Other people’s Portable Wargames: The Battle of Caesar’s Hill

Professor Gary Sheffield recently completed the first battle of a solo campaign that pitted the army of Byzantium against the Seljuk Turks. The following text and photographs were featured in three posts he wrote on the Portable Wargame Facebook page.

Background to the campaign

It is May 1000, and following their victory, the Byzantines under Demis Roussos have pursued the Seljuk Turks to near the gates of the city of Edessa. Although the new sultan, Shish Kebab, sued for peace (i.e. the strategic die role reduced the level of hostility towards Byzantium) the Byzantine terms were too stiff and therefore the Turks decided to fight on.

Eager to exploit what they were believed was disarray in the Turks' ranks, the Byzantine sent an advanced guard westward towards Caesar's Hill, a strategically important piece of high land on the otherwise pretty featureless Edessa plain (the hill was named after a Roman commander who had passed that way some 800 years before). The Turks had likewise dispatched a rear-guard eastward towards Caesar's Hill, and the result was a classic encounter battle with units coming on in dribs and drabs, with the battle swinging first one way and then the other.

Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 6

Turn 7

Turn 8

Turn 9

Turn 14

Turn 16

This was a resounding Byzantine victory – albeit one that was only sealed on the very last move.

Thoughts on the battle

This was a very entertaining game. The nature of the scenario, with the piecemeal arrival of reinforcements, decided by roles of the dice, both for their timing and their place of arrival, meant that this was a very 'bitty' and unpredictable battle. For most of the battle the Seljuk Turks seem to have the upper hand, only for the Byzantine Heavy Cavalry, led by General Demis Roussos, to arrive in the nick of time. Somehow I miscounted and played 16 turns rather than 15. Clearly it was a very bright moon that night which enabled the battle to continue into the hours of darkness.

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Please note that the photographs featured above are © Professor Gary Sheffield.