Tactical Warfare In The Fantasy Genre: An Exploration Of Battlesystem [Part Three]
July 31, 2017 by oriskany
Good afternoon, Beasts of War, and welcome back to our continuing series on tactical wargaming in the fantasy genre. In these articles, we’ve been looking at my recent explorations into fantasy, when I travelled to Canada to dip my toe back into the genre at a game (TSR’s Battlesystem 1st Edition) run by my friend Craig (BoW: @cpauls1).
If you’re just joining us, in Part One we looked at TSR’s Battlesystem, introduced this campaign’s world (Craig’s novel The Sun and the Saber), and briefly surveyed fantasy wargaming in general. In Part Two we’ve set up the table, compared both armies and the strategies of both players, and kicked off the battle proper.
Now it’s time to return to table, were huge armies of beautifully-painted miniatures are already on the march and about to collide.
Now Where Were We?
Oriskany Reviews the Battle’s Opening
At the end of part two we looked at the opening of the battle, where (after a quick council of war with my team), we decided on a fast, high-firepower punch around the right side. If we could get through that gap between the castle ruins and the wooded edge of the table, we just might be able to collapse Craig’s left wing against his centre.
This is a glorious thing about Battlesystem - it allows a smaller, faster army to use the very size of the opposing army against them. If you can rout an enemy unit, it doesn’t just vanish like in other games. It actually turns around and flees, and if it hits another enemy unit, it can actually cause that unit to rout, which can rout another unit, and so on.
Craig Adds the Legion’s Perspective
A timely ice wall and dragon fire has temporarily stuffed the attack on my left…hopefully long enough for me to anchor a refused flank on the corner of the ruin and deploy down the road behind the trees. Regardless of the outcome, however, Orik Shano’s flank attack has already succeeded in that he has effectively pinned my left brigade.
This is because I will have to leave at least some units here to protect my wing, which will limit my push up the central road (no unit in this brigade can venture beyond my brigade commander’s 13.5” command radius). Yes, orc commanders suck.
The dragon had trouble staying aloft with the paladin’s lance dangling from its forehead and went down in front of the bottled up cavalry, but all is not lost. It’s still alive, and if I can win the next initiative it will be able to roast another twenty barbarians before getting stuck full of pointy things.
I would have rather used the beastie to soften up the enemy centre prior to a troll charge, but I’m not entirely unhappy with its sacrifice. But, the dragon finally dies, the ice wall goes down, and enemy cavalry is soon pouring through the breach in my left wing.
No plan crosses the start line intact. Ergo, new plan: delay with skirmish and ice walls in the centre while the archers trundle into position on the hill, and then push with the right brigade. Orik Shano is pouring a lot of troops into his right hook, which should weaken his left.
Although the enemy isn’t doing too bad on my left, there’s been some trepidation in the enemy centre, perhaps due to inexperience, and so far I’m happy to have come away without a bloody nose.
Oriskany Falters in the Centre
So far, I was pretty happy with the situation on my right, where a fast and high-powered force had hooked around the enemy flank and now threatened his wing. In the centre and the left, however, the picture didn’t look so rosy.
One, the orcs hadn’t really committed to a big frontal smash up the centre. It looked like they were going to, but now that they haven’t, that big flank attack might not be as juicy as I once hoped. Also, if we didn’t launch our own big frontal attack in the centre, and NOW, our prized flanking force on the right could well be cut off and destroyed.
So I had no choice. In went the frontal attack. Fortunately, I had the right units for it, namely the heavy cavalry and triple-ranked pike men. They were well-supported by my longbows on high ground behind them, and they had plenty of Vinmarck infantry bracing their left wing.
Unfortunately, the enemy wasn’t accommodating my plans. Most of Craig’s infantry was being protected by more and more of those damned ice walls. Front companies of orcs had “set spears” (holding in place against expected cavalry charge), and the marsh trolls stood on high ground by the castle ruins, which meant I couldn’t charge them.
I’ll fully admit, Craig’s defensive posture in the centre really tossed me a curve ball. Furthermore, my lack of experience as a fantasy or magical player REALLY showed here, I didn’t realise for at least three turns that my Priests of Anthos could dispel those ice walls, or launch devastating spiritual hammers or flame strikes of their own.
Finally the heavy cavalry attacked the marsh trolls. This part of the battle was hardly a blitz, however, since neither of us could charge the other. Instead it degenerated into a gruelling grind, a terrible waste of one of my prime assault units. But at least Craig couldn’t divert too many units against that all-important right hook.
Craig Holds The Centre
The troll charge into the heavy cavalry won’t end well, but I’ll take that trade. Having the cavalry engaged, even for a turn or two, gives me greater freedom of movement. The archers are moving into position unhindered and will soon be able to cover my refused left, while supporting the advance on my right.
The ice devil, left to its own devices, called a friend. Between it and the barbed devils, I’ve managed to pounce on isolated spell casters to keep them from affecting the larger battle. They should have been travelling within the ranks of a unit, or with a powerful fighter, given the devils’ ability to teleport without error and get in their face.
My centre has become bunged up with skirmish and ice walls, and I can sense the frustration mounting across the table, where the honey whiskey now flows like blood. I actually didn’t expect the ice barriers to last long, as each brigade has a cleric whose load-out includes ‘dispel magic’ scrolls.
Having said that, the ice wall on my left flank has been vaporised by the druid, and the forces behind it are on the move again. I made the mistake of charging his cavalry with one of my pike companies and got ‘entangled’ by more druidic magic; the spell immobilized them.
I tried to send over an orc shaman with a scroll but he got picked off by the paladin…should have taken my own advice about moving alone in the open. Damn you, enemy ‘air cover!’
Meanwhile, back at the ruin, I’ve been forced to plug my brigade command group into the gap left by my charging pike men, while nearby a battle is raging for control of the route through the ruins and into the trolls’ flank. There the heroes are dismantling everything I can throw at them: a pair of ettins and five barbed devils thus far.
All this aside, I’m satisfied with my overall position.
Oriskany Takes Stock
As the battle continues to develop, it becomes more and more apparent the game will end in stalemate. Near the castle, our heavy cavalry is locked in mutual annihilation with the marsh trolls. Player characters are bogged down in fights against barbed devils. The left wing is in a woodland slaughter against hundreds of orcs and going nowhere.
The biggest heartbreak comes on the right. Apparently I got confused about how I was allowed to set up my brigades, and those medium cavalry were assigned to the wrong command group. When my error comes to light, they’re out of command, and must withdraw four feet back the way they came, then three feet to the left wing.
There goes the “right hook,” and thus the game.
Still, there are local successes in the centre. Once I finally figure out what my Priests of Anthos can do, the ice walls start coming down and I manage some “inside” flank attacks against orc units where their line is starting to angle and buckle. I finally start inflicting some casualties, but never actually break a unit.
However, it’s getting very late by this time and we have to call the game. There are at least seven or eight players here, after all, and people have jobs and other commitments in the morning.
Craig has called the game a draw, but I think he’s being generous. While we both lost about the same number of units, the Sun Empire fielded the smaller force and our units were more expensive. Our one bright spot was our hook around the right, which I managed to screw up on a rule technicality six turns previously.
Still, the game was a tremendous amount of fun and an immense learning experience. I hadn’t spent any time in the fantasy genre in at least twenty years (and even then, very little time), so I fully admit I was “out-generaled” at this table. My team certainly did their best and inflicted tremendous damage. And yes, we held our end of the field.
What did you think of this battle? Do you have any stratagems you might have used against either Legion or the Sun Empire? Drop your comments below, and let us know what you might have done differently in the Battle of the Bonefields!
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"The dragon had trouble staying aloft with the paladin’s lance dangling from its forehead..."
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At last! We finally get to where the battle and the carnage really gets going! Time for “Babs” the barbarian queen to warm up that bigass sword and start killing barbed devils!!! 🙂
@gladesrunner That swan dive from the castle ruin on to the back of a marsh troll was a fitting finale to a great game! Brilliant! 🙂
That was indeed an epic moment. But having RPG’d with @gladesrunner for going on 25 years, I probably should have saw that coming. She’s always climbing up and jumping off of things. She did it in Battletech with an 80-ton Catapult, jump-jetting from roof top to rooftop like Spiderman while launching hails of LRMs into my poor Clan Ghost Bear mechs . . . then she finally jump-slammed one of them if memory serves.
Perfect style of play for that barbarian 🙂 .
One thing I should mention at this point is that we had a gentlemen’s rule that you couldn’t anchor a flank on the side of the board. i.e. put a unit up against the edge so that your opponent couldn’t get around you. I think it puts the Sun Empire right hook and my refused flank in a proper context. I don’t like a ‘rules win,’ if in fact it was even that. It was a proper stalemate. I’m thinking that in another 5-6 turns we would have seen units start to break and domino into other units. That’s where… Read more »
Epic fight, really cinematic. Thanks for the heads up on the Sun and the Saber book, a great read. I see that book 3 is out next year but I’ve been unable to hunt out book 2 is it out?
Thanks @gremlin ! 🙂 Book Two should be out by the end of this year, or early 2018. Some depends on my schedule, and some on my editor.
Thanks very much, @gremlin ! 😀
I enjoyed this article/battle report series very much. Thanks to Oriskany and Cpaulis for putting it all together. I have been interested in massed fantasy combat since first playing AD&D RPG, but never took the plunge. The mechanic of a routing unit causing a retreating stampede of an entire army has me sold on Battlesystem. I am reminded of the American Civil War battles of First Battle of Bull Run and the second day at Chancellorsville. @Oriskany, thank you for your offer to send me a PDF of Battlesystem, first edition rules on the Part 1 thread. I appreciate the… Read more »
No worries at all, @lordgort . Indeed, the idea that the very size of a numerically-superior army can become its achilles’ heel, especially if you can break units in front that cause routs back into other elements of the army, is something you see in Gaugamela, Cannae, Issus, Agincourt . . . massed historical battles all through ancients, medieval, and even (as you mention) black powder armies. One of the great elements of of Battlesystem. Mass isn’t something you can just ball up in your fist and hurl at the enemy.
Indeed, well done on that front @oriskany ! 🙂 It was tough getting my archers into position when the ‘squeeze’ happened. I was cramped even before the right hook was executed.
We could add Marathon to the list, where the Persians’ only option was to retreat into a swamp!
Yep, good call on Marathon. Happened a lot, actually.
Thank you @lorddgort. 🙂 1st Edition Battlesytem actually came with a boatload of counters, so I would imagine 2nd Edition was more of the same. @oriskany could probably address that better than I could. We used the counters in 1st Edition for some time until we could build up a cache of models, and it certainly didn’t detract from game play! Even having one figure that represents all the counters in amongst them can look ‘epic.’ And of course the one looked better than the hundred or so I used to paint at a time. 🙂
Here I go again… @lorddgort .
Second Edition was only the book. Not a boxed set. I think they wanted you to play with miniatures, but I played for decades with counters and it worked fine so long as you made the counter the right size. Romans vs. Celts, Vikings vs. Saxons, my friend @aras even set up some Teutons vs. Lithuanians vs. Poles vs. Russians, old school Lake Peipus, etc (13th Century, if memory serves), Redwall mice vs. rats ( 🙂 ) even werewolf mass combat once. I thought that last one was a little silly until I saw Mantic play mass werewolf units the… Read more »
Great stuff, a real slugger of a match up in the centre
Thanks, @rasmus – the center was definitely a crush but around the right wing was where I hope we could get some real “medieval maneuver” in there. Failing that, we were just starting to get some cracks in the center. I had finally figured out how to dispel ice walls, and as the battleline became jagged, angles started to appear in the orc front and that means flanks. So big sweeping “blue arrow” flanking attacks were pretty much out of the question, but little “crowbar between the bricks” flanking attacks were just starting to get into position. I also had… Read more »
Would have been fun to keep gaming this. 🙂 We were both up against the coal face in the center, and while he had superior troops that were dishing it out better than I could, my four archer companies on the hill, when they finally got into position, were getting a wound or a stand every time they volleyed, despite the hideous amounts of hit points those barbarians were toting around. While that was my revised plan, I had hoped to keep the barbarians at bay for a few more turns to thin them out. I think my left would… Read more »
Thanks! 😀
And now the remaining question : did the battle go according to historical accounts of the day ?
Or is this the result that will be in the book ?
Exhaustive historical research was conducted for these articles, @limburger . 😀 With findings cross-checked against other sources and first-hand accounts. 😀 😀 😀
Like @oriskany said @limburger 😀
You may have to buy Book Three, Victor’s Crown, to find out. 😉
Actually, this is a collage of several battles in the Bonefields where the Sun Empire is desperately trying to stem the tide of the invasion by cutting off reinforcements headed for the Barrier Forest. Many of the book engagements are much larger, with elven regulars, Vinmarck raiders, and Imperial Rangers trying to stem the tide and… “hit ’em where they ain’t”, so to speak.
I plan to game one of the larger engagements next year… yes, a bigger one. 🙂
I have to say, I spent a lot of time concerned with my own hero that I actually missed a lot of the force on force fighting. I’m glad I get a chance to read about it in these articles. Can’t say as I would ever be crazy enough to try to maneuver such a large force, but it makes for some great reading.
Thanks, @gladesrunner … You know, If I knew more about magic in AD&D I would almost be tempted to set this sucker up and virtual-play it in 2nd Edition.
Rematch? 🙂 It was so much more fun in person with great food and plenty of libations, but I’d be happy to play out this game again, and maybe a few others that are bigger, and then again, some that are huge magical contests with fewer troops, and more cavalry oriented (Retreat from Frugalin).
I’d be happy to help with the magic load-out as well. 🙂 I think there was a disconnect there on game day, as you weren’t thoroughly versed in magic, and our role players weren’t tuned in to tactics.
I am stacked “six ranks deep” with work until about the beginning of October (seriously), but the good news is a lot of it will be Battlesystem, using it for AWI, once I finish building and painting all my armies (and writing the articles).
cant beat a good blood bath a great battle report guys.
Thanks very much, @zorg ! 😀
Thanks @zorg ! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Really enjoyed this series – especially the last part where we got to see the armies clashing!
I do like modern, skirmishy-type fantasy games, but it’s really interesting to see fantasy games with more grand strategic feeling to them.
Thanks, @angelicdespot – indeed, I wouldn’t imagine very large fantasy-based games like this come together too often, based on the amount of work involved. 😀
Well done guys. Brilliant article series on this almost forgotten rules set. The true beauty of this series is that it invoked many a good memory.
I for one would like to see more collaboration between you two. Perhaps fighting out battles from up coming books. A good way of getting readership.
“A good way of getting readership” – Thanks @jamesevans140 – expanding outside of the usual “Oriskany genre” was definitely a big part of what these articles were about. It’s so easy to get stuck in your “comfort zone” and just keep cranking out the same material over and over again. 😀
Likewise @jamesevans140 🙂 Thank you. This winter I’ll be expanding my forces with a tribal orc cavalry brigade (on worgs) and maybe some mounted orc infantry on ‘borrowed’ horses. I’m also in the process of swapping out my old Ral Partha 25mm elves for GW and Mom Miniatures elves. Paint to follow. The missus suggested I make this an annual event. I like the idea of drawing the battles from the book, although many of them are far too large to game with Battlesystem as it stands, unless we change the ratio from 10:1 to maybe 50:1, but that would… Read more »
More orc reinforcements, @cpauls1 ? Sure. Because, you know, that army’s not big enough. 😀 😀 😀
Yup :-D. Actually, I’ll be painting up a bunch of 1HD tribal orcs, rather than the legion auxilia 2HD orcs. I think I posted a pic of the EM4 models on the weekender a while back. $15 for 50 is a price I can get behind, and at that price, I don’t mind experimenting and chopping them up for all kinds of things. I’ve been using them ‘naked’ for years, but will be painting up about 500 over the next few years.
@cpauls1 the fantastic job you have done on painting up your armies really shined in the photos of this installment. One thing that was outstanding with the Battle System was how easily you could integrate the role playing rules and characters. We found that thieves and assassins made great scouting and infiltration forces. The assassin was a great way of dealing with low level magic users on the other side. There was a half orc assassin I remember well on a long running campaign called Mor-snik (Death Cut). He was responsible for the death of many low level characters. He… Read more »
Thanks @jamesevans140 . I’ve tried to ‘up my game’, in terms of painting, over the last few years (since joining BoW actually). Prior to that my models were just game pieces and got a quick base colour, wash, and drybrush.
I really like the character/NPC/ monster interplay as well in these battles. For me, the integration of roleplaying with larger battles is what draws me to Battlesystem. Sounds like you have the same sort of devotion to wringing everything you can from your magic-users.
Just a few base colors, wash, and drybrush is all I’m doing on my 20mm at the moment. Okay, maybe 7-8 colors and a wash . . . but still. Nothing fancy. Going instead for the mass of a large army. 😀 (and hopefully getting away with it because I’m only working at 20mm)
Mass of a large army? Great idea! 😀 Your attention to detail rivals or surpasses mine, so it’s something I must see! 🙂
@oriskany don’t beat yourself up over a draw or minor tactical loss. This is outstanding result for a first time out after such a long break. The “Hail Mary” as it is called now-a-days. I tactic I both like and hate. While it appears to be all about the flank, the part I like. The timing and pace is controlled by the centre, the part I don’t like. Coordinating both can be a real juggling act. OK the C in C issue was a real ouch. The AD&D magic system and spells is the most complex I have ever seen.… Read more »
Thanks @jamesevans140 ! Still one more article to go: mostly devoted to mini’s and eye candy… maybe a little anti-climactic. 🙂
Thanks , @jamesevans140 – I know what you mean about coordinating the attack on the flank with a thrust in the center. With the position of those castle ruins, and how far forward we had to throw that right hook to get around the wing, I was afraid of a real possibility that the right wing would get detached and destroyed in detail. Hence, the heavy PC / magic fire support and the rather “silly” heavy cavalry assault at the center. I couldn’t really charge them (high ground) but that assault seemed critical to keep the center and right flank… Read more »
Yep @oriskany, and in tight terrain areas you have to be mindful of traffic jams and the potential targets they create. A fireball spell goes off like a MOAB from very high level magic users. They also have a tiny first level spell called magic missile. At this level it goes off like a rapid fire bow, but at the much higher level it goes off like a Vulcan cannon. In the magical AD&D world the traditional military mind struggles. To start you have the vertical flank, the underground flank and most dangerous of all the instant flank. The last… Read more »
Funny you should mention the different flanks @jamesevans140 . The army in our role playing campaign has two huge mirrors (big enough for a horse to ride through) that act as portals. They can also be downsized to man-portable with the right command word. You just need to get the second mirror where you need it… as you say, instant flank. 🙂 I also have an Imperial ‘airborne brigade’ that fits on to four ‘cloud galleys.’ Roughly 500 troops escorted by 20 silver dragons and a squadron of 120 pegasi. Each galley has three ballistae and a battle mage… vertical… Read more »
Funny you should mention types of flanks @jamesevans140 . In our roleplaying campaign our group has two mirror portals large enough for a horse to ride through, but with a command word they can be downsized to something man-portable. You just need to get it where you need it… instant flank. 🙂 The Imperial Army also has an airborne brigade, roughly 500 troops that fit on four ‘cloud galleys’ (toy ship models that have been stretched, and given outrigger type sales). Each galley has three ballistae and a battle mage. They are escorted by 20 knights on silver dragons, and… Read more »
My apologies for the duplication. My first post disappeared for a time. 🙁
I’ve posted a few pics of the cloud galleys and 5.56 brass cannon on the supporting thread:
http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/fantasy-gamer-town-square/forum/topic/trying-a-new-genre-oriskany-jumps-into-fantasy-wargaming/?topic_page=2&num=15#post-209978
@cpauls1 well upping your game painting wise has paid off. So I will be looking forward to the final installment. It still is hard to do the huge fantasy battles like those of Lord of the Rings and Dragon Lance. Upping the figure scale to 30 or 60 per figure from classic wargaming does help. We also added a number of our own rules that added to the game. Such as we used the strength rating of creatures when two units were in combat. We subtract the weaker from the stronger. The weaker unit would be pushed back by that… Read more »
Thanks @jamesevans140 . I’ve thought of upping the ratio of troops per stand, but that would necessite changing the ground scale from 1″ = 10 yards to something larger. That in turn would lower the area effect of magic, make the characters less powerful, and less integrated with the force they’re commanding/supporting. I think people would lose interest if they couldn’t affect the battle in a major way. How long would it take for a non-magical character to get a wound on a stand representing 50 troops? Too long I think. I like the idea better of gaming portions of… Read more »
Thanks for your reply @cpauls1. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. At the moment I am packing getting ready to move by the end of the month, so my time is a bit scarce at the moment. Instead of changing ground scales what about doubling your base size, as the base represents the footprint of the unit relative to the ground scale. This would increase your figure scale from 1 to 10 to 1 to 40. This would mean that your smallest unit on the table would be a platoon of 40 rather than a squad of… Read more »