally high level of battlefield experience. This morale system should also be attractive to those who enjoy long-term campaigns. It would be possible for a player to field an army composed mostly of "raw" units, with a few "seasoned" units at the beginning of a campaign. As the campaign progresses, units' battlefield experience level could increase.
The mechanics of morale are quite simple. There is a chart with the three experience categories (raw, seasoned, veteran). Two dice are rolled, average for disciplined or normal for tribal, to which are added various situational modifiers and modifiers for the unit's morale class (A, B, C, D, or E). The chart is then consulted and the results acted upon.
The mechanics for fire and melee are, likewise, fairly simple. Like WRG, there are charts which are based upon weapon type, armour class, number of figures fighting, etc. What makes these rules somewhat more manageable is that there is no record keeping. Instead of losing 14 men, you lost.7 of a figure, i.e., roll seven or less on a 10 sided die and a figure is removed. (This is not really novel; see John Thull, "Putting WRG Ancients into High Gear", THE COURIER, V.6,35.)
The post-melee morale method is also rather interesting and quick. instead of merely comparing the number of casualties, Newbury uses a number of modifiers reflecting the number of casualties inflicted, the unit's morale, situation, and experience level. The results of the units are then compared on a chart and the results implemented. Although it may sound complex, the entire procedure takes but a few seconds.
As you have probably guessed, I do like the rules. They are quite extensive, easy to use and fast to play. At this time I feel I can recommend the rules for friendly games; they may even be of some use in tournament play. Ther may be one problem for some players: the Newbury rules are designed for true "ancients" armies, i.e., up to A.D. 500. 1 see no reason why they could not be expanded to ca. A.D. 1100 or so. After that, the "knight" and plate armour might make matters difficult. Perhaps we can expect an expansion volume.
THE BATTLE OF ARGENTORATUS: A PLAY-TEST BATTLE REPORT
In A.D. 357 the Emperor Julian advanced with 13,000 troops to oppose a force of some 35,000 Alemanni Germans under seven kings, the most important of whom was Chonodomarius. The two armies met at Argentoratus, modern Strasburg, a former legionary camp. Ammianus Marcellinus (16.12.19-66) records the ensuing battle in which theGermans were resoundingly defeated with heavy losses, according to Ammianus, some 6,000 killed.'
This was the battle which our group decided to recreate for our "playtesting" of the recent Newbury Fast Play Rules for Ancient Warfare. The particular battle was chosen for two reasons. The first reason was purely practical, i.e., it was one of the few historical actions which our club could stage using the correct figures in the correct numbers. The second reason had to do with a claim of the rules, that they were made for large battles. Argentoratus seemed to be very favorable in this respect in that it is far largerthan your typical WRG battle, requiring some 260 Romans and 400 Germans yet seemed to be managable enough to complete in a single evening of play.
The first thing which needed to be done in setting up the battle was to attempt to reproduce the orders of battle of the opposing forces. Ammianus supplied a certain amount of information for the Romans at least. In the course of the battle he mentions four auxilia Palatina: the Cornuti, Brachiatti, Batavi, and the Reges. Only a single legion, the Primani, is mentioned. Only a single type of cavalry merit specific mention: a unit of cataphracts which began the retreat of the Roman right wing cavalry. This is by no means the entire Roman force; the remainder was fleshed out with what I considered to be representative troop types. For example, certainly one legion was insufficient for a field army led by the Emperor himself, so we made it three; all legions were allotted a small subunit of lanciarii. The remaining cavalry were formed from a mixture of I ight and heavy types; a sma I I guard unit was assumed from the Emperor's presence.
As to the morale and experience of the troops, we considered most of the troops to be of very high caliber since they composed the Emperor's field army, the sacer comitatus. As a result, there are a high proportion of Disc A and B class troops (Disc ~ disciplined, sc. WRG Reg); also there were no raw troops in the army (the lowest experience level) and a considerable number of veteran units (the highest experience category). The weapons of each troop type were fairly standard and were in general compatible with the WRG lists. The only significant difference is that Newbury includes a separate weapons category for high quality swords in the hands of troops well trained in their use. Roman legionaries, auxiliary spearmen, and heavy cavalry were all considered to fit into this category. This was to prove to be a major factor in the eventual victory of the Roman forces.
The Roman Army was divided into three divisions each with its own commander; the Emperor Julian commanded the center division. The role of Julian was taken by yours truly, Michael Pavkovic; the Roman left wing was commanded by Dan Curatola while the right wing was under Don Hartman.
The German forces required a bit more guesswork. To begin with, the figures given by Ammianus are somewhat suspect; modern scholars have noted that it seems unlikely that the Alemanni would have been able to field such a large force at the time of the battle which took place during the harvest season. Some historians have argued that the Germans numbered only 6-10,000, but others have offered a more reasonable estimate of somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000.2 It was this size we decided upon, giving us roughly 400 figures using Newbury's 1:50 scale. The army has a fairly standard ratio of warriors, cavalry and light infantry for its size. It has been stated that in the battle the German cavalry dismounted because they felt that they stood a better chance against the Romans on foot than mounted., Close examination, however, of the text of Ammianus yields a rather different interpretation. Ammianus tells us that the German infantry demanded that the regales--the kings--dismount so that they might share the outcome of the battle with the common warriors and that the kings complied. There is no mention of a wholesale dismounting of the cavalry. As a result, we chose to allow the Germans a real cavalry force. The only other thing which we might mention is that each German commander was allowed a comitatus, or elite warband, of foot and/or horse.
The bulk of the foot had Tribal C (sc. Irg in WRG terms) morale, the exception being the foot warriors in the several comitatus bands who were Tribal B. The cavalry were of Tribal B except for those of the comitatus who were Tribal A. The experience level of the light infantry archers, who were considered to be youths, was raw. The remaining light infantry and all the normal foot were seasoned. The infantry of the comitatus and all of the cavalry were veterans.
The weapons were once again standard ones in accordance with the WRG lists. The only exception to this is we allowed the cavalry of the comitatus to be HC. We also allowed all of the cavalry and the foot of the comitatus the use of swords since most of these would have been professional warriors similar to the later hearthtroop of the Anglo-Saxons or Viking hirdmen.
The Germans were likewise divided into three divisions, but because of their large numbers, had four commanders. The role of King Chonodomarius was played by Bill Stahl who was assisted in the center by John Stinner. The German rightwas underjeff Shanton while Jeff Stinnertook the left.
Here then are the complete OBs. Please note that armor and formation are exclusive in Newbury so that a German warrior is close order LI rather than a WRG MI. Newbury's MI classification implies light body armorand thus better protection than H.Thusthe Roman legionaries in their leather cuirasses are MI.
THE ROMANS
LEFT WING
-
24 Legionaries MI-close, Disc C, seasoned, pilum, spear, sword, shield
6 Leg. Lanciark Ll-open, Disc C, seasoned, spear, shield
18 Auxilia Pal. LI-loose, Disc B, veteran, spear, sword, shield (12) r bow, shield (6)
12 Heavy Cav. HC-loose, Disc B, veteran, spear, sword, shield
12 Light Cav. LC-open, Disc C, seasoned, spear, shield
CENTER - The Emperor Julian
-
36 Legionaries Ml-close, Disc B, veteran, Pilum, spear, sword, shield (24) or bow, shield, (12)
6 Leg. Lanciark Ll-open, Disc B, seasoned, spear, shield
24 Auxilia Pal. LI-loose, Disc B, veteran, spear, sword, shield (16) or bow, shield (8)
16 Auxilia Pal. Ll-loose, Disc B, veteran, spear, sword shield (12) or bow, shield, (4)
7 Scholarians HC-loose, Disc A, veteran, spear, sword, shield
12 Heavy Cav. HC-loose, Disc B, veteran, spear, sword, shield
12 Light Cav. LC-open, Disc C, seasoned, spear, shield
RIGHT WING
-
24 Legionaries MI-close, Disc C, veteran, pilum, spear, sword, shield
6 Leg. Lanciarii Ll-open, Disc C, seasoned, spear, shield
24 Auxilia Pal. Ll-loose, Disc B, seasoned, spear, sword, shield (16) or bow, shield (8)
12 Cataphracts EHCB-close, Disc C, seasoned, lance
12 Heavy Cav. HC-loose, Disc B, veteran, spear, sword, shield
THE GERMANS
LEFT WING
-
12 Archers LI-open, Tribal C, raw, bow
48 Warriors Ll-close, Tribal C, seasoned, pilum, shield
24 Warriors as above
18 Comitatus Foot Ll-close, Tribal B, veteran, pilum, sword, shield
12 Noble Cav. LC-loose, Tribal B, veteran, spear, sword, shield
12 Comitatus Cav. HC-loose, Tribal A, veteran, spear, sword, shield
CENTER - King Chonodomarius
-
12 Light Inf. Ll-open, Tribal C, seasoned, spear, shield
48 Warriors LI-close, Tribal C, seasoned, pilum, shield
24 Warriors as above
24 Warriors as above
30 Comitatus Foot Ll-close, Tribal B, veteran, pilum, sword, shield
12 Noble Cav. LC-loose, Tribal B, veteran, spear, sword, shield
12 Comitatus Cav. HC-loose, Tribal A, veteran, spear, sword, shield
RIGHT WING
-
12 Archers LI open, Tribal C, raw, bow
48 Warriors LI-close, Tribal C, seasoned, pilum, shield
24 Warriors as above
18 Comitatus Foot Ll-close, Tribal B, veteran, pilum, sword, shield
12 Noble Cav. HC-loose, Tribal B, veteran, spear, sword, shield
12 Comitatus Cav. HC-loose, Tribal A, veteran, spear, sword, shield
12 Archers LI-open, Tribal C, raw, bow
6 Archers as above
12 Light Inf. Ll-open, Tribal C, seasoned, spear, shield
12 Light Inf. as above
24 Warriors LI-close, Tribal C, seasoned, pilum, shield
12 Warriors as above
12 Warriors asabove
12 Comitatus Foot Ll-close, Tribal B, veteran, pilum, sword, shield
12 Noble Cav. LC-loose, Tribal B, veteran, spear, sword, shield
Terrain
As to the terrain, we were in many respects left on our own. The only information supplied by Ammianus is that the Germans prepared ambushes on their right wing. We therefore made the terrain so that this might be possible, hence the large woods; the Germans also apparently dug some trenches on their right to aid in the ambush but as these were not very successful, we did not use them. The remainder of the terrain, scattered woods and gentle hills, were simply our perception of ancient France.
Ammianus supplies a certain amount of information concerning the deployment of both sides. We are told that the Romans posted all of their cavalry on the right flank and that the Germans stationed their cavalry opposite the Roman. We also know of a legion, the Primani, who were posted in the center. We did not have a really complete picture of the dispositions, however, and SO allowed the two sides to form up as they wished. We did try to maintain some historical integrity when we formed the divisions of the two armies; we therefore placed a large number of light infantry in the German right wing division to simulate their utility in an ambush, the cataphracts were placed on the Roman right which they almost swept away when they routed at the death of the commander, and the Primani were in the Roman center. We did allow the modern commanders a great deal of latitude in setting up their troops in order to make the game as fair as possible within some basic historical parameters.
The initial deployments of both sides are shown on Map 1. [4]
It became obvious that both the Romans and Germans were planning to move quickly, although the attacks would develop in quite different ways. The German plan was to attack all along the front of their long line so that they might be able to overrun the Romans by sheer weight of numbers. It was also evident that the Germans hoped to fight a war of attrition since all of their close order infantry were formed up only two ranks deep in order to bring as many men as possible into the fray. In this type of action the German's numerical advantage would assure a victory.
The Romans had likewise committed themselves to the attack. The Romans, however, did not plan to attack along the whole length of their battleline. The Roman commanders, much like the historical Julian, decided not to charge blindly into the mass of woods in front of the left wing. Our modern Julian ordered his wing commander to advance just into the woods with his single auxilium Palatinum to try to deal with any enemy skirmishers; the remainder were to wait outside forthe inevitable German onslaught, The Roman center and right wing, however, were to advance against the Germans and try to defeat them before their left wing was overcome. The Roman foot were generally formed in two ranks to meet the Germans, those auxilia which were so formed had their integral archers deployed in the front rank equally on each flank. The exceptions were the auxilia Palatina of the center division who initially had their archers in a third rank. The only legion with integral archers, the Primani, placed them equally in two ranks on the unit's flanks.
First Turn
The first turn of course saw little action except for each side moving forward to implement their plan of attack. For the most part, both battlelines advanced as unbroken entities at the rate of the slowest units in them, the close order foot. As we used Newbury's set-in distances, 20 cm from the centerline for each side, it appeared as if the main bodies would not come into contact until the third or fourth turn (close order foot move 6 cm, charge 8 cm). A notable exception to this was the light cavalry of the center division which dashed at full speed toward the German line. On the German right, the light troops moved ahead as quickly as possible into the woods while the close order troops plodded through the gaps. The Romans responded by sending ahead the auxilium Palatinum.
The second turn saw the first action of the game. The single unit of light cavalry which Julian hd sent out declared a charge on a unit of German archers who, under their skirmish orders opted to evade. Evades are done rather differently under Newbury; a morale test is not taken, rather there is a single die roll and a chart listing the unit's experience rating. By crossinclexing these two factors, the time delay, if any, before the evade takes place is found; veterans of course will generally evade more quickly than seasoned and seasoned better than raw troops. Unfortunately for the German archers, who were rated as raw, the delay was one full turn. As a result, the German archers were forced to receive the charge. in the ensuing melee, three of the Germans fell without a single Roman casualty (casualties in Newbury are by the figure, not the man) and then routed. This is whatjulian had hoped for,a rout which might have a dominoeffect on the German battleline. Fortune did not, however, smile on the Romans. The warbands and cavalry merely scoffed at the fleeing youths.
Along the rest of the front, the troops of both sides continued their advance. On the Roman left there was an exchange of missile fire between some German LI and an auxilium Palatinum. In the center, the Roman auxilia altered their formation to bring the archers from the third rank to theflanks sothat they could fire (no fire is permitted from beyond a second rank). Some long range archery fire followed.
The third turn saw the victorious Roman light cavalry pursuing the routed archers. With the success of his light cavalry against the archers, Julian decided to unleash a more potent unit, the veteran heavy cavalry unit of the center division, against a more tenacious opponent, a large Germanic warband. in the charge reaction test, the Romans charged home while the Germans opted to receive the charge. (This test takes the place of a morale test; it is simply a group of modifiers reflecting the two units' morale and circumstances. The two resulting numbers are compared on a chart which gives the options for both attacker and defender. The method is quick and simple.) The action was hard fought; the Romans killed three figures, the Germans, two. The important result was, however, that in the post melee reaction test (which is similar in format to a charge reaction test) the Germans were forced to recoil. This is where the Germans' philosophy of forming in two ranks to cause maximum casualties proved to be erroneous. If the warband had deployed in four ranks, they would probably have bounced the heavy cavalry.
Meanwhile a melee on the Roman left/German right had developed in the woods. An auxilium Palatinum had advanced to contact against a unit of German light infantry and a unit of archers. The result was never in doubt; the two German units recoiled. In the center, there was one last round of archery from the Romans as both sides were not within charge reach.
The fourth turn is when the action really heated up (see Map 2). In the center the light cavalry continued to pursue the hapless archers. In the melee between the heavy cavalry and the warband, the heavy cavalry, who were following up the recoil, managed to rout the warband. The Primani and thetwoauxilia Palatina,theCornuti and Brachiatti,all placed their archers in a third rank and charged. The Primani and Cornuti were met by a warband and the warriors of the comitatus of the center division respectively while the Brachiatti had the charge cancelled by a unit of noble cavalry. One German warband moved into a gap between the Primani and Brachiatti; the Emperor also moved with his Scholarians toward this gap. in the following melees the Primani recoiled the warband facing them. The two auxilia were not so lucky; they lost the actual melees, but in the post melee reaction test were able to stand rather than be recoiled due to their deeper formation (three ranks vs. two) and discipline.
There was also action on the wings. The auxiliurn on the Roman left routed the light troops who were facing them and entered pursuit. First blood was also drawn on the other flank. A unit of Roman heavy cavalry charged a unit of German nobles; the Romanswerealso flanked by a unit of comitatus cavalry. The Romans fought fairly well against the nobles; as a result they barely escaped a rout but were recoiled.
Thus at the end of turn four, the battle hung in the balance. Turn five would decide the issue. It was during this period that the Roman light cavalry ended their pursuit of the German archers (in Newbury the time spent in pursuit is a function of training and experience, not a morale test); the archers had ceased to exist as a functional unit. The light cavalry were thus rallying. The Roman heavy cavalry pursued the routed warband. In the great infantry clash in the center, the situation stabilized for the Romans. The Primani routed the warband facing them; the melee involving the Cornuti began to swing in favor of the Romans who recoiled the foot comitatus. This shift in fortune was mainly due to the Romans' advantage in training. The rules slightly favor disciplined troops fighting tribals in melee rounds after the initial impact. The Brachiatti remained deadlocked with the noble cavalry, the Roman advantage in numbers would apparently prove to be the difference in this melee. It became obvious to the Roman commanders that the center could be theirs in the next turn but for the warband which had broken the line and who could in time wreak havoc on the flanks of some engaged Roman units. Julian remedied the situation by charging at the head of his Scholarians. The Roman Emperor and his guard recoiled the German warband securing the situation in the center.
On the Roman left, the Roman auxiliurn which had routed the light troops, rallied on the far edge of the woods. The valiant Roman heavy cavalry on the right wing were in this turn routed by their German opponents. The Romans pulled back the auxiliurn on that flank to protect against the German cavalry when the latter returned from their pursuit.
At this point the Germans decided that it might be best for them to withdraw. Although the center was in dire straits, their wings were either unengaged or, in the case of their left, victorious. A withdrawal at this point certainly would be a minor defeat, but at this point a fair portion of their army would escape. Moreover, darkness began to set on the battiefield (i.e., it was already the wee hours of the morning and it was thought that another turn would be superfluous at this point).
Thus the Romans secured a victory, although by no means as clear cut as that won by the historical Julian. The entire battle from the deployment of troops to the end of the battle took about five and one-half hours. We were quite happy with this particular aspect of the Newbury rules. They are, we feel, quite useful for fighting "Big Battles". For once we had fought a large ancients battle to a reasonable conclusion in a fairly short period of time. This is especially interesting in that three of our players had not even read the rules. The rules were simple enough for these players to pick the rules up and use them efficiently.
Now for a few general observations about the rules. it seems that this is one of the few sets of rules (other than "Shock of Impact") which makes troops such as Roman legionaries armed with a sword better than other troops armed with a pilum-type weapon, something which historians agree was in fact the great advantage of the Romans. Also, regulars have an advantage in the second and subsequent rounds of melee over irregulars. Thirdly, depth plays an important role in giving units which would normally lose a melee some additional staying power. All of these factors combined to give the Romans a victory in the center. Finally, the three parameter morale and training system proved to be very interesting, allowing a fair amount of variation on the tabletop. In some respects, we found that experience (veteran, seasoned, raw) was more importantthan morale.
All in all, we found the rules to be quick, easy to use, and reasonably historical. I think we can highly recommend them, especially to those who would like to fight large battles.
NOTES
[1] For a reasonable description of the battle, see Phil Barker, The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome (Worthing, 1981), 53f. For where I disagree with Mr. Barker, see infra.
Maps
[2] The numbers are discussed by N.J.E. Austin, "in Support of Ammianus' Veracity", Historia 22 (1975l, 333ff.
[3] See Barker, 53f.
[4] I should like to thank Bill Stahl for the fine maps which accompany the article.
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