Part I (Saga 71)

In the first article on Liegnitz I outlined the campaign, the types of forces involved, and the conduct of the historical battle itself. From that base I intend to relate how David Bonk, Lyle Bickley and I went about wargaming the battle, culminating in a report on the game we hosted at Historicon '99.

In order to run a proper, historically based game we needed more detailed information on the respective orders of battle, the terrain at the battle site, the historical deployment of the forces, and a way to capture some of the unique events which help add flavor to any game.

The orders of battle were produced based on a combination of the historical reports of the battle and the participating forces, supplemented by an understanding of the normal composition of feudal levies of that time and place. This information was then translated into an army list format compatible with Medieval Warfare, the rules set we used to fight the battle. To keep the forces involved manageable we slightly altered the figure scale of the battle such that each figure on the tabletop represented roughly 40-50 men. Even with that scale we needed roughly 1000 25mm figures to run the battle. Having already run smaller scale Mongol/Hungarian/Polish/German scenarios before David, Lyle and I still needed to paint more figures (and borrow a few as well) to meet our needs.

The final OB is listed below. It is broken down by divisions that are historical groupings for the Poles and their allies. For the Mongols the breakdown of forces and deployment reflects historical usage, but the true command and control structure may well have been different.

POLES

1st Division: Boleslaw Syepiolka of Moravia

Moravian Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Ruthenian Knights 3 stands HC Warrior L/Sh
Moravian Sargeants 3 stands HC Warrior L/Sh
Moravian Knights (Boleslaw) 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh [4 orders]
Goldberg Miners 4-stands UI Warrior Axe/Sh
Moravian Spear 4 stands HI Warrior LSp/Sh
Moravian Levy Spear 4-stands UI Poor Sp/Sh
Moravian Bowmen 4 stands UI Warrior Bow
Moravian Skirmish Bow 8 stands UI Warrior Bow

2nd Division: Sulislaw of Cracow

Cracovian Knights (Sulislaw) 2 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh [3 orders]
Cracovian Knights 4-stands HC Warrior L/Sh
Cracovian Knights 4-stands HC Warrior L/Sh
Sandomir Knights (Stanislaus of Sandomir) 4 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh [3 Orders]
Wiekopolska Knights 4 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Sandomir Sargeants 4-stands HC Warrior L/Sh
Cracovian Spears 6-stands HI Warrior LSp/Sh
Cracovian Levy Spears 6-stands UI Poor Sp/Sh
Sandomir Levy Spears 6 stands UI Poor Sp/Sh
Cracovian Bow 4-stands UI Warrior Bow
Sandomir XBow 4-stands UI Warrior XBow

3rd Division: Mieszko of Opole

Opolian Knights (Mieszko) 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh [4 orders]
Opolian Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Kysa Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Opolian Sargeants 3 stands HC Warrior L/Sh
Teutonic Knights (von Ostern) 2-stands FMC Elite (T) L/Sh [3 orders]
(costs 2 orders for Von Ostern to give orders to non-Teutonic units and vice versa for Polish generals and Teutonic troops)
Teutonic Knights 2-stands FMC Elite (T) L/Sh
Teutonic Knights Sergeants 2-stands FMC Veteran (T) L/Sh
Gniew Levy Spear 6-stands UI Warrior LSp/Sh
Teutonic Spear 4-stands HI Veteran (T) LSp/Sh
Teutonic X Bow 4-stands HI Warrior (T) Xbow
Gniew Bows 6-stands UI Warrior Bow

4th Division: Henry of Silesia

Henry of Silesia 1-stand FMC Elite L/Sh [5 orders]
Wroclaw Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Silesian Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Silesian Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Breslau Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Breslau Knights 3 stands FMC Veteran L/Sh
Breslau Retainers 3 stands HC Warrior L/Sh
Knights Templar Command 2-stands FMC Elite (T) L/Sh [3 orders]
Knights Templar 2-stands FMC Veteran (T) Lance
Templar Spears 4-stands HI Veteran (T) LSp/Sh
Nicholas the Red of Warsaw [3 orders]
Silesian Spears 4-stands HI Veteran LSp/Sh
Silesian Axe 4-stands HI Warrior Axe/Sh
Silesian Axe 4-stands HI Warrior Axe/Sh
Wroclaw Spears 4 stands HI Warrrior LSp/Sh
Breslau Levy Spears 4 stands UI Poor Sp/Sh
Breslau Bow 4 stands UI Warrior Bow
Wroclaw Bow 4 stands UI Warrior Bow
Silesian Xbow 4 stands HI Warrior Xbow

Mongols

CiC Prince Baidar 1 stand FMC Elite(T) L/LB/Sh [5 orders]
Mongol Elite Cavalry 2 stands FMC Elite(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol Elite Cavalry 2 stands FMC Elite(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol Elite Cavalry 2 stands FMC Elite(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands FMC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands FMC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands FMC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh

Heavy Division 1

Prince Orda 1 stand FMC Elite (T) L/LB/Sh [4 orders]
Mongol Elite Cavalry 2 stands FMC Veteran (T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands FMC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands FMC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Veteran(T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Warrior (T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Warrior(T) LB

Heavy Division 2

Prince Kadan 1 stand FMC Elite (T) L/LB/Sh [4 orders]
Mongol Elite Cavalry 2 stands FMC Veteran (T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands FMC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands FMC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Veteran(T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Warrior (T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Warrior(T) LB

Medium Division 1

General 1 stand FMC Elite(T) L/LB/Sh [4 orders]
Mongol HC 2 stands HC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol HC 2 stands HC Veteran (T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Veteran (T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Warrior Jav/Sh
Auxiliary cav
Mongol SC 3 stands SC Veteran (T) Jav/Sh Auxiliary cav
Mongol SC 2 stands SC Veteran (T) LB

Light Division 1 [Light Divisions 2 through 5 were each organized in an equivalent or even identical manner.]

General 1 stand FMC Elite(T) L/LB/Sh [4 orders]
Mongol HC 2 stands HC Veteran(T) L/LB/Sh
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Veteran (T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Veteran (T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Veteran (T) LB
Mongol SC 4 stands SC Veteran (T) LB

TERRAIN

Paralleling the OB development was the generation of historical terrain. Using the limited descriptions available regarding the actual battle site I needed a little help and had to make some educated guesses to develop 'historical' terrain. The only items that seemed clear about the battleground from references are that the terrain was generally open with some rolling hills (the Mongols were able to hide some of their forces in folds in the ground), there were higher hills on the far flanks, and there was some kind of marshy reed area on what was the Polish right flank. Given that Henry was seeking King Wenceslas' army I deduced that he marched south out of the city and was presumably a few miles from the town as virtually none of the army was able to make its way back after the rout began.

With this information I referenced topographical maps and unclassified satellite imagery of the area to which I had access. There is still a road leading from Leignitz (the modern city is a bit northeast of the medieval town and castle) to Jawor and I postulated that this was the route upon which Henry set out that fateful April morning. In addition, there is a small dammed lake to the west of that road that I surmise was the marshy area referred to in the various accounts. This area has considerable hills starting a few miles to the west which rapidly join the Carpathian mountains through which Wenceslas was working his way back in 1241. To the east are some smaller hills that are consistent with the description. I decided to assume that the farmland and topography of today reflected that of the battle (except for the dam) and used the information on the maps and satellite photographs. A small hamlet lies today just east of the Liegnitz-Jawor road and I elected to place that on our battlefield as well using a burned out peasant hut and charred, partial palisade fence for visual effect. Just as the figure scale was slightly expanded so the terrain scale was proportionately scaled up (with 1" representing approximately 25 yds). The resulting terrain was created on a 16'x6' table upon which we played the game.

The dark hills counted as low hills for terrain (block line of sight, combat and morale advantage for being uphill, no movement penalty) while the lighter color hills merely blocked line of sight. The village next to the road was just for visual effect as previously stated. The marshy area at the left edge counted as difficult terrain. The stream on the right side of the map counted as only light delaying terrain (slowed up cavalry a bit but only heavy cavalry or close order infantry would be disordered moving across it).

DEPLOYMENT

The deployments flowed naturally enough from the OBs and information gleaned from the chronicles and other accounts. We placed the Poles (from left to right on the map above) as follows: Mstislav (Mieshko) of Opole and the Teutonic Knights; Henry; Boleslav; and Sulislav. The Poles were constrained to placing all of their cavalry ahead of all of their infantry as was historically the case. The Mongols were arrayed in divisions as follows: Light Light Heavy2 Medium CinC Light Heavy1 Light Light.

SPECIAL RULES

The only item left for consideration was the area of optional rules and special rules to capture those events that had a potential impact on the battle and are not already modeled in the basic rules. For Optional Rules, we felt it vital to use Fire and Flee (David is the one who first proposed it and we did a large share of the – sometimes painful – work on it as well). We also allowed the Poles to use the Priest rule allowing one reroll per turn (David provided a wonderful sacred relic stand for the Poles) and Uncontrolled Mounted Charge.

For special rules we discussed several but ultimately settled on only three: Smokescreen; Fake Defector; and Mangudai.

Smokescreen replicated the effect of the Mongols putting up a smokescreen between the Polish infantry and the cavalry (including the leaders) once the cavalry and the leaders were engaged and separated from the main body. The loss of command and control and the surprise to the infantry when the Mongols came charging out of the smoke were significant factors in the final breakup and rout of the largely unengaged Polish foot (and the inability of the foot to come to the aid of the cavalry). For this we allowed the Mongol CinC to use 1 command to start the smokescreen which would be a 12" long bank of smoke starting either from the edge of the march or any point within 3' of the Mongol CiC. (There is dispute whether the Mongols simply set fire to the reeds or used incendiaries from artillery as they were known to do.) The smoke would expand by 12" per turn to a maximum of 36". It blocked line of sight which impaired the Poles from issuing orders to units on the other side of the smoke and would force units being charged through the smoke by Mongols to check morale (surprised).

Fake Defector stems from a reliable account of the Mongols having a defector (probably a Russian or Pole) ride along the Polish lines shouting in panic, "Byegaycye! Byegaycye!" (Run! Run!). This defector was effective historically as several squadrons of cavalry are reported to have turned and withdrawn at his appearance. To emulate this event the Mongol CinC was allowed to use 1 command to release this figure anywhere within 24". The figure would move as SC and all units within 6" of its path would take a morale check. After this the figure was removed from the table.

Mangudai represented a more uniquely Mongol variation of fire and flee whereby units designated at the beginning of the game as Mangudai by the Mongols would charge into the Poles. The next turn the Mangudai could voluntarily rout, which would automatically bring the units with which they were engaged into pursuit (unless those Polish units were given Retreat orders). After completing the Rout move the Mangudai would be treated as merely Disordered rather than Routed and no Mongol unit would have to take a morale test for seeing Mangudai "rout".

THE BATTLE REPLAYED

After extensive preparation the day for the game had at last arrived! After discovering that the friend from whom we were going to borrow about 100 Mongol figures had to cancel out attending the convention due to a family problem I calmed the welling panic and sought a remedy. As it turned out, there were 40 painted Mongol heavy cavalry figures for sale in the dealer hall and I had brought (for some unknown reason) just enough cavalry bases, flocking, and glue to mount them before the game. Sometimes bringing the kitchen sink pays off….

With one minor disaster ameliorated we discovered that our table was only 16x5 rather than 16x6. That limited the Mongols maneuver space, but it turned out that if we had all of the planned Mongol light cavalry available it would have just gotten in the way on the narrower table and so everything came out fine in the end. Registration for the 16 player event was full and we actually ended up with several people just watching the action for all or part of the game.

Players chose up sides and sat or stood at their places as we went through the scenario, game mechanics and organization. Everybody had their own reference sheet (1 two-sided sheet with all of the necessary charts) along with dice, rulers, and all of the order chits there command could possibly utilize. I briefed the players on one end of the table while David briefed the other end and Lyle helped with last minute arrangements and kept things flowing throughout the game.

With the large number of players and the natural chaos that goes with it the battle rapidly resolved itself into three or more somewhat separate struggles. On the right (Mongol and map right that is) the Mongols and the Poles got into a murderous closely fought struggle as the Mongols would pour across the stream and hills to pour volleys of arrows into the Poles who were attempting to establish a firm defensive position. Enough of the Polish cavalry on that flank was engaged and its ranks thinned that they were never able to free up any considerable portion of their strength to aid the center.

On the left flank (where I was) the Mongols drove in hard to attempt to lure out the Polish and Teutonic cavalry in the hopes of cutting them off and destroying them. The Poles hoped to bring up enough infantry, particularly crossbowmen, to anchor their flank on the marsh and retain a cavalry striking force for counterattacks. The impetuous Mongol attack ultimately foiled this plan as the fire and flee tactics drew out enough of the Polish and Teutonic cavalry to fairly isolate the infantry.

In its impetuousity, the Mongol attacks left some units vulnerable to attack and the Pole/Teutonic cavalry managed to catch and destroy or cripple more than one Mongol unit. In the end, however, these successful attacks doomed those units as they were rapidly surrounded, stopped and destroyed by counter attacks. These Pole/Teutonic successes did have an impact on the rest of the battle as their threat forced a Mongol heavy command to move to that flank and seal off the potential breakthrough. Once the knights were killed or routed the Mongols were able to return to the attack and penetrate the infantry screen which had been trying to move up in support. By the end of the battle most of the infantry was breaking up and fleeing the field with their generals dead and control lost.

The effect of the Mongol heavy command moving towards the flank was that the CinCs left flank was forced to play a more passive, hit and run role than the strong assaulting support role hoped for. To help counteract this the Mongols decided to use the Fake Defector in this area. The results were significant as a number of units (I believe it was 3) were forced to retreat disordered. They were able to rally and return to the struggle, but had lost the initiative as well as some ground in that area and would not ever really regain it. When some good shooting took out the Templar general the command and control in that area (already weakening) virtually fell apart. The Fake Defector turned out to be the only special rule used in the battle.

In the center of the line a dramatic see-saw battle took place between Henry's Polish Knights and the armored heavy cavalry of the Mongols. Both sides struck heavy blows but the Mongol maneuverability and superior command and control ultimately tipped the balance in their favor. After the central cavalry were routed and largely destroyed the center of the Polish line began breaking up and the weary Mongols pressed on their heels to finish them off.

At this point, we called the battle and declared a Mongol victory (though a somewhat Pyrrhic one). The Polish leadership was devastated as at least 4 of their generals went down under a hail of arrows or lance points, but the losses inflicted on the Mongols were fairly heavy, particularly in the center. The remaining Polish forces (the Teutonics and Templars were annihilated) on the right could have withdrawn in reasonable order and a core of resistance may have been able to be reformed as the troops opposite and off their flank were probably too exhausted and disordered to effectively pursue. Not so in the center and left where only the very fast and lucky were likely to survive the day.

All in all, the battle lasted about 2 1/2 hours, plus around 45 minutes for the scenario and rules briefing. Everybody seemed to really get into the swing of things and enjoy the battle without taking it personally when things fell apart! Apart from the table being a little narrow for normal Mongol mobile tactics and the natural tendency of convention gamers to come to blows quickly, the battle played out quite historically. The Polish/Teutonic cavalry generally became separated from the infantry, their generals mostly in the midst of the fighting and unable to adequately coordinate the defense and counterattacks, and the battle lost with great slaughter. The Mongol losses were greater than necessary, but using the Mongols properly takes a little experience and patience which you don't really expect from players with no or limited experience. In fact without the Fake Defector and the untimely death of the Templar general to the left of Henry, the central battle might possibly have received sufficient support and flank protection to win out or at least allow a fighting (rather than dying) withdrawal.

We are likely to rerun this scenario at Fall In 2000 (with a 6' table and updated MW rules). We'll let you know how it goes….