The premise for this battle started at Point Con in March when Walt Leach's Vikings soundly beat an ancient Spanish (from the Punic Era) army while enroute to a berth in this year's Nationals. Upon hearing this, I said to myself "Self, there is no way the Vikings can beat the Spanish". Being a pretty rabid Spanish player, I politely informed Walt that I would like to show him how the Spanish should be played (ie. beat the stuffing out of Vikings). What follows is my account of our battle (never again let it be said that only winners write the history). Rules used were WRG 7th (no, please keep reading). Each army was 1500 points from Book I and II lists (Walt's was slightly-modified to allow him the option to use boats). Scale was 15-mm and the table size was 6ft x 4ft. I had one ally-general who was unreliable. Walt had 4 sub-generals, one of whom was rash, a second was unreliable and the rest bold. The morning weather was misty and the battle did not start until about noon game time. A digression, if I may, on terrain. We Ancients types get a lot of grief for our "inadequate" terrain. Such could not be said for this battle. We used a combination of terrain base boards, felt for rivers, model railroad trees, and Geohex hills. Both armies were well painted adding to an unusually good-looking battle. It's too bad I don't see more of this at conventions. It's no coincidence that Walt won the best terrain award at the Ancients tournament at HNMC (the felt and Geohex were mines) Walt, don't get too big a head). Order of Battle Vikings 1. 24 Bondi LMI JLS SH 2. 12 Bondi LMI B SH 3. 12 Huscarls LHI 2HCW SH 4. 6 Beserks 2HCW SH 5. 12 Bondi LMI B SH 6. 36 Bondi LMI JLS SH 7. 12 Huscarls LHI 2HCW SH 8. 6 Beserks LMI 2HCW SH 9. 6 Beserks LMI 2HCW SH 10. 24 Bondi LMI JLS SH 11. 12 Huscarls LHI 2HCW SH 12. 24 Bondi LMI -B SH on boat Spanish A. 20 Caetrati LI JLS SH B. 24 Scutari LMI HTW SH C. 24 Scutari LMI HTW SH D 48 LC JLS SH with 8 LI JLS SH detachment E. 24 Scutari LMI HTW SH F. 24 Scutari LMI HTW SH G. 8 LC JLS SH with 8 LI JLS SH detachment H. 24 Scutari LMI HTW SH I. 18 Celtiberian LMI HTW SH J. 18 Celtiberian LMI HTW SH K. 18 Celtiberian LMI HTW SH L. 24 Scutari LMI HTW SH M. 20 Caetrati LI JLS SH The battlefield terrain consisted of one hill, one ridge, one major river (guess who put that feature down), and two woods. Walt loves to dump loads of terrain on the board to hide his troops in. Unfortunately, the Spanish are well suited to fight in woods. The map shows the troop deployment as it developed by turn two and three. For those who think that Vikings should always advance, forward from the start, should watch Walt play. His strategy is always a static defence along terrain features with selected counterattacks as the enemy closes. My strategy was to engage the Vikings anywhere but on the hilltop, hence my deployment of unit G to skirmish and otherwise occupy the Bondi on the hill. I figured that since the HTW is such a devastating weapon in WRG, all I had to do was close and watch the Vikes drop in droves. The real fighting began on turn two when Viking unit 9 (Beserks) impetuously charged Spanish unit I. The Beserks died to a man and inflicted little damage on the Spanish. The resulting waver tests watched Viking unit 10 and 11 go shaken. meanwhile, Viking unit 12 in the boat shot-up Spanish unit K (before it was in the position shown on the map). A waver test resulted but the Spanish passed. This forced me to move unit L over to prevent further problems but that wretched boat delayed unit K from advancing for one turn. Thus I was unable to engage the shaken Viking unit 11. Turn three was spent posturing and getting into position to close. Viking unit 2 shot up the Spanish LC/LI unit D forcing them to rally back. By this time I discovered unit 1 in the woods. Spanish unit I charged the shaken unit ten, who promptly evaded. The Spanish then rallied back to avoid getting hit in the flank by unit 8. Meanwhile those pesky archers on the boat are shooting unit L but causing little damage. Turn four saw units C and I impetuously charge each other while units E and F moved into the positions shown by the arrow on the map. The Vikings managed to rally unit 11 before the Celtiberians could get to them. Units K and J moved into position to attack the outnumbered Huscarl unit 11. The Vikings must have had their wheaties for breakfast. The melee between units 1 and C saw the Vikings roll up 3 on the random factor die while I rolled down 1. Unit C died to a man! Fortunately,units A and B passed their waver tests for seeing this. Turn five saw Viking unit three hit Spanish unit E in the flank after I foolishly moved it forward (I was counting on thumping unit 1 in the woods). Unit 4 charged the Caetrati (unit M). Unit F was not yet in position to do much about this other than watch. Meanwhile I finally had units J and K ready to fight unit 11. Unit I was covering their flanks from the Beserk unit 8. Walt finally got one of his many generals over to unit 10 to begin the rallying process. The beserk unit 4 easily routed the LI but miraculously, unit E withheld the flank shot from unit 3. The berserks then slammed into poor unit E. Unit B, thouqh, advanced into the woods. and charged dastardly unit one, annihilating it (one good turn deserves another). Unfortunately for me, no other Vikings were near enough to see this debacle and thus did not have to take a waver test. Now I thought I had a chance. On turn six, 36 Celtiberians took on 12 Huscarls near the Rhone River (according to the rules, I was invading). Unit 6 (the big Bondi mob on the hill) charged the LC/LI unit G who promptly evaded. The Vikings hacked up poor unit E who finally routed. unit F then failed its waver test, going shaken. Still all is not lost. I now have a Bondi block off a hill with a fresh unit (unit H) ready to charge next turn. As soon as my Celtiberians smash those Huscarls, I'll roll up my left flank and to hell with what's happening on my right center. You could see the drool on my chin as I could finally show the suprisingly hardy Vikings what good old Punic know-how (and lots of HTW) could do. Welllllll, the Huscarls (unit 11) rolled up 4 while unit X rolled down 3 and unit J rolled down 2. Unit K died to a man. The resulting waver tests saw both unit J and unit L go shaken. So much for smashing the left flank. By turn seven, we quit. Unfortunately the tournament mentality says you quit when you are whipped and don't mess with the rear guard action. The only fresh units I had left were unit H (Scutarii), unit A (Caetrati), Unit D (LC/LI) and unit G (LC/LI). Unit I was in good order but not fresh (tired from fighting the Beserks and vainly chasing the Bondi unit 10). If a rear guard action was fought, Walt and I figured units G, D, A, B, and maybe L would get off the board (ie. live to fight another day). I would sacrifice units H and I so the rest could bolt. The casualty report was bloody (for me): of the 12,100 Vikings involved, only 2000 died; of the 16,500 Spanish involved, 11,700 bought the farm. one thing WRG 7th accurately represents when played through is the high casualties for the losing side when it is forced to leave the table. Now I know why the Macedonians lost all those thousands of men while fighting the Romans (who only lost hundreds). Here are the conclusions I've made regarding this particular battle: Walt's dice are loaded, my dice are loaded the wrong ways, armies that don't appear to match up well against certain opponents under WRG 7th always have a chance, the Vikings can play an active defensive game and win, and the Spanish don't always overwhelm the opponent with numbers and HTW. Some people might quibble over the die's effect on the outcome of melee and morale but battles were always dependent on the variables of men. I wonder how many times Alexander rolled up against the Persians? Back to PW Review August 1988 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1988 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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