Collaborative Campaign Year 3: Part 4

 The following post will report the final action for turn 3 of the Collaborative Campaign (Year of the Pot-Bellied Pig): the Campaign Diary entry read "A horde of tribesmen from Inconnu swept into territory controlled by Sentis, raiding for booty and slaves – The Cyraenian Pentapolis reacted by sending an army, led by General Antonatos of Sentis, to the area to destroy the raiders." The wargaming of this incursion has been kindly played by Geoff ( Elliesdad ), who's text and pictures follow.

Reports tell us there has “been an incursion by a barbarous tribe from Inconnu into territory controlled by the City-State of Sentis, raiding for booty and slaves. The Cyraenian Pentapolis has reacted by sending an army to the area to destroy the raiders. The Cyraenian force is led by Antonatos of Sentis”.

I drew a rough sketch map of the area and rolled dice to decide what sort of raid the incursion would be. 

The allied force is led by Antonatos of Sentis whilst the raiders are commanded by Grodd. I assume both leaders are reasonably competent - else they wouldn’t have remained in power. I did, however, dice for the characteristics of their subordinates (not strictly necessary for this campaign, but it’s always useful to know an NPC’s thought process, decision making rationale, personality etc just in case). 

The dice decided the raiders would make a multi-pronged attack. Previous reconnaissance had suggested three likely attack points - A = through/near the Northern pass, B = the central valley and C = the Eastern Plains. 

Sentis is a well defended city to the southeast of the map, but there are half a dozen fair sized villages scattered throughout the land.

As a primarily mounted force I decided the greatest force of raiders would attack via the Eastern Plains whilst subordinate commanders would lead forces in attacks at the Northern pass and central valley. My daughter's fiancé (a GW Warhammer gamer) was briefed about the potential situation and asked how he would allocate his forces to face the invaders. He decided to defend two areas quite well, but only lightly defend the Eastern Plains. A relatively mobile “field army” would be held in reserve, slightly to the rear and guarding the approach to Sentis city. 

The opposing armies were selected from amongst my 2mm DBA forces - Huns representing the Inconnu horsemen with Late Romans as the forces of Sentis and its allies. Battles were to be fought using Steve Parker’s excellent Dominion of the Spear rules (and the DBA troop types were allocated the relevant Dominion attributes). 

Inconnu raid - battle near the Northern pass

The commander of the Sentis forces tasked with defence of the Northern pass is Milos Priapus. He is a competent leader - follows orders well, albeit he isn’t especially inspirational. The raiding force was led by Jehan, a childhood friend of Grodd - he is personally brave but is careful not to overstep the mark.

The forces were:

Inconnu = 4 horse archers (Missile Mounted) & 1 foot bowmen (Missile Infantry).

Sentis = 1 heavy cavalry (elite Melee Mounted), 1 Legion (armoured Melee Infantry), 1 Spearmen (Melee Infantry) & 1 Militia (Melee Infantry).

TURN 1:

Inconnu right flank horse archers attacked the spearmen opposing them, but all to little effect. In return the heavy cavalry on the left flank charged against more Inconnu horsemen - again to no avail. A few saddles were emptied, but nothing decisive.

TURN 2:

Once the Inconnu right flank cavalry had regrouped and gathered their breath they again attacked the opposing spearmen and this time they were victorious (the spearmen were destroyed). Milos Priapus sent the militia forward from the reserve, to replace their fallen comrades. On the left flank Milos ordered the heavy cavalry to attack the horse archers opposite them and victory was swiftly achieved, as the remnants fled the field in haste. Still, they were quickly replaced by a further unit of light horse.

TURN 3:

The Inconnu right flank horse archers launched a further attack, this time against the militia who had only just deployed in position. The militiamen held their nerve though and survived (just). Milos Priapus then decided it was time to unleash the Legion, but to little avail as they were devastated by a rain of arrows from the Inconnu infantry bowmen. Things were not going well for Priapus - his elite infantry destroyed and, other than the heavy cavalry, the only other forces he had available are peasants and farmers - hastily raised and given the title of Militiamen. 

TURN 4:

Yet again the Inconnu horse archers on the right were sent forward to attack the militia. This time victory was theirs - the unfortunate militiamen either died or fled towards the rear. 

Milos Priapus, with only his heavy cavalry remaining, decided it was time to make a tactical withdrawal and head to the rear. He will, of course, have to explain things to commander Antonatos…

As for Jehan - well, a battle was fought and won. Glory, booty to be looted from the slain plus a fair few prisoners (admittedly he can ill afford to spare warriors to keep guard). Perhaps a unit of warriors should be sent to ensure the enemy heavy cavalry continue to flee - and round up any stray militiamen?

(Note - any terrain shown on these maps is purely decorative and has no effect on the battle.)

The Raiders have won the first battle - how will their comrades fare? All will be revealed in the next episode... Thanks to Geoff for the exciting battle report.