(Views of a junior commander, acting as a one-game stand-int in a campaign battle of a Rochester, N.Y. group of wargamerst August, 1985, using WRG 6th edition Ancient rules. The mixed nationality units below arose from the fact that local campaign rules apparently allowed for piecemeal desertion, but failed to cover the case where a nation was present on only one side, so the group reluctantly decided to allow deserters to join existing units of other nationalities).

I, Thorstein, set down the truth, and if you don't like it, we can always fight.

My Danes were hired by the Norman King of England to fight in a battle, at the height of a campaign against three combined armies of Vikings, Scots and recalcitrant English. (Ed.: The Welsh were there as well!) My forces, all irregulars, consisted of:

Left hand band: 10 Danish LMI, jv. and sh., "C" class plus 4 Galwegian Scots deserters, also "C" LMI with 2HCW, jv. and sh.

Right hand band: 10 more Danes, same as above, plus 3 Galwegians, same as above except "B" class (good morale)

Attached: 5 Breton LC, jv./sh., "C"' class.

When the King gave me the Galwegians, there was a big argument whether this was possible, (Ed. One of many) which was finally settled in favor of doing it. But the Galwegians in the front rank, of course, and fought in wedge (same argumentp same result). We were ordered to hold in the center a small L-shaped woods, the spur sticking out towards the enemy. The Bretons were in the open to my right. I was supposed to have a unit of bowmen, but some Archbishop took them away. He commanded on the right. There was a big wood over there which everyone knew would quickly be filled with enemy foot. The Archbishop tried to march his knights and foot all the way around it on the far right and that was the last I saw of his men except the archers, whom he stuck opposite the large woods.

On the left there was a long gully crossed by one road. The King planned to take most of his army, filled with heavy cavalry, around the enemy (Viking and English) flank, crossing at the road and the far end of the gully. The King did put two units of his worst cavalry, 2 units of "C" class MC, in the woods just to my left. They were going to rush through the first turn, form up, hook around, and charge the enemy on the other side of the gully. There was supposed to be a reserve in our rear but I never saw it.

The Scottish chief opposite me had some cavalry, who hid in the rear protecting him. His striking force was four big irregular bands of Galwegians, armed like mine, but each unit was of 10 "C" class and in the front rank, 10 "A" class Fanatics. The idea was that the fanatics would fight in the front and inspire the unit while the others provided bulk. These guys, as a result of the King's plan, were facing nothing but my force and the King's 24 cavalry in the woods.

One unit of the Galwegian's force-marched at the start and reached the spur of the woods. The Scots lost 3 figures (Ed. As a result of their force-marching) but this killed any idea of my "clearing" the woods. In fact, as soon as I saw just how many Scots there were, I had already given this up as a bad job and moved forward slowly.

My Bretons rode up and threw a few javelins. However, the mere threat of a charge by the Galwegian infantry was enough to rout them right off the field. On the other hand, the Galwegians on the Scottish left, my right, slavered at the thought of charging Bretons and became impetuously rash and out of control. When the brave Bretons-- who had NO casualties-- outdistanced them, these guys turned and headed for the Archbishop's bowmen, the only other unit in sight (my men were hidden by the trees). I was not unhappy to see them go,

Meanwhile, the lead Galwegian unit, also impetuous at the thought of charging the Bretons, slammed instead into my right hand band of Danes and pushed it back. My left hand unit, blocked by the miserable cavalry, could only throw a few javelins, When the ravening Galwegians followed up their success, they ran instead into the front rank of my left hand unit. This was a frustrating experience for both of us. Due to the King's cavalry, my wedge could not fight properly, while, since he was hitting the left, he could not reach the unit he had beaten, which rallied and threw javelins into him. These, together with the few more casualties inflicted on my narrow wedge front, caused his shocked lead unit to fall back.

At this time the King's cavalry was trying to fight the Galwegians, also. The left unit at least got off a charge, though it failed, and the cavalry were soon headed the other way. The cavalry next to me, watching the Galwegians start to charge them,, lost their nerve, stood still and were chopped up. These guys were the ones blocking me. I could see that they were/about to go, so I reformed each of my bands into a 3-deep column. This was not very handy--the third rank could not fight at all--but that allowed me to stay in the woods and go around my own side's cavalry.

On the other hand, the recoiling Galwegians ran into the band trying to get at the cavalry, disordering both. When I followed up, and struck the lead band again, it routed! However, the men got away. My Danes and the cavalry-pursuing Galwegians instead ran into each other as their routing comrades sidled away. I was very unlucky (in the strange terms I heard used; I rolled -1 and -3 on the random advantage, while the Scots rolled +2). Both my bands routed off the field. Well, at least we'd gotten some of the enemy. Against 80 fanatics, my 32 could not have done much better (maybe we had reserves, and they were late or something). Also, none of MY men were killed, only 5 of the 7 Galwegian deserters.

I hope the King won his battle.

Editor's Footnote

Steve (who along with his father Charlie Sweet, have contributed many articles through the years to The Courier, the old Table Top Talk and even, as far as I know, the only wargaming article to ever appear in Sports Illustrated!) was not given an enviable situation. The battle will be fully reported in a future issue of Saga, The style of writing, though, is both humorous and informative. This interesting indeed to see this small scale action for a change instead of the whole grand tactical game.

What would you like to see in a set of Ancients rules? Send in any suggestions or ideas you may have to the editor of Saga.