Last Friday's wargame was a Dark Age clash between Belisarius's sallying Byzantine army and Vitiges' Ostrogothic army, set during the siege of Rome in 537 AD. Philip was umpiring using Swordpoint rules and his lovely 28mm Gripping Beast miniatures.
Alex and Rob were the Goths, and set up with their cavalry on their right flank, and two groups of infantry and archers on two hills in their centre; more bows (skirmishers) secured their left flank.
Doug and I were the Byzantines. I controlled the cavalry on our left, as well as four units of dismounted cavalry and a unit of skirmishers. Doug had six units of spearmen on the centre-right, with light infantry and Hunnic cavalry on our right flank.
The Byzantines began to advance, but I soon lost my light infantry (who routed) to Alex's archery.
Simultaneously, Doug began a move by the Huns on our right.
By turn four, Alex's Gothic cavalry and my Byzantine cavalry began a series of melees which lasted the whole of the game.
My dismounted cavalry were fighting as infantry, but had to pass through a wood, which slowed down my advance.
In the first cavalry melee, my standard horsemen were pushed back four inches owing to Alex having more momentum tokens; he then followed up.
In the second cavalry melee, my elite Bucellarii (armed with kontos) lost a base, as did one of Alex's units, but mine had to retire four inches due to Alex having more tokens
By now my light infantry had rallied, in the presence of the strategos (Belisarius)...
As Doug advanced on Rob's position, though, he began to lose a few bases to Rob's archers.
The next set of cavalry melees resulted in my Bucellarii (top, in blue cloaks) winning (only because the kontos had been rated higher than it should have been), forcing one of Alex's cavalry units back...
Meanwhile, Doug's Huns were plunging ahead, and tearing up the Goths' left flank
By now my infantry had cleared the wood, and both Doug and I continued our slow advance
Alex now forced one of my cavalry units back by four inches...
...Even as his bowmen killed two of my light infantry's bases (routing them again). I did however manage to take a base off Alex's bowmen by firing my dismounted cavalry's bows
As I approached Alex's battle line with my infantry, Doug moved in for the kill and Rob had to evade with his bowmen
The indecisive battle between the Bucellarii and the Goths' elite Comitatus cavalry continued on our left flank, but Alex seemed to be getting the better of the situation
Doug's battle line now contacted Rob's two units of Gothic warriors, as the Huns rounded the Gothic left and threatened their rear
Alex's bowmen were causing a few casualties to my battle line, but they had to retire, even as his two warrior units charged into me
His attempt at a cavalry flank charge on the left of my line was unsuccessful owing to a too small gap
As our cavalry melees continued, my Bucellarii claimed a base off the Comitatus, led by King Vitiges, but my standard cavalry was again forced backwards by four inches
Alex and I engaged in an indecisive scrum between two battle lines
While Doug's battle line was momentarily forced back by Rob's qualitatively superior but numerically inferior Gothic foot warriors
My Bucellarii were holding on against the Comitatus, but Alex then charged another cavalry unit into them
In order to resolve the infantry clash, I pivoted my infantry in the centre of my line, to flank Alex's warriors on either end
However, the decisive moment had arrived suddenly. My Bucellarii, wielding snooker cues (sorry, kontos) meleed the Comitatus, and I managed to roll a 12, killing their commander - King Vitiges himself!
Owing to the defunct Vitiges, amidst whoops of joy, heard by Doug in the community centre kitchen, the Goths had to take a morale test for every unit in their army...
Although only two units of warriors and one of bowmen ran off, all came from Alex's battle line, which crippled his army. The Byzantines had won!
This was an enjoyable game with some unusual and delightful figures, making for a stunning visual display. Swordpoint rules are Philip's favoured set for Ancients. While they can seem to be fairly indecisive (with multiple dice rolled but frequent draws in melees, for instance) and slow to get going, they do keep things on a knife edge, and are reasonably simple. Although Rob had some terrible dice rolls, he later had some good rolls and none of his units routed after I killed Vitiges. Although the Byzantines won, the Gothic warriors were of better quality but were simply outnumbered. Despite having next to no momentum tokens, the Byzantines still managed to win, mainly owing to the relative ineffectiveness of the archers on both sides and having an advantage of 10-4 in line of battle foot soldiers. Thanks to Philip for hosting.
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