Into Byzantium. 28mm Sword & Spear rules

It is 1279 and the The great Byzantine dynasty has been on a steady decline since the fall of Jerusalem, nearly 100 years before to Salah ad-Din or as Western Europe new him, Saladin. The Seljuk Turks had been raiding Outremer for hundred of years and have now unified to take on the great Christian dynasty, still a major player in the area.

At this period, Byzantium relied on a lot of Mercenary allies, which at best would fight and at worst would not turn up when required to muster and defend the empire.

We play our bigger game on longer tables, this one was 8 1/2 foot x 5 foot. The Seljuk Turks are various manufacturers, as are Alan's army.

The Turkish spawling army head for Constantinople after over coming the outlying Christian garrisons and patrols. The Turkish army is 596 points in Sword and Spear rules.


Hearing of this substantial force heading his way the Emperor musters his army to meet the foe on a plain just North of Aleppo. With 594 points and many mercenary units in his force.


With the Emperor's many scouts and he was fighting on a battlefield of his choosing, he watched as the Seljuks deployed for battle and the deployed to counter.
Seljuks Deploy


Byzantines deploy


Turn 1-The Seljuks made the opening move and deployed out to the flanks. The Byzantines send out their light horse to counter and deadly shooting (Turks bad dice) from their Light Horse, scatters one unit of LH on the Seljuks left. First blood to the Christian army.




Casualties Turn 1


Turn 2-The Seljuks move up in the center and take out a unit of archers with some accurate shooting and a gap appears the the Christian Center. Along the line the Seljuks are getting ready to coordinate their next move


As the Christian knights move up their formations, a unit of Seljuk armoured cavalry could not contain their enthusiasm and charged into was was the best unit on the table, and with great combat dice caused 2 casualties ( 1 more and that unit would break). The Byzantine Captain also survived the Commander casualty test.


Christian Casualties Turn 2


Turn 3 - Saw the Seljuks pushed their left and initiate melee the the knights again. The Christian orange dice rolls can be seen just behind where, a moment ago a units of mounted knights stood!


The Seljuks pursued into the unit to the left in the pic and caused a casualty. The day was looking bright for Allah!
On the Turkish right it was ebb and flow with light casualties on both sides


End of turn Situation:


The Seljuks were pressing the Christian right


Christian Casualties were building, End of turn 3 (11 points)


Turn 4- The Turks had a really good round and shot away two more units, leaving a big split in the Christian line. Unable to plug it as the Emperor had committed his reserve units to bolster his far right flank.


The Turks start to push back the light horse on their right.


Both armies centers were still holding firm


Christian Casualties end of turn 4 (17 points)


Turkish Casualties end of turn 4 (10 points)


Turn 5 - The Turks had a very good round and before all the dice were drawn the Emperor capitulated and through himself to the mercy of the Turkish commander


The Turks were combating all along their line


A great game that was closer than it looked. Many thanks to Alan for the game

Notes from Alan, post game
Great pix Phil, and a very tight game with the big clashes mainly going the Turkish way. We have found that these cavalry army games can be very brutal, the armies move fast and cavalry v cavalry is bloody with the follow-ups. But win or lose, putting out big 28mm armies from this very colourful era is always a pleasure. Good news is you can play these big games and get a decision in an evening

In the game, from the Byzantine pov the crack Latinikon (Franks) really did not turn up for the game, and collapsed in short order (I think they are commanded by Arsene Wenger) and too few of the other crack Byzantine units put the big hits in when needed (my Turkopoloi ran after taking a few shots - I reckon Phil's Turks bribed them). As to nationalities tonight I fielded Turks, Bulgars, Varangians (Vikings & English), Franks, Pechenegs, Cumans, Arabs and Armenians plus a few Byzantines ;)

The Turks are a tough foe as although unit for unit the Byzantines are (potentially) better, the huge Turkish shooting capability means you often are carrying a wound into action (no longer fresh) and so their cheaper cavalry can survive the hits and put in a succession of shocks themselves. The Byzantine heavy foot is also formidable, but slow, and by the time it got into action it really was too late to matter.

Interestingly by this period the Byzantines themselves were mainly using Peltastoi as foot in the field - good quality medium massed archers - and those I used acquitted themselves quite well in the game, I think a big bag of them is a must at Salute! The poor quality militia archers I experimented with were just fodder to the Turk shooting.

15mm Romans Vs Sassanid Persian- Sword & Spear rules

A couple of years back,we broke out another couple of ancient armies for a bit of Sword & Spear. My Achaemid Persian stepped in as Sassanids.
We also went bigger form our usual 400 points. Persian 560 points and Roman 548 Points.

The set up. Did not use terrain this time (just get stuck in and for Harry to learn the rules), which suited the Persians, hmmmm open gound.

We both used camps which are handy to have for command and an extra dice in the bag and allocation of "bonus dice" Romans had 18 dice (Red) and Persians 20 dice (Blue).

Romans on the right of Picture


Persians:




Romans:




Turn 1: bits of maneuvering from both sides, Romans fire their Ballistas at long range against my Uber light Horse Romans firing continually every turn and did not cause one casualty against this unit all night.




Enveloping the Roman Cavalry on Persian left flank


Turn 2: Persians lose some light foot and a unit of Cataphracts on the left, to very bad combat dice! And I charged so had impact rule!


The Persian right had successful combat and took out four Roman units
End of turn 2:


Roman Casualties


Persian Casualties


Turn 3:


Persian were starting to roll bad combats, even lost one unit of Elephants to archers IN COMBAT!


Roman Casualties were building too!


Turn 4:Disaster after disaster for the Persians in combat


No Roman casualties this turn, only more Elephants!


Turn 5 saw more combats along the line and both sides reaching the first morale stage (1/3 losses), The Roman Infantry were plodding across the battlefield to the Persian infantry but we ran out of time for a sixth turn, so called it a draw with a pyrrhic victory to the Romans

Roman Casualties (20 points lost)


Persian Casualties (26 Points Lost)

Take the Station & Hold. 20mm WWII - Rapid Fire rules

Played a small Club night game using Rapid Fire, where we both had to come on and take the station. Dave had an Armoured German Battalion 3x PIVs 3x Panzer Jaegers and I had an Armoured American Battalion, 3x 76 Shermans, 2x Jacksons (newly painted and yet to be blooded), 2x M10 Wolverines. We diced for which end we came in from, Germans won and would take the closest end to the station and also went first.

The table. Taken from the German entry end


My forces, Wolverines were still in the box




Turn 1 - German move fired and missed with two PIVs


Turn 1 -American


Turn 2 - Germans start to occupy station area


Turn 2 - American move up and go on the offensive.


M36 takes out another HT and 5 of it's crew


Turn 3 - German's move in to the pinch point around the station and one Grenadier company occupy the building unseen. Firing with all three PIV and two of the PJg & again missed with all.


Turn 3 - American move up in the middle and flank out to the right with a 76, HT Company and 2 M10s


Dead eyed yank strikes again
M36 causes a heavy damage to a PIV in the middle


The M10 Heavy damage another PIV in the wood


Turn 4 - German PIVs fail morale and retire to cover, Pzr Jgr destroys the US AT section & it's crew and missed with the other one in the middle of the formation


Turn 4 - American, a 76 finishes off the already damaged PIV in the center


M36 Heavy damages a SP 75mm arriving up the road,


Turn 5 - German take another Morale check for the PIV Co. OK this time. The Pzr Jgr move into the road and fires at an unsuspecting Sherman, only to see the paint get scratched with a light damage. The PIV on the hill fired at a HT in the wood and missed.


Turn 5 American 76 Fires and destroys a Pzr Jgr in the ctr


And the 76 that took damage returns fire and yes you guessed it destroys the Pzr Jgr


The M10 on the right flank then concentrate their fire on their previous target and cause another Heavy Damage which combined with the previous HD, destroys it


Dead eyed dick in one of the M36 which hit with every shot took out the SP 75mm and it's crew.


The Yanks on the right flank also caused some serious damage destroying 2 MMG platoons and the 76 on the right flank (top of the Pic), destroyed a HT with a short barreled 75mm




Turn 6 - Saw the Pzr Jaeger Company fail morale and rout off. The German player conceded the game.

The American dice rolling was as unbelievably good as the German's rolling was dire.

The Germans lost 2 PIV 1 Pzr Jaeger a SP75mm, a HT 75mm and 18 infantry (20 for a morale test)

The American lost a Towed 57mm AT Gun and 6 men


It was an embarrassing win for me