Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[scott holder]

Mini Open

1) Matt Kollmer, Zulu, 15
2) Todd Kaeser, Viking, 12
3) Bill Low, L. Carthaginian, 7
4) Rich Kroupa, Free Company, 7
5) Scott Holder, Araucanian, 6
6) Don Carter, E. Carthaginian, 2

Above reflects tie breaks, either head-to-head or if still tied, opponents combined record.

Open

1) Bill Low, Granadine, 15
2) Rich Kroupa, Hussite, 11
3) Dan Woyke, Marian, 10
4) Fred Stratton, Neo-Assyrian Empire, 7
5) Scott Holder, Araucanian, 6
6) Don Carter, Qin, 4

Above reflects tie breaks, either head-to-head or if still tied, opponents combined record. Matt played my 3rd round which is reflected in the score because my first two games were an exercise in futility.

If anybody wants to post a blow-by-blow battle report, please do so in that section of the Forum, not here.

Hussite playtesting is mostly done. We've got one final tweak, shooting arc (we got lazy initially with the '360 degree' approach).

Two highlights:

Saturday night, Dan's 8 year-old son Alexander and Fred's 5 year-old granddaughter Eleanor, played and kept each other entertained for most of the 3rd round. It was probably the most adorable scene I've seen in 30+ years of convention attending.

Friday night. Matt brought a 15mm Circus Maximus setup that's been around conventions for probably 20-30 years. He and his Dad played it at a show a gazillion years ago. Matt had seen my 10mm setup on Facebook, then stumbled onto this at a recent show. The guys were wanting to sell it so perfect timing. We setup after the Mini and everybody had a blast. It's also one of the most eye-catching games at a show. People were constantly coming by going "OH! CHARIOT RACING!!!!!!" and taking pictures while we drank, trash talked each other hustling around the circus.

scott

[Todd Kaeser]

It is the year 869 A.D. and Ivar Ragnarsson, known as “the boneless” and his brothers Ubba and Halfdan have been planning an invasion of England to carve out a kingdom of their own. Descended from the great Ragnar Lothbrok the Great Heathen Army embarked onto the oceans from Denmark and hoped to land in Northumbria to not only find riches but carve out their own kingdom.

Viking – 1203 points – 3 scouting

Ivar - CinC 2E Ir B LHI/LMI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,Sh + PA (145)

Ubba - Sub 2E Ir B LHI/LMI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,Sh + P (85)

4E Hirdsmen Ir B LHI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,Sh (97)

2E Hirdsmen Ir B LHI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,Sh (61)
2E Berserkers Ir A LMI 2HCW 1/2Sh (37) detachment

8E Hirdsman Ir B MI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,B,Sh (169)

8E Vikings Ir C MI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,B,Sh (137)
8E Vikings Ir C MI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,B,Sh (137)
8E Vikings Ir C MI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,B,Sh (137)
8E Vikings Ir C MI 2HCW,Sh/Jls,B,Sh (137)

6E Viking Skimishers Ir C LI Jls,Sh (61)

First round: The storm was fierce, but finally we have found land. The Viking army of conquest has landed on the shores and moved inland. This doesn’t look like England and is significantly warmer. After a few days of marching we have begun to hear chanting and a roaring sound. Across the plain we see an army has arrived to finally give us a challenge. A Zulu army stands ready with Mattka Zulu at the head of it. There is a hill in the right center and a deserted Zulu village on the left. Main Viking force is across the center with the loose foot contingent on the left towards the village. The Zulus send the mass of lights on our right and they begin to dance and chant in the middle. The village is occupied by lights on both sides. Early in the battle on the left side a small unit of Hirdsman charge forward and catch a unit of Zulus – routing it and causing the Zulu sub general to shake. The Zulus are going to stand after this and fight toe to toe with the shieldwall. In goes a Viking unit and Ivar “the boneless” – attempting to break the center of the Zulu army. A ferocious clash of warriors is heard. Ivar raises his head to shout encouragement to his followers and inspire their greatness... when a Zulu spear is thrown and finds his exposed throat (down 3 combat roll) and is killed instantly. While great progress by Ubba on the left sees the small Zulu command of 4 all routed – especially when the 4E unit rolls up 2 vs a Zulu unit in the village and the small Hirdsman unit routs the Zulu sub general, the center of the great invasion army of Vikings is routed and a 4-2 result is tabulated by the Zulu army. The Vikings retreat to their longships and row out to sea carrying the body of Ivar.

Round 2: With Ivar’s death Ubba is promoted to CinC and Halfdan takes over as Sub General. These are both excellent leadership changes. The Vikings ride through another storm and find themselves on the northern coast of France. This, while not England, is at least familiar. They disembark and move inland to find themselves face to face with a Free Company army led by Sir Richard of Kroupa. Why are these horsemen so heavily armored? With so few lights the Viking army quickly takes the center line (3 scouting vs. 1). There is a woods on the left/center side. The Viking army sends the loose troops into those woods and sets up the close foot from the woods to the board edge and begins to push forward. To the left a unit of light infantry try to hold off a longbow unit, which it will despite being shot up and chased numerous bounds. The heavy cavalry begins to march towards the edge of the woods. The ground thunders with their approach as they seek to hit the 2 units close to the woods. “Shieldwall!!!!” the cry echoes out with these two units. Bows are loosed at the cavalry – doing only 1cpf to the end units. With the ground shaking the heavy horse (SHK/EHK) impact the shieldwall in a thunderous clap. Both shieldwall units roll down and are shoved back by the impact of the knights. On the left most unit they knights can’t expand out or they’ll be in the woods and become disordered. The ones of the right don’t expand because only 4 units charged and a final unit is waiting to hit the mass of disordered shieldwall. The close hirdsman unit to the right of the combat pushes as far forward as it can – trying desperately to get space for Ubba to hit a flank. The woods are also aswarm with Vikings trying to do the same on the left side of the combat.

Second round of combat sees the final unit of knights come crashing in. It looks like the shieldwall troops are in trouble. But then... up 2, up 2 – both units call out to Odin and rise to the occasion and shove back the original 4 units of knights. Only the fresh unit pushes back the unit of Vikings. They roll disordered while disordered and roll a 3 BUT Ubba is Inspirational, Brave and Efficient – everyone in 120 paces is eager and the “C” Viking unit passes the waiver and fight on.

Third round of combat sees the 2 center units of knights able to charge in again as they are not disordered - taking more fatigue. The 2 side units must rally from disordered. Ubba goes into the flank on the right side of the expanded out unit. Rolls across the board are good for the Viking units and hold off the knights on the shieldwall. Ubba and the shieldwall unit rout the knight unit causing a shake of another knight unit.

Round 4 of combat: Sees the Ulfherder (beserker) unit finally free of the woods and able to charge a knight unit on the left of the combat. The knight has rallied and passed its counter - they face off. The 2 shieldwall units have 1 knight unit each fighting it to their front - desperately trying to hack their way through the shieldwall. Up rolls by both the Ulfherder and the knights see the Ulfherders pushed back tired and disordered, but they have exhausted the knights from all their rounds of combat. A final up roll routs another knight unit attached on the shieldwall and the shaken unit follows suit shaking a longbow unit.

On the far right a lucky shot (only +1) sees a Viking unit disorder a longbow unit. It rallies back disordered but rolls short and is within the clutches of the Viking unit. It doesn’t end well for that longbow unit and it is routed easily. 5-0 for the Vikings.

The Vikings have carved out a portion of France and after leaving some representatives to hold the land they board their ships again.

Round 3: Once again the Vikings sail through storms and find themselves on another coast. They have landed off the coast of South America and have found themselves face to face with an Araucanian army, under Scottaro (brother to Lautaro) that has recently come together to fight off the Spanish. The Araucanian army has sufficient lights to force the battle on their choosing. While there are some hills in the rear area of the Vikings, we are Vikings and leave the safety of being uphill to engage the enemy across the board. Close Vikings are from the left board edge, covering 2/3 of the battlefield. The loose and lights are holding the right where there is a small village near the center line. The Araucanians have 3 large 4 deep barbarian blocks heading towards the 2nd, 3rd,4th and 5th Viking blocks with supporting units in between them. “Shieldwall!!!” Those Viking units form shieldwall to take the mighty charges of the barbarian blocks. An additional, smaller unit also charges impetuously into the fray all along the center. The far left unit of Vikings charge impetuously to split one of the units impact. The barbarian blocks charge in but face the wrath of axes from the shield wall. The Vikings are able to shove off 2 of the big blocks and the smaller unit, tired and disordered. The 4th and 5th units are shoved back disordered, but not tired. On the far right a unit of Araucanian heavy cavalry lancers have attempted to run the flank and cause havoc. Halfdan sends the 2E Hirdsman unit with Beserker support to hold them off. A failed counter finds the 2 units facing off and hitting each other. Hirdsman roll up and recoil and eventually destroy the HC unit. In the center the Vikings continue to grind away at the big units and now a HC unit is forced to come to the aid of the Araucanians and a trained unit with ½ HTW and ½ Jls. The Vikings roll +2, +2... and so forth. The HC lancer unit is routed and the barbarian units begin to exhaust and the Araucanian army is forced to leave the field of battle.

Overall the adventures of Ivar (R.I.P), Ubba, and Halfdan were a lot of fun. Even though the overall effects of die rolls for shooting were reduced the back rank of shooters really came through at times. They did nothing against the Zulu (obviously with Bantu rules), but did just enough to reduce the effectiveness of some of the knights, helping take out a longbow unit, shooting off small units of lights, and adding to the overall fatigue of the Araucanians. Personally, I don’t like the idea of shooting being only +1/0/-1. I think shooting had more effect on a battlefield. Really hard to shoot away lights without that occasional +2 roll.

Shieldwall is TOUGH. I found that out last summer taking on Rich’s Anglo Danes. Rich came awfully close to doing it vs. me btw. Four vicious rounds of combat.

Fall In was a great atmosphere. Very congenial gamers present there and a lot of the armies taken were more “fun” and less power gamer in my opinion. There was Zulu (Matt won the tournament - way to go CHAMP!), me with Viking, Scott with Araucanian, Don Carter with Early Carthaginian, Bill Low with later Carthaginian, and Rich with Free Company. I will try to make Fall In a regular journey for me.