I am full of admiration for those wargamers who set their campaigns in fictitious countries or continents of their own devising. I have always set my campaigns in ‘real’ places, either in the form of scenarios lifted directly out of history, or ‘typical’ situations from within a larger historical background. Is this, I wonder, because I enjoy researching the subject before embarking on the campaign, or is it due to being too idle to create my own world from scratch? I wouldn’t like to say.
In truth, I hadn’t really thought about trying to design my own world until I read some of Steve Turner’s journals for his 18th century campaign, set in the mythical continent of Euratia. This inspired me to have a go myself.
It’s not easy, is it? I had several attempts at the map; all seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance to some real place, usually somewhere on which I had based a historical campaign in the past. I filled up my wastebasket with what looked like distorted maps of everywhere from Ayrshire to Afghanistan before I admitted defeat.
It was then that a campaign idea which had been lurking at the back of my head came to the rescue. I began to plan a semi-historical campaign, based in Pictland, or Pictavia. The place is real enough, and so is the basic background to the campaign, but our knowledge of the Picts has great big holes in it - holes which can be filled in nicely with a bit of wargamers’ artistic license. We’ve all heard of their raids on Roman Britain, along with their neighbours, the Scots, but we don’t tend to hear much about the Picts themselves. They didn’t leave much of a written record, except for a couple of lists of the names of their kings (which don’t always seem to correspond) and most of what we know about them was written by outsiders. We don’t know their language or their religion or how they were organised - all these details can be filled in just as you wish.
Have a look at the attached map. This is Pictavia. We are pretty sure it was divided into the seven provinces shown, possibly split into two kingdoms, northern and southern, which sometimes had the same king. And one chronicle gives us a handy list of connecting events upon which to build a story:
AD 706: Nechtan MacDerile succeeds to the High King’s throne.
AD 713: Nechtan’s brother Ciniod is murdered. His half brother Talorgan is imprisoned, presumably for his guilt.
AD 724: Nechtan resigns throne to join the church. He hands kingship to Drust.
AD 726: Nechtan tries to regain throne, fails and is imprisoned. Drust is ousted by Alpin, who makes himself king.
AD 728: Oengus Mac Fergus raises an army and defeats Alpin. Oengus claims kingship. Nechtan escapes, raises an army and also defeats Alpin. Nechtan retakes throne.
AD 729: Oengus beats Nechtan in battle. Drust reclaims the throne but is beaten in battle by Oengus. Oengus becomes king.
AD 732: Nechtan dies.
AD 734: Talorgan tries to seize the throne and is executed by Oengus.
Reminiscent of the Wars of the Roses, isn’t it? We know that Talorgan was king of Fotlaig, one of the provinces of Pictavia, but after that, we have to fill in the gaps ourselves to complete the framework of our campaign. So, here goes:
THE PICTAVIAN CIVIL WAR
Pictavia is divided into seven provinces, which are ruled by the following sub-kings:
- Nechtan of Fortriu (capital Dumyat)
Ciniod of Fib (capital Castle Law)
Talorgan of Fotlaig (capital Dundurn)
Drust of Circenn (capital Caterthun)
Oengus of Ce (capital Echt)
Alpin of Fidach (capital Burghead)
Brude of Cat (capital Garrywhin)
Any of the sub-kings is entitled to be elected High King over all the others. At the start of the campaign, Nechtan son of Derile, King of Fortriu, is High King of Pictavia.
At the start, take a pack of shuffled playing cards and deal out one for each of the sub-kings, plus one for Nechtan. Each suit represents a faction, with the highest value card being the leader. Nechtan is automatically leader of his faction. When a sub-king dies, take another card to resolve his successor’s choice of faction.
The objective of each faction is first to make their leader king of either the northern kingdom (Cat, Ce and Fidach, capital Craig Phadraig) or southern kingdom (Circenn, Fotlaig, Fortriu and Fib, capital Forteviot) and secondly to make him high king over all. This should give plenty of scope for battles and intrigue.
Each campaign move takes one year.
THE ARMIES
We don’t know how big Pictavian armies were, so I’d go for a figure of more or less 3,000 men per province. (i.e. the thirty hundreds or triucha cet that an Irish sub king was supposed to have had.) Don’t get carried away with the idea that the Picts were a set of hairy barbarians whose only tactic was to charge like maniacs at their enemy and hope for the best. Their greatest battle against outsiders was Nechtansmere in 685AD against King Ecgfrith’s Northumbrians.
The invading Anglo-Saxons encountered a Pictish force, led by their king Brude Mac Bili, near Dunnichen; the invaders attacked and soon routed the Picts, then broke their shieldwall and set off in gleeful pursuit of the routers. The chase led into a marshy area around the now-disappeared lake of Nechtansmere, at which point King Brude gave a signal and the rest of the Pictish army appeared from its concealed positions. They fell on the struggling, mud-mired Northumbrians and massacred the lot, including Ecgfrith himself. Neat,eh?
Of course the composition of Pictish armies was likely to vary across the country - fertile Ce or Fib would probably support more horses than relatively barren Cat, for instance, hence the table:
| Troop types | Provinces | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ce, Fib. | Fidach, Circenn Fotlaig, Fortriu | Cat | |
| Light horse | D6 x 100 men + 400 men | D6 x 100 men+ 200 men | D6 x 100 men |
| Spearmen | 2D6 x 100 men+ 700 men | 2D6 x 100 men + 800 men | 2D6 x 100men + 900 men |
| Archers/ skirmishers | D6 x 100 men+ 100 men | D6 x 100 men+ 200 men | D6 x 100 men + 300 men |
| Warband | 2D6 x 100 men | 2D6 x 100 men | 2D6 x 100 men |
Now, the Picts were Celts, and protracted campaigns were not for them; they would gather at their hosting place and march off to battle or raid, a few days at most, taking what provisions they needed with them in the knowledge that they would soon be back home to tend farm or fishing boat. So, no need to worry about logistics.
Right, so just a case now of concocting an excuse for the fisticuffs:
For each sub-king, throw a D10 each year:
0 = Aggression. Attack is launched on nearest rival. If sub king is leader of a faction, the other members of the faction will join in on a throw of 4,5 or 6 on D6. (unless prevented by one of reasons below.) If the aggressive sub-king’s forces are weaker by 50% than his target’s (due to previous battle casualties, for instance) he may attempt to ambush rather than confront the larger army. Perhaps an attack on the king’s bodyguard could be the subject for a skirmish game?
9 = Illness. On a throw of 1 or 2 on D6, king dies. Under the law of tanistry, a suitable successor will soon be appointed (not necessarily the deceased king’s son). Take a new card to decide the successor’s allegiances.
8= Revolt. Throw a D6 to decide how serious the revolt is. 6 means that a tribe representing one-sixth of king’s forces revolts. 5 = one-fifth, 4 = a quarter, and so on, and the king must put down the revolt with the remainder of his army. If 1 is thrown, king is overthrown on a tide of popular hatred and distrust and a successor is appointed.
7 = attack from outside Pictavia. Let’s say:
- Fib, Circenn - Northumbrian Angles.
Fortriu - Strathclyde Britons.
Fotlaig, Fidach - Dalriadic Scots.
Ce, Cat - Norsemen
Each 1,000 men plus D6 x 250 men.
6 = Assassination attempt. Succeeds on a 1 or 2 on D6. Take another card to decide allegiance of successor.
5 or less. King goes about his lawful occasions.
Of course, the object of warfare for the kings in this game is to kill or capture their rivals.
If a king dies in battle, a new card is taken to decide the allegiance of his successor; however, if the army of that province has been destroyed, the victor will decide the successor’s politics for him - effectively adding the new king to his faction whether he likes it or not.
Likewise, if a king is captured, his captor will add the captive to his faction. If the captive king’s province subsequently throws to revolt, count this as a resistance movement and attempt to free the captive!
The game ends when one king is crowned High King over all the provinces of Pictavia.
Rules for the battles?
Well, whatever you normally use, but I would certainly include some possibility of treachery during battle, particularly by kings who are present under duress, just to spice things up a bit.
Well, that’s the game, but is it anything like what actually happened in Pictavia in the 8th Century? Is it for real?
I honestly don’t know, but no-one can say for certain that it isn’t, and that’s good enough for me!
[I believe Nechtansmere, is near Forfar in Angus close to where SKELP is held each year in Kirriemuir, home of Peter Pan! More trivia later. It sure was a long run home for the defeated Northumbrians and they only had shankies pony! No cars! Kenn]
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