All Roads Lead to Damascus - The Protagonists: 1 The Marian Romans

Rome in this period is still a Republic, but she teeters on the verge of becoming a Principality. Power is slowly be wrested away from the Senate and the people and is falling more under the spell of one great family, The Familia Prope Fraxinum.

At the start of the campaign the family led by Pulcher, has its claws deep within the Senate and the military. Popular with the mob and with equestrian (noble) families alike, the position looks favourable for the Prope Fraxinum. As Rome, is pushed further into military commitments in the East, so the family will tighten its grip on the Republic through clever manipulation of the legions and nepotist promotions within the military and the senate. When the time is right, they will declare the head of the family as Principal of Rome, Emperor of the Roman Empire.

The Roman army at this time is based round the legions which were mostly heavy infantry organised into cohorts (see the following link for a detailed account: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_reforms). The legionaries fought in close order with shield, pilum, and gladius. The Romans themselves had very little cavalry and few light troops. The majority of these were supplied by auxilliary troops supplied by annexed nations and mostly fighting in their native style.

In DBMM game terms, the Marian Roman army is fairly flexible. It has a Regular command structure and a strong core of Regular Blades (legionaries). The blades are good in open terrain and hold their own in rough or even difficult terrain. The optional troops add to this flexibility. The option to field Cavalry, Light Horse, Auxilliaries, Psiloi, Artillery, and even an African Elephant gives the Romans an almost 'swiss-army-knife' feel to them. They pretty much have something for every occasion. This makes them a fairly easy army to use and a difficult one to play against.  The downside is that sometimes there are too many bits and pieces and not enough of any given troop type other than blades.

The Roman player, Nash, is from the UK (born in Wales and brought up in Staffordshire). He has lived in S.E.Asia for 15 years or more. His gaming background included a period of competitive DBM play, and attending tournaments was a regular pastime - his claim to fame being 3rd place in The World's at Derby one year! Unfortunately, this DBM heritage sometimes gets in the way of DBMM play (rules and combat factor changes ) as occurred in the first campaign game much to his chagrin. He rather fancies his chances in the campaign for two reasons:
1. he is using the Romans
2. losing last year's campaign taught him some valuable lessons

Should anyone be interested in playing DBMM or other games in Bangkok, or would like to comment he can be contacted here or at monkey.nash@gmail.com

All Roads Lead to Damascus (or A brief Introduction To Our Latest Campaign)

Circa 100BC, 4 great nations have risen to dominate the ancient world: Rome, in the West, Parthia in the East, Ptolemaic Egypt in the South, and the Arabian City States in the South East. These four super powers are now expanding their frontiers to clash upon borders of the others. There can be no alliances, there can be no forgiveness, and there can be no negotiation. There can be only WAR!

Rome is quickly spreading her sphere of influence further East through Asia Minor and into the rich trade routes of the desert frontier. 

The Parthians are pushing west to reach the shores of the Mediterranean and its valuable resources. 

The Ptolomies have their sights set on their ancestral homeland, Greece. 

And the Arabian City States are pushing north west to control the trade between East and West and the vast riches there-entailed.   

There is one place that holds the key to each of their ambitions, and it is there that the fate of civilisation will be decided once and for all. It is there that we will make history or die in the trying and that place is DAMASCUS!

All Roads Lead To Damascus - Battle Report 1

Barbarians Get Awkward in the Orchard

or

Village People Go East

Report by our scribe in the field Dubius Factus.

This week saw a valiant defence of our Republic and the loss of a true Roman hero. Roman soil was soiled by filth of a barbarian horde. The Gods were with us and the horde was sent packing!

The day began well for our illustrious general, Legatus Pulcher Prope Fraxinum, who although late in years was still considered a strategic genius. The invading barbarians with their dodgy facial hair, leather fetishes, and love of anything a little fruity' were easily lead to an area heavy with orchards and steep hills, thus funnelling their advances exactly where our hero wanted them.  Upon entrapping the enemy in this constricting terrain, further advantage was gained by enticing the horde with promises of dancing and sweet drinks at the fable temple of the Blue Oyster. The Parthians in such a hurry to quench their queer desires, deployed first and Pulcher was able to take advantage. The barbarians scouted the area well uncovering our ambushes, but this was planned and accounted for.

The moustachioed villains deployed four commands with their cataphracts and horse archers on the flanks and a mass of light infantry and Psidian allies crammed into the orchard (no doubt trying to locate the fruits of Temple of the Blue Oyster!). The marvellous Romans deployed all 4 commands to their right flank with cavalry and legions ready to advance upon the unwashed heathens.  Two ambushes were prepared, one on the hill to the left flank and another in the orchard to the right flank.

The Parthians had the initiative but in an act of cowardly ignobleness, immediately turned tail (as if already in the Blue Oyster!) and tried to flee the field. Pulcher in turn was hesitant (rolling three 1s for regular commands), expecting some barbarian trickery. His ally general Rolus Asixus however, saw the Parthians retreat for what it was and was quick to charge across the field. Cavalry, Legions and Peltasts all advancing to close the gap and trap the savages.

And thus the battle was engaged. The valiant Romans pushed the attack on their right flank whilst the Parthians sought without success to escape.  On the left flank, the psiloi on the difficult hill proved enough of a distraction and hindrance to effectively negate Parthian efforts. In the centre, the Roman auxiliary were outnumbered but held on.

Having trapped the Parthians from escaping on the right flank, the Thracian light horse (o) pinned the cataphracts in place and launched an attack on the few horse archers (f) guarding their flank. The Thracians did their job and punched a hole in the Parthian line. Trapped and outflanked their days were numbered. It was then that barbarian heavy knights decided to actually fight. The CiC supported one of his brethren against sole Roman cavalry alae.  The barbarians, encumbered by their facial hair, leather and studs, were destroyed with great violence. That was enough to break their spirit!

Pulcher himself at this time stepped to the fray as he felt his years upon him. His closest aids tell us that he saw the battle was won on the right flank and his job was done, thus he wished to end his days in glory upon the field of battle. He is quoted as saying, ‘I am long in years, old beyond reckoning. The fields of Elysium await me. Let me die here in glory!’ as he charged the enemy foot.  The battle raged and he was driven back by a stubborn foe. It was while falling back that old age finally caught up with the old warrior. He slid from his horse, happy in the knowledge that his day was glorious.* / **

With the CiC fallen, his very small command broke. However, there was little effect on the army and on the right flank the Parthian CiC was fleeing with the remnants of his broken command. He was ridden down in eternal shame with his back to the enemy and his (or someone else’s) tail between his legs.  The Roman army was in a fine position to move into the rear of the enemy. The baggage was undefended and the Psidians exposed.  Alas that time favoured the barbarians this time and the battle was forced to end.

The result: a glorious victory for the Republic ***. An honourable death for a long lived and loyal son of Rome. A dark day for the invaders. And the start of a new era for the newly appointed Legatus Rolus Asixus!

*Actually, the cic was 6-1ed by the auxiliary. Now, this should not have killed him but for the fact that I for some reason reverted to DBM (not dbmm) factors! Anyway, the mistake was made and not noticed until sometime later

** It could also be that old age caught up with him as he awaited the Parthians to finish their moves!

*** It should have been a bigger victory. In the end the result was close 14 - 11 I believe.  Anthony is a newish player to DBMM and his plan was too ambitious for his irregular army. In other ways he played well though.

We were fortunate enough to interview Legatus Pulcher Prope Fraxinum prior to the engagement and discuss his plans.

Dubius Factus: Legatus, What is your opinion of the Parthian army?

Legatus Pulcher:  The Parthians have 2 strengths. The first is in their highly mobile and flexible Light Horse. The second is their Heavy Cataphracts. They may also outnumber us.

DF: Does this worry you?
LP: Worry, no. But I do have to consider their strengths and weaknesses. If the light horse envelope us then we could have problems. If the Cataphracts attack our cavalry we will be in trouble. Therefore, I must do two things: stop the LH from going around our flank, and keep their cataphracts away from our cavalry.

DF: How do you plan to do this?
LP: By choosing my ground very carefully and by attacking with a combination of troops, this forcing the enemy into my killing ground against the troops that I want them to fight.  The battlefield needs to be dense with difficult terrain to channel the enemy. If it is an open battlefield we will not be able to stop him. Our troops are better trained than the barbarians and we will be able to manoeuvre more effectively through gaps in the terrain. We will be able to reduce the battle to a small area thus negating his speed and flexibility.

DF: Are the cataphracts a great danger?
LP: Yes. They are deadly against our cavalry and against the legions. However, given the choice, I will attack them with the legions as we should win on attrition. The ideal situation though is to create a situation in which the cataphracts are unable to join battle. Our easiest targets are the horse archers. Although fast, if they can be pinned down they will be destroyed. Again, the terrain is key. We will draw them into our defensive positions in the hills and orchards.

DF: You have a choice of allies, which will you take?
LP: My first choice was to take Sarmatians as their heavy knights (kn f) will be an equal threat to the enemy knights. However, after some deliberation it was decided that this would be too much in the hands of Fortuna. My next choice was Skythians with their unnumbered horse archers, but again that was a risky choice. In the end, I chose to enlist my own nephew Rolus Asixus. With him commanding half the legions and cavalry it would allow me greater numbers and more flexibility with my commands. Regular troops are also more reliable.


DF: What is your opinion of the Parthian general?
LP: I have a great deal of respect for him - I would be foolish not to. But, he will over complicate his plan. I am not sure how, but he will. I will expect him to try to draw us into open ground, but we will force him into the hills. I also expect him to outscout us, but we will set up ambushes anyway. If he brings foot, we will outclass them. If he brings mounted, we will close the battlefield around them. Either way, we will be victorious.

DF: Legatus Pulcher Prope Faxinum, thank you and may Mars smile upon you for the glory of Rome.

LP: Thank you. Ave.

Teutonic Orders

“I hate painting little black crosses, already”*

After being a late-comer in the Levant/Outremer, falling out with the Templars for more secular reasons than religious and then spending some years expanding Hungrarian territory on behalf of it’s king before being kicked out for behaviour unbecoming, the Teutonic Military Religious Order finally focused their rationale for existence in the wild European North East where they intended to assist (or surplant) the under-performing Livonian Brotherhood in the Northern Crusades. 

This is not a battle report (see "Teutonics Try Troubling the Tzar" for the Teutonics** initial battle outing, fought in a blizzard!!) but a ramble on my development of the army and some pretty pictures of my 6mm Teutonic Orders in all their glory.  There is also comments on Painting & Basing' and  a brief pottable history on the military time of the Order.  A longish review on some searches will be in  'Banners and Standards' to come at a later date.

There are now further battle reports of games to date making four in total:- 
"Teutonics Try Troubling the Tzar"  a four player game against a histrical Early Russian opponent.
"Worrying Woemans"  against Marian Romans with just two players.

"Persian Pansies Prance & Pirouette" back to four players against the Sassanids.

"Bashing Bactrians - Ineffectively" against a Graeco-Bactrian enemy in a four player game again.

Some Background

Back in the home country is a 25min soft plastic Teutonic army of DBM vintage that was a cheap experiment in the early days before investing the mortgage requiring amount of money in a 25mm lead figured army.  Under my generalship, still of limited experience, it had a dismal record despite its “on paper” strengths. 

Vain von WotzTreβler, Marschal and Hochmeister of the Order
(Treasurer, Military Commander and Grand Master)

The mortgage was spent on 1420s Medieval Germans, pipping the Teutonics because of supported spear and to avoid the “everyone tries Teutonic Orders supertroops” label.  Later, in a moment of unexpected wealth, enough lead was purchased to morph the Germans into both Hungarians and Teutonics.  That unpainted lead still sits somewhere at my parent’s home and 500AP of 25/8mm Germans was far too heavy to ever fly this far around the world (as hand luggage of course) so reside with my brother.

So, now that we play in 6mm, armies are both cheaper and quicker to purchase and prepare.  Then Baccus announced their Crusader Range and the BKK boys were hooked for our next group of armies.  It dawned on me that I could finally do a Teutonic army with these figures and it would vaguely fit within our theme, anyway it would 75% morph back into a later Crusader set of figures.  So the figure were ordered***.

Planning the Order of Battle (OoB)

There is no point in having a rarity like double based regular superior knights in wedge (rKnSw) and

Some superior knights in wedge formation, including the
Livonian Sword Brotherhood Commander as a sub-general

not using them, it would be like ignoring the iElX Panzephants, the only elephant bourne artillery in existence, when playing Khmer or Cham.  So there would be some of these rKnSw in the army formation.

While being very tough head-on, historically the Teutonic Order was very small and suffered a few loses in major battles because it was beaten by pure numbers and the resultant fatigue.  The same danger awaits the DBMM replica, where, barring coming up against elephants, with its knights to the fore it should cut through almost any enemy it hits.  At the same time, due to the limited number of elements (troops) allowed, there will be some nasty things happening on the flanks and the enemy will be causing casualties from the ends of the battle line.

The usual way to deal with such knight heavy armies (if you don’t have any anochratic elephants) is to not fight them frontally, or as little as possible, and try to get around a flank or two and engage with hard flank attacks or in the rear.  As just about all opponents will be bigger in size finding some unopposed troops to undertake the out-flanking is usually possible.  Or use flank marches to get behind the Teutonics.

So my list needed to counter the more obvious enemy tactics.  This would require bulk and manouerability.  Given that the army is mostly regular troops it’s quite adaptable.  But for bulk we needed as many cheap elements as possible with maximum ME counts.  This all meant full quotas of hordes (iHdO) and light horse plus as many bowmen as possible, the 4AP iBwO before regulars.

In the end I maximised all the hordes, light horse and bowmen, both regular and irregular, but didn’t have any command structure ideas yet, just 400AP of elements listed.  What did strike me was that there was other tactics besides running enemy down with the knights hidden in the list.

That's all there is!!  It's small even with all the low grade militia options to bulk it up. 

However my first plan was to be a method of delivering the destructive knight’s charge.  The charge would have a small frontage but was regular mobile so could be aimed much better than most other irregular and impetuous lessor knights.  This would mean starting back from the centre giving room and time to line-up with the enemy’s weakness, without being so far back/delayed as to give them time to respond, AND protecting the knights flanks from hard flank attacks and from enemy getting behind them.  For this I envisaged “tails” with a degree of echoloning outward to make the distance to travel around them and back at the knights as long and slow as possible.

The baggage.
Mostly mobile (iBgI) but tents for the boss and friends (iBgO).

But these “tails” would get in the way of manouver.  More thought was required and in the end I decided to use non-horde foot on one side (so it’s grouped in one command) and the light horse on the other.  This way some small lag at keeping up would not be too dangerous.  Command structure was about spreading the PiPs across commands with different functions – attack or hold and about having a small PiP soak command that was still functional and a large command that forced the enemy to fight it if they wanted to be victorious.

In the meantime I needed a terrain plan to counter enemy manouver advantages.  With an aggression factor of four(4) we were generally going to invade so had minimal terrain choices.  Initially I wanted to use a isolated tower on a hill until I realised it’s a defender only option and we have no hills of any type in Prussia.  Double Fail!!

Brother Spearmen (l) and Crossbowmen (r).
Mercenary Crossbowmen (rear l) beside Brother Knights.

I wanted an early deploying piece of terrain so it’s almost certain to get placed where I want it.  In the end after experimenting with terrain sizes vs table sizes I settled on a 2FE marsh(M) as it’s right behind water features in order and in a clear majority of enemy terrain lists.  By choosing my own table edge as “6” and touching it on the short edge if they were designated (rolled up) I found I could cover one flank in all cases except if the edge rolled up the enemy’s long edge.  If that happened they will get it placed cutting their deployment area in half thereby forcing them to choose a side (with a small frontage which suits me) or splitting their army where I can focus all of mine against half of theirs.

The mounted crossbow Knechte.
A 6mm conversion mixing foot crossbows & turkopolen.  It was too
fiddly and only the front rank of each element got converted figures.

The original piece I cut out was huge, legal but huge so another narrower one has been made and is far easier to carry and deploy as well as feeling less gamey.

There are some light troops in the OoB (Livonian Ax & Ps) who can slow up anyone trying to cross the marsh or at a pinch some hordes could be detailed to that task.  In effect I feel I have one flank nullified if not really secure. 

The other option is a Sea (S) but this requires the Teutonics invading an enemy with a seaboard so it’s less likely to occur.  If it does then a sloping sea is placed with the wider portion on the enemies side of the table again to minimise the frontage that the enemy can utilise.

CnC's command.  Including his element only two nights but the
Turkopolen and regular foot are about protecting the other
commands that will drive the impact  attack.

The 1st Sub General's command.
Knights in both forms for flexibility, Turkoplen for flank protection
and Hordes to occupy space and provide bulk.

The smallest  Sub-general's command, just wedged Knights (rKnSw)
and the two Knechte (rCvI) for 12ME with baggage.
Keep the Knechte save and it functions unless all Kn are lost.

Painting and Basing

The usual 6mm painting methods involve bold colours in large amounts, no hightlighting or ink washing and getting massed visual effect rather than individual figure beauty.  By using brighter than natural/real colour and in bulk it gives a really good appearance at normal table viewing rather than individual figure beauty.  This was recommended on the Baccus website when we first started with 6mm figure (see here for this and alternative methods).

I've been very pleased with the results I've had over the past couple of years using these approach although I usually add a final weak brown ink wash to add minimal shading.

However with the almost totally white figures in this army the first couple of figures done this way were a disappointment.  I set out to experiment on getting a better effect and came up with a mostly wash based system.

With all figures firstly de-flash if required a sharp triangular scalpel and fine metal files then in soft soapy water scrubbing with an old toothbrush.  Rinse thoughly in fresh water and dry.

For the Teutonics the next steps are to spray white, then apply a brown ink over riders legs and boots, paint the minimal exposed armour (and few swords) black then drybrush silver and then a very weak black wash over all.  Non brothers figures (mostly foot) were weak washed with assorted colours especially red for local inhabitants, blue, yellow and some also black as well.

The white was redone using highlighting technequies including recovering any silver overbrushed areas.  Belts and horse furniture was then done in subdued colours, the horse eye area darkened black and lances and spears painted timber brown.

Then came the damned multitude of black crosses!!  There are a couple of variations but its small, fiddly and eye-damaging.  Hence by complaint to the BKK group within the first two elements.  Nash, in a stroke of brillance, suggested I just use a permanent fineline marker.  As I was at home in rural Thailand at the time it was a real challenge to find such pens immeadiately but the end result was worth the switch away from brush and paint.

To differenciate some figures and commands there is a sprinkling of Livonian Sword Brothers modelled and these use red crosses, also achieved by fineline markers.

Base on 1.5mm polysheet self snap-cut to the required size, decorate the base and seal.

Arrange games and get continually beaten!!

For basing I glue the painted figures on the poly sheet pieces, usually individually cut from their strips with super glue but this time many strips of figures conviently fitted, leave to dry half a day then paint all in mid green (yellow ochre for dry areas).  Leave to dry at least one day.  I sieve all my own sand from local options and have several grades stored.  I choose a grade for effect and cover 20-90% of the base depending on local terrain and then add flock on the remaining base plus often over the sand to a greater or lesser degree.  Flock colour is chosen to vaguely match home territory climate effects and I have been known to mix flocks of differing colours and lengths.  Sand and flock is attached using latex PVA which dries clear.

Assorted Standards and Banners used a command
element visual markers plus some random Orders Banners
in other elements.

Spray seal coating takes place at this point.  Leave to dry for at least two days. Using a sharp strong knife cut/scrap the excess basing material off the sides of the base to allow accurate fit of the bases whenever they contact other bases, an important item in the games.  The cutting motion must be jointly sideways and downward to avoid peeling the combined basing materials off the top of the base.  Others have had latex fixed basing peel on them but I've never had this issue although handling mishaps and falling damage has peeled a couple which have been quickly and permanently repaired with a drop of super glue.

Standards, banners and such like are created on the computer, scaled down and inkjet printed on plain paper.  These are afixed after sealing otherwise they dull down horribly.

* = Note of anguish on the dreaded Facescroll to the BKK group of wargamers after the first couple of hours painting produced enough figures for less than two elements.

** = If correctly named they are Teutonic Orders (DBMM List Book 4/#30) but I have always referred to them, and continue to do so, as (the) “Teutonics”.  This is open to confusion with the Teutonic tribes that moved into and settled the modern German lands at least some half a millennium earlier.  I apologise in advance if your accurate knowledge of such history causes you any confusion.

*** = In the past Baccus have been a great supplier, not skipping a beat but this time we had a glitch in the system with a mis-delivery and delayed query responses seeing the end of April order finally arriving mid September.  To be fair there appears to be a series of mishaps that compounded to cause the unusually delayed arrival of our toys.

Teutonics - A Vague History 

(In the interest of enhanced credibility NO wikipedia entries were used in collating the following data.  However only data available in English was used.)

The initial group were formed in 1190 at the siege of Arce as a hospital to allow German’s to assist poor German pilgrims and were known as the "Order of the Brothers of the Hospitaller of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem" (Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Domus Sanctae Maria Teutonicorum un Jerusalem) with recognistion of both Guy de Lus (King of J) and Fredrick of Swarbia (brother of  the Holy Roman Emperor).

• Papal recognition was achieved the following year in 1191.
• They were then constituted as a Military Order by the pope in 1196 and joined the other senior orders.
• Their arms & emblems had been confirmed by 1997 and additional papal rights, priviledges and joint command with the Holy Roman Emperor (HRE) were proclaimed in 1198 before a 1199 Papal Bull gave the mantle rights and Rule of the Hospitallers to the order.

As a side note, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword started actions from Riga in the Prussian area in 1200/1.  They would later amalgamate with the Teutonic Order.

• In Acre during 1209 the Teutonics aligned with the Hospitallers and the Outremer Barons against the Templars and the Church Prelates in some (relatively minor?) governance disputes generating a long ongoing conflict with the Templars.
• While maintaining a presence and castles in Outremer, where their headquarters were at Acre, from 1211 to 1215 the fighting force of the Order moved to Burzenland to assist the King of Hungary defeat the pagan Cumans. 
• They received a Papal Bull of Protection in 1216 and continue to receive positions, possessions and previledges from various european regal sources while they continued to be involved in the Levant and in the various expeditions of the times.
• In 1221 a Papal Bull confirms the status of the Teutonics as equal in all respects to the Templars and Hospitallers.

• After building a territorial power base for themselves and allegedly focusing on self-serving secular goals they were forcibly ejected from Hungary by its King in 1225.
• In the same year they receive a request of assistance from Conrad of Masovia against pagans in Prussia.
• A Golden Bull of 1226 from the HRE gives the Order wide ranging powers throughout Prussia and in 1230 an additional treaty guarentees possession of any additional territory they may capture from pagans. 
• In 1229 the headquarters moved to Montford Castle, near Sidon (in modern Lebanon), that had been purchased some years earlier.

• In 1231 parts of the Order start the invasion of Prussia.  The effort has been reported as possibly being seen as a training ground for inexperienced brothers by the Grand Master before they were transfer to Outremer.
• However in 1234 the pope upsets any northern Teutonic power plans when he claims the Prussian and surrounding lands that are converted to christianism. In the end the Teutonics submit to the papal demands but a deal is struck that gives them ultimate power in the area.
• In 1236 they start absorbing small local military orders and the next year combine with (or take over) the Livonian Sword Brothers Order.
• The Order were (reputedly) part of the army defeated by the Mongols at Leignitz in 1241.  They then suffered a major defeat by the proto-Russian forces at Lake Peipus in 1242.
• In 1250 the King of France awards the Grand Master 4 gold lilies to add to the ends of the gold cross on his coat of arms.

• The year 1251 sees a major change in the Northern Crusades rationale when Grand Duke of Lithuania is baptised and the people turned Christian.  The Teutonics ignore the gesture, declaring it a political falsehood.
• Property and Treaty records from 1257 & 1258 show the Order is still active in the Levant.  Their headquarters are apparently still at Montfort but later move to Acre in 1271.
• First great battle against the Lithuanians in 1260 ends in defeat for the Teutonics.
• From 1261 to 1274 there was a long running and deadly revolt by the Prussians that generated violent conflicts through the Teutonic’s northern domains.
• Exhaustion final brings relative calm and paeace and from 1283 to 1525 the Order operates as a Theocratic State ruling the area of the future Prussian state and some surrounding areas including parts of Poland.

• With fall of Acre in 1291 the headquarters moves to Venice.  Actions in the Levant come to an end but south eastern European/Greek interests and properties are maintained.

• During the 1300s there is a continued expansion of the ‘Prussian’ territories through conquest, deceit and purchase.
• In 1309 the headquarters moves from Venice to Marienburg, in Prussia.
• The 1410 defeat at the Battle of Grunwald starts the decline of the Order.
• The time between 1454 and 1466 sees warfare against the Polish Orders and nation.
• Marienburg is lost to a Polish siege in 1457 and the headquarters are moved to Konigsberg.
• Around 1500 the south eastern European interests finally fall to the expanding Ottomans.

• In 1525 The Grand Master abandons catholicism and takes secular rulership of the Order’s possessions. 
• 1527 – The headquarters moves to Bad Mergentheim in 1527.
• In 1529 the last military actions are apparently performed in the defence of Vienna against the Ottomans.  (This date may be confused with the Battle (not siege) of Vienna in the following century).

Thereafter the Order has become a clearly religious rather than military order and is still extant today although with a couple of periods of dormancy over time.

Bashing Bactrians - Ineffectively

South of the Steppe Live the Bastardised Graeco-Bactrian.

Have appointed Sur Anthony the Mystically Undefeatable Icon as Kommital Landmeister Livland (sub general) we entered into some debate on tactics.  Having established the concept of “speak your mind in preparation, in the battle follow orders” Sur Anthony pointed out that “ I owe all my victories to the tactical genius of my fellow commanders and some strategically positioned hills”.  On the back of three straight loses I ignore the implied blemish on my tactical abilities and pointed out that “[u]nfortuately our home territories don't actually have hills. We'd better invade somewhere”.

So off we went (with aggression factor 4) to engage the Graeco-Bactrians (aggression 1) but we still needed two sets of dice rolls to confirm our natural status as invader.  Not good omens (sorry, divine signs).

Unfortunately, the next dice roll determined we again would deploy first, not an issue for big armies when generally you move first as well BUT it’s becoming increasingly noted that it's near disastrous for an army as small as the Teutonics. 

 

Terrain and Deployment.  First deployment is a diadvantage for a small element count army.

Bactrian pressure left, right and centre.
No options for the Teutonics.

Thus the Bactrian were able deploy with favourable matchups, especially for their large pike block.

The Teutonics tried to get the vulnerable foot away from the pike block. 

We didn’t manage to do it fast enough.  

The pikes in mass hit the crossbowmen and a few spearmen, albeit a bit broken up from the bowshots but as expected smashed through the Teutonics infantry line.  

In trouble.  Desperately trying to clear the flank.

They were joined by some manoeuvrable cataphracts (rKnX) that evaded Sur Anthony’s superior knights and also enjoyed the advantage in combats against overlapped bows. 

Trying to catch enemy on the right flank.

Effectively battle over.

Elsewhere the knights had gone after cavalry and light horse to sweep them away so the knights could attack enemy flanks to assist our hard-pressed (okay – fatally positioned) infantry.  But the enemy being both faster and more numerous mostly stayed out of reach while picking at the knights supports.

Nash’s Saka ally command of all fast light horse had got around our left flank with part of its command but had left 3 elements and the general behind to fill table space.  A couple of bounds of a low PiPs saw them caught and challenged by a line of three knight wedges and then a single PiP saw the general run for cover and abandon the rest to their fate.  One was fled, so survived (despite the ‘wingman’ bonus in play), while the other two were crushed.  Unfortunately the photo of 89AP of knights trying to run down 17AP of light horse is too blurred to show the imposing nature of the action.

That got us two elements of Bactrian, Sur Anthony’s light horse and hordes bagging a cavalry a piece making up the sum total of the Bactrian losses – four elements. 

Battle Over - No Teutonic Glory - almost No Bactrians Bashed.

The reason for the slowness of the infantry evade actions was four elements of irregular crossbows in the middle of line.  Expecting them to only move forward they had been placed at the left end of the bowmen rather than the trailing end (where they’d have to manoeuvre from) but this put them in the middle of the evade action and two of the three march moves cost an extra PiP and I didn’t have enough.  Had the group been entirely regular then I’d have managed a far better escape probably saving half of them and removing all the targets from the cataphracts.  This difficulty has been noticed in earlier games but my remedial actions made things worse not better in this game.

At only 71ME our army actually broke by ‘morale knock-on effect’ a full bound before I realised it, having not noted that Anthony had taken an addition light horse casualty (I probably saw it but it didn’t register) until I saw it on the casualty tray.  A quick list check and bit of maths checking confirmed that we had finished the bound previous.

So Sur Anthony is no longer undefeated and his mystical powers have been dispelled.  

Bob and Nash saw that we were in trouble at deployment and quite rightly pressed home all the attacks to ensure we had no time or space to escape.  Played like experienced generals - well done gentlemen.

This was one of the shortage games we’ve had in the last couple of years.  

It left the four players plenty of time to discuss why the Teutonics had had for straight defeats in emphatic style.  Mostly the talk revolved around changing the OoB to give a different mix of troops and different tasks to be assigned to the commands.  We also focussed on the incongruity of the irregular bowmen messing up the speed and manoeuvrability of the other foot and that these would if been excluded had there been optional foot to replace them.  As only iSpI is available and they cost more AP per ME than the bows and the size at the small 71ME is already an issue, the bows should stay but in a role as filler in other commands.  I’ll probably adopt most of the suggestions made.

Other options (beside not deploying first) were

1)  Add more figures and play 500AP games as it’s a more viable army at bigger sizes. 

2)  Paint some replacement figures and play it as a straight crusader army without wedges.

3) Play against unsuspecting opponents with the fear generated by the sight of mass wedged superior knight instilled in them!! 

Replacing the CinC was politely not mentioned.

Later, at home while revising lists I realised that the foot had started on the wrong side of the knights to affect a better outcome by controlling our chosen table area.  That brought the realisation that none of the games had stuck to the original plan, each time situations and ill-discipline had caused deviations that had allowed faster and more numerous enemy to overcome the pre-determined tactics devised to deal with such situations. 

One last attempt may be made in a couple of weeks to actually stick to the plan to see if it can be made to work.  

Persian Pansies Prance & Pirouette

"Wasted wedges and wasted knights"

Having played their first game in a blizzard and then making fundamental errors in the second game against some Romans as manoeuvrable as anything in the Teutonics arsenal, our group of players threw out another difficult challenge to see if we could cope with the Sassanids, another army of superior capabilities and, if regular in nature, equally manoeuvrable.  As Hochmeister I was willingly accepting all comers in an effort to learn quickly the best way of handling the Teutonic juggernaut.

After some outside (re board games) banter and trash talk, Nash (owner of the Sassanids) was forced to take Anthony onto his team where, suddenly realising his own weaknesses, he made Anthony CinC.  This may have been partly due to the game night banter where it was pointed out Anthony, our newest regular member, had played games in tandem with all the rest of us at one point or another, and had yet to ever lose a game!!

Sur Bob the UnFlappable, Landmeister Deutschland and I had exchanged battle plan ideas during the day but in light of the two very different Sassanid options (either irregular iCvS with elephants OR a regular army with most likely none or maybe one) needing different responses we could only plan to deploy against a secured flank, quality foot to the fore and the knights behind or rearward to the opposite side of the foot.  Hordes would go where they could be most annoying without moving.

Game time saw us invade (Ag=4 but the Sassanid’s = 3 so we hoped for a rare defensive game but .... oh well), choose a waterway (WW) to secure a flank and then on dice of 2 vs 1 double the all mounted (what - no Sassanid hordes??) defenders so we had to deploy first.  The table was almost bare with only a few gentle hills in addition to the edge bound waterway and an irrelevant BuA.

Having laid out the quality foot to determine how wide out our left flank would be I got the encouraging remark from Sur Bob “Is that all there is, are you sure??  <mild expletive!!>”  He was perfectly correct of course, on a basically bare table the mini sized Teutonic army just looks even smaller.  The Sassanids deployed, four commands including an Armenian ally, no elephants but the CinC’s all rCvS command was huge, relatively, at 36MEs!!  Deuchmeister Sur Bob had been in mild fear of facing a Chionite Hun ally but according to the kinglet of Persia (and now lowly deputy commander) Nashur, there simply wasn’t enough APs in all the kingdom to pay for them so the discount Armenians were hired instead.

But the Sassanids had deployed at the opposite end of the table to the Teutonics!!

Don't you just hate corner sitters??

Unless there were a few hiding behind the gentle hill in front of our bowmen.  Our recently converted ex-pagan Livonian hordes were rear edge hugging, well nearly, in the table centre which meant that any enemy approaching from the Sassanid positions would need to pass in front of them or engage them.  This was a good thing.

Our opening move saw our bowmen and spears move across the table and prepare to swing left 90 degrees to face the left end of the table.  The Sassanids almost all headed across the table towards our denied flank which left us the option of forming a line perpendicular to the starting line and thereby shortening the potential front line.  As this was to our advantage we quickly took this option and the battle was fought on a line/front from long side to long side, 90deg from the norm.

From opposite corners both side come out to engage (for now anyway) and the front line swings 90deg.

Sassanids attack the bowline - Now you see them ..........

A small Sassanid command came to harass, slow down and engage the Teutonic bowmen and in the space of their bound, our bound lost enough light horse to dishearten and be one element off breaking and were now also well outnumbered.

In the centre (on the new facing) we formed up a line of knights opposite the huge cavalry command who had moved to table centre, turned to face us and formed into two lines with a space of about 100p

..... now you don't.
But the super resilient rCvS are in the foreground.  
They'll move left to hold the infantry in place.

between their lines.  On the new left (our original base table edge) another small Sassanid command came to engage the hordes and the Armenians tried to follow behind and out flank the hordes to get around behind us.

The hordes, with a few light horse, Ax & Ps supports hovering nearby, proved very resistant to the cavalry and light horse, even when flanked and the Sassanid general spend most the game in combat with an unkillable horde until he eventually died!  Although, until after many bounds when the Armenians finally worked their way around the table edge into the rear of the hordes, they held up the enemy and prevented the Sassanid main cavalry lines from advancing for fear of a totally exposed flank where some of our Turkopoles were lurking.

This Sassanid fear of advancing generated some of the weirdest cavalry manoeuvres I’ve ever seen – now called Persian Pirouettes!!  But more of that in a couple of minutes.

Position before the dancing - note the relative position of the two hills
bottom left and top centre to the central masses of troops.
The Livonian hordes (r) doing sterling work holding the enemy.

On our right, the bowmen and spearmen moved in to break the disheartened enemy command which had got the support of a sole element of rCvS from the CinC.  Here, maybe just to even up the unexpectedly strong showing of Bob’s Livonian hordes, things when sour and the three rCvS, including the general, that were preventing us closing down the flank of the main enemy cavalry proved impossible to kill.  We only needed one element to break through but here the superior cavalry showed just how tough they can be, the bonus factor saving them a few times.

I must complain bitterly about the dicing, they were three distinct combats each bound for at least four bounds (say 12+ in total) many with hard flanks (and a rear attack) and all having combat factors of evens (or +1 in my favour).  And remember, I only need to win one single combat to finish off the enemy there BUT we drew or I lost every single combat!!  I never broke that command despite trying for three quarter of the game to get the one final element needed.  [CvS are horribly overpowered I tell you!!  Or Anthony transferred some spots from my dice to his – so time to insist on digit marked dice only.]

Even when Bob pointed out that with Armenians in the rear his hordes where starting to breakup and expose our flanks on his side, and that it would be a good idea for me to get a move on and ignore that three enemy I so heavily outnumbered, I still couldn’t break off and bypass them.  My command disheartened itself and then broke in the final bound.  For all his justifiably annoyance, mild Sur Bob never said a word in anger when he should really have used the sharp end of a lance on my rear end.

Choose your partners - let the dance begin.

Back to the Persians practicing pirouettes.

When our line of knights moved up towards strike range, the Persian line did a formation U-turn and retreated out of range.  The second line prevented us marching into their rear.  We held in place.

Their rearward line about faces and retires to give space between their lines.  The forward line again U-turns back to face us. 

Forward & back,  backward and forward.

"It's just a jump to the left, a step to the right,
and turn your ..........."

We threaten again.  They turn about once more and run away, while their rear line move further away and U-turns back to face us.

And so the Persian pansies pranced, danced and pirouetted!!  Not a man among them willing to cross swords with real righteous Teutonic testosterone enhanced manly men!

This flaky course of action continues and continues - I think I counted it out at eight or nine U-turns, back and forth!  (The photos don’t give enough info to be sure).  Just to avoid the fight so they could pick off our two wing commands (the biggest two anyway) and break us without fighting the knights.  At one point the second line split into two and ran left and right to completely escape the Teutonic knight line in all its awe inspiring rumble forward.

It worked – it shouldn’t have but it did - and

And so it goes on, and on and onnnnnnnn.

wouldn’t have if my right hand command, exceeding 15 elements in the area, hadn’t of got hung up, and defeated, by three superior cavalry.  Few knights actually fought, one killing an iLhF, another a broken fleeing rCvS that passed across his front and the only lost knight was the final combat of the game that broke our army and even then it relied on a cheesy (dangerous last move type) hard flank to enforce destruction. 

As was pointed out as we entered the end game phase there were a lot of knightly APs in a line that just couldn’t reach the enemy to do any damage – a value I’ve now counted at 212AP of the 400AP on table as it included three generals.

FINAL POSITIONS - Note the size of the dancing, prancing and
piroutteing covered as they retreated and retired.

We played a good sound game, the plan did what we intended but the vagaries of luck in combats meant it wasn’t to be a winning plan.  Yes, I should have broken off from the disheartened enemy and concentrated on taking the flank of the big command but it was just too tempting to get that one last element to take the benefits of breaking a command – in hindsight, my error and a serious one.

Anthony played a unique and clever plan that did minimise their weaknesses and boosted their strengths and it worked, somewhat surprisingly to the rest of us (including his King and subordinate), but it worked nevertheless.  Nash, of course was ably assisting by slowly, so very slowly cutting his way through the hordes for the cost of an exponential number of his own APs and having to use rear attacks from the Armenians to get through the other foot, and a couple of light horse, to eventually collapse our left wing and force another defeat on the Teutonics. 

Well done Nash and Anthony, a job done as it needed to be done.

So that’s three defeats out of three for the Teutonics.  Reflagging didn’t work this time and if it gets to five out of five I may need to convert them all back to pagans and start again.

Next game, in an attempt to reverse the string of loses, Anthony has been appointed Kommital Landmeister Livland and will be commanding Teutonic brothers and their recently converted ex-pagans to ensure his invulnerability will final give us our much deserved initial victory.