At the risk of annoying our Editor and author of an excellent series of ancient and medieval wargame rules, this is an account of a set of rules that I have recently tried and found to be amusing. Brace yourselves; the rules I'm referring to were actually written for fantasy battles.

When I'm gaming Dark Ages I enjoy not the big Hastings type battle, and not the little pure skirmish type affair, but something in between. My games have a few hundred figures on either side individually mounted and set on movement trays to speed play. Each figure represents one man, and the vast majority are combined into units. A few figures are not in units. They are the ones whose individual actions could influence the outcome of the battle, such as a champion or messenger. To me, this scale of gaming and the combination of individuals and units really give the feel of Dark Ages battle.

I had been using Warhammer fantasy rules in this way and they were pretty good, but they still lacked some of the period flavor I was after. I recently purchased a boxed game called Fantasy Warriors just to get the figures in the set. Yes, I sometimes play with little green men. Shut up. Anyway, the game came with a set of miniature rules. Physically they didn't look like much, no flashy color illustrations, as is the fashion these days. What they lacked in pizzazz they made up for in real Dark Ages ambience.

By way of illustration, I'll describe the course of a typical game. Note that the description includes rules found in the Fantasy Warrior Companion, a supplement I purchased after adopting the original.

Aelle, Warchief of the Angles has assembled a mighty host beyond counting (about 300 men) and has invaded the neighboring British kingdom of Dumnonia. The British Dux Bellorum (Warchief) Artorius meets him with about the same number of men. Both sides send out parties of scouts to determine the dispositions of the enemy and to find the best ground to fight on. The crafty Artorius purchases a figure with special scout skills for his army to assist in this effort.

As a result, the British get the upper hand in the scouting, which gives Artorius an advantage in setting out the terrain and causes Aelle to deploy his army first. Once the armies are deployed both Warchiefs issue orders. A word on organization is in order here. Armies are organized into one or more groups of units called commands, each under a Battle leader. There are only 3 possible orders, Attack, Hold, and Oppose. Each imposes restrictions and bestows advantages on all of the units in the command.

With attack orders you move right at the enemy with very few options and give 'em a good whack. Hold orders let you adjust formation and facing, but not move. Commands with Hold orders enjoy a morale advantage. Oppose orders allow the command to dance around, maneuver around flanks etc, but are a disadvantage in combat. Changes in orders must be delivered from the Warchief to the Battleleader via courier, which is not as easy as you might think. Transmission of orders can be facilitated by purchasing standard bearers, couriers, and heralds when recruiting your army using the point system.

Now the two armies are facing each other and the Battleleaders have been given their orders. This is the time for the Warchief to try to exert an influence on the attitude of his force. This is done in a variety of ways, which are a lot of fun and almost unique to this set of rules, as far as I know. The Warchief can give a rousing speech to one of his units and hope to spark an enthusiasm that will spread to others.

He can boast of the exploits he will perform in battle, he can cause the omens to be read by a soothsayer, if he had the foresight to purchase one for the army. He might try to start a warchant, with much stamping and banging of weapons against shields. Any of these gambits might work or backfire, depending on a variety of factors.

Both Warchiefs having made the best arrangements they can, the two armies now have at each other. Their character, i.e. the culture of the society that produced them; Disciplined, Tribal, or Fanatic, categorizes armies. Disciplined armies are the most controllable and predictable. Fanatic armies are the most aggressive and uncontrollable.

Tribal armies are between these two extremes. In our example, Aelle leads a Fanatic army and Artorius a Tribal. Aelle correctly assumes that it would be better not to try Hold or, Wotan Forbid, Oppose orders with his pugnacious and greedy warriors, so he gives attack orders, boasts that he shall be seen in the thick of battle and tries to set his army afire with a rousing speech to his best warband in the center of his line. Sadly, he is not terribly articulate and the speech falls rather flat. Not so bad, though, as to discourage the lads, and so off they go to hew at the war linden, as they say.

A few hundred yards away, Artorius is having his soothsayer read the omens and they ain't pretty. That could be a problem if the army's will is tested later in the battle. He considers setting up a war chant, rousing the lads by getting them singing the songs of their fathers and so on, but opts for a battle of maneuver which doesn't allow time for such things. He issues Hold orders to his center command and Oppose to his two flank commands. The plan is to envelop the impetuous savages and annihilate them, just like in those stories the priest used to tell him about the Romans when he was a little boy.

As the barbarians come on very rapidly all across the front, the flanks of the Britons move out to envelop. The enemy is now in long bowshot of the British archers, but they choose to husband their limited number of arrows. Now the savages are close enough to see that Aelle, his Battleleaders, and a heroic warrior, Wulfgar the Slayer are all risking themselves in the front ranks to encourage their warriors, as are many lesser champions within the bands. As the distance closes, warbands on both sides attempt to intimidate the bands opposite them with shouts, threatening gestures, blaring horns and waving banners.

This is the threat phase of the turn sequence. Units might be shaken or even frightened off the field depending on a number of factors. Purchasing banners, trumpeters, and champions for as many units as you can afford helps. Risking your leaders in the thick of it does too. In this case the fortunes of war cause one of the Angle warbands to succumb to fear and slink away. Two of the British bands are shaken by the threats of their terrible enemies. They stand, but are in disarray. One warband of the Angles, that which stands with Aelle, has a reaction the Britons did not intend. They enter a state of violent frenzy known as Bloodlust in the rules. Good for melee and bad for movement and maneuver, but melee is what is about to happen. Wotan!

As the barbarian shieldwall quickens it's pace Artorius sends messengers running to his flank commands to change their orders from Oppose, which does not allow them to initiate contact to Attack, which requires it. Can't those messengers run any faster? When did those flank commands move so far away? Damn! I should have sent those new orders last turn. The enemy is almost on us. Meanwhile, the veteran captain of the British archers picks his time perfectly and shouts NOW! His men unleash four withering volleys into the warband opposite them in a single turn. The survivors of that arrowstorm break and run.

A hole big enough to drive a herd of chubby Frankish Hausfraus through opens in the enemy line, but the order is Hold. The barbarians on either side of the gap expand and the shieldwall closes, more or less. The moment passes. Just as the Germanic shieldwall crashes into the Britons the messengers reach their destinations on the flanks. The pressure on the center is terrible and casualties are heavy. The Hold orders help the Britons to endure... but for how long?

On the right flank Gawain receives his orders to attack and, experienced Battleleader that he is, communicates the change to his command efficiently. They begin to pile into that end of the barbarian line. On the left, Battleleader Lancelot has received his orders and completely misunderstood them. His confusion spreads to his men, who fall into disorder. Artorius curses his luck. Never put your brother-in-law in charge of anything important. The successful communication of order changes is dependent on a number of factors, not the least of which is the quality of the Battleleader being addressed.

The increasing frenzied Teutons are pouring through the gap between the hard-pressed center of the Britons and their confused left. Artorius throws himself into the fray to steady his faltering men and immediately takes a spearthrust to the chest. His beautifully forged mail shirt gives him a saving throw, which he manages to screw up. His mis-spent life is passing before his eyes when suddenly he remembers that he spent points on Father Patrick to accompany the Army of the Britons. This entitles him to re-roll the save and this time he gets it right. Whew! In the meantime, Thor is smiling on the pagans. Aelle and his frenzied berserks are taking a terrible toll on the British center. The hero Wulfgar has cut down the Battleleader of Artorius' center command. The line starts to crumble. The trickle of fugitives becomes a flood as the Britons remember the bad omens of the morning. Who can resist the Will of God? The battle is over and the Angles hold the field. Wotan!

Note 1- Magic

Fantasy rules always have provision for the effects of magic on the battle. It is natural for us 20th century types to scoff at that sort of thing, but part of the fun of wargaming is to try to get into the head of the people you are portraying. The men who stood in the ranks of those Dark Age armies, and their leaders weren't, for the most part, stupid but they were ignorant and extremely superstitious. I am not averse to including wizards, druids, etc in my pagan armies, but in historical games I do confine their magic to the psychological kind.

The effect is generally to increase the combat effectiveness or morale of friends, or reduce that of enemies. To get a good sense of what sort of silly ideas might have been going through the heads of people at that time, read the work of any modern anthropologist describing the customs and beliefs of modern primitive people.

Note 2- Dueling

One aspect of Dark Ages warfare that I have not seen captured adequately is the potential to have duels between champions before the two armies clash. In actual history it was probably pretty rare, although not unknown, but it is very dramatic and well worth reproducing on the tabletop. Something would have to be at stake, such as a morale benefit for the winners friends, and the opposite effect for the losing side.

To do it in style, the two champions would have to stride out in front of their respective lines and call out to each other. That might include a longer or shorter account of ones own noble lineage, some tart observations on the opponent's family tree, or a graphic description of what one intends to do to ones opponent. Gamers can have a lot of fun with this, and Honor should be accorded to the author of the most creative challenge.

Possibly the most entertaining example I've read came from the novel 'A Clockwork Orange'. Set in the not-too-distant future, two teenage street gangs are about to go at it. Little Alex, the leader of one challenges his counterpart, and I quote:

'Well, if it isn't fat, stinking Billygoat Billyboy in poison. How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if you have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly, thou.'

Now that's a challenge!