A SMALL BIT OF MEDIEVALS PLAY

 This past Wednesday, we played a game using a vast array of wonderfully painted 6mm Medieval figures, or as Mitch who ran the game prefers Dark Age. This was a test of a set of rules to see how they played and to tweak them ahead of their offering at the Little Wars convention in April. The game lasted about three and a half hours, and we cleared up a number of ambiguities we discovered. 

The scenario is set in the age of Charlemagne with the man himself and his Franks attempting to beat back the hoard of rampaging Moors attacking from Spain. The Moors have a lot of light infantry, a small core of heavy infantry, and an abundance of cavalry, primarily light horse archers. The Franks have a fair number of archers, crossbows, light infantry, a solid core of heavy infantry and a relatively small but very strong heavy cavalry. Organization, and deployment for each of the seven commands per side was determined by the players. The victory conditions were simple. Drive the opponent from the field.

The Franks Rear or Left Battle Being Lead by the Light Cavalry, Followed by Knights. To Their Side are an Infantry Command of Bowmen, Crossbowmen and Heavy Footmen.

  

Across From Them are the Moors Lead by Masses of Light Cavalry and Supported by a Multitude of Light Infantry. 

The Franks Main Battle Consisting of all Infantry. Lead by Bowmen, Crossbow, with a Central Core of Heavy Infantry, Flanked by Small Groups of Light Infantry. 

The Moors Central Commands. This Too was Mostly Infantry. They are Lead by Bowmen and Followed Up by a Hoard of Light Infantry. 

The Full Battlefield as Seen from the Franks Left Flank. In the Distance are the Franks Vanguard Battle Where the Best Cavalry is Deployed. To Meet This the Moors had also Deployed Their Finest Combination of Cavalry Consisting of Waves of Light Bow Armed Horse and Their Own Heavy Cavalry.

The game kept me busy, so I was not taking a lot of pictures. On the Franks right it was a long bloody fight right from the start. Both sides were giving as good as they got, but in the end the Franks had triumphed. After a long march both sides centers finally clashed. The Moors numbers kept them in the fight. They first defeated the Franks missile troops but were themselves being beaten back by the Franks heavy infantry. On the left the Franks light cavalry and missile troops devastated the Moors light cavalry. For a while the Moors light infantry held up this flank, but it too succumbed to the massed shooting and light cavalry's flanking attacks eventually completely collapsing. This freed up the as yet uncommitted knights who launched devastating flanking attacks against the Moors central forces. In the end it was a clear victory for Charles Martel and his Franks. It was a great bit of fun and an interesting challenge. 

Look for this game on the Little Wars schedule.