The Battle of Scrobbesburh: The rules

In the recent wargame I fought with Richard Watson, I used a set of rules that were heavily based on Donald Featherstone's Ancient rules.

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FEATHERSTONE-STYLE VIKING & ANGLO-SAXON WARGAME RULES

1. SCALES AND UNITS

• Ground scale: 1" = 20 yards.
• Time scale: 1 turn = 5 to10 minutes.
• Units:
• Huscarls: 12 to 16 figures.
• Fyrd/Bondi: 16 to 20 figures.
• Archers: 8 to12 figures.
• Skirmishers: 6 to 8 figures.

2. TURN SEQUENCE

1. Movement.
2. Missile Fire.
3. Melee (Both sides take part).
4. Morale.
5. Repeat for other side.

3. MOVEMENT

• Armoured Infantry: 4”.
• Shieldwall Infantry: 3" (Cannot charge).
• Unarmoured Infantry: 6".
• Archers/Skirmishers: 8".
• Cavalry: 10".
• Routing units: 10”.
• Charge: +2” (Must roll 3 or more on a D6).

4. MISSILE FIRE

• 1D6 per 2 firing figures.
• Archery Short Range (6”): Score of 5 or 6 hits.
• Archery Long Range (12”): Score of 6 hits.
• Spear (3”): Score of 6 hits.
• -1 against shieldwall.
• 1 hit removes 1 figure.

5. MELEE

• 1D6 per 3 figures.
• Modifiers:
• +2 Huscarls.
• +1 Shieldwall (in defence).
• +1 Charge.
• +1 Uphill.
• +2 Flank/Rear.
• -1 Disordered.
• Score of 5 or 6 hits.
• Every 2 hits = 1 casualty.
• Loser tests morale.

6. SHIELDWALL RULES

• Movement: 3".
• +1 defence.
• Missile fire against it: -1.
• Breaks if flanked, loses melee, or takes 25% casualties.

7. MORALE

• Test when losing melee, taking losses, or seeing routs.
• Rolls 2D6 + modifiers:
• +2 Huscarls.
• +1 Leader within 6”.
• +1 In shieldwall.
• -1 Fyrd.
• -1 At half strength.
• Results:
• Score is 10+: No effect.
• Score is 7 to 9: Unit cannot move next turn.
• Score is 6 or less: Unit routs and leaves the battlefield at 10” per turn.
• Rallying: Leader must join the unit and rolls 2D6.
• Results:
• Score is 8 or more: Unit rallies but cannot move next turn.
• Score is 7 or less: Unit cannot be rallied and continues to rout.

8. LEADERS

• +1 morale within 6"
• +1 melee if attached.
• Risk if unit loses melee by 3 hits. Rolls a D6:
• Results:
• Score is 1: Slain.
• Score is 2: Wounded and loses all bonuses.
• Score is 3 or more: Unharmed.

9. TERRAIN

• Woods: most troops disordered.
• Rough: -2" movement; no shieldwall can enter.
• Hills: +1 to defenders.

10. OPTIONAL RULES

• Berserkers:
• Move 8".
• +2 melee on first round.
• Rout if they lose melee.
• Fyrd:
• Morale –1.
• Need leader to charge.

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It is worth noting that the battle was fought on a pair of Chessex Megamat 1" reversible blue-green squares vinyl mats. These measured 34½" x 48" and we set them up side-by-side, giving us a tabletop that was just under 6' x 4'. Using a grid meant that we didn't have to measure any distances during the game, which considerably speeded up play.

The Battle of Scrobbesburh: Some more photographs

My opponent in my recent wargame – Richard Watson – also took some photographs and has shared them with me.

The Anglo-Saxons.

The Vikings.

The Viking skirmishers seize the hill.

The Anglo-Saxons archers capture the hill from the Viking skirmishers.

The Anglo-Saxon shieldwall is attacked by the Vikings.

The Anglo-Saxon right wing falls back.

The Anglo-Saxon shieldwall turns to counter a Viking attempt to outflank it.

The end of the battle ... and the Anglo-Saxons are the victors!

Please note that all the photographs featured above are © Richard Watson.

The Battle of Scrobbesburh

Last Wesdnesday my usual game at Dice on the Hill was cancelled and I was therefore able to fight a 'proper' wargame with Richard Warson, who is usually the duty manager at Shrewsbury House on Wednesday evenings.

Richard has a large collection of 28mm Anglo-Saxon and Viking figures and so we chose to fight a wargame using them. He provided the figures and the terrain and I provided the rules ... which were heavily based on the Ancient rules in Donald Featherstone's book WAR GAMES.

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The Battle of Scrobbesburh

The local Anglo-Saxons thane had revived news that a large band of Vikings had landed nearby and so he gathered together the troops available to him and set off to intercepts the invaders. His force included his own household troops, two bands of local militia or Fyrd, a small group of archers, and an even smaller group of lightly armed skirmishers.

The Anglo-Saxons.

The Vikings - who were led by Ragnar Shortbeard - comprised three groups of Bondi and a small band of skirmishers. They had already laid waste a couple of small farms and were on their way towards their next target when they saw the Anglo-Saxon force coming towards them. Both side formed battle lines and prepared to fight!

The Vikings.

The battlefield at Scrobbesburh. The Vikings were on the left and the Anglo-Saxons were on the right.

The Vikings sent their skirmishers forward to seize the right-hand hill before the Anglo-Saxons reached it. Whilst they were doing this, the remainder of their force advanced in line towards the oncoming line of Anglo-Saxon troops.

The Viking skirmishers reached the right-hand hill just before the Anglo-Saxons did ... but they were somewhat isolated and the Anglo-Saxons were already closer to it than the main body of the Vikings were.

Anglo-Saxon skirmishers and archers moved towards the hill and threatened the Viking skirmishers.

The Viking skirmishers came under very effective attack by the Anglo-Saxon archers. At the same time, the Vikings began to advance en echelon towards the main body of Anglo-Saxon troops.

Further very effective Anglo-Saxon archery caused the morale of the Viking skirmishers to break and they fled. At the same time, the Anglo-Saxons formed a shieldwall and the main body of the Viking force continued to advance en echelon towards the Anglo-Saxon shieldwall.

Anglo-Saxon archers moved onto the hill whilst the Vikings prepared to assault the Anglo-Saxon shieldwall.

The left-hand group of Vikings smashed into the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd opposite them, and smashed their way through the shieldwall, causing the Fyrd's morale to collapse. The Anglo-Saxon right was now gone!

However, before the Vikings could exploit this advantage, the Anglo-Saxon shieldwall pivoted so that their right flank was no longer threatened. At the same time, the Anglo-Saxon skirmishers advanced onto the hill and threatened the Viking right wing.

The Vikings attacked the Anglo-Saxon shieldwall ... and it proved too strong! The left- and right-hand groups of Viking suffer significant casualties and when their morale failed, they fled. Whilst this was happening, the central Viking group continued to fight the Anglo-Saxon thane's household troops.

With most of his force already fleeing, Ragnar Shortbeard urged his remaining troops to break through the Anglo-Saxon shieldwall ... but it proved too strong a nut to crack, and as casualties mounted, their morale cracked and they joined the other fleeing Vikings. The Anglo-Saxons had won the Battle of Scrobbesburh!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable wargame and Richard and I hope to fight another in the very near future.

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Note: The choice of the name Scrobbesburh is a nod to the venue where this wargame took place, Shrewsbury House. The Anglo-Saxon name for Shrewsbury was Scrobbesburh.

More ChatGPT images

I have been playing around with ChatGPT’s ability to create images based on photographs.

The first was of a Russian World War II general …

… who I have named General Georgi Provgorat. (For some years I was the Masonic Province of Hertfordshire’s Provincial Grand Orator, which was abbreviated to ProvGOrat … which sounded Russian to me!)

The next three were German World War II soldiers. The first is a middle-ranking officer, …

… the second was a general, …

… and the third was an member of the Mountain troops.

Finally, there is a rendition of me as a Viking chieftain.

I was rather pleased with the end results and hope to use this function again soon.

Putting a face to the name

I have been playing around with ChatGPT again, this time to create images of Sultan Chor Darrai and the Byzantine general Demis Roussos. The results look liked this:

The Seljuk general, Sultan Chor Darrai.

The Byzantine general, Demis Roussos.

I was rather impressed with the end results, and will probably use this facility again to produce more images of myself (and others) in various roles. 

Other people's Portable Wargames ... sort of: The Battle of Xylonduo

I recently had the opportunity to take part in an online wargame that continued the action covered in Professor Gary Sheffield's recent Battle of Caesar's Hill.

I took on the role of Sultan Chor Durrai of the Seljuk Turks, who, following the defeat of the Seljuk army at the Battle of Caesar's Hill, has rallied the defeated troops and lead them forward in a last attempt to expel the Byzantine invaders from Seljuk territory.

The troops available to Sultan Chor Durrai were as follows:

• 1x General (Sultan Chor Durrai/me) = 6 SPs
• 1 x Heavy Cavalry unit = 3 SPs
• 4 x Bow-armed Light Horse units @ 2 SPs each = 8 SPs
• 1 x Bow-armed Light Infantry unit = 2 SPs
• Total = 19 SPs (Exhaustion Point = 7 SPs

The Byzantine forces included:

• 1 x General (Demis Roussos/Gary) = 6 SPs
• 3 x Heavy Cavalry units @ 2 SPs each= 6 SPs
• 1 x Bow-armed Light Cavalry unit = 2 SPs
• 1 s Bow-armed Protected Infantry unit = 2 SPs
• 1 x Spear-armed Infantry unit = 2 SPs
• Total = 19 SPs (Exhaustion Point = 7 SPs)

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The strategic situation:

After the Battle of Caesar's Hill, the Byzantine army advanced towards the city of Edessa. When the local Seljuk governor received new that Sultan Chor Durrai had rallied the army and was advancing from the north, he refused to surrender. As a result, the Byzantine general, Demis Roussos, settled down to besiege the city of Edessa, but his army was soon affected and weakened by an outbreak of dysentery. The city was therefore able to hold out in the hope of relief, even though food supplies were running out. News eventually reached Sultan Chor Durrai that unless the siege was raised soon, Edessa would be forced to surrender.

The Seljuk objective was to decisively defeat the Byzantine army, thus allowing Edessa to be relieved. If the Byzantines were able to win or even draw the battle, Edessa would be forced to surrender and the Seljuks would have to seek a peaceful end to the fighting. The fate of the entire levant was in the balance ...

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The battlefield:

The battlefield was a 7 x 10 square grid with two wooded areas.

The Seljuks entered from the top edge of the battlefield and the Byzantines entered from the opposite edge.

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My battle plan:

My plan was simple. I placed two of my Bow-armed Light Horse units on my left flank, the other two on my right flank, placed my Bow-armed Light Infantry unit in the wooded area, and co-located myself with my Heavy Cavalry unit in support of the Light Horse on the left flank.

I hoped to entice the Byzantine Heavy Cavalry facing the two Light Horse units on my right flank into a battle, and then using the Light Infantry in the wood as a pivot, outflank and roll up the Byzantine units facing my left flank.

Initially the plan worked ... but the Byzantine Heavy Cavalry proved to be a tough nut to crack, and they soon destroyed my Light Horse unit. On the other flank, my Light Horse units made some progress against the Byzantine forces opposing them, but the Byzantines fought harder than I had expected and before my troops could prevail, my army reached its Exhaustion Point and I had to fall back.

The Byzantines had won and it looked as if I would have to negotiate a peace settlement ... but I still had some troops left should the Byzantines choose to continue the fight.

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The following are some of the photographs Gary took of the battle.

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

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.

Ancients at Shrewsbury House

On Wednesday I carefully rested for most of the day in order to conserve my energy so that I could set up and take part in a battle using the Portable Ancient Wargame rules from DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME. My strategy worked, and I had a very enjoyable evening introducing my opponent (Richard) and an interested bystander (Ian) to the joys of THE PORTABLE WARGAME system.

I provided the terrain and Richard provided the figures ... and it turned out that although he had been assembling his collection for some years, he had not had the opportunity to fight a wargame with them. The terrain looked like this:

I chose to field a Spartan army ...

The right of the Spartan army. It comprised a unit of slingers and two units of Helot spearmen.

The center of the Spartan army. It comprised eight units of Hoplites.

The left of the Spartan army. It comprised a unit of slingers and two units of Helot spearmen.

... and my opponent chose the Athenians. (He even provided a suitably ruined temple for Athena to occupy and oversee her city-state's army.)

The Athenian army.

Two units of Athenian Hoplites.

Two more units of Athenian Hoplites.

The Athenians took the offensive ...

... and after both sides used their light troops to try to disrupt their opponent's Hoplites ...

... the battle soon became a trial of strength between the rival bodies of Hoplites.

It was a hard fought battle ... but the Athenians eventually prevailed and the Spartans withdrew after losing their slingers and Helot spearmen in order to preserve their elite Hoplites.

The battle took just under an hour to fight, and once it was over we reset the forces and re-fought the battle twice more, firstly using the 'two hits = unit destroyed' rule and 'two hits plus hit effect' rule. The Athenians won both battles, and they even managed to kill the Spartan commander during the last battle.

By the end of the evening Richard and Ian were both enthusiastic converts to the whole PORTABLE WARGAME concept ... and I hope to be able to give them a chance to try the PORTABLE NAPOLEONIC WARGAME rules soon.