Campaign outline and commentary on first run through

Introduction

     This blog is a record of a long-term wargame campaign that involved a series of  miniature figure wargames that took place between December 2022 and June 2024 between me and Gordon, a regular wargames opponent of mine, based on the wars of ancient Rome. The campaign followed the rules laid out in this blog (Click here), the actual battles were fought using two commercially available sets of tabletop miniatures rules.

      This campaign was notable for two reasons:

1. We live 200 miles apart, I'm in Devon and Gordon is in London; and 
2. The battles were part of a centuries long campaign where each player represented the succeeding generations of a Roman noble family seeking to prove its superior Dignitas (or moral standing) over its rivals in the Roman state,

     The campaign background, though fictitious, provided the motivation to fight through a series of linked miniatures games with more interesting goals than the usual one of just winning the battle. That additional interest came from the existence of both medium (winning the Era) and long-term (winning the Campaign) goals to strive for and, optionally, having to cope with various additional tactical problems along the way called 'Battlefield Effects' in the campaign.

Lots of people already write very good blogs or post videos about their club &/or competition games and others show the results of their painting projects, so up to now I hadn’t been motivated to add my gaming experiences to the mix. As these Campaign games were a bit different to the norm I decided they may be worthy of the effort of writing them up. 

A 10,000 point MeG Maximus Imperial Eastern Roman army of mid-late 4th century CE. 

Following the reforms of Emperor Constantine I Roman legionary and auxilia units were reduced in size, regularised so that there wasn't much of a distinction between the two, and  equipped with a longer sword - the Spatha - better when fighting mounted opponents. Units were often brigaded together when in combat.

Constantine also instituted army-level organisational changes to cope with the ever-mounting threats from across the borders such as splitting the army between border troops (Limitanei) and standing field armies (Comitatenses) able to rush to threatened sectors. Limitanei units were often seconded to the field armies, becoming known as Pseudo-comitatenses.

The above army consists of:

Front rank (left to right): two units of skirmishing Equites Sagittarii, one unit of Equites, one Auxilia Sagittarii, two units of Auxilia - one Comitatenses and one superior quality elite Palatina, two units of Legio Comitatenses, one poor quality Auxila Pseudo-comitatenses, one poor quality Legio Pseudo-comitatenses and one Equites Clibanarii. If you look closely you will see several units have been brigaded together.

Second rank: one unit made up of superior quality Equites, one larger unit of Equites, one unit comprised of two elite superior quality Legio Palatina brigaded together and one elite unit of Auxilia Palatina. 

There are four generals and the ever-present Roman fortified camp.

Long-distance playing

The games were fought on a games table in my house, with Gordon attending via Skype.  I used my laptop with an attached good(ish) quality camera placed high up on the opposite side of the table which Gordon accessed; simple but effective.

So, I hosted all the games, Gordon played through the link; he gave his movement instructions when required and I moved all the figures and removed casualties. Long-distance playing requires trust by both parties, we each rolled our own dice/draw our cards and reported the results. It’s proved to be slightly slower than face-to-face play but not markedly so.

In order to fight all the battles of this campaign game a fairly large number and variety of miniature figures are required. Luckily I have a big enough ancient miniatures collection that I could make up a close-enough resemblance of all the armies of both sides that the campaign threw up; whilst not always the exact figures needed they looked near enough if you didn’t look too closely (which, of course, Gordon couldn’t!).

The Campaign

For rules Click here

The campaign arose from an idea I had some twenty years ago when Phil Barker's DBMM was our tabletop wargame rules of choice to fight some interesting battles based on the wars of Rome. The idea was to create a structure for a series of historical miniature figure battles, using a bidding system for who gets to play the Roman side in each battle. We began to play that version but didn’t get very far before life got in the way and it got shelved.

In 2022 I rediscovered a copy of that original campaign tucked away in a drawer and, now that I am retired and have the time, I have extensively rewritten and expanded it. The standard campaign now covers the nearly 1,000 years of the Roman Republic and Empire up to the fall of the Western empire i.e. from 509 BCE to 476 CE, and optionally it can be extended to cover the 900 year period over which the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire was militarily active, i.e. up to c.1384 CE. We are currently playing that extended version - a mind-blowing 1,900 years of history.

Here’s how it works:

·    Each player represents a Roman 'gens' or extended family vying for moral supremacy in the Roman/Byzantine world over their peers. This competition continues over a series of seven Roman, and optionally an additional six Byzantine eras, of between one to two hundred years each. The players compete to win each era with the overall goal of eventually winning the whole campaign by winning more eras than their opponent.

·     In order to complete an era the players fight a number of tabletop battles. This is achieved by rolling a number of times on an Era specific Enemies Chart (see Appendices 1 Click here and 3 Click here) to determine which opponents will be fought in turn. After deciding on a ruleset to use and determining the enemy army size (see Appendix 2 Click here) the players bid for the honour of their family nominee to be placed in command of the Roman/Byzantine army in each battle by bidding downwards in ‘army points’. Whoever dares the lowest bid wins the honour of playing as the Romans/Byzantines; the other player commands the opposition. 

    The players seek to outdo each other in winning as the Romans/Byzantines in order to earn ‘Dignitas’ measured in Prestige Points. An Era can involve a minimum of two battles and theoretically could go on forever; typically however an Era should last for about four to six battles on average before the dice gods brings each one to an end. This could result in something over seventy games in total for a two player campaign if it is a close contest, though I suspect will end up somewhere between forty to sixty. (I did say it was long-term!).

·     In addition, when players roll on an Enemies Chart they may optionally also choose to roll to determine whether a 'Battlefield Effect' could affect a battle. It isn’t always the case that there will be any, it’s roughly a 50/50 chance for one to arise. These have been mostly drawn from actual battles during the period and can manifest in a number of different ways - affecting morale, disposition of the terrain and the forces involved, commanders’ fitness on the day and/or the weather (go to Appendix 4 to see how it works  Click here). 

The campaign works such that the players get an indication of what type of Battlefield Effect will manifest prior to the commencement of the bidding process but the actual effect won’t be known until immediately prior to starting the battle after rolling on the appropriate chart in Appendix 4. The other player won’t know until it is sprung on them. (NB Weather effects work slightly differently).

 

Above is a 10,000 point MeG Maximus Western Roman army of the mid to late 5th century CE. In this period the Roman Emperors were largely figureheads, power was in the hands of "Patricians" such as Aetius, Stilicho and Odoacer.

Large numbers of Foederate (mercenaries) were employed by Roman armies in this period, if not paid regularly, or otherwise given what they demanded in payment (such as land), they could and did quickly turn into enemies. It was the failure to satisfy the demands of the Foederate in Italy in 476 CE that led to the final overthrow of the Western Roman empire. 

In the above army the four units on the left are Foederate, including a unit of Moorish light horse, a unit of Sarmatian heavy cavalry and two units of Germanic infantry. The rest of the army is comprised of standard Roman units of the era - Legionary and Auxilia infantry and a mixture of light and heavy Equites cavalry.

Behind them are three professional generals and still the standard Roman fortified marching camp.

·    In order to provide more historicity and fun, a number of the battles optionally have specific conditions imposed based on battles against those opponents that actually occurred. These can affect either side and for example be specific allies that must be used, specific generals, particular weather conditions or specific Battlefield Effects as in the previous bullet point. The beauty of the system is that when bidding to be the Romans/Byzantines the players can factor any condition into their bidding in order that the battle theoretically remains balanced (if they judge the effect of that condition well and get the bidding right!).

·     As mentioned above, I've written the campaign rules to work in tandem with either of two rulesets [now three - see below], one of which must be chosen to fight each battle - Mortem et Gloriam (MeG) or L’Art de la Guerre (ADLG). The choice of which to use is made just prior to the bidding process for each battle, so can be varied on a battle-by-battle basis if desired. 

I have provided details of both of these rule sets in a separate Page and both these sets are readily available, links to the official ruleset websites are as follows:

           MeG: Mortem et Gloriam – MeG site (mortem-et-gloriam.co.uk)

           ADLG: ADLG - Art De La Guerre

Since the first run-through I've linked a third ruleset to the campaign - To the Strongest! all the rules for which have been added into Appendix 5. The link to the official website is:

                            To the Strongest! Products – tagged "Wargames Rules" – BigRedBat's Shop

  

Historical Ramifications

You may be wondering how the battles fought by the players go on to affect the history of Europe and the near east. Surely if one of the players defeats an opposing army that won in real life the history of the world changes? Actually no, from the point of view of history the campaign battles fought are totally irrelevant. 

The campaign assumes that where wars were won historically by the Romans if the Roman side loses in the game played on the table top the situation is retrieved in later battles by victorious armies not led by any of the players' families; and vice versa, in this way the path of history remains unchanged (Phew!). 

 A 10,000 point MeG Maximus Eastern Imperial Roman or 'Byzantine' army of the late 6th century CE. By this time most of the elite units had mounted horses; the striking power of the army now lay with the lance and bow armed cavalry. The 'Skutatoi' heavy infantry became a useful backstop around which the cavalry operated and had switched back to the long spear of many centuries earlier.

The army consists of: 

On the left: Two units of line cavalry, in  front is one unit of Koursores drilled to shoot in 'African' formation.

In the centre: Two units of Skoutatoi on the left, in front is a unit of skirmishing javelinmen, on the right is a unit of Lazoi javelinmen,in front of which is a unit of bowmen.

On the right: One more unit of line cavalry and one unit of elite cavalry behind which is one unit of  non-bow armed Phoideratoi cavalry trained to fight in hand-to hand combat, in front of all is another unit of Koursores.

In the rear are four generals and a fortified camp (not shown).

Our campaign

So, on to the campaign we have just played. I chose the Manlii family as my Roman gens, Gordon chose the Julii - a famous name to live up to! In addition to opting to play the full extended campaign we also decided as follows:

1. To play a variation of the campaign laid out in the optional rules. Rather than play in the historical timeline we adopted the following approach:

• Firstly, playing one battle in every Era in turn before going on to play the second or third etc; and

• Secondly, we alternated playing one Roman Era battle with one Byzantine Era battle. The reason we opted to do this was to give us more variety on the table top each week as we moved backward and forward through the Eras.

2. To play the optional Battlefield Effects rules per Appendix 4.

3. To play with all the specific conditions listed under some of the battles the Enemies Tables for each Era.

4. To play the Pivotal Events optional rule, though there were occasions when there was no jeopardy involved by doing so, in which case we skipped some of the listed battles.

Essentially we opted for the full campaign experience.

Running commentary

I have left the running commentary that I recorded as we went along when playing the campaign for the first time on the blog for those readers that want to read how that campaign unfolded. 

For the final position and summary of all the games played in each era Click here

December 2022. 

The start of the campaign. To start with we mostly played using MeG as we had just finished playing a long string of ADLG games towards the end of the year whilst practicing for the Devonian Classic tournament held in Brixham that took place earlier this month. Over the course of the campaign though we intend to play all the different variants of both the rule sets, again if for no other reason than variety. 

March 2023. 

After completing one game in each era the score is 10-3 to me, so I've established quite a lead. Of those ten games won by me, however, only seven are victories as the Romans/Byzantines, the other three are victories whilst I was playing as enemies of Rome so give Gordon negative points. Unless I win later games in those eras as the Romans/Byzantines, those are easily turned into draws or even civil wars, so it's still all to play for. 

We have now played all the game variants of both rule sets and experienced several Battlefield Effects that have made for some exciting non-standard situations. The campaign is turning out to be everything I hoped it would be.

Gordon has, several times now, expressed concern about what he sees as the distinction in MeG between the side with an advantage in combat and its opponent, believing that the difference is too wide when there is even only a one combat claim advantage by one unit over an opponent. So, we have adopted a house rule designed to reduce that difference; we'll see how it goes.

June 2023.

Despite using the house rule for MeG mentioned above we have decided to shelve MeG for the time being. This is not because of the success or failure of that house rule, which I believe has had the intended effect, but because Gordon has decided that he can't get his head around the MeG game system sufficiently to enjoy the game. For the time being at least we will restrict ourselves to playing using ADLG from game twenty-three onwards.

July 2023

We have now completed two games in each Era - i.e. twenty-six games in total. From now on an era can end at any time so putting more pressure on the player lagging behind to make up the points. The position in terms of who is ahead in Eras is unchanged from March - it is still seven to three in my favour with three Eras where neither player has any positive Prestige Points. So I remain with a substantial lead but not yet anywhere close to being over the campaign winning line.

After Gordon's surrender in game 26 Gordon has felt the need to take a break from the campaign in order to refocus himself. In the meantime we are going to fight a couple of practice games for the Devonian Classic competition in December.

August 2023

Having finished the practice games and had a break we are back to the competition with game 27. As we have now completed two games in each Era a roll of ten or more on the Event table can result in an 'End of Era' result. Our first game is in Roman Era 1 - Early Republic - it ended in a draw, Gordon getting the Prestige Point. The next two Event dice rolls both resulted in End of Eras results - so, as I was ahead in Prestige Points in both I find myself two Eras up all of a sudden! On to game 28 - early Byzantine post Maurikian army reforms.

December 2023

Another six games has taken us to game 33, four wins for me and two for Gordon. At this point another End of Era was rolled for the Byzantine era 5 - Komnenan dynasty but as we are playing the Pivotal Events optional rule we will be fighting the Byzantine major defence against the 4th crusade first.

However, before playing that game, as the 3rd ADLG Devonian classic competition is taking place this month we are taking a break from the campaign in order to practice with the armies we have chosen to compete with. We'll get back to the campaign at the end of this month, or the beginning of 2024.

In the meantime I have taken the opportunity to make progress on painting my 7th-11th century Byzantine army and have managed to paint enough figures to field a standard ADLG army or MeG Magna sized army, see the photo below.

I have painted enough figures so far to make up a 7,000 point MeG Magna Byzantine army of the 10th/11th centuries CE.

The front rank consists of a unit of heavily armoured close formation Kataphractoi in the centre, to its right are two Tagmas of regular army lance and bow armed cavalry and to its left two similar units of  Thematic, or provincial cavalry. To the immediate right of the Tagmatic cavalry is a unit of Prokoursatores (advance guard) cavalry and a unit of skirmishing Trapezitoi light cavalry.

In the rear rank is a unit of elite Varangian Guard flanked to left and right by three units of Skoutatoi - spear and bow armed infantry. On the right is a unit of skirmishing bowmen and to their right a base of fire siphon-armed skirmish foot ready to spout 'Greek fire'. This base is only permitted under the ADLG list but having one gives me the option to field one in an ADLG army.

Behind them all are four professional generals.

January 2024

Having taken part in the tournament and had various festive breaks we are now back to the campaign. The Komnenan Byzantine pivotal event - 4th crusade attack on Constantinople - was a victory for me whilst playing as the Byzantines, consequently I won a Prestige Point and, as it gave me the only Prestige Point in that era, I won that as well. Midway through January the position in terms of eras won is 3-0 to me.

Our next era Event dice roll (which was for the Roman era 6 - Middle Empire) has turned out to be another End of Era result. This time there are no pivotal events to be undertaken and, as neither Gordon nor I have won any battles whilst playing as the Romans, neither of us have earned any positive Prestige Points; so a civil war battle is in the offing.

The civil war battle was a close run contest but was won by Gordon (game 35); so the score in eras is now three to me and one to Gordon. As we are playing the extended game the campaign winner is the first player to win seven eras, so still a long way to go yet.

Towards the end of January we completed three rounds of the campaign with game 37, at which point, as mentioned above I am currently 3-1 up in completed Eras, plus I also have a substantial lead in positive Prestige Points in three more. Victory is getting closer! Onto round four with game 38.

So, after fighting game 38 we rolled another End of Era for the Maurikian Byzantine era. As I was five-nil up in Prestige Points at that point there was no jeopardy involved in fighting out the pivotal event in that era - the Battle of the River Yarmuk - so I didn't bother opting for it and neither did Gordon, and so I won the era. I ended January four-one up in eras won.

March 2024

Playing the campaign has taken a back seat for a few weeks due to various reasons so I've taken the opportunity to paint more figures for my Byzantine and Sassanid dynasty Persian armies. Below is a full 10,000 point 11th Century CE MeG Maximus 'Nikephorian' Byzantine army:

So, from front to rear:

In the centre is a SUG of slingers, two TUGs of mostly bow equipped 'Skutatoi' (the front rank are modelled as spearmen to indicate the unit has 'Spear Protection' and 'Shield Cover'; rear rank are archers) and behind them is one TUG of the famed elite Varangian Guards. 

On the left is a SUG of skirmishing horse archers behind which are two TUGs of Thematic Kavallarioi.

On the right, at the front is a TUG of flexible Prokoursatores in skirmish formation followed by two TUGs of elite Tagmatic Kavallarioi and in the rear a TUG of Frankish/Norman cavalry mercenaries.

Behind them are four professional generals.

April 2024

By the end of March we had completed game 43, a victory for Gordon. The roll for the next game - Byzantine Era six: the Late Byzantine (fractured) Empire - turned out to be an End of Era result so, as neither of us had earned any positive Prestige Points in that Era, Gordon opted for a civil war battle (Game 44) which took place on 3 April. The result was a victory for the Manlii, so I won the Era. 

In the following week we completed the the final 'round four' game, which turned out to be the second time the Huns were rolled so was based on the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, with the Hunnic player playing as Attila. Gordon won the bidding so I was Attila, and subsequently won the game, aided by the worst run of luck from Gordon that I've seen in a long time.

The position at the end of round four is five to one in Eras won in my favour; additionally I have substantial leads in two more Eras (Roman Late Republic and Late empire) so, as ultimate campaign victory is determined as the first player to win seven, I can see victory closing in. Gordon is going to have to work hard now to avoid campaign defeat.

May 2024

After playing the first couple of games of Round five, possibly because we are approaching the end game, it occurred to  me that Gordon is surrendering the game very quickly where he feels he has no chance of winning (see games 47 and 48). This has prompted me to think about the Campaign rules and I have made two changes: 

1. Firstly, regarding unfinished games, I have changed the rules to give a player more incentive to carry on fighting a battle even when there is no perceived chance of victory. From now on the side that has inflicted the most casualties will either gain a Prestige Point if playing as the Romans or cause the loss of a Prestige Point if playing as the opponent. 
2. Secondly, when using ADLG as the battle rules I have made it possible for the defender to choose the Region. 

We'll see how it goes.

In game 49 the first rule change did have the desired effect, though it turned out to be a draw we fought almost to the bitter end to determine who would incur more casualties - Gordon did so it ended as a nil point game. 

June 2024

Game 50 turned out to be a decisive defeat for Gordon as the Byzantines, I think he massively underbid. After completing game 50 I rolled an End of Era result for the Early Empire Era and we were both content to go with a draw - making the Eras score five to one to me with one draw. After that I rolled yet another End of Era for the Late Empire Era, which as I was the only one to have a positive Prestige Point was a win for me, making the Eras won score now six to me, one to Gordon and one draw. 

I am now 'Dormie' as the match play golf saying goes - I am currently in the position that I cannot lose the campaign, even one more draw out of the remaining five incomplete eras will see me winning it. Preventing my victory will be a hard task for Gordon to pull off as I am currently up in four of the five of the remaining eras, he is however battling on.

Game 51 turned out to be an easy victory for the Manlii so Gordon rolled for the next active Era - Middle Republican Roman and rolled another End of Era result. There is a Pivotal Event for that era which hasn't been played but I didn't opt for it and neither did Gordon so, as even a draw wins me the Campaign, Gordon opted for a Civil War which will be played out in a couple of weeks - it could be the end of the Campaign!

Game 52 was to be the final game of the campaign, a civil war battle to determine the winner of the Middle Republic era - it was a win to the Manlii. 

The resulting final score of eras won was seven to one i.e. a six era lead to the Manlii with only four eras left to play. The campaign was consequently won by me. Hurrah!