Campaign & Battle Reports Jeff Williams 1) ARULEN II Sixteen proud rulers sought to expand their Lebensraum this campaign season. The evil Morgul (Steve), having been told of by his scouts of a horse tribe on the plains to his south immediately moved his entire army to welcome the Nation of the Korvistan under King Slovis (Norm) into his dominion with his favourite diplomatic ploy. "Surrender or die!" The wily King Slovis had seen this coming for some years and had a shaky alliance of neighbours including the Trinkians under Hadrian (Chris), the Shatla Toilets under Cragn Suffah (Keith) and the Han Empire (Oliver). The Morgol was gloating after his first juicy acquisition of a new town when his ally, the Han struck him in the rear. Simultaneously the nervous armies of King Slovis and Cragn Suffah faced him off in the desert. Meanwhile in the North the Barbarian La Tene under Chief Vital Statistix (Stan) swept his considerable Gaul army towards the newly acquired town of Civilis (Mick S.). Civilis after a quick and costly rearguard action by his Romans abandoned the town to the Gauls. Civilis then called on his neighbours the Fankish pirates under Count Frankenstein (Mark) to help him fight off the Gauls Civilis met the Gaulish horde at the gates of Orleans and with a dazzling cavalry display destroyed the Gaulish cavalry and forced the retreat of Vitall's warbands. Chief Statistix then called on his Gaulish brothers at Scharlachwald under Conrad Ausleben (Michael N) to come to his aid and help crush the Imperators. Meanwhile Melvirius (Doug) rushed his Roman army along his recently completed roads the full length of his nation to enter the fray. But .....which way would he go? Would he assist the Gauls or the Imperators? The united forces of the Eastern and Western Gauls fell on the forces of Civilis and were soundly thrashed by another display of cavalry magic. The Scharlachwald Gauls retreated to their homes chased by the Melvirians. The Romans later successfully assaulted their town and took it. The La Tene fled to their homelands but were caught by the Imperators under Civilis and his Frankish allies and thumped again. A pitiful remnant made their way to their forest homes. In the civilised parts of Arulen the Eleison Empire under Paulus I (Paul) and the Constelia under Byzaroma III (Andrew) quietly divided the spoils and held their barbarian neighbours the Thuringen of Der Schwartzer Kaiser (Ian) at bay. Finally the Gods of thunder and storm intervened and the campaign season closed before any of the mighty armies facing the Morgul could close with him. Another day perhaps. 2) FIRST BULL RUN 1861 The Umpire's View As the first major battle of the American Civil War the first battle at Bull Run is a classic from the gamers point of view. Historically it did the South great damage and ensured that they would loose the war. "Huh!" I hear you say, " but the South won!". Yes and as a result they became very cocky for the next two years and neglected their war preparations to the extent that whole brigades disappeared overnight when Southern soldiers who had enlisted for short terms went home. The North however were deeply shocked and swung their industrial might and huge manpower reserves into the business of winning the war, however long it took and at whatever cost. Bull run was a battle of green troops and green commanders and consequently a battle of confusion, mistakes and opportunities lost and won on chance. It was also a battle that revealed those who had skill in the art of war. I decided to recreate the entire battlefield (6 miles long) over three tables and including all of the fords to allow both sides maximum scope in using tactics of maneuver. I used a command system that limited the information coming to individual commanders and to their Commanders in Chief. Messages between commanders were written despatches carried by couriers unless their command stands were adjacent on the table. Couriers (one on each side) threw dice to determine whether messages were delayed or lost. Several players reported that messages would turn up completely out of date or irrelevant to their situation. This echoed nicely the real battle where the South intended to launch a major counter-attack on the left flank of the North only to have it fail to go because of a lost message from General Beaureguard to the flank commander. Players had limited individual initiative at first but greater opportunities as the battle wore on. Certain exceptional commanders had a greater chance of taking their own initiative as was the case in the real Bull Run with Sherman on the Northern side and Evans on the South. In fact if Evans had not spontaneously moved his brigade to cover the Souths unprotected left flank the South would have lost the battle. Commanders were required to remain seated at their tables until moving their troops and could not comment on or direct other commanders on what they could not see by line of sight. Several players had the frustrating experience of watching their more inexperienced fellows blundering about and suffering great loss without being able to correct their mistakes. This was also the problem at the real Bull Run with some commanders exceeding their orders and attacking when they were ordered to reconnoitre and on other occasions holding back from attacks when they were meant to be distracting the enemy with feints. To further simulate the problems of commanding untrained and inexperienced troops I limited the command range of the commanders from 18 inches to 9 inches. After about ten hours of battle I also applied a minus one to the players maneuver dice roll to simulate the weariness of green troops. This resulted in many units just sitting down and refusing to move forward for several turns as actually happened during the battle. Did it work? Yes, in the sense that it recreated many of the frustration's and confusions of the original battle. Perversely despite that, players also appeared to enjoy it. The only thing I will change next time I try something on this scale will be to have at least two umpires between three tables as one is definitely not enough when you have thirteen players and two couriers to watch. Next year I intend to work my way through some of the major and minor battles of the American Civil War, creating special rules where necessary to reflect the historical situation. Each battle will be registered as a minor campaign for those interested in victory points. 3) MESOPOTAMIA - The Fertile Crescent Campaign By Norm Asquith The ancient fertile crescent of Mesopotamia lies between the head of the Persian Gulf and the high plateau around Lake Van, roughly on a line with the Black Sea. All good arable land relies on the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and their tributaries. The campaign period is approx. 1600 BC, at this time the principal nation-states were Sumer at the head of the Gulf, to the east Elam up to the mountains, upriver from Sumer where later Babylon will rise there is Akkad, then north of Elam and east of Akkad in the hilly country live the less civilized tribes of the BitHamban. Above or upriver of these state is the fledgling nation of Assyria, centered around the tributaries of the Tigris and limited to the north by the mountains before Lake Van. It came to pass that King Gigamess of Sumer and King Hurpatila of Elam made common cause to march on the upstart King Erisham of Assyria and sent envoys to King Hammarabil of Akkad and King Paratanti of BitHamban to join with them. In typical impetuous fashion the hill tribes of BitHamban swarmed down from the hills, moving towards the Assyrian capital of Assur as the troops of Akkad marched up to join with them. The armies of Sumer and Elam moved to a junction in the neutral ground between Akkad and BitHamban, intending to then move together on Assyria. When the BitHamban moved onto Assyrian soil amid plunder and rapine, King Erisham of Assyria moved toward them, intent on a battle before they could be joined by their ally. The early Assyrian army had at its core close order spearmen, the elite troops heavy infantry, supported by the innovative light and heavy two horse chariots and small numbers of light infantry. Their opponents the BitHamban came from hilly country, they deployed loose formations of javelinmen ,mobs of bowmen and hoards of skirmishing light infantry variously armed with sling, javelin and bow. Near the eastern border of Assyria and above the River Zabu Saplu, the armies deployed for battle. King Paratani was outnumbered, having left troops to guard the homeland. He deployed light troops on the right in rough ground, the loose formation warriors in the centre and the remaining lights on the left. Facing them the Assyrians kept the foot behind a rise, chariots to the left and light troops on the right. The battle opened with skirmishing on the BitHamban left and on the right the Assyrian chariots moved down to threaten the light troops in the rough ground. Chariots are hard to face in the open but as Erisham discovered, light troops in rough ground could hold their own as the chariots became disordered by the terrain. The day was but a third over and the centres not yet engaged when in the distance the troops of Akkad appeared on the left flank of their ally. Omens taken previously were so favourable that the troops marched fast and by good fortune found the battlefield. At this King Paratani launched a furious assault without waiting for King Hammarabil to become fully engaged. This the Assyrians welcomed as their chariots were being held on the left and on the right the light troops were suffering from the more numerous enemy missiles. A warband charged at the Assyrian line of close order spearmen. These had been massed in depth and the number able to fight with their longer weapons caused fearful casualties, the BitHamban recoiled from the unequal struggle, and then broke in rout directly towards their advancing allies, most of whom halted in dismay. The elite Akkadian heavy cavalry halted the Assyrian advance as night fell by charging in true cavalry fashion onto the flank of the Assyrian foot, scattering one unit. Both sides fell back with nightfall, the Assyrians had inflicted more casualties but now faced a combined enemy significantly larger. While the Sumerians and Elamites toiled north, the Assyrian army fell back towards Assur keeping the river on one flank and seeking a defensible position. Their opponents followed on and soon the next battle of the campaign occurred. The Assyrian army occupied high ground with a gap to the river on their right. Here the depleted light foot and light chariots were posted, the centre held by the spearmen extended in line and above the left brow of the hill stood the weakened unit of heavy chariots. Facing them, the BitHamban were mostly on the left and the Akkadians on the right with the elite heavy cavalry led personally by Hammurabil in the centre. This unit was to be the pivot of the coming battle. The Akkadian army was a well balanced force of heavy cavalry, light camelry, close order medium javelinmen, massed bowmen and light infantry slingers. This represented about two thirds of the full army, the balance being kept for home defence. As King Erisham had discovered in the preceding battle, their close order spearmen used en-masse were formidable but a lack of missilemen made their options quite clear; close the enemy or die a prolonged death from bow , sling and javelin. The ability of his light missilemen had not been lost on King Paratani of the BitHamban who had overall command on the day. The battle started with the main body of the anti-Assyrian allies staying out of range of a downhill charge of their enemy and promoting the light troops forward to begin their shooting. These the Assyrian foot charged, and as they evaded back the foot pressed on and off the high ground. A result of this was a charge by the Assyrian foot on the elite Akkadian cavalry brought on a belated countercharge which was unable to gather momentum. There followed a prolonged struggle in which the numerical advantage of the foot gradually decimated the cavalry. On the right the Assyrian light troops were falling back, severely depleted by missile fire, buying time with their dead. On the opposite flank the Akkadian light foot, medium infantry and camels were moving to envelop the heavy chariots. And then a cry of grief swept the Akkadian ranks, King Hammurabil fighting valiantly at the head of the heavy cavalry had fallen amongst the heaped dead of his bodyguard. The Akkadians who saw his spectacular death began to stream away in panic and those further afield did the same as the news reached them. Of the BitHamban at this point, half were locked in battle with the some of the Assyrian foot and the rest had pushed forward on their left driving the dwindling enemy light troops before them. The right most body of loose formation javelinmen were commanded by King Paratani himself and were now behind the flank of the Assyrian main line, all that was needed to roll up the enemy was a change of facing and a glorious charge. At this critical point, the Assyrian heavy chariots which had been freed from the opposite flank by the withdrawal of the Akkadians, crashed into the exposed flank of the BitHamban. In the ensuing carnage that followed King Paratani fell crushed beneath the wheels of the elated chariot unit. Like their allies, the BitHamban fled in disorder at the loss of their King. The Assyrians were too exhausted to pursue, they countered their losses and despoiled the enemy dead, for in the words of King Erishan "their googlies I nailed to the city gates of Assur". An army that should have been defeated had survived due to the morale-cracking death of the enemy leaders. King Erisham withdrew his army to Assur to call upon his people to enlist, for on the lower border appeared the combined might of Sumer and Elam. The Summerian and Elamite armies moved together and the need to forage for such a mighty host gave the Assyrian king time to scrape up levies and organise volunteers (everyone is impressed by glorious victory). Captured weapons helped arm the new units but they were low grade troops due to inexperience. The regular units were depleted but all were blooded veterans who attracted the best of the volunteers. At the approaches to Assur the Assyrians deployed. On the left the open ground was covered by a long single rank of light chariots, supported near the right end by a troop of medium cavalry. These made a brave showing with captured enemy horse and weapons but they were in fact untried and untrained. In the centre the ground sloped up to a small hill in front of which stood the close ranked infantry that had forged the success of the Assyrian war machine. To their right the flank was held by heavy chariots and light infantry. Further to the right and towards the enemy line a large wood concealed more light infantry and meadium infantry. These troops had not been used for scouting and no inkling of their presence troubled the Summerians who advanced with the forrest to their left shoulder. King Gigamess of Summer gazed upon the enemy to the front who waited immobile. He then swept the battleline of troops, to the left passing the forrest were light infantry, then the close ranked bowmen with the infantry phalanx to the centre of the allied line along side the host of Elam. In the rear of the line the cavalry drifted forward. The left-most of the Ellamites abutting the Sumerians were loose formation javelinmen in two bands, to their right and in scrubby, rough ground swarms of light infantry variously armed with javelin and bow eyed the line of Assyrian light chariots. The best troops of the army, the medium cavalry held back to cover the flank of the light troops. The allied plan was for the close formed phalanx of the Summerians, supported by the bowmen and horse, to engage the centre infantry of their enemy while on the left the Summerian lights covered the small unit of Assyrian heavy chariot and on the right the Elamite foot bided their time until all the Assyrian troops were engaged in the centre, at which point a general assault would be ordered. This plan was sound and made best use of the Allies superiority in numbers. The flaw was the unsuspected Assyrian troops in the forest to the flank. Despite having light troops near the forest, King Gigamess did not order a scouting action and so it came to pass that the troops on that flank were discommoded by a swarm of skirmishers who rushed out of the woods covering the deployment of the Assyrian medium infantry. As the ambush showed sign of panicking the Summerian lights, the heavy chariots moved forward braving the risk of the Summerian close order bowmen. King Gigamess ordered the cavalry reserve to swing to the left towards the forest but by now units of routing light troops hindered their movement. As the Sumerian heavy foot closed on the Assyrian centre, the battle to their flank worsened as the massed bowmen fell into confusion due to the routing lights and then were hard pressed by the heavy chariots. The Summerian cavalry reached the left flank and caused the Assyrian light troops to flee to the safety of the forest but with confusion and routs around them they failed to ride over the medium Assyrian foot in front of the forest. This enabled the Assyrian heavy chariots to overwhelm and rout the dense mass of enemy foot archers and so secure the right flank of the Assyrian line. While the left flank of the Summerians gradually fell into disorder and then rout, the heavy foot of the Assyrians and Summerians charged together with a resounding crash. A hard fight of attrition followed as the troops desperately struggled to hold their formation and ground. With the reverses of the left flank threatening impending disaster the Elamite King Hurpatila ordered forward his warbands adjoining the Summerians against the partly committed Assyrians to their front. Urgent signals were sent for the light troops to harass the Assyrian cavalry while the cavalry were ordered into action against the Assyrian light chariots. Now the bluff of King Erisham on his left flank was revealed. The light chariots (hastily scraped up to swell the army) had not the weight or morale to stand the elite Summering cavalry. After a brief resistance they fled with their foes among them gleefully striking left and right. Along side this rout the Assyrian cavalry had chased off some Sumerian light missile troops that advanced upon them, they then were engaged by the rest of the Sumerian cavalry and their poor training and skills were quickly exposed. The Assyrian troops demise counted as nothing however. For all the morning they had stood in a brave array and even in their immobility had tied down the reluctant Elamites until the clash on their flank had no real effect on the end result of the days fighting, for in the centre the Sumerian and Elamite foot had not broken the desperate resistance of the Assyrian veterans. The battleline was breaking up, the Assyrian generals exposed themselves to the chance of arms (the very circumstance that was the undoing of the Akkadian and BitHamban Kings) but there was exhaustion on both sides as all reeled from the noise, heat and stubborn will to prevail. All the while the situation on the Sumerian left flank deteriated as panic and confusion spread. Unable from the start to form a steady line following the ambush that opened the battle, all the troops engaged were now demoralised or routing and the Assyrian troops all committed to maintaining the pressure on their more numerous foe. At last the shadows lengthened and the weary and wounded enemies drew apart. The Sumerian army had born the brunt of the fighting and was shattered on the left and worm down on the right. Alongside them the Elamites left had been roughly handled in their fight with the Assyrian massed foot but had handed out punishment in turn. To their right the Assyrian screen of mounted troops had been vanquished but the cavalry in pursuit would not return for some time. As for the Assyrian army, they had held and their enemy was too weak to risk another battle so far from their borders. Just as well, for the Assyrian nation was now seriously depleted in manpower and arms. Many of the veteran troops that had held off all the invaders were now dead or wounded, many of the levies had had a rude introduction to the realities of close conflict and were scattered far and wide. So closed the campaign season in ancient Mesopotamia. All the nations involved had lost heavily in troops and a generation would pass before they could safely hold their borders from local incursions. The campaign had been remarkable in that so many had joined to invade one nation. More remarkable that the Assyrians had survived. Who knows what will happen in the future in Mesopotamia ?