The previous post featured the Picenian invasion of Northern Luss, under the command of General Multiflavus. Mark Cordone, having wargamed the Battle of Twin Bridges, has now gone on to game the assault on the Hillfort at Lusatia (the de facto capital of the confederation of tribes that makes up Luss).
Mark's description of the siege follows, along with the mechanics he has employed for random decision making, and a selection of Mark's photographs of the action:
First a word about a game mechanic I came across for solo RPG's, the Oracle die. It's used to answer questions that arise during a game without obvious answers. I use it while DMing my RPG games and also find it useful for solo wargames.
Ask a question then roll 1 d6: 1- no and, 2-no, 3-no but, 4- yes but, 5-yes, 6-yes and. An example of how it works in a wargame, at Waterloo will the Prussians arrive in time?
1- no and. The Prussians do not arrive, and Girard disobeys Grouchy and marches to the sound of the guns, reinforcing Napoleon.
2-no. No Prussians arrive.
3-no but. The Prussians do not arrive in time but Napoleon is worried they will and so posts 6th corps to guard against it and they are not available for the battle.
4-Yes but. They do arrive but later in the day and in smaller numbers.
5- Yes. They arrive as they did historically.
6- Yes and. One Prussian corps is present at the start of the battle, or arrives just as it begins with more arriving each turn throughout the day.
For this game I used it to determine if a Picenian ploy worked, and how well.
Lusatia was a huge, sprawling hill fort palace complex located in the northern highlands 6 days march from the river. Enclosing about a square mile on top of A mesa rising about 100 feet from the valley floor it was protected by a labyrinth of deep ditches and earhwork ramparts which rendered traditional siege techniques worthless. It had a population of over 3000 and could easily shelter an army of 30,000 more and was well provisioned. It's only possible weak points were its eastern and western gates.
Multiflavus had two options:
1) Attempt to starve the defenders out. This would mean a siege lasting into the following spring or summer with long and difficult to protect supply lines. Indeed, A generation before his grandfather had attempted to do just that, with disastrous consequences.
2). An assault. This would have to be made on one or both gates, but the defenders would have huge advantages which would make success unlikely at best.
Still, an assault was the best option and Multiflavus had taken this into consideration when initially planning the invasion. At his own personal expense he had hired the famous Cyraenian engineers the Orusso brothers. His investment was to pay huge dividends.
Upon arriving at the site he and the Orusso brothers devised the following plan:
1) complete the contravallation.
2) build huge ramps and platforms opposite the gates which overlooked the defences.
3). Build artillery for use during the assaults on the gates to support the attackers as they stormed them.
4). Dig a mine, not to undermine the walls, but to tunnel into the fortress and allow a hand picked force to emerge within the walls and attack one of the gates ( the Eastern gate) from within during the attack.
Special rules: I used dominion of the Spear to resolve combat. The defenders got three units of melee foot at the western gate, and two units and one elite unit along with Vepotalus at the eastern gate. The attackers got three units of melee foot at both gates and an elite unit tunnelling in. Multiflavus was at the eastern gate. I factored in the ramps and artillery by having them cancel out the defence advantage for the defenders.
I used the Oracle die twice. Once to determine the result of the investment and siege works. I rolled a 4, so the set up was successful but took a long time. As a result the assault took place on 29th day of the ninth month just as the weather was starting to turn. It would have to succeed or Multiflavus would have to retreat and wait for spring to begin a new campaign.
The second roll was to determine the result of the mine, with things ranging from a disastrous failure to complete and perfectly timed success. As it turned out I rolled a 6 and got perfection. The mining party would arrive, having broken in without detection or opposition and make their way to the gate. I decided to give them a 1 in 6 chance, cumulative each turn of arriving and attacking from behind starting on turn two.
For the fighting at the gates I decided there would be five rounds at each, and only one attacking unit could attack at a time. Both would fight normally with simultaneous results. If the attackers or defenders at the gates were all eliminated they lost, if the attackers failed to clear a gate by the end of round five, the attack failed.
The Western Gate.
The first Legion, dishonored at the battle of the Twin Bridges, was to be given the chance to redeem themselves by attacking the Western gate. The attack started slowly, with an ineffective exchange of missiles, the the legionares attacked in earnest with ladders and a ram. Both sides took heavy casualties and feed more troops into the fight before the Picenian's gained the upper hand. The defenders launched one last desperate attempt to throw them back over the walls but were wiped out. The First had restored their honor and began to sack the fortress.
The Eastern gate: both generals were present, so I decided to give each side a rally attempt. The initial Picenian assault broke in and routed Vepotalus's bodyguard with heavy casualties but the king rallied his men and led them back into the fray. They then wiped out the initial storming party. Then the miners appeared and attacked the defenders from the rear as Multiflavus fed more men into the attack. Surrounded, the defenders were wiped out, Vepotalus dying with his men.
The sack was not pretty, when it was over the survivors and a great deal of booty were marched down the river and back into Picenia. The fortress was burnt to the ground and a number of breaches were made in the walls by the victors before they departed.
Multiflavus would have his triumph and remove the stain upon his families honor caused by his grandfather's defeat.
This was a fun, if unorthodox game and I hope some of the ideas I presented will prove useful to others in their games.
Many thanks to Mark for this excellent report of what looks like it was an exciting game. With Northern Luss now a province of Picenia, the dice will decide if the Southern tribes will attempt to wrestle control of the lost land back, or try to defend what they have.
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